After all the rain yesterday, there's lots of big names in action.

Venus about to open against Stosur, but Ivanovic a break down on Pironkova.... :blink:

stosur immediatly breaks venus :yikes:

ana loses the first set 6-3

Szavay gets bagelled in the first set :bread:

Some shockers today!

Vinca won a set off Radwanaksa :yahoo:
Szavay had lost 2-0 to Errani? :yikes:
Schyder and Zvonereva dropping sets to lesser players.

Makarova bt Vaidisova - I cheered for that when I sawe it, cos I though ti predicted it, then realised I had made a stupid error :doh: What of Nicole? Is it Radek beign a bad influence?

Kirilenko finally put away Petrova 2-1 - is it over for Nadia?

Ivanovic dropping a set to Pironkova is nto surprising, I was tempted to go for that and even an upset :lol:

Cibulkova v Sharapova is potnetially interesting - Cibulkova is in form, and good on clay. :ok:

Errani beats Szavay 6-0, 6-3

All back on serve in the venus vs. stosur match

And i think ana had an early break in the second set again pironkova, but it's all on serve now.

Pironkova looking poised to take the scalp of Ivanovic :yahoo: Starts to wish she'd gone for th eupset now :doh:

Pironkova wins 6-5, 5-7, 6-2 :o

Yep, not sure I am ver surprised though. Ivanovic is havign an appallign run on clay - I thought she was vulnerable on the surface, base don my limited knowledge of what I've seen, but I think there were folks sayign she should be able to beat players on the surface that were of a much lesser ranking :shrug:

He's the black widower of tennis ... :P

Matches just started in Rome:

Jankovic vs. Kirilenko

Bartoli vs. Schnyder

Jankovic took the first set 6-1 :yikes: and is a break up in the second set :blink:

Bartoli took the first set off Schnyder 6-4

It's a pair of breadsticks for Kirilenko unfortunately, although she did well in taking out not inconsiderable clay players in Petrova and AMG to get this far. Jankovic actually improved on her scoreline from their meeting just last week in Berlin, and continues her surprisingly efficient start to her title defence. It will almost certainly be a different story in her quarterfinal against either Venus or Zvonareva, each of whom got the better of her last time.

Schnyder led by a break in the second but is pegged back to 3-2 by Bartoli. Looks like the Frenchwoman is gearing up to play sacrificial lamb to Sharapova.

Serena on serve against Errani :ok:

Bartoli is pressing her advantage in the decider against Schnyder, fending off break points to take a 4-1 lead.

Serena is labouring out there so far against home favourite Errani, twice trailing by a break but in a strong position now at 5-4.

serena took the first set 6-4, but is a break down in the second.

and Schnyder and Bartoli still going - with it now 4-4 in the final set :unsure:

Now 5-all for Schnyder and Bartoli, nearing the two-and-a-half hour mark. Quite a dogfight.

Still hard going for Serena, who is down by a break yet again in the second. I'm starting to see what happened to Szavay if Errani is having an inspired week on her turf.

Schnyder lets slip double match point in the tiebreaker but converts the third to come through 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(7). Quite a comeback from a set down and then 4-1 down in the decider, twice having to hold to stay in the match. Hope she has something left in the tank after that marathon (and two matches played yesterday) to push Sharapova as much as she did last year at RG.

Serena meanwhile quit mucking about and took four games on the trot from 3-2 down in the second to wrap up her match 6-4, 6-3.

Sharapova vs. Wozniacki is on serve in the first set, although they do appear to have exchanged breaks.

Pironkova a break up on Azarenka in the first set, and with another BP to go a double break up

Pironkova vs. Chakvetadze just started with Anna already a break up, and looking like she may go a double break up :yikes:

Chaky is serving for 5-1! I hope she wins 2-0 anyway.

i went with pironkova 2-1 - so she best have a good comeback :angry:

ChokeVetadze just irratates me really! :angry:

Looks like Chakvetadze has just hit the self-destruct button. So many errors have crept into her game in this 2nd set.

As the Eurosport commentator said (not Jo Durie) - "watching Chakvetadze is like car-crash TV!" roflmao

roflmao

Thats quite hilarious.I just lost my composure with an outburst of laughter here in my office.Thank GOD im alone in it! :giggle:

wooo - go Pironkova!!! :D

A bit like a see-saw in the second, with Pironkova's level suddenly climbing sharply as Chakvetadze kind of wallows in her loss of focus. Break points for 4-0 now. Looks like we'll reach a decider with less than an hour played on-court. :rolleyes:

Well, Chakvetadze threatened to get back even in the second, but Pironkova escaped a very long deuce game to serve it out 6-3 and force a third.

Chakvetadze with a break in the decider.....

roflmao I want to watch! Any live streams?

Here comes the choke :rolleyes:

Sorry there DN..... but Anna Chakvetadze.... didn't choke.... she gave Pironkova a bread stick 6-1

I feel quite cheated because that was the only quarter-final they are showing on Eurosport. I think it was Simon Reed who made the comment! (Still haven't got to grips with the names of the commentators).

You didn't miss much. How Chakvetadze ever got into the top ten is beyond me! There was this funny moment when both players were at the net and when Chakvetadze had an opportunity to hit two big forehands to win a point but for some bizarre reason, Chak just hit the ball straight back to Pironkova, as though they were doing some training drill! She always looks so blank when she is on court!

So that was IT on Europsport? Glad I don't pay for it - I only watch freebies. Hard to find WTA though.

Spot On.... in that sense , doesn't give much away... instead gives everything away in the way she plays back to opponents. She is a bit of a 'Murray'..hoping players will make mistakes..

Yes, that was the only match they are showing today. But they are showing both semi-finals tomorrow and the coverage for the rest of the tourney has been very good.

Still think they ought to be briunging all 4 quarters though :blink:

So would I. I've really enjoyed the WTA clay season so far this year.

Sounds like it has bene good, but I haven't seen a bean of it :rolleyes:

Serena grants a walkover to Cornet, who goes into her second Tier I semi on clay.

I knew Serena playing in back-to-back events was too good to be true. :rolleyes: I haven't seen the reason given yet but I would hope it won't have an impact on her participation at RG.

:blink: Is she insane?

Nervy start to Venus v Jankovic, with neither player holding serve yet. 2-all.

Five of their six encounters have gone to three sets (two of those decided in a tiebreaker) so I imagine we'll be here a while.