Game, Set, Match News
Given the disastrous fortune they suffered leading up to this tie, Canada is probably in about as good a position as it could hope for against Japan -- they're tied 1-1. Kei Nishikori opened the contest by routinely beating Peter Polansky 6-4 6-4 6-4.
Sara Errani reasserts her place as Italy's #1, but she still has a lot of points to defend; she still needs more than this to keep the #7 ranking. The good news is, she's the only seed left in the bottom half. Karin Knapp will probably hit the Top Forty, but she is a mere #40 in safe points, so it isn't sure yet.
That must be what Serbia is thinking after word came that Roger Federer will be joining Stanislas Wawrinka on Switzerland's Davis Cup team. And that's against a Serbian team with no Novak Djokovic. Serbia didn't have any real hope anyway, but now things really look bad...
Daniela Hantuchova beat Maria Sharapova in their first meeting. Never since. She might still make the Top Thirty, but just barely.
Teams are moving into place for this weekend's opening, with new Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka saying he will front up for Switzerland against Serbia in Novi Sad. "Davis Cup, it's really important for me. I'm really proud. It's a big honor to play for my country. So for sure I'm still thinking to go there...
Czech Karolina Pliskova produced the first minor upset of the week as she put out American seventh seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-2, 6-4 in a re-run of the Kuala Lumpur final from 2013. Svetlana Kuznetsova passed a personal milestone as she claimed her 500th career victory.
Rafael Nadal came in with a hand blister. He came out with a back injury -- and no title. Nadal suffered the injury in the second set, and some watchers thought he would retire. But he was already in trouble by then.
Paris is a Premier event, but it suffers from the fact that it's a week after, half a world away from, and on a different surface than, the Australian Open. But it certainly has one interesting player: Nadia Petrova, who has been out for so many months, has decided to make a comeback...
Jurgen Melzer had better get on the phone to look for a doubles partner. He was supposed to be playing with Robert Lindstedt here, until he got hurt. Suddenly, it looks a lot less likely that Lindstedt will be returning his calls.
Until this round, Roger Federer had looked like his old self. In this match, he looked like his old self in another way: He couldn't handle Rafael Nadal. Nadal's hand was a mess; he had bandages on all his fingers and his palm. But his shots didn't show any problems...
Roger Federer went back to the future with a dominating vintage win over hammered Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 on Monday to start the second week with a fourth-round victory. The Swiss played plenty of serve-and volley the day after the birthday of new coach Stefan Edberg...
The race may not always be to the swift, but right now, the swift are doing just fine, thank you. Rafael Nadal is #1, and he will stay #1, and he will be #1 by a very wide margin. We still don't know how wide, but he will lead Novak Djokovic by a lot more than a thousand points.
Not a huge surprise given current form, but Caroline Wozniacki was defending fourth round points. She will lose her Top Ten spot. Garbine Muguruza is up to #35 -- and seems sure to climb even higher. Maybe not this week, but soon.
So much for the potentially dramatic rematch of the Doha final. Gael Monfils will almost certainly return to the Top Thirty, but just barely.
Click here to see the latest women's tennis results from the Australian Open.
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