Step back in time: Olympics 1992 Women's doubles

USA, again... The doubles draw was much more worthy than the 1988 doubles draw. This time with a solid 32 draw and no first round byes, which meant that even the top seed teams had to go a distance to finally hold some metal in their hands.

Home crowd favorites Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Conchita Martinez were top seeds in 1992. Sanchez-Vicario was partnering different players that season but got together with Martinez for two tournaments, one in Barcelona (which they won) and for the French Open where they made it to the final, only falling to Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva. Expectations were high that they will go for gold for Spain in Spain.

The second seeds came from the States in terms of Mary Joe Fernandez and Gigi Fernandez. Though Mary Joe and Jennifer Capriati have partnered several times throughout that season, Gigi Fernandez was the highest ranked American to play doubles, so these two got together especially for the Olympics, having only played one event together before, a minor tournament in Milan in 1991 (which ended too early for them). As second seeds, they truly were favorites, but very few expected them to take away the gold, which was what they did.

The top seeds simultaneously moved into the second round with double bagles over their opponents. With Helena Sukova not participating, the Czechs weren't that highly favored as usually. The pairing of Jana Novotna and Andrea Strnadova was just a minor favorite. They fell in the quarters to the strong Aussie-pairing of Rachel McQuillan and Nicole Provis - guaranteeing just another medal for the australian team (similar to the 1988 doubles).
Russians Leila Meshki and Natasha Zvereva were seeded fourth and truly to be considered a favorite as Zvereva was one of the hottest doubles players that season. They stormed through the draw without dropping a set and got past Patricia Tarabini and Mercedes Paz, the seventh seed Argentines, in the quarters, securing a medal for their country.

Suprisingly all 8 seeded doubles made their ways into the quarters. 6th seeded South Africans Mariaan de Swardt and Elna Reinach were rock solid and didn't drop a set.
Tarabini/Paz had a more troublesome time with a hard worked first round win which was followed by an easy second round win.
Isabelle Demongeot and Nathalie Tauziat teamed up again for France like they did in 1988 and again reached the quarters (this time as 8th seeds), but fell short to the top seeds from Spain.

Though unseeded, the german pair of Steffi Graf and Anke Huber was truly to watch in the draw. They won their first round easily but had back luck in facing second seeds and eventual champions Fernandez/Fernandez in the second round. It was a blockbuster match which the Americans won closely 7:6 6:4.

All quarterfinals were straight set affairs with Fernandez/Fernandez brushing past the South Africans, Meshki/Zvereva moved past Tarabini/Paz, Novotna/Strnadova fell to the aussie-pairing and Demongeot/Tauziat didn't show enough against Martinez/Sanchez-Vicario.

Down there where the medals were on the line, competition should've been closer, but Martinez/Sanchez-Vicario weren't willing to make it a close affair, cutting short of McQuillan/Provis 6:1 6:2.

Fernandez/Fernandez had a tougher time again in playing Meshki/Zvereva. They won 6:4 7:5 to earn themselves a shot at gold.

As the final was set in Barcelona, the crowd was hugely supporting their home team. However, pressure must've been too high and their opponents in Fernandez/Fernandez have proved themselves as a team, getting past strong opponents in the draw. They held nerves in the opener, winning 7:5. The spanish pairing regrouped to win the second set 6:2 but the americans eventually gained control again in the third, winning 6:2 to finally win the gold medal. Just another gold for the States, the second in doubles after 1988.

Though being that successful at the Olympics, Fernandez/Fernandez only teamed up in Fed Cup for their country and only entered a regular WTA event as a doubles team in 1996, when the next Olympic Tennis event was on the line.

Wrapping up the week

Another tournament week has just passed and the WTA tournaments in Montreal and Stockholm saw new winners, one of them also a first time WTA-Event winner.

Dinara Safina finished her campaign. I saw her match against Schnyder, she looked rock solid in all her movements. She's got the timing, she always had the shots. Now she has the patience and reduced unforced errors, I would bet a lot on her winning that hard court swing US Open series and eventually do well at the US Open itself. But that's another story on another piece of paper.
Her toughest match came in the quarters against Sveta, but Dinara survived. She also overcame a second set collaps in her semifinal against Victoria Azarenka. Finally, unseed Dominika Cibulkova appeared to be overwhelmed by playing her first Tier I final and after taking out Dementieva, Petrova, Jankovic and Bartoli, she must've been all pleased. Engine off...
Congratulations to Dinara for this victory, she's making her way up in the circle of the top players this season.

The blonde Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark secured her first WTA tour title ever at the Tier IV Event in Stockholm. Having had to play both the semifinal and final today, the danish teenagers didn't falter long and wiped away defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska in the semis and then whitewashed unseed Vera Dushevina from Russia in the final 6:0 6:2. She didn't drop a set throughout the whole tournament and will be one of the future players to watch if she continues to improve like she does.

On the ITF curcuit german Anna-Lena Grönefeld continued her comeback run with just another ITF-Title run, this time at the 75.000 $ event in Rimini/Italy. She outlasted no other than Spaniard Lourdes Domingues-Lino in the final easily with 6:1 6:2. Grönefeld didn't drop a set throughout the tournament and will move up in the rankings again. Since her return to professional tennis in May this year she has now won five ITF-Titles. I doubted it before, but it looks as if we will be seeing more of her in the future.

Austrian Patricia Mayr won the other ITF tournament this week in the Ukraine also in fine fashion without dropping a set. She is currently ranked 170 in the world but will move higher due to that victory.

Step back in time: Olympics 1992 Women's Singles

The second olympic tennis tournament took place in 1992 in Barcelona on red clay. The top seed was defending champion Steffi Graf, who was then world No. 2 (behind Seles, who didn't play) and just crowned Wimbledon-Champion.
The draw was much more packed than in 1988, with many great names.
Sanchez-Vicario was second seed and home-favorite. She reached the semis, but fell under the pressure of winning gold in her home-town.
American Jennifer Capriati was seeded 3 though being without a title in 1992 so far. She ended up playing brilliantly and winning the gold medal in the championship-match against Graf. At that time, it was a big upset, but Capriati proved to be in-form just on-time. She made the semis without dropping a set and only went the distance against Sanchez-Vicario and Graf.
Follow Cap's match point again at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F9lX5-vCjI

American Mary Joe Fernandez was seeded 4th and was a solid performer so far that season, including a run to the Australian Open final. However, she didn't manage to win many titles but somehow was always there. She did what she had to do in reaching the semis (though being almost out second round against Hy-Boulais (CAN) and fell short again to Graf in straight sets.
Sanchez-Vicario and Fernandez both received the bronze medals, play-offs for that medal only started in 1996.
5th seed and home favorite Conchita Martinez had bad luck with the draw, being in the Sanchez-Vicario quarter and these two met in the quarters with Sanchez-Vicario holding the upper hand.
6th seed Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere (playing for Switzerland for the first time) already had a bronze medal to her name. Her carreer was almost over and her younger sisters Katerina (already a long-time top 10er) and Magdalena were on the rise and both participated. She fell short to Mary-Joe in the quarters, though winning the opener 7:5 but then only won one more game in the next two sets.
7th seed german Anke Huber was on the rise and always dangerous. She threatened Cap in the quarters, but couldn't harm her enough.
8th seed Katerina Maleeva was drawn to play Steffi Graf in the quarters but was the early big casuality of the tournament and only seed to not make the quarterfinals. 16th seed Sabine Appelmans advanced instead but got whitewashed by Graf 6:1 6:0.

Other names in the draw included Jana Novotna (seeded 9) who got knocked out in the first round by Natasha Zvereva, austrian Barbara Paulus who made the second round but fell to Huber and 13th seed Mary Pierce in action for France, who lost a thriller against Yayuk Basuki from Indonesia after a 6:0 opening set with 3:6 8:10.

The best matches involved Jennifer Capriati when she took out Sanchez-Vicario and Graf and proved that she can win big titles. She didn't manage to win Slams in the 90s, only after her glorious comeback.

Down to 4!

It's down to the last four at the Tier I event in Montreal. While Safina's victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) didn't come that surprising, world No. 2 Jelena Jankovic succumbed to unseed Domnika Cibulkova (SVK) in straight sets. Jankovic stated that she felt powerless and lost concentration after being up 5:1 but couldn't find a way back into the game.

Safina fought it out from the baseline with her also hard hitting countrywoman. Expectations were high that this would be the match of the day and it really turned out to be.

Maid Marion from France continued her great hard-court run with just another straight set victory over Ai Sugiyama, but needed medical treatment on her foot during the second set, which might cause her trouble in today's semis.

As many before, Tamira Paszek wasn't able to add one more victory after her stunning performance against Ana Ivanovic. Victoria Azarenka was one shot too good and guaranteed herself a semi-final place, her second at a Tier I event after Berlin earlier this season.

Semi-Final action will take place tonight with Bartoli taking on Cibulkova and Azarenka on Safina. I bet Cibulkova in three, Safina in straight sets.

Step back in time: Olympics 1988 - Women's doubles

A pretty weak field of players represented their country in doubles compared to todays attendance at the olympics. The top seed team was Pam Shriver & Zina Garrison (USA) who got a first round bye as their second seed opponents on the other side of the draw in terms of Steffi Graf and Claudia Kohde-Kilsch from Germany. The byes already put these two teams into the quarterfinals, only one match away from a medal.
Third seed Czech pairing Helena Sukova and Jana Novotna overcame the korean double of Kim and Lee in first round to reach the quarters, whilst that year's Roland Garros runner-up Natasha Zvereva teamed up with Larissa Savchenko for the USR as the fourth seeds. They easily overcame a mexican pairing to reach the quarters.

Shriver and Garrison came to action in the quarters, having only played one event together, the Canadian Open 1988 where they lost in the finals. The french pairing of Isabelle Demongeot and Nathalie Tauziat only gave them a hard time in the opening set, as Shriver/Garrison advanced 7:5 6:2.
Sukova and Novotna easily beat Japan's Inoue and Okamoto to advance to the semis, whilst Graf and Kohde-Kilsch had to suprass the canadian pairing of Carling Basset-Seguso and Jill Hetherington in three sets.
To that date, Graf and Kohde-Kilsch have only teamed up in national events such as the Fed-Cup or now the olympics and had an unbeaten record of 3 wins and no loss, including the Fed-Cup title run 1987 against the USA.

The 4th seeded Zvereva and Savchenko fell to the aussie combination of Elisabeth Smylie and Wendy Turnbull, securing Australia an important medal in tennis-competition.

The Semis were straight set affairs with Shriver and Garrison having trouble with their Australian opponents in both sets, but they advanced 7:6 (4) and 6:4.
Graf and Kohde-Kilsch's run finally came to an end when Sukova and Novotna beat them 7:5 6:3.

The final was a very close and high-class affair, that the american team won in a dramatic third set 4:6 6:2 10:8.
Sukova and Novotna came close to winning gold but they would get further chances at the next two olympics. It was the only title that Shriver and Garrison won together.
Germany and Australia took home the bronze medals.

Olympic Update: A closer look at the ladies in singles action

Check out this link here to have a closer look at the partcipating players in women's singles at the Beijing Olympics 2009. The list is not yet up-to-date with Maria Sharapova also withdrawing due to her injury.
It's a packed field with both Williams' in the draw, the serbians, an in-form Safina, fomer gold-medaillist Lindsay Davenport and Alize Cornet waving the french flag as Marion Bartoli decided not to play the Olympics. China itself send their best with Li Na, Peng Shuai, Zi Yan and recent Wimbledon semi-finalist Jie Zheng.

Pick your favourites for gold, silver, bronze!

Davenport talks about the Olympics

Don't miss this short and nice interview with Lindsay regarding the olympic games and her memories of Atlanta 1996. Lindsay will be participating in the Beijing olympics in singles and doubles (alongside Liezel Huber).

Stunning day 4 in montreal

A day full of high value tennis was brought to court on thursday in Montreal although one of the scheduled matches became a walkover for Ai Sugiyama, as Maria Sharapova withdrew from the tournament. Minor news were made as Dinara Safina powered past Patty Schnyder 6:2 6:2. Safina again proved that she improved a lot to the player she's been just a year ago. Schnyder was given a tough time, although the crafty swiss used her angles but Safina had the better answer in most of the moments. It wouldn't surprise me to see Safina win back to back titles in L.A. and Montreal.

Marion Bartoli and Anna Chakvetadze were on court at the same time but couldn't finish their match as rain set in at 4:6 4:5 for the russian. Stepping back on court, Bartoli fought off match points in the second and eventually took home the second set 7:5. The third set continued to be the close affair it's been before, with Bartoli finally advancing 7:6 (4) in the tie-break. This was Bartoli's third victory over Chakvetadze this season, improving to 3:1 overall. She will next face Sugiyama in a rematch of the Stanford semifinal two weeks ago.

Top seed and world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic was ousted by teenage sensation Tamira Paszek (AUT) 6:2 1:6 6:2. I think it was just about time that Paszek would finally score a breakthrough result, so here it is. Ivanovic stated that she was hampered by a hurt right thump, but it apparently didn't bother her that much that she kept on playing.

Jelena Jankovic herself continues to send home one canadian after the other, this time surpassing canada's No. 2 Stephanie Dubois in straight sets. By reaching the final at the rogers cup Jankovic will become the new world No. 1 player.

Olympic Update: Sharapova withdraws

Maria Sharapova just announced her withdrawal from the olympic games in Beijing starting next weekend due to the shoulder injury she suffered earlier that season at Indian Wells. It got worse again in her second round match against Marta Domachowska (POL) which Maria won in a hard hitting baseline fight 7:5 5:7 6:2. She hopes to be fit for the US Open. This is a loss for the packed field at the olympic games as Sharapova was truly one of the medal-favorites. There's still no news on who will take her place next week.

Step back in time: Olympics 1988 - Women's Singles

The olympics kick off in roundabout 8 days and with that, the olympic tennis event. The ladies will battle it our for gold, silver and bronze, pretty much as they did at the past olympics, which wasn't always the cause.

In 1988 Tennis regained the olympic status as an amateur sports and so the ladies (and gentlemen of course) were able to compete again. In 1984 - for those of you who wonder - tennis was also part of the games but no medals were given away.

The 1988 games will be remembered as the only golden slam ever achieved in tennis history, as Steffi Graf not only managed to win all four slams, but she also took home the gold medal in Seoul.
Here's a look at the top seed ladies and the biggest upsets:

1. Steffi Graf (GER) - ended up winning gold
2. Chris Evert (USA) - fell round of last 16 to Raffaella Reggi (ITA)
3. Gabriela Sabatini (ARG) - eventual silver medalist
4. Pam Shriver (USA) - struggled in all round, esp. round of last 16 against Katerina Maleeva and lost to 8th seed Zina Garrison in QF
5. Helena Sukova (TCH) - early round victim to unknown korean player
6. Natasha Zvereva (URS) - lost to Sabatini in QF
7. Manuela Maleeva (BUL) - knocked out surprise Quarterfinalist Raffaella Reggi to reach semis and win the bronze medal
8. Zina Garrison (USA) - knocked out Countrywoman Shriver to reach the semis and win the only medal for the states in singles competition (expectations were on Shriver and Evert). Lost in the semis to Graf.

Steffi Graf won the final 6:3 6:3 against Gabriela Sabatini and took home the gold medal. It's been the only gold medal for Graf at olympic-events.

Other names in the draw that became more important in the near future were players such as Jana Novotna, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario or Nathalie Tauziat. All of them lost too early to really have a medal-chance.

Let me follow your thoughts on these "retro"-olympics ;-)

In the spotlight: Michelle Larcher de Brito

It's about time for a new face on the women's curcuit and this young portugese started making some noise in the past weeks on the WTA tour. After pushing Serena Williams to three sets in Stanford she fell in the third round of the Roger's Cup in Montreal to the ever fickle Sveta with 5:7 6:2 4:6. I haven't seen the match, unfortunately, but from her results in the past, she might be one to put on the "watch list". She made her way all through the qualies and got past Vania King (ok, that's not that much of a problem lately) and the in-form Flavia Pennetta (recent L.A. finalist). I had high expectations that she might cause a big upset here.

Being from portugal, she moved to the states to train at the Bollettieri Tennis Acadamy but quit in 2007 to be fully trained by her father. She still lives in Florida now. I reckon we will be able to hear more from this young lady in the future.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I decided that it's time for a new blog that fully concentrates on women's tennis and the WTA tour. I try to keep you updated on matches, match results, other news and a bit of everything else. Every comment is highly appreciated, let's chat about the girls...