The Whole Delivery

Watch live video from vstreams.net on Justin.tv 1: 27 PM And Safina survives again, this time over Kristina Barrois 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3. Her countrywomen and long time friend, Elena Dementieva, is locked in her own battle with elimination with 17 year old American Melanie Oudin, who is the top ranked American in the WTA outside of Serena and Venus. A third set, with Oudin up an early break. 2:03 PM And there it is, Melanie Oudin has knocked out Elena Dementieva 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, the number four seed. It was a terrific performance by the 17 year old from Georgia, and see earned this one, no question about it. Obviously, massive disappointment for the Russian, who was favored by some to win her first Grand Slam title. Oudin, who battled through craps, captures clearly the biggest win of her young career.

4-2 down in the third set to 18 year old Aussie Olivia Rogowska at the start of this post. LIVE! Watch live video from vstreams.net on Justin.tv Updated at 3:15 PM- And the top ranked player in the world survives 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4. And the only positive for Safina is a funny one...."She didn't break a racquet." That was a great interview.

Photo from FFT (Safina is one step closer to her first Grand Slam) Dinara Safina is one step closer to quieting all the critics by consolidating her number one ranking with her first Grand Slam title. Only her countrywoman, two time finalist stands in her way. Safina was all business today in her semifinal against the game Dominika Cibulkova. Despite seven double faults, Safina advanced to the finals of Roland Garros for a second consecutive year with a 6-3, 6-3 victory. The 20 year old Slovakian, in her first Grand Slam semifinal, exhibited the grit that has lead her near the Top 10 in the WTA world rankings, making the top ranked player earned every bit on the court today. The scoreline flattered Safina, because the match was much more arduous than the end result showed. Both players had the same amount of break points chances (eight), but Safina converted half of them while Cibulkova only broke once. For Kuznetsova, her task was harder however, as the veteran Australian Samantha St...

Photo from Matthew Stockman of Getty Images (It was completely ugly today for Sharapova The yups were once again prevalent for Maria Sharapova today. A comeback and another dramatic three set win, however, was not. The three time Grand Slam champion crashed out in stunning form to Slovakian riser Dominika Cibulkova by the convincing score line of 6-0, 6-2. In fact, if it wasn't for the American Russian's grit and determination to not give up, the match could have easily ended up 6-0, 6-0, as Cibulkova was one point away from doing just so. Instead, Sharapova fought off four match points and had the crowd behind her to try to possibly make a historic comeback (a far cry from last year where the crowd was excoriating her with boos in her dramatic defeat to Dinara Safina in the 4th round). But Cibulkova displayed terrific grit and stayed the course, scoring the biggest win of her career in advancing to her first Grand Slam semifinal. And that opponent facing her in that semifinal ...

Photo from FFP and RolandGarros.com Dinara Safina is still just 22 years old. She is number one in the world, and playing the best tennis clearly of anybody right now (and that extends pass the women's game and even into, well, Mr.Nadal territory). She is no longer one of those inconsistent players that just can't push into the Top 5 (let alone the Top 10) like she was 14 months ago. Instead, she may remain one of the game's elite players, especially on clay, for a long time. Despite all those auspicious factors, however, if Dinara Safina does not win the French Open in this current fortnight, her best chance at winning a Grand Slam will go away...forever. A lot of things point in the favor of Marat Safin's sister to win this tournament besides her form, and that was before her utter demolition of British number one Anna Keothavong today by the score of 6-0, 6-0. Her main competition at denying her the title she should win are currently hobbled, off form or both. Seren...

Photo from tennis.com In the major where Dinara Safina had better win and any American man reaching the fourth round of the tournament is an accomplishment, the French Open has started happily. No rain so far, but great thrilling tennis. In the match of the day, Lleyton Hewitt just beat the nemesis who ended his days at number one back six years ago in an all time Wimbledon shocker, Ivo Karlovic, in a five set thriller. Hewitt was down two sets to none, and someone, produced one of his classic warrior mentality moments to advance. The horribly out of form Ana Ivanovic, who some thought wouldn't even be able to defend her title here because of her right knee, had another shaky start to a tournament with an arduous 7-6, 6-3 win over the game Sara Errani of Italy. And hey, Marat Safin still exists, and on his best day the Russian still can play worth more than a damn. He showed that today in easily dispatching a name a lot of people (including myself) never saw before in Frenchmen A...