Mid Week Tournament Updates

Sorry for the delay in blogs.  Bowl games and lack of important tennis news are to blame.  I want to say hello to the nation of Denmark.  It looks like I may have found a regular who lives there.  Is that you Caroline?

The ASB Classic being played in Auckland, New Zealand has reached the semifinal stage.  The tournaments defending champion Elena Dementieva chose not to defend her title this year, but the tournament offers an alright field in Flavia Pennetta, Na Li, Yanina Wickmayer, Francesca Schiavone, Dominika Cibulkova, Shahar Peer and others.

Tomorrow's semifinal pairings look like this:

Flavia Pennetta  vs.  Francesca Schiavone

Yanina Wickmayer  vs.  Shahar Peer.

Looks like getting "the fork" has made the Peer a little angry and wants to prove me wrong, along with the moronic dipshit Palestinians who are heckling her in Auckland just based on the fact she is Israeli.  Hey assholes she doesn't hold office and has as much say in the government as the piece of lint i picked out of my belly-button.  With that said  she will lose to Wickmayer, and Pennetta will defeat fellow Italian, Schiavone in the other semi. I like Pennetta to win this tournament with a 3 set victory over Wickmayer.

The Brisbane International in Brisbane, Australia has reached the semifinals on the womens side.  This tournament featured the return of Justine Henin to competitive tennis, along with fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters.  Ana Ivanovic, Nadia Petrova, Daniela Hantuchova, and Aleksandra Wozniak are some of the other notables in the field.

The semifinal pairings:

Kim Clijsters  vs.  Andrea Petkovic

Ana Ivanovic  vs.  Justine Henin

I look for Clijsters to roll over the young German, Petkovic.  Also I like Ivanovic to beat a "rusty" Henin, who had a tough 3 set match where she had to win 7-6 in the 3rd set over "Midland jobber" Melinda Czink.  Henin doesn't look like she is all-the-way-back, and Ivanovic will get the win.  Ivanovic will continue on and take the title over Clijsters.

The men are also playing in Brisbane, and defending champion Radek Stepanek is playing well once again. The men though have not reached the semifinal round.  The top half of the bracket is in the quarterfinals that will be played tonight,  while the semifinals is set in the bottom. (comeback to this posting tomorrow and I will have an update on the semifinal matchups.)

UPDATE:  Semifinal Matchups;

Andy Roddick  vs.  Tomas Berdych

Gael Monfils  vs.  Radek Stepanek

I predict Andy Roddick will have a fairly easy time with Berdych, and Stepanek will upset Monfils to reach the finals.  Roddick will beat the defending champion Stepanek in the final.

Another mens event is the Aircel Chennai Open, being played in Chennai, India.  The defending champion Marin Cilic is in the field along with Robin Soderling, Stanislas Wawrinka, and Janko Tipsarevic.  After them, the tournament field gets much weaker... The shocker of the tournament was #1 seed Soderling losing to Robby Ginepri.

This tournament is only in the quarterfinal stage and these are the matchups:

Lukas Lacko  vs.  Dudi Sela

Stanislas Wawrinka  vs.  Michael Berrer

Thiemo De Bakker  vs.  Janko Tipsarevic

Santiago Giraldo  vs.  Marin Cilic

Pretty weak eh?  I can't see how this won't be a Wawrinka-Cilic final.  Maybe, Tipsarevic can upset Cilic, but Cilic plays well at this venue and I think will defend his title.

The Qatar Exxon Mobil Open in Doha, Qatar, features probably the best field of all the tournaments.  Defending champion Andy Murray chose to skip the event, but top players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko did make the trip.  Also solid players like Mikhail Youzhny, Viktor Troicki, Ernests Gulbis, and "Dr. Ivo" Ivo Karlovic are playing this week as well.

Semifinal matchups:

Roger Federer  vs.  Nikolay Davydenko

Viktor Troicki  vs.  Rafael Nadal

Look for Federer to win a tough close match with Davydenko, and Rafa to just crush Troicki.  Leaving a Federer-Nadal matchup where Rafa coming off a easy victory and rest will edge Federer in the final.