Day Eight Roundup

Davenport vs Kuznetsova



Svetlana's all "Errr, I'm losing. I'm going to blind Lindsay Davenport with the glare from my braces." Didn't work!

Svetlana Kuznetsova gave Lindsay Davenport a few problems, but that's not surprising. Kuznetsova is 9 years Davenport's junior and is a grand slam champion herself (US Open). It's just too bad that one of them had to win and one of them had to lose, but Davenport was the clear winner: 7-6 (7-1), 6-3.



Cool, calm, and confident...just how I like to see Lindsay Davenport.

Amelie Mauresmo vs Anastasia Myskina

Anastasia Myskina's series of lucky escapes came to an end on Tuesday with a definitive straight sets win by the Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo. The score was 6-3, 6-4. It was a pretty dull match because it was one-sided, but it's always interesting to see a happy Mauresmo doing her magic stuff at the net.



"Losing is hard work!"



"I'm barely breaking a sweat! Eat my drop shots!"

Mary Pierce vs Venus Williams



"Jesus, make her stop!"

Mary Pierce fell to Venus Williams 0-6, 6-7 (10-12) in the weirdest match of the quarterfinal. This match seemed like a microcosm of Pierce's career, with all of her weird facial and body tics on display and uneven, inconsistent tennis played with a confidence problem. When she's on, she's ON...but she wasn't on today, and Venus was most assuredly in good form. I'm glad to see Venus doing so well.



"Check this out, she's sucking her THUMB y'all!"

Nadia Petrova vs Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova was really challenged for the first time in this tournament by the 8th seed Nadia Petrova. Maria Sharapova has been showing worrying breaks in form when she has been in the slightest bit challenged which may not bode well for her. She faces Venus Williams on Thursday. Maria Sharapova may be confident since she has beaten Williams in straight sets both times they've played each other, but she was facing a Venus not at her best in 2004 and 2005. Venus Williams has won Wimbledon twice so she knows what it takes to succeed here. This ought to be a VERY interesting matchup.

"Bring it on, Venus!"

Jana Novotna and Tracy Austin

Jana Novotna and Tracy Austin are in the Women's Over 35 Doubles, which is played round-robin style. They went out and drubbed their opponents in straight sets yesterday, which was lovely. Jana Novotna has an interesting history at Wimbledon. In 1993, she blew a 6-7, 6-1, 4-1, 40-15 lead against Steffi Graf in the women's final and was sobbing on the Duchess of Kent's shoulder at the trophy presentation.

She managed to win the elusive Wimbledon singles title in 1998 after losing the 1997 final to Martina Hingis. I was watching all of Jana Novotna's Wimbledon finals. I was rooting for Steffi Graf in 1993, though I can't remember why; I was a huge Monica Seles fan in the 1990s and Seles had just been stabbed that spring and there was a lot of Steffi Graf-hating going on. I was annoyed at Martina Hingis for winning the 1997 match, but I was so happy for Jana Novotna in 1998 that I actually cried almost as much as she did when she won the title. Good times.

John McEnroe

The bitch is back! Love the pirate look. Arrr, matey!

John McEnroe saw action at Wimbledon for the first time since 1999, when he and Steffi Graf competed in mixed doubles. McEnroe is competing in Men's Over 45 doubles. He and his partner, Peter Fleming, beat John Feaver and John Lloyd 6-3, 6-4. Some of the older among you may remember John Lloyd from when he was married to American tennis superstar Chris Evert. It was great to see so many of the old greats on the court.