Thursday, August 16, 2007

DOU: Day of Upsets

It's hard to recall a day more ridden with upsets in the tennis world. Yesterday, six seeded men lost in Cincinnati while four seeds fell on the women's side.

The biggest of surprises came in the form of Rafael Nadal's and Novak Djokovic's losses - Nadal, retiring to Juan Monaco and Djokovic losing in straights to Carlos Moya.

While tournament organizers and fans cringe at draws ridden with pull-outs and early-round losses of big names, the hope is that all systems will be a go for the US Open, which starts in 11 days.

Marion Bartoli may have found her track again, winning the first set over Maria Kirilenko convincingly before the Russian retired with an injury in the second. Ana Ivanovic, defending champ in Toronto, won just four games in her second round loss.

"I'm disappointed I couldn't stay a bit longer," Ivanovic said in her presser. So were Anna Chakvetadze and Lucie Safarova, two other seeds who were bounced from the competition.

Your Cincinnati/Toronto champions ladies and gentlemen? Roger Federer and Justine Henin, who both won in straights yesterday.

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