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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS (Wimbledon, England; grass; Grand Slam)
================= http://www.wimbledon.org/
Contents
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1. Photos
2. Third-round TV-report: Chakvetadze v Rodina
3. Fourth-round draw/preview
4. Andrew's wishes
5. Order of play for Monday

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1. Photos
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Day 5 photos including Anna:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7477371.stm

Many players (Anna on Monday 23rd and Friday 27th June):
http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/gallery?pg=1&cap=1

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2. Third-round TV-report: Chakvetadze v Rodina (Friday 27th June)
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+ ANNA CHAKVETADZE [8,EF] d. Evgeniya Rodina, 6-4 6-3

Another up and down performance from Anna, who is making a lot of
errors on the third stroke of the rally when she's serving, and
rushing between points too much for my liking (except at 5-2* in the
second, when she actually made Rodina wait by putting her hand up a
couple of times).

But she hit some lovely winners too, and I'm very relieved to get
past Rodina, who had given Maria Sharapova a huge scare in the first
round of the French Open.

Rodina broke first for *2-1, but Anna broke back immediately, and
came through a long game of four deuces and three break-points to
hold for 3-2*. Rodina played a sloppy service-game to put Anna *5-3
up, but Anna failed to serve it out, then squandered three set-points
at 5-4* before a two-hour rain-delay at Deuce #3.

Anna handled the rain-delay much better than Rodina. She came back
out and won the two points required to take the first set, sealing it
with a pinpoint forehand winner down the line. She then raced to a
5-0* lead in the second set faster than you can say "Anna
Djambulilovna Chakvetadze".

But Anna made a worrying finish to the match, throwing in two double
faults and two unforced errors as she served for the match at *5-1.
She then missed two match-points at 5-2* as Rodina held after three
deuces, then three more at *5-3 (40/0) went begging. But then Rodina
made two forehand errors - I was very relieved that Anna closed it
out when she did.

Anna hired Glen Schaap as her new coach last Friday. Schaap used to
coach Nadia Petrova, and once, after Petrova played Sharapova, he
picked up Yuri Sharapov and dumped him in a dustbin!

I loved the description of this match in the BBC's _Today at
Wimbledon_: "Chakvetadze, Chakvetadze, let down your hair. The little
Russian didn't let down her fans on Court 11. After facing a match-
point in her first round, no one has been able to deal with the
return of the Chak, who hasn't dropped a set since."

I'll post my full TV-report at a later date.

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3. Fourth-round draw
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* Zheng,Jie [WC] v ÁGNES SZÁVAY [15] (jia you Jie!)
* ANNA CHAKVETADZE [8,EF] v NICOLE VAIDIŠOVÁ [18,EF] (see below)
* AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA [14] v SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA [4] (dawaj
Agnieszka!)
* Bethanie Mattek v SERENA WILLIAMS [6] (go Bethanie!)

* SHAHAR PE'ER [24] v ELENA DEMENTIEVA [5] (kadima Shahar!)
* Alla Kudryavtseva v NADIA PETROVA [21] (think I prefer Kud.)
* Alisa Kleybanova v VENUS WILLIAMS [7] (davai Alisa!)
* JELENA JANKOVIC [2] v Tamarine Tanasugarn (ajde Jelena!)


3.1 Chakvetadze v Vaidišová preview
-----------------------------------

Anna and Nicole have set up a mouthwatering fourth-round match
against each other, which I didn't even dare to predict before the
tournament began, given the slumps they've both been in recently -
particularly Nicole.

Nicole lost 6 matches in a row prior to Birmingham, where she got two
wins, but then suffered a dreadful 6-3 6-0 loss to Bethanie Mattek,
followed by another poor, error-strewn performance to lose 6-2 6-4 to
Olga Govortsova at Eastbourne. Nicole has tended to tank sets and
matches that are going badly, and her confidence seemed to be at an
all-time low.

However, Nicole has displayed very impressive form at Wimbledon so
far:

NICOLE VAIDIŠOVÁ [18,EF]:
1r + Zuzana Ondrášková [Q], 6-2 6-2
2r + Samantha Stosur [WC], 6-2 0-6 6-4
3r + Casey Dell'Acqua, 6-2 6-4

At times, she has looked virtually unplayable, serving amazingly.
However, her second-set tank against Stosur was alarming to watch, as
she didn't look like she wanted to be on court at all.

Anna has also been a slump since winning Paris in February, although
her results have been merely mediocre, rather than as spectacularly
bad as Nicole's.

Anna survived a massive scare in the first round, being 3-5* down in
the third set and saving three match-points. Her next two rounds were
much more straightforward, although her form in them was very up and
down - she's been pretty erratic at times, especially on the third
stroke of the rally when she's serving. She's hit plenty of flairsome
winners, though.

ANNA CHAKVETADZE [8,EF]:
1r + Stéphanie Dubois, 2-6 6-1 8-6
2r + Edina Gallovits, 6-4 6-2
3r + Evgeniya Rodina, 6-4 6-3

Nicole leads their head-to-head 2:0, but both matches came at a time
when Nicole was in the top 16 and Anna was outside the top 30:
+ 2006 Australian Open 2r: Nicole 6-2 6-1
+ 2006 San Diego qf: Nicole 3-6 6-4 6-3

Anna will be keen to prove that she's come a long way since the
Australian Open 2006, but it all depends on which Nicole shows up,
because her form so far this Wimbledon has been either extremely
brilliant or extremely bad, and her confidence seemed so fragile
against Stosur.

If they will both be playing as well as they did in their third-round
matches, then I would predict Nicole to win. If Nicole's serving
well, then it will be very tough for Anna to stay with her; she'll
need her one-two punches to be working much better than they have so
far this Wimbledon.

Signs to look out for:
* Anna's one-two punch: if Anna is off-form, she'll miss a lot of
shots on the third stroke of the rally when she's serving;
* How Nicole handles short balls: if Nicole is off-form, she'll miss
a lot off shots off short balls that she should be punishing.

Who do I want to win? That's a tough one, with them both being
members of my Eternal Fanship. Reaching the quarter-finals of
Wimbledon would be huge for either of them after their slumps, but
since Nicole reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon 2007, I feel
that this year should be Anna's turn.

I also feel that Anna deserves it more in terms of her attitude: she
wants it so much, while Nicole has done a lot of tanking recently,
and lacked focus in her matches.

I'm hoping for a hard-fought, high-quality match, with Anna winning
in three sets, but not so tiring that she won't be up for her quarter-
final on Tuesday.

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4. Andrew's wishes (updated after Saturday)
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ANNA CHAKVETADZE [8,EF]
4r + NICOLE VAIDIŠOVÁ [18,EF]
qf + Zheng,Jie [WC]
sf + Bethanie Mattek
_f + SHAHAR PE'ER [24]

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5. Order of play for Monday
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Court One (start 13:00 BST = 12:00 GMT)
WS 4r: ANNA CHAKVETADZE [8,EF] v NICOLE VAIDIŠOVÁ [18,EF]
MS 4r: MIKHAIL YOUZHNY [17] v RAFAEL NADAL [2]
MS 4r: Marat Safin v STANISLAS WAWRINKA [13]

I am delighted that the mouthwatering Anna v Nicole match will be on
Court One, although I admit I'm surprised that they got show-court
billing ahead of the Williams-sisters, Jankovic and Dementieva - all
of whom are seeded higher and more famous, but have been consigned to
outside courts.

Perhaps the OoP-committee recognises that Anna v Nicole is one of
only two fourth-round matches between two seeds (the other being
Kuznetsova v Radwanska, which is on Centre Court), or that neither of
them have played on a show-court so far this Wimbledon. Or maybe Anna
and Nicole are more popular in England than I realise.

It's also an upside to Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic's early
exits, of course (I would have sacrificed Ana without hesitation if
that would have made the difference between seeing Anna v Nicole on
TV or not, but I would have sold my soul to prevent Maria's loss).

So far this Wimbledon, I can't remember any singles-match on Centre
Court or Court One not being available on Freeview BBCi, so if I
don't see Anna v Nicole on Monday, I shall cry.

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/chakv/