Posts Tagged ‘arantxa rus’


Lukas Rosol upsets Rafael Nadal– Is this the greatest upset in tennis history?

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

(Lukas Rosol, Wikimedia Commons)

In what could be the most stunning tennis upset in history, Spain’s Rafael Nadal, the world’s number two seed, was eliminated in the second round of Wimbledon.

But it is who Nadal lost to that is leaving people’s head scratching. Nadal lost to the world’s 100th ranked player, Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

Rosol is making his first appearance at Wimbledon after not being able to qualify for Wimbledon over the last five attempts.

It was Rosol’s serve that was overpowering. In his final service game he delivered three aces. Rosol had 22 overall.

But is this the greatest tennis upset ever? I say no. My pick is still Daniel Nestor’s remarkable Davis Cup win over world no.1 Stefan Edberg of Sweden in Vancouver in 1992.

With Lacko’s win, it clearly opens up the lower half of the bottom draw, and given opportunities to a vast number of players to come through.

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Williams stunned at French Open–Was it necessary to cry?

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

Seren Williams (Fergal Carr, Wikimedia Commons)

The first round of the 2012 French Open is now concluded and the most intriguing match was actually thee final one scheduled.

Home-country favourite Virgine Razzano of France delivered a remarkable comeback and then needed every shot available she had at her disposal to upset Serena Williams of the United States 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Williams was leading Razzano at one time 5-1 in the second set tie-break, before she lost the next six points.

There are a couple of remarkable statistics from the match. This is the first time in 47 Grand Slams that Serena Williams lost in the first round. Also, only two of 11 Americans lost in the first round, with the other being Jamie Hampton, who lost 6-4, 4-3 before retiring to young Dutch tennis sensation Arantxa Rus.

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Clijsters eliminated from French Open

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

Kim Clijsters (Wikimedia Commons)

Normally when the number 114th ranked player in the world defeats the world ranked number two, it is considered a gigantic upset of large proportions.

However when I heard the news that Kim Clijsters, the 2010 U.S. Open Champion and 2011 Australian Open champion had lost to up and comer Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, I wasn’t too surprised.

Why?

Well, before the French Open, Clijsters injured her foot while at her cousin’s wedding. While dancing barefoot, she turned her ankle, and had her toe stepped on. On Thursday, she was clearly favouring her foot, and limped off the court after her loss.

At 100%. she would have easily beaten Rus, the 2008 Australian Junior Open Champion, but the bad foot was clearly a factor in her performance.

In the men’s side, there were a few upsets. Eighth seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria lost to Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-7, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.

Other seeded men’s players to lose included  American Sam Querrey,  Russian Nikolay Davydenko, Cyprian Marcos Baghdatis, German Florian Mayer and South African Kevin Anderson.

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