Frances should be soon about 10 mins or so,I hope.

banging at each other from the baseline but it's fun to watch.

Just returned from lunch. Freakin' a, what happened to Gilles?! I shouldn't have left him ...

Thanks for thinking of me, guys. Now I'm cursing that whole, "If Gilles doesn't win, then I won't be conflicted tomorrow" sentiment. :(

some crazy FHs by 'dasco in the last few minutes.

CL,
i think much of it is the clay (despite him being a junior FO champ i don´t think that is "his" surface ;)).
he didn´t win a single match last year at a clay MS event for example.
on balance i still think he´s having a great year so far. career high no15 ranking this week, two titles already and only very few wtf? losses to people he should beat.
dunno, i think he´s doing okay. not woohoo! great! right now, but i´m not alarmed. *shrugs*

Allow me to demonstrate re Verdasco's do:

Mowhawk -www.detentionslip.org

plus

Smurf -old-wizard.com

equals Verdasco's style

I guess I should just subscribe to Tennis.TV. Damn my computer, I just want to destroy it...
But, if Reeshie wins, I swear I'm not going to complain.
Allez Leettle Reesh. Allez Linz's Bracket.

I guess I should just subscribe to Tennis.TV. Damn my computer, I just want to destroy it...
But, if Reeshie wins, I swear I'm not going to complain.
Allez Leettle Reesh. Allez Linz's Bracket.

Wow what a b/hand volley by gasquet

it's been a while since I've seen Gasquet playing this well.

JJ sure does not look happy with the way things go. I'm kinda rooting for Lisicki, girl has no fear :)
And Reeshie saves a bp to take the lead 4-3. Very impressive bh indeed.

superb serve game by gasman, couple of nice volleys. he's playing really well. on serve 4-3.

another great volley by Gasquet to win the game.. both the guys have saved a BP each, till now.

Richard is learning that he can't stay in the match with just his much-vaunted BH because Nando's lefty FH is naturally drawn there. He needs that thing called a FH.

Great hold!

FANTASTIC matches going on simultaneously in the ATP and WTA. I feel incredibly spoiled right now. This is why I love tennis.

buduour: a year of tennis tv comes out to 7 dollars a month for just atp or if you want both atp and wta about 10 a month. not a bad deal.

Bismarck, if you are happy, (relatively speaking of course), I'm happy. Didn't watch too much of Marin pre last year's HC summer season, so I didn't know that clay wasn't his thing.

well.. that level of play by 'dasco could be demoralizing for anybody.

oh dear - looks like battle of the headcases may have started.

linz, I agree. don't know what to watch at the moment :)

'I guess I should just subscribe to Tennis.TV. Damn my computer, I just want to destroy it... '
budour, have you tried logging to betfair or bet365? it's free and works very well..

Linz,
What is the score of Jelena/Sabine? ATP/WTA scoreboard decided to crash.

Hello: Does anyone know if Nadal will play today? Thanks

what time does Rafa's match start?

hott sauce just broke reeshie's serve.

MA: 2-2 15 all in the 3rd

Rafa and Sod are on the court baby!.. certainly it won't make it easier for me to decide what to watch :)

sorry that was wrong. i read the score wrong.

wtf.. he stream abruptly changed to the center court!

Rafa just walked onto the court a minute ago...

okay, now hatt sauce serves at 5-4.
i'm going to check out center court.

*the stream..

perhaps it's good that the stream changed.. Reeshard has been broken.

Nooo...my stream switched to Rafa and Verdasco broke!!

In WTA land, Jankovic held, it's on serve 3-2 in the third, neither player showing signs of going away.

His backhand couldn't save Richie on the last two points.

Nando to serve for the set 5-4!

best wishes!!!! rafa!!!

Hi everyone. Glad Rafa is finally on the Court. He does not seem to have the best luck with scheduling...

Jackie, if you are still there, so sorry about your husband (GS). Zverev is on fire this week.

Allez Richie!

this stream still has Nando/Gasquet;

http://channelsurfing.net/watch-internazionali-bnl-d-italia-2.html

Linz,
Can you please post the link for Stuttgart so I can save it for Saturday? Safina/Hantuchova and Pennetta/Petrova still have to play. Wondering if they will move one match to Court 1.

JJ breaks while Nando saves 2 bps.

Arun -- http://fr.justin.tv/hermizzle19

MA, I didn't realize that Paes/Dlouhy had moved on up to rank 3.
that's awesome.

crap.. 2 BPs have been wasted in this game already.

Jankovic breaks to go up 4-2 in the second. Interesting stat- both players have a 100% BP conversion- Liscki is 3/3 and Jelena 4/4 this match.

Lisicki is showing lots of guts still going for her shots, we'll see if she can break back....

Come on, Verdasco, hole to get the first set.
Vamos!!!

jmac and gh: Thanks.

MA: I'm watching here: http://www.justin.tv/gledaisport_ars. It doesn't have any sound at all, which is frustrating, but at least I can see!!

JJ breaks :-((((
Come on, Sabine!

hmmm.. I thought the point would be replayed.. rough deal?

"hole"= "hold" :-)))

5-all

is The Beast on court? cant believe theyre going away from Baby Fed and The Hair for the Beast's boring blowout match...

Gasquet breaks back 5 all

Yeah Rafa is on court with his fav player

Vamos Rafa! lets bury him no?

Richard converted at the controversial 4th BP. Back on serve.

Does the "GIRLS, SET, MATCH" thing bug anybody else like it does me? It sounds like an Upper East Side stripper sports bar.

WOW!!!!!! Lisicki breaks back after being down 0-40 on Jankovic's serve!!!!! INCREDIBLE TENNIS!!!!

And Lisciki breaks back! Great game. Nerves of steel that girl has.
Is Rafa playing yet? I certainly don't want to miss that.

wow! both pplayers are still 100% in their break point conversion...what a match....

love lisicki!

i also love jelena!!!

Plainsong, he just started

JENN! I was just thinking about you last night ... wondered how you were doing ...

Yeahhhh, Hubby seems to be a bit lost. :(

pedestrian service game by Reeshard.. fittingly loses his serve again.

Yeah - Gasquet broke back! please hold on and get a win for yourself.

oh no, Tim is back. Please don't start again - ok?:)

anyway, got to go pick up my car. good luck to all!

hi linz..do you know those two players who are watching this match? i recognize agnnieszka radwanska,,,don't recognize the other one?

pls linz...pls answer....thanks!

Very upset about Caro's lost, just when she gets close to making the huge break throughs, she takes a step backward. She should have beat Bartoli if she want to start to make her run for the all important slams. I support my favorites win or lose, but still disapointed. These are the times when I miss Justine the most because she always beat the players she was suppose to. Go Caro, Scandinavia's #1!

thanks MJnanny! *switching streams*

Come on JJ!

Jon's latest tweet is intriguing.

http://twitter.com/jonstennistweet

Another high quality stream for the Rafa match is :http://zulu.mk/kanal5-plus (please copy paste in address bar as opposed to clicking on the link)

still 100% conversion rate!

i think jelena's gonna win...

fight lisicki!

And then JJ breaks back at love!

OOP is out for tomorrow.
lst up is djoko and delpo
2nd is fed and zverev
3rd is rafa or sod and nando or gas

last in evening is gonzo/monaco

gee slice Rafa? dropped short? you paid for that

A horrible service game from Lisicki allows Jankovic to break back and now serve for the match...the first bad game I've seen from this match.

Hi Pat! Unfortunately I haven't seen the players you are talking about, but I will try to pay closer attention.

I hope Lisicki breaks back, I'm not ready for this match to end!

I just want to say, what a giant FU this poll on the front page is:

"Who was the weakest ATP Tour No. 1?"

a.k.a. how can we offend the player and all his fans, not to mention anyone else who just doesn't like to see great men and women disparaged by someone on their high-horse. Aren't there better questions to be asking?

Go Sabine go!

1st set to Verdasco.. 7-5

jj wins!

Hey Jackie - been lurking, very busy! These back to back to back tourneys are tough to keep up with in terms of trying to watch all the matches, read comments, etc. For some reason this season I am feeling like these clay court warm ups don't really matter that much in terms of what is likely to happen in Paris, so I have a bit of warm up tourney burn out syndrome! I sense that a lot of these players are treading water a bit, getting their fitness up and "gathering information" for the big show in Paris. Results in Rome will not have much of an impact, IMO. Murray is an example - I expect him to come very strong in Paris and make a run to the semis (or further). Rafa will likely be Rafa in Paris no matter what else happens.

No matter how hot you start off the blocks, with the spectators oohing and aahing your strokes, you play it loose just once and everything goes down the drain.

And that's the way Richard played the first set, doublefaulting that last loose game.

W/UFE

Verdasco 15/16
Gasquet 13/19

Breakpoints won

Verdasco 2/4
Gasquet 1/5

Aaaw, I am sad to see the match end but I am glad Jankovic is playing well again.

I became a fan of Lisicki during that Charleston final and I am so glad she is continuing to play at a high level- she can take a lot of good things from this match, as Jankovic wasn't handing her things- they were both playing great.

Now it's Dinara's turn...I'm still holding my breath =)

JJ wins. Great match indeed. It looked like no 4 and 5 were playing not no 4 and 40-something.
Ok off to watch some snooker... naah :]

'dasco is riding on that momentum and 3 BPs for him.. Gasquet is.. well.. Gasquet. :(

And, following up on the prior comment, I think Fed will be Fed (meaning the normal good Fed) in Paris and put in a high level Grand Slam performance despite any early round losses leading up.

I think Nando will run away with the 2nd set if Richard gets broken early.

0-40 and broken at 30-40 with a BH to net.

Good stuff from Soldering. Rafa with a tough hold there. Good quality tennis. Soldering is finding his range.

The thing I noticed about Sabine's game in the first two sets that I saw was that when she misses she misses very well as is very wide or very long many at times a true high risk high reward or high risk high error game.

Meanwhile they showed Caro and Aggie during one of the sets smiling and chatting away :)

Sam Elin - I think Caro has played a lot this season and should be pacing herself by now. I thought she would not play Stuttgart. She is bound to have a loss early sooner or later and Marion Bartoli is not a push over so I don't think it was a bad loss or necessarily someone Caro *should beat* She should just rest up and prep for the larger tournaments.

i love sabine's attitude,,,,,

i think sabine had the groundstrokes...she had the serve...he movement though is not that reat compared to jelena, but she can run and slide fast...

what's lacking with sabine, for now, is the mental fortitude...though she displayed coming back at jj's serve down 40-0...and cameback to win the game...sabine needs more of it to come through grand slams...she needs to overcome tough break points like 0-40 at her serve, she didn't fight to hold it....

she needs it....

love to see her more..

jj had held it at the end, her experience held her through this match....good luck jj........

interesting stat about the match: both players maintained 100% break point conversiono rate...good match!!

The Wall just keeps returning that ball doesnt he?

congrats to JJ fans, hopefully she'll play Nadia next

and Verdasco won the first set, that's a good news. Come on, Fernando, now you have to win, Gasquet will probably go into the "headcaseness" mood after a loss of the first set after all that fighting. Vamos, Verdasco!

switched to Sod-Rafa 2 mins ago...eeeeenteresting.

Tim, I am new here so maybe I just don't know how this works...i don't recall reading alot of snide comments during Federer's match???? Can you give it a rest???

back on serve in the 2nd set.. 1-all

Surprisingly, Richard got the break back.

He played that last point with a weary BH just rallying and getting the ball back until Nando nets a BH.

"The Wall just keeps returning that ball doesnt he"

that reminds me of the Roddick commercial he did, playing some block and couldn't hit through, and then he dropshoted it :-))
can't remember what was the commercial for, but your question reminded me of it...

Wow! Rafa finally holds after 15 minutes. Soldering hitting with great depth and purpose. Looks like we're in for a battle. High quality tennis out there. Nice!

Mjnanny,
I would say just ignore him.
He is just a wall, a one dimensional poster... boring I tell you, lol

hi linz im sad sabine lost...but she did all that she could....jj had the mental edge....

have you seen the winner's stat???? sabine had more winners,,,like she had ten more winners....

is dinara's match gonna be shown on the same channel on justin.tv?

MJ: just scroll. he tries to start stuff. don't give him anything.

Thanks Tfactor...always good advice...I am constantly reminding my boys to do the same :-)

soderling looks a tad annoyed that maybe rafa is taking too long before serving. but then again he always looks like that.

You too, Annie :-)...

One of the comms mentioned Soderling's "groins" - too much information.

haaa.. Gasquet...

Jason says

Rafa's shots are putting a little extra on Soderlings groin muscles."