Anna at the French Open

Anna will be seeded at this year's FO. She reached the semis in Warsaw, and I expect her at least to reach the 3rd round at RG

As long as she is fully fit and has a reasonable draw I think she should reach at least the third round. I'm sure her personal goal is to go much further (and I hope she does!), but that's the minimum to defend her points from last year.

Hopefully that injury won't stop Anna from having a good Roland Garros. She can have a nice run if she is fit and playing good tennis like she has been for the last several weeks. :cool:

Yes, with a decent draw she can reach at least the 3rd round. Go Anna :hug: :smooch:

I saw last year two matches from Anna - two wins

Anna showed a really good and clever match against Paola Suarez
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1998/ac144op.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

an easy win against Klara Koukalova
http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/9780/ac239se.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

and Anna was always in good mood beyond the matches
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/2408/ac322wu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

as she played against Maria Sharapova and lost I was no longer in Paris.

I will be pleased seeing this year good matches from Anna too

(4) Maria Sharapova RUS vs Mashona Washington USA
Iveta Benesova CZE vs wc Pauline Parmentier FRA (wc)
Alicia Molik AUS (wc) vs Antonella Serra-Zanetti ITA
Anda Perianu ROM (q) vs (28) Lucie Safarova CZE

(24) Katarina Srebotnik SLO vs Anna Smashnova ISR
Jelena Kostanic CRO vs Ashley Harkleroad USA
Hana Sromova CZE vs Roberta Vinci ITA
Vera Zvonareva RUS vs (14) Dinara Safina RUS

(9) Francesca Schiavone ITA vs Alona Bondarenko UKR
Nathalie Vierin ITA vs Martina Müller GER
Virginie Pichet FRA (q) vs Kirsten Flipkens BEL (q)
Bethanie Mattek USA vs (17) Flavia Pennetta ITA

(27) Anna Chakvetadze RUS vs Eva Birnerova (q) CZE
Na Li CHN vs Amy Frazier USA
Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP vs Mara Santangelo ITA
Laura Granville USA vs (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS

I'm afraid she's still injured... so winning the first round would be good... winning the second round --> excellent:banana:

I'm afraid she's still injured... so winning the first round would be good... winning the second round --> excellent:banana:

If she's still injured it would be desperately disappointing - for us and for her. She's had a few days to recover and get ready. She's a fighter, I think she'll give it her best shot.

http://nastya1.free.fr/rg2006/vesnina_chakvetadze.jpg

http://nastya1.free.fr/rg2006/chakvetadze01.jpg

Credit to east_players on the GM. :yeah:

:awww:

Chakvetadze bt Birnerova 7-5 6-4

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2126/chakbirnrg06r1stats5af.jpg

The conditions today were very windy and unsettled so accuracy was extremely difficult. This match was very close for long periods.

I'll still stand by my comment that Anna needs to work very much on her second serve. It was getting picked off today I think. Breaks were swapped at crucial moments.

Luckily Anna had the fortitude to really hold it together before she was forced to a tie-break or lost the set. Tough but she's through. :)

Excellent, well done Anna!! :bounce: :worship:

Good job Anna! :D

Doubles draw

Anya/Lena's quarter:

Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez (8) vs. Lucie Hradecka/Martina Sucha
Stephanie Foretz/Antonella Serra Zanetti vs. Anna Chakvetadze/Elena Vesnina
Lourdes Dominguez Lino/Maria Sanchez Lorenzo vs. Severine Bremond/Sophie Lefevre
Ashley Harkleroad/Bethanie Mattek vs. Gisela Dulko/Maria Kirilenko (11)

Ting Sr Li/Tiantian Sun (14) vs. Maureen Drake/Nicole Vaidisova
Amy Frazier/Vania King vs. Iveta Benesova/Barbora Strycova
Jelena Jankovic/Tina Krizan vs. Maria-Emilia Salerni/Maria Vento-Kabchi
Carly Gullickson /Bryanne Stewart vs. Zi Yan/Jie Zheng (4)


I hope they can win their first round. They've not had much (any!) doubles success in main draws this year.

Singles - second round
Li bt Chakvetadze 7-5 6-3 :sad:

http://img309.imageshack.us/img309/7229/chaklirg06r2stats8te.jpg

Anna made a few too many unforced errors, was not able to convert enough of her vital break points and possibly returned a little less well than she can. Also, I think Na Li dealt much better with the two rain delays during the match, particularly when they stopped with Anna due to serve to stay in the first set at 5-6. Maybe it was down to inexperience on Anna's part.

Ladies Doubles - first round
Chakvetadze/Vesnina bt Foretz/Serra Zanetti 6-4 6-3 :D

Anya and Lena had a good match here and led from the start. They've worked hard to get their first main draw win this year. (Hopefully they haven't suffered at all from an alleged confrontation with Aravane Rezaï and her father, reported by L'Equipe yesterday.)

Next up, number 8 seeds Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez.

Mixed Doubles

Anna's quarter:

Rennae Stubbs AUS/Todd Perry AUS (5) vs Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP/Sebastian Prieto ARG
Anna Chakvetadze RUS/Julian Knowle AUT vs Nicole Pratt AUS/Pavel Vizner CZE
Vera Zvonareva RUS/Andy Ram ISR vs Alizé Cornet FRA/Jeremy Chardy FRA
Tiantian Sun CHN/Simon Aspelin SWE vs Cara Black ZIM/Kevin Ullyett ZIM (2)

2nd round:

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/7279/achakvetadze2rfrenchopen200600.jpg

Doubles - first round

http://nastya1.free.fr/rg2006/chakvetadze_vesnina.jpg

Credit again to east_players. :)

:awww: Anna is very cute, pity she couldn't continue in Draw.

Mixed Doubles - first round
Nicole Pratt/Pavel Vizner bt Anna Chakvetadze/Julian Knowle 4-4 ret. :sad:

Poor Julian Knowle got injured so Anna's mixed doubles adventure is somewhat short-lived.

Ladies Doubles - second round
Chakvetadze/Vesnina bt Ruano Pascual/Suarez [8] 6-2 2-6 8-6 :worship:

A hard fought win over the Queens of Roland Garros Doubles! Vivi and Paola have reached the final here many times so it is the best win Anya and Lena have had so far.

Ladies Doubles - third round
Chakvetadze/Vesnina bt Dulko/Kirilenko [11] 6-3 6-4 :yeah:

Good result against quality opponents. And into the Quarter Finals!

http://img342.imageshack.us/img342/2745/annaelena8ic.jpg

After victory over Gisela and Maria.
Credit: Nouf (merci beaucoup!)


http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/9514/anna6yy.jpg
Credit: Nouf

Anna's RG over with this loss in Doubles

(4) Yan/Zheng d. Chakvetadze/Vesnina 46 62 61

Birmingham, then Wimbledon next for Anna :awww: :hug:

(4) Yan/Zheng d. Chakvetadze/Vesnina 46 62 61


They had an amazing run in the doubles at RG. It totally makes up for the sucky year they had together so far. :yeah: Also they pick up ranking points and a heap more money.

Bring on Birmingham!