[kittyking]

Originally Posted by ...[Harvs]...

should win the first match IMO and then could beat petrova... shes probably one of the best seeds to draw based on current form...

i dont mean to diss marina in anyways cause she cant help it and uses them anyways but my god she has been getting easy draws this year... besides dokic in AO qualies and cirstea... she has been getting very good draws against out of form players, WC's etc...

not meaning anything by that... iv just noticed that looking at her activity tho

Thats a debatable point. As you know players often have tournaments where they play quite good at, so the fact that Marina beat two former finalists of Auckland in Auckland was quite impressive (winning a tense 3rd set tiebreak in one of them is even more impressive!). Also when you look at her results at Fed Cup. 6 months ago she was ranked outside the top 150, now shes solidly in the top 100 so the expectations of who she 'should' beat has changed dramatically.
According to the bookies shes a slight underdog against Marta plus even Marina admits that shes not a very good clay court player yet. Marina has not peaked yet, trust me!

On a side note, neither has Ellen or Sacha

[kittyking]

(1)King/Nakamura (USA/JPN) v Erakovic/Hercog (NZL/SLO)
Poltoratskaya/Tsybycheva (RUS) v Jugic-Salkic/Senoglu (BIH/TUR)

(4)Rodionova/Rodionova (RUS) v Amanmuradova/Woehr (UZB/GER)
Ditty/Klepac (USA/SLO) v Cirstea/Domachowska (ROU/POL)

Clerico/Palkina (ITA/KGZ) v Arvidsson/Osterloh (SWE/USA)
Chvojkova/Grebenyuk (CZE/RUS) v (3)Craybas/Govortsova (USA/BLR)

(wc)Krivencheva/Ozgen (BUL/TUR) v Dubois/Obziler (CAN/ISR)
Buyukakcay/Koumantou (TUR/GRE) v (2)Kudryavtseva/Muller (RUS/GER)

A pity that they are versing the top seeds. Polana Hercog's specialty is clay (pretty crappy on all other surfaces which is why shes outside the top 200) - plus shes pretty cute which always helps

[NZ tennis fan]

Good luck Marina versing Marta
Should be an interesting match up, hopefully marina comes out on top

[Harvs]

whens her first match?

[kittyking]

Tonight, 4th match on the outside court

Doubles either tomorrow or the next day

Just saw the latest prices from the bookies
Marta - 1.50
Marina - 2.50
I've put 10 bucks on Marina so I'll celebrate with a bottle of pinot noir is she wins

[bavaria86]

Marina lost to Domachovska 6:7 3:6
She was up 3:0 and had so many chances
I think she will be so happy when the clay court season is over

[NZ tennis fan]

Hard luck marina
She cant quite break through on the clay, although she certaintly hasnt been outclassed in either of her matches against top 100 players, so its a big improvement on her previous clay results.
Hopefully she draws a wild card or another player who struggles on clay at roland garros.
Then again it would be great experience for her if she drew someone like maria or serena
Oops i forgot she is still doubles in istanbul, hopefully she can break her clay court duck in that

[kittyking]

Marina was up 3-0, but she was also down 5-4 Marta serving for the set and she managed to draw level despite all the momentum being with Marta. She wasn't outplayed, the second set was only 1 break.

Hopefully not a French Wildcard (they all have claycourt games!!!) Best if Marina versus someone with a hardcourt game who is ranked well below her

If she wins her first round match shes into the Olympics. From what I've heard NZOC won't object to her participating there, and so she's be the first woman in 20 years to compete there
If not Marina will probably be heartbroken, I remember an interview she gave to TV3 a few years ago when she said that if she didnt make Beijing then she would be extremely dissapointed

[kittyking]

Marina plays her first round doubles today against the top seeds - 3rd match on Court 2
Her partner is the only claycourt specialist, so could be a good match
The more experience Marina gets the better plus the extra cash

[kittyking]

Current score in Marinas doubles match (against the top seeds!)

..........5-0! Serving for first set!

[kittyking]

Simply incredible!

Erakovic/Hercog (NZL/SLO) def (1)King/Nakamura (USA/JPN) 6-0 6-2!

[bavaria86]

Marina
that is a great achievement for her so hopefully they can win some more rounds here

[kittyking]

Saw the odds for their next match.....they pay 5-1 odds

Match is on tonight on Centre Court (mostly because Ipek is in it)

[kittyking]

Incredible match just finished, was following it with Alex from start to end. Never thought Marina would be able to pull it off. They were down countless amount of match points!!!

[kittyking]

Marina vrs Maria Kirilenko in the first round

Um, what can I say - bugger?