[Mitten Kitten]

keep it going alex

[Curcubeu]

French Open, Round 2:

Sorana Cîrstea def. (27)Alexandra Dulgheru 6:2 7:5

The wind queen is back!

Such nice serve stats in singles and doubles and back to shit again! It was very windy in Paris today which doesn't suit her game at all, but still...

On the other side, I'm very happy for Sorana to take advantage of that and now she has a good shot against Li to do even more!

Match stats:
http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/sc...10/2218ms.html

18/33

BP conversion sucks as always: 3/10

There was also one long break at the beginning of the first set, so I don't hope that there was something wrong with her...

Now get ready for the grass season which can't be worse than the one on clay, really...

[Mitten Kitten]

i really didn't see this happeining i'm happy if sori can fnd back some form, but i really expected Alex to do better here in Paris

[Curcubeu]

We all know Grass is the new Clay!

She won't play the week after RG, but at Hertogenbosch the week after she has to defend a semi...
and if she is likely to be unseed at Wimbledon she could probably go out in R1 there as well and further down the rankings.

At least it should prevent her from only entering the biggest tournaments in the second half of the year: She should really consider to play the ones like Baku, Tashkent, Dallas or Washington to get some easy points there as well as Acapulco, Pattaya or Kuala Lumpur at the beginning of the new year, just to get her ranking and confidence back!

And considering that she hasn't played that much matches, she should be pretty fit, too.

[WhoAmI?]

The clay season has been more than disappointing

What's her schedule after Wimbledon?
I agree, she should play some of those little (clay) tournaments. Get some confidence and candy.

[Curcubeu]

She has the week after RG off, then Hertogenbosch (unseeded ), 130 points to defend, and Wimbledon (unseeded ) 160 points to defend...

After that I guess she plays Budapest and Bad Gastein on clay like last year, but we should wait for a confirmation!

[Mitten Kitten]

considering that she had a terrible caly season i think she should play some MM tournaments on Harc court to get confident for USO

[Dorien.]

Alex

[Curcubeu]

Upset #10 seed Peng/Zheng in doubles together with Rybarikova...

Urpi's coaching works well...

Fun aside, that and her semi in Rome also in doubles show that it has apparently nothing to do with her abilities, though the double concurrence is of course not the same, but compared to last year, she made a huge step forward, so why can't she show that in singles, at least the service should be better...

But still an important win for her self-confidence!

[A-Chak]

Disappointing RG for Alex

Pick it up on the grass

[Curcubeu]

I was in bad mood and searched for this hilarious thread:

http://www.tennisforum.com/showthread.php?t=399058

Awesome!

I hope she can step it up on the grass!

[Curcubeu]

The week after Wimbledon she will play the event in Bastad instead of Budapest this year...

Really no clue why she changed events.

Now see her playing Palermo instead of Bad Gastein the week after and probably Baku instead of Tashkent.

EDIT: Probably because of Pennetta who is also coached by Urpi and plays Bastad and Palermo

[WhoAmI?]

Bastad looks to have a strong field then After all world #1 will be there and a couple from top 20.

[Curcubeu]

1 WOZNIACKI, CAROLINE, Danmark
2 KANEPI, KAIA, Estland
3 PENNETTA, FLAVIA ITA; Italien
4 DULGHERU, ALEXANDRA, Rumänien
5 SAFAROVA, LUCIE, Tjeckien
6 REZAI, ARAVANE FRA, Frankrike
7 DOMINGUEZ LINO, LOURDES, Spanien
8 ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA, BARBORA, Tjeckien
9 BENESOVA, IVETA, Tjeckien
10 HERCOG, POLONA, Slovenien
11 DUSHEVINA, VERA, Ryssland
12 LARSSON, JOHANNA, Sverige
13 KERBER, ANGELIQUE, Tyskalnd
14 ARVIDSSON, SOFIA, Sverige
15 KUDRYAVTSEVA, ALLA, Ryssland
16 AMANMURADOVA, AKGUL, Uzbekistan
17 CORNET, ALIZE, Frankrike
18 MARTINEZ SANCHEZ, MARIA JOSE, Spanien
19 PARRA SANTONJA, ARANTXA, Spanien
20 LUCIC, MIRJANA, Kroatien
21 HLAVACKOVA, ANDREA, Tjeckien
22 CIRSTEA, SORANA, Rumänien
23 YAKIMOVA, ANASTASIYA, Vitryssland
24 DOLONTS, VESNA, Ryssland

Actually not that hard, apart from Caroline

But Alexandra seems to like playing only the biggest events of the year!

[Curcubeu]

WTA Hertogenbosch, Main Draw:

[7] R Vinci (ITA) vs. P Hercog (SLO)
A Dulgheru (ROU) vs. Qualifier
[WC] L Robson (GBR) vs. A Parra Santonja (ESP)
A Brianti (ITA) vs. [3] Y Wickmayer (BEL)

Great draw and badly needed!

She has to defend 130 points here!