Australian Open Day 11: Fell Asleep on the Couch

Curtain Call

Player: Li Na
Nation: China
Age: 27
Current Ranking: 17
Notable Conquests: Caroline Wozniacki (4th seed, Denmark) and Venus Williams (6th, USA)
Tour Page
Today's Result: loss to Serena Williams (1st, USA) in straight sets

With her run to the semis, Li will be the first Chinese woman in the top 10.

I missed the tennis entirely last night. It was a rather tiring day with the car fiasco and I was fighting to stay awake by 8:30. I was disappointed that the Tennis Channel did not run the men's doubles semifinals at 7 as advertised. I will always prefer a live match to a replayed singles match from the night before but I suppose that puts me in the minority. Regardless, I didn't stand a chance of lasting until 9:30 for singles.

I've also been posting these at TalkAboutTennis and a commenter yesterday suggested the Ivanovic/Dulko match as comparable to Li/Williams as a "painful match to watch." I missed that one - just as well, I guess!

Catching Up with Old Friends

Marin Cilic (Curtain Call, US Open Day 11) - No doubt, big tournament for Cilic! No title this time but it does seem inevitable that he'll grab a Slam sometime. Many prefer his game to that of del Potro (4th, Argentina). I'm not quite there but he has to feel good about gaining some revenge against JMDP by taking him out in the fourth round. The Argentine had beaten him in the quarters at the US Open. Cilic also rung up Andy Roddick (7th, USA) in the quarters. Sadly, he couldn't duplicate his US Open upset of Andy Murray (5th, UK) in the semis. There's no question, Cilic is a star in the making. We'll see plenty more in years to come.