Player: Simone Bolelli
Age: 25
Nation: Italy
Current Ranking: 116
Notable Conquest: Stanislas Wawrinka (14th seed, Switzerland)
Today's Result: lost to Richard Gasquet (17th, France) in straight sets
Photo via world sports
Bolelli made it to the main draw as a lucky loser. He caught a break in the first round, drawing another qualifier: Martin Fischer (Austria). But his second round victory carries no asterisk. Wawrinka's not as strong on grass as he is on hard courts but he's still made the fourth round of Wimbledon twice. Bolelli deserves high praise for that takedown.
Catching Up with Old Friends
Ivan Ljubicic (Curtain Call, Roland Garros Day 9) - Ljubicic put up a valiant effort against Andy Murray (4th, UK) today. His third round finish matches his career-best showing at All-England. It's an improvement on last year's first round exit, too. As such, he may be in position for a seed at the US Open.
Rebecca Marino (Curtain Call, US Open Day 3) - Marino had a rough day today, losing two doubles matches. First, she and partner Ipek Senoglu (Turkey) lost in ladies' doubles to Natalie Grandin (South Africa)/Vladimira Uhlirova (Czech Republic) in straight sets. Later, she and mixed doubles partner Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) fell to Rajeev Ram (USA)/Alexandra Dulgheru (Romania), also in straight sets. Perhaps I can cushion the blow for her by awarding her The Golden Squid!
Photo via TennisTweets.com
Image via Tenhand
Marino made it to the second round of the singles draw in her very first Wimbledon. In fact, she made her first appearance in each of the four Slams over the past four months and managed to make it to at least the second round of each. Her ranking has sky-rocketed during that period as well. She was ranked #101 at the end of 2010 but now stands at #44. She is currently the top-ranked Canadian woman to boot. As if that weren't enough, according to her tweets, she uses Hello Kitty Band-Aids. My daughter would be very pleased.
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