Beijing 2008 Results - Round of 16

With the 3 top mens seeds through to the next round, Day 4 saw few upsets to the big name players, with only Nalbandian losing and Serena pushed to 3 sets.

Here's the results of Day 4 play:

• Monfils - Nalbandian 6-4 6-4
• Blake - Simon 6-4 6-2
• Mathieu - Kiefer 6-3 7-5
• Federer - Berdych 6-3 7-6
• Gonzalez - Rochus 6-0 6-3
• Djokovic - Youzhny 7-6 6-3
• Nadal - Andreev 6-4 6-2
• S Williams - Cornet 3-6 6-3 6-4
• Jankovic - Cibulkova 7-5 6-1
• Dementieva - Wosniacki 7-6 6-2
• Safina - Zheng Jie 6-4 6-3
• Li Na - Kanepi 4-6 6-2 6-0

Big Guns Through

Another rain-free day of tennis in Beijing today. No major upsets for the big-guns of tennis with all 3 mens top-seeds making it through to the next round.

Roger Federer avenged his second-round defeat in Athens 4 years ago when he beat Tomas Berdych in stright sets, 6-3 7-6. Meanwhile, Spain's Raphael Nadal posted an easy 6-4 6-2 victory over Russian, Igor Andreev, while 3rd-seed, Novak Djokovic overcame Mikhail Youzhny, 7-6 6-3.

James Blake and Fernando Gonzalez also move to the next round.

On the women's side, China's hope of Olympic glory sufferred a blow when 2008 Wimbledon semi-finalist, Zheng Jie was overcome by the power play of in-form Russian, Dinara Safina, 4-6 3-6. Li Na is still in the running with her 3-set win over Kanepi of Estonia.

The William's Sisters, Jankovic and Dementieva all moved to the quater-finals.

Day 5 should be a better day for tennis-viewers because it's being shown on Astro Supersport. Transmission starts at 10.15am, Malaysian Time (see Astro Channel 826 for details).

Interesting Day 4 Match-ups

Day 4 again promises a great day of tennis - weather permitting - and a couple of tie-ups look promising:

Firstly, Roger Federer will hope that he cries tears of joy when he faces Tomas Berdych - his second-round conqueror in Athens 4 years ago. Fed-Ex wept after the Athens loss and hopes to make amends this time round; in the hopes of recapturing some of the form that has so eluded him this year.

I'm also hoping to see the David vs. Goliath match between small-sized Oliver Rochus of Belgium and hit or miss big-hitting Chilean, Fernando Gonzalez.

On the women's side, China's new star-player, Zheng Jie takes on in-form Dinara Safina. I hope Zheng can harness the power game of her Russian opponent by returning well and keeping her opponent back with her penetrating ground-strokes - just as she did to reach the 2208 Wimbledon final.

I'm also looking forward to the Elena Dementieva - Caroline Wosniacki tie. If the Russian can serve well, she has a good chance of moving to the next round. The up-and-coming Danish teenager is no push-over though and if she can keep calm at this huge world setting, she has the chance to progress to the next round.

Beijing 2008 Results - Tuesday (Round of 32)

No weather problems affecting today's play and the temperature was a relatively cool 26 degrees Celcius during the morning session. Humidity was a high 75% and players were seen using ice-packs during change-overs.

The latest results for Tuesday's matches are as follows:

• Gonzalez - Cilic 6-4 6-2
• Federer - Arevalo 6-2 6-4
• Nalbandian - Massu 7-6 6-1
• Mathieu - Davydenko 7-5-6-3
• Nadal - Hewitt 6-1 6-2
• Simon - Canas 7-5 6-1
• Berdych - Seppi 6-3 7-6
• Dementieva Arvidsson 6-3 6-4
• Jankovic - Bondarenko 7-5 6-1
• Safina - Matinez Sanchez 7-6 6-1
• S Williams - Stosur 6-2 6-0
• V Williams - Benesova 6-1 6-4
• Zheng Jie - Llagostera V 6-7 6-1 6-4

China off to Flying Start, Williams Sister Through

China's bid for Olympic glory on home turf got onto a great start when three of their players went through their tricky first-round encounters.

China's Li Na overcame Russia's Svetlana Kutsnetsova 7-6 6-3, Wimbledon 2008 semi-finalist, Zheng Jie beat Agnes Szavay of Hungary, 4-6 6-3 7-5, in a marathon 2 hr 50 min match while Peng Shuai defeated Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro, 7-5 7-6.

Both William's sisters also went through their first-round encounters with relative ease, as did Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

Murray Out

Andy Murray has his sights set on the US Open after failing to capture Olympic tennis singles glory, when he fell in the first round to Taiwan's Lu Yen Hsun, 7-6, 6-4.

Novak Djokovic should be breathing a sigh of relief at this unexpected loss - Murray beat him at the recent Cincinnati Masters.

Andy is still in the hunt for gold as he's in the doubles competition with his brother, Jamie.

Beijing 2008 Results - Monday (Round of 64)

Much better weather meant a better day for day 2 of tennis at Beijing 2008.


The latest results are as follows:

• Llodra - Stephanek 4-6 7-6 11-9
• Djokovic - Ginepri 6-4 6-3
• Lu - Murray 7-6 6-4
• Andreev - Querrey 6-4 6-4
• Federer - Tursunov 6-4 6-2
• Monfils - Almagro 6-4 3-6 6-3
• Hewitt - Bjorkman 7-5 7-6
• Nalbandian - Zeng 6-2 6-1
• Nadal - Starace 6-2 3-6 6-2
• Dementieva - Bondarenko 6-1 6-4
• Li Na - Kutznetsova 7-6 6-3
• Zheng Jie - Szavay 4-6 6-3 7-5
• Williams - Bacsinszky 6-3 6-2
• Williams - Govortsova 6-3 6-1
• Cornet - Vaidisova 4-6 6-1 6-4

Federer and Nadal Through

Both powerhouses of tennis are through to the next round of Beijing 2008.

Federer is through in straights sets against Dmitry Tursunov, 6-4 6-2 but Nadal had to work a little harder to beat Italy's Potito Starace, 6-2 3-6 6-2.

Federer has warned Nadal that he is ready to reclaim his throne as the world's best player - the title which Nadal is set to take come August 18.

Nadal will meet Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the next round.

Beijing 2008 Results - Sunday (Round of 64)

Although suffering a major rain delay due to heavy downpours in Beijing, there was still much tennis to be played.

Here's the results of Sunday's Round of 64 competition:

• Berdych - Yu 6-1, 6-2


• Blake - Guccione 6-3, 7-6


• Davydenko - Gulbis 6-4, 6-2


• Gonzalez - Sun 6-4, 6-4


• Stosur - Errani 6-3, 6-2


• Wozniacki - Sfar 6-4, 6-1


• Pironkova - Domachowska 6-3, 6-4

Organisers say that the rain delay will not affect the schedule of play for subsequent days and play should hopefully resume again today.

Roddick's Loss Affects US Open Preparations

Injured Andy Roddick's US Open preparations were tested today when he went down in straight sets, 6-1. 7-6, to Argentine youngster, Juan Martin Del-Potro at the Los Angeles Classic.

Roddick received treatment for a lower back problem halfway during the first set but succumbed to the 19 year old's strong play.

Del-Potro won the tournament without dropping a set and is his 3rd successive title.

Ana Ivanovic's Olympic Dream Ends

Having lost her world #1 ranking to Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic's Olympic dream came to an abrupt end when she withdrew from the Beijing Olympics, due to a nasty thumb injury.

According to her, she picked up the injury after coming back from short break after Wimbledon and hasn't been able to practice since.

She joins the ever increasing crock list of player withdrawals from the Olympics - including Ivan Ljubicic, Ivo Karlovic, Lindsay Davenport & Maria Sharapova.

To be honest, I'm a little sceptical about players withdrawing from the Olympics so close to the US Open in a few weeks time. Perhaps they feel the US Open is a bigger event in terms of prestige, money and glamour?

Let's see how much of a "miraculous recovery" each one makes during the US Open? Only time will tell...

Who Is The Satchman?

About Me:

I'm Tom and go by the handle, "Satchman" or "4ever10is" on many online Tennis forums including Tennis.com, Tennis-Warehouse.com & Yahoo Answers Malaysia (tennis).

I'm a keen tennis enthusiast, having played the sport for more than 12 years. I follow the latest trends, players, tournaments & equipment, as frequently as I can and I'm constantly trying to find that holy grail of the perfect racquet, string, tension and play style, in order to improve myself to model the great Pete Sampras and lately, Novak Djokovic.


How I Got Started:

I remember the time when I first started tennis - in particular, the difficulty in selecting racquets for a particular play style and play level. Demo racquets and programs were almost non-existant where I was (and still is a major problem till today) and we were limited to what was on offer, what was imported and what the coaches were selling.

In fact, I got so frustrated because many sales-people only promoted a particular product to reduce stock or to promote a particular brand they carried. Many of these so-called sales-people didn't even play the sport!

So I decided to share my experiences on the online forums - by posting reviews, tips & recommendations on the sites mentioned above.


Sports E-tailer:



Soon, some people were asking if I sold the stuff that I reviewed and that's how I got started.

Thus, I began selling online - firstly on the local Malaysian auction site, Lelong.com and finally on the grandfather of all auction sites, EBay!

And I haven't looked back since!


Check out my Wilson, Babolat, Prince, Dunlop, Yonex and Head racquets, bags and accessories at the links below:

http://search.ebay.com.my/_W0QQsassZ4ever10is

http://list.lelong.com.my/Auc/List/List.asp?DA=A&TheKeyword=satchman&CategoryID=&MyAuctionType=1