China Open – Who will win?

The China Open is currently in progress, and even though it’s still too early to be sure who will win, it’s possible to make a reasonable assumption as to who has a chance to get to the finals, and then make another theory regarding who may win that match.

As of now, only Nadal has played and won the quarterfinals match, and from those that won the second round – excluding Nadal since he is already moved on to the semifinals – the strongest contenders are Ferrer and Djokovic.

From these three, odds favor Nadal and Djokovic. Ferrer is good, but he has no chance against Nadal or Djokovic if these two play at the level they have been playing so far.

That leaves us with a possible final match between Djokovic and Nadal.

Top-Seeded Wozniacki Is Out, Too

Mob rule continued in the women’s tournament at the French Open on Friday as Caroline Wozniacki, the world’s No. 1 player, was upset in the third round, 6-1, 6-3, by Daniela Hantuchova.

The lopsided defeat will only increase debate about Wozniacki’s worthiness for the top spot, and it came a day after Kim Clijsters, her closest pursuer in the rankings, was eliminated in the second round after inexplicably losing her way against Arantxa Rus, the world’s 114th-ranked player.

“Since we’re No. 1 and No. 2, it means we must be doing something right; it’s just unfortunate to lose in a Grand Slam,” Wozniacki said.

Earlier Friday, the No. 8 seed, Samantha Stosur, a big-hitting Australian who reached the final here last year, also lost, to Gisela Dulko of Argentina.

Federer to progress in ATP World Tour Finals

Robin Soderling faces Roger Federer today in the O2 Arena needing to beat the Swiss comprehensively if he is to qualify for the next round of the ATP World Tour Finals.

Following his triumph at the Paris Masters, Soderling arrived in London as the man in form, but lost his opening game of the tournament in straight sets to Andy Murray.

However, the Swede managed to keep his hopes of reaching the knockout stage alive by battling past David Ferrer to move joint second alongside the Brit, who was crushed by Federer.

“I served very well, especially in the first set. But it was tough. It was a close match, two really tough sets.” the 26-year-old Swede said afterwards.

“I’m lucky that I won. I still feel that I have a lot of things that I can improve. Hopefully I can do that in one or two days and play a good match in my next match.”

2010 US Open men’s and women’s singles draws revealed

Fans could be treated to another Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal Grand Slam tournament final at the 2010 US Open on the men’s side and a meeting of two former US Open champions in the women’s final, as the men’s and women’s singles draws were revealed Thursday.

The draws were revealed in the US Open Draw Announcement Special, which was broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com with studio host Chris McKendry and analysts Mary Joe Fernandez and Brad Gilbert. At the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Patrick McEnroe hosted the actual picking of names from the US Open Trophy, as defending champion Kim Clijsters, USTA President and Chairman of the Board Lucy Garvin and US Open Tournament Director Jim Curley took turns pulling names from the trophy, which were then announced by US Open Tournament Referee Brian Earley.

The top two men’s and women’s seeds and the 96 unseeded players were placed in the draw randomly the night before, with Thursday’s draw ceremony placing the remaining seeded players into the drawsheets.

Clijsters, who returned to the WTA Tour late last summer from an over two-year retirement that included having her first daughter, Jada, won the US Open in just her third tournament back for her second title in Flushing Meadows. Coming back this year as the defending champion now feels a little different for her, but it brings back all the great feelings of winning last year and celebrating with her family.

Henin and Clijsters Advance at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England — Belgium’s two most successful tennis exports, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, marched into the third round at Wimbledon on a sunny day when past performances were no prologue to easy victory and headliners often fumbled or stumbled.

Henin broke her opponent’s serve in the second game of their match and shrugged off a lost service game of her own a minute later and appeared ready to quickly push past Kristina Barrois of Germany, winning the first set, 6-3, and taking a 5-2 lead in the second.

Then oiios perked up, racing to three break points with Henin serving. Henin, seeded 17th, aced her opponent to take back one of the points, pulled to deuce, then grew nervous, hitting two double-faults and a forehand over the baseline to lose her serve.

Two games later, serving a second time for the match, Henin started off with a shaky double fault, slapped a forehand wide, popped a low backhand long and another forehand wide to fall back to 5-5.

Finally, Henin counterattacked, breaking Barrois’s serve and winning her own with three powerful serves and a forehand she jammed to a corner, forcing Barrios to hit long.

“I really don’t see myself as one of the favorites,” Henin told reporters. She has won three of the four major championships but not Wimbledon.

“I just see myself as an outsider this year,” she said, “still a year of ups and downs.” She played down speculation that she might challenge the defending champion, Serena Williams of the United States.

Henin is in the lower half of the draw and would face Venus Williams in the semifinal if she gets past several players seeded higher, including 12th-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia and 4th-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Croatia.