May 30, 2008 - An inconsistent performance from 2002 champion Serena Williams saw her crash out in the third round of the Fench Open. Serena shanked overheads, hit wild volleys and squandered six break points. The result: a stunning loss to Slovenian No. 27 seed Katrinia Srebotnik, 6-4, 6-4.
This was Williams’ earliest exit in nine visits to Roland Garros and guarantees a first-time women’s champion. Williams, who won the French Open in 2002, was the lone former champion to enter the draw.
May 30, 2008 - It’s been a short break, but the ladies of the ASP Women’s World Tour are fired up and frothing on the upcoming Billabong Girls Pro Rio (July 15-20, 2008). What’s On Tour caught up with some of the ladies to find out what they’ve been up to in the interim and to see how they’ve been gearing up for the showdown in Brazil.
SOFIA MULANOVICH (PER)
1 - SURF “I have been surfing at home in Peru for the last month. The waves had been fun and I went a weekend to surf Chicama where the waves were amazing. I have been having lots of fun surfing with my bros and friends.”
2 - EQUIPMENT “I have been riding pretty much all my boards, from my little groveller to my 6 channel pin. I have been loving my boards this year, I have been going to see Al Merrick more often and being trying new stuff.”
3 - DIET “I have been eating everything. I love peruvian food and it is impossible for me to be in a diet when I am home.”
4 - TRAINING “I have just been surfing lots and doing a bit of yoga and stretches.”
5 - BRAZIL “I have never competed in an ASP Women’s World Tour event held in Rio so i am super excited. I feel really good with my surfing and my boards this year so I am for sure looking for a good result there.”
In case you’ve been studying for finals and not caught up on what’s happening in NCAA women’s sports around the country - here are some highlights:
Golf: USC Captures Women’s Golf Title (May 22, Albuquerque, NM) The Trojans won the 2008 Women’s Golf Championship event by six-strokes over UCLA and claimed their first women’s golf national championship since 2003.
Lacrosse: Wildcats Top Penn for NCAA Championship (May 25, - Towson, MD) With help from textbook offensive execution, pristine passing and stout goaltending, the Northwestern Wildcats won their fourth consecutive NCAA championship Sunday, beating Penn, 10-6.
Tennis: Georgia Tech’s Amanda McDowell Wins NCAA Singles Crown (May 26, Tulsa, OK) All-American Amanda McDowell completed her run through the NCAA Singles Championships by capturing a straight-set win over Baylor’s Zuzana Zemenova in the finals to become the first Yellow Jacket tennis player to earn an individual national championship.
Softball: The Hokies Have Arrived (May 28, Oklahoma City, OK) The Virginia Tech softball team has finally made it to Oklahoma City for the program’s first-ever Women’s College World Series.
Rowing: Division I Rowing Championships (May 20, Indianapolis, IN) The NCAA has selected the teams that will compete in the 2008 Division I Women’s Rowing Championships including defending champion Brown. UC Berkeley will serve as host May 30 through June 1st.
May 28, 2008 - Mention Indianpolis-style racing to a casual fan and it’s not this year’s winner Scott Dixon who comes to mind, it’s a tiny brunette for whom a first name suffices. That’s Danica in case you haven’t been paying attention - the first female driver to win a major open-wheel race.
Last Sunday’s 92nd Indy 500 had a decidedly feminine feel with three of the 33 starters in possession of a xx chromosome. Unfortunately, all of them were knocked from the race in crashes, and all were a result of carelessness by their male counterparts.
When a crash happens on the track, the perpetrator often emerges unscathed while the innocent victim is penalized with a costly repair bill. This seems to be the case on lap 105 when Marco Andretti tried an ill-advised pass on teammate Tony Kanaan, who turned into the path of Sarah Fisher, who was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Fisher, who not only drives, but also runs her own race team on a shoestring budget, was obviously distraught. In an interview after the race, “We were hoping to go to Kentucky (the next Indycar stop),” she said, haltingly, “but I don’t think we can.”
Danica Patrick’s exit was as innocent as Fisher’s. Driving for Andretti Green Racing, she was merely exiting the pits when Ryan Briscoe, driving for Team Penske, clipped her while coming out of his own stall. With 29 laps to go, she broke the left rear suspension on a car that had run in the top 10 most of the race.
Patrick ended up finishing 22nd and was steamed after the bang. The passionate driver climbed from her disabled car and strode purposefully toward the offending driver ’s pit seemingly ready to rumble before Indy security intercepted her.
Milka Duno, the third woman in the field, did a nice job staying on the lead lap for most of the race before spinning out in a a four-tire-flattening single-car spinout caused when she was squeezed out on a pass. Better luck next year ladies!
May 28, 2008 - High winds and a grand slam debutante almost blew out the top women’s seed, Maria Sharapova. Sharapova struggled with her serve at the French Open, hitting 17 double-faults and barely managing to defeat 103rd-ranked Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 3-6, 8-6 Wednesday in the first round.
Sharapova landed only 64 percent of her first serves in the match on center court, where she is trying to complete a career Grand Slam at the clay-court major. Her 19-year-old opponent came within two points of winning at 5-4 in the third set, but Sharapova won the next two with strong serves to hold. At 6-6, Sharapova regained control by breaking serve for the first time in the final set, returning a second serve with a big forehand that caught Rodina flat-footed.
Then, serving for the match, Sharapova double-faulted one final time, but took the next three points to end it. Rodina was playing in her first Grand Slam tournament. She lost in the first qualifying round at the Australian Open this year.
Rain delays over the first three days of the tournament gave way to strong wind on Day 4, when organizers hoped to cut through a huge backlog of matches.
In other early round matches, fifth-seeded Serena Williams, the only former champion in the women’s field, won the final four games to defeat Mathilde Johansson of France 6-2, 7-5 and advance to the third round. Second-seeded Ana Ivanovic had a convincing win to also advance to the third round. Last year’s French Open finalist easily beat Lucie Safarova 6-1, 6-2. Fresh off her victory in Rome, third seed Jelena Jankovic took a while to find her form, but managed to push through Romania’s Monica Niculescu 7-6, 6-2. Also struggling, 2002 finalist and No 8 seed Venus Williams had to sweat profusely in a 6-3 4-6 6-2 victory over Israel’s Tzipora Obziler.
May 28, 2008 - X Games 14 will take place July 31 -August 3 at The Home Depot Center and STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. Returning to Puerto Escondido, X Games Surfing will take the stage July 7-11 at the famous “Mexican Pipeline” at Zicatela Beach. Fourteen hours of live X Games programming on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC -all showcased in high definition - will be air during the event.
X Games 14 will feature athletes from across the globe competing for medals and prize money in the following sports: BMX Freestyle (men only), Moto X, Skateboard, Surfing and Rally Car Racing (men only). Tickets for X Games 14 will be available for purchase June 19 at Ticketmaster and the box offices at STAPLES and The Home Depot Center. The following is the competition schedule:
All times listed are Pacific Time (PT).
Thursday, July 31
10 a.m. -12 p.m. Skateboard Street Men’s and Women’s Practice, STAPLES Center, The Home Depot Center
12 p.m. -2 p.m. Skateboard Vert Women’s Practice, The Home Depot Center
2:30 p.m. -3:30 p.m. Moto X Racing Women’s Practice, The Home Depot Center
Friday, August 1
1 p.m. -2 p.m. Skateboard Street Women’s Practice, STAPLES Center
2 p.m. -2:45 p.m. Skateboard Street Women’s FINAL, STAPLES Center
Saturday, August 2
10 a.m. -11 a.m. Skateboard Vert Women’s Practice, The Home Depot Center
11 a.m. -11:30 a.m. Moto X Racing Women’s Practice, The Home Depot Center
11 a.m. -12 p.m. Skateboard Vert Women’s Final, The Home Depot Center
12 p.m. -1:30 p.m. Moto X Racing Women’s and Men’s Final, The Home Depot Center
May 28, 2008 - Last night, Virginia Tech pitcher, Angela Tincher, was named the 2008 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.
Tincher led Virginia Tech to its first ever appearance in the College World Series, recorded 2,121 career strikeouts, and leads the nation averaging 14 strikeouts per 7 innings. Tincher also made USA softball history on March 26, 2008 when she no hit Team USA in seven innings. Check out USA Softball’s complete coverage of the ceremony here.
May 27, 2008 - Coming to the CW this fall, the updated 90210 hopes to capture the same audience of teen girls who watch The Hills and Gossip Girl. Since the original paved the way for these shows (as well as the OC) when if first aired in the 90’s it should be able to capitalize on its DNA.
In this promo, we see the requisite elements of a teen show - designer label stores, oversized sunglasses, poolside cocktails, hipster headbands and all the essential high school stereotypes. While the show looks like fun, why does the hearthrob jock always have to be a guy? Maybe the producer’s should consider adding a female athlete to the hot crew at West Beverly High.
by Chantelle Heroux
May 27, 2008 - The other day I saw my housemate’s girlfriend with a bottle of ‘Fiji Water’ and I couldn’t help but wonder why anyone would feel it’s necessary to drink water from halfway across the world, when we get some of the best water in the world out of our faucet.
On top of that, to think that glaciers are melting, islands are having to be evacuated, and natural disasters are becoming more prevalent and larger than ever, why would anyone want to make more of an ecological footprint than necessary over something as simple as where your comes water from?
I once read an ‘Adbusters Magazine’ that had a chart of the items we import and the items we export, and I was shocked to see that many of the items we import happen to be the items we export. Because of trade negotiations, we import things that we already have, and vice versa. With the environment in the state that it’s in right now, for the sake of keeping the snow on mountains and the polar bears white, wouldn’t you think we could skip importing what we’re exporting?
I guess the choice is up to us. We need to start making changes in our lifestyle that will help the world around us. Everyone always comes up with the same argument against changing, the ‘what difference is it going to make if one person changes or not’ argument. The difference is that the one person turns into millions if we all do our part. The evidence is out there, global warming is happening quicker than even the most brilliant scientists ever thought it would. We need to act now.
I once went to a peace protest in New York City, and at a gas station I commented how it’s a shame how there were no bins to recycle my juice container. The 80 year old lady I complained to told me how she agreed, but always just carried the items that were recyclable until she found a place to recycle. From that point on, I figured if an 80 year old lady could do it, I could do it too. Small changes like that will be big changes if everyone decides to join in.
If you don’t recycle, start. If you can walk, skate, or ride your bike instead of driving, do it. If you can reuse something you already have, instead of buying a new one, reuse it. And if you need to buy something, buy local, then regional, then national, and if you absolutely have to, buy internationally. That means, don’t buy your water from Fiji if you can just drink water from the faucet. And I swear, your change helps.
A couple cool sites to check out-
Keep Winter Cool: www.keepwintercool.org
Action Sports Environment Coalition: www.asecaction.org
Clean Air- Cool Planet: www.cleanair-coolplanet.org
“Be the change you want to see in the world…” – Mahatma Gandhi
May 27, 2008 - The Women’s Softball College World Series is days away. Eight teams are traveling to Oklahoma with the same goal in mind, a National Championship. Who do you think will take home the trophy? Will it be Virginia Tech, led by pitcher, Angela Tincher, who no-hit and became the first college team to beat Team USA? Or will top seed Florida win it all? But wait, don’t count out tradition rich UCLA or Arizona. Don’t miss the most exciting series in softball starting this Thursday at noon on ESPN.
Check out the first round matchups:
Florida vs. LaFayette - Noon ESPN
Texas A&M vs. Virginia Tech - 2 p.m. ESPN
Alabama vs. Arizona State - 6 p.m. ESPN
Arizona vs. UCLA - 8 p.m. ESPN
Tuesday night at the WCWS Party at the Park, the 2008 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year is announced. Past winners include Olympians Stacey Nuveman, Cat Osterman, and Monica Abbott. Three finalists vying for the title are Virginia Tech pitcher, Angela Tincher, Texas A & M pitcher, Megan Gibson, and Tennessee infielder, Tonya Callahan. Check out more about the finalists here.
My prediction to take it all this weekend stays the same from last week, Virginia Tech or Florida. I’m not 100% convinced of my decision, since UCLA and Arizona tend to get hot this time of year. Angela Tincher is my POY prediction. What’s your predictions? Who do you think will win Player of the Year?
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