Hingis through to the 3rd round of U.S. Open

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Well, since I am still waiting to see the 1st round match I thought I would comment on the 2nd. Hingis was up against Pauline Parmentie of France. And miracle of miracles USA Network actually showed almost the entire match!.

The match started off with her opponent winning the opening game and Hingis holding to level at 1/all. Then winning the next 2 games for a 3/1 lead. Her competitor managed to get only one game back before Hingis closed the set at 6/2.

The second set started much like the first with Hingis leveling things at 1/all after losing the opening game. Hingis proceeded to win the next game on her 3rd break chance for 2/1. Her opponent broke right back for 2/all. Hingis broke again for 3/2 but so did her opponent leveling the match at 3/all.

Hingis broke back for 4/3, but her opponent broke her at love for 4 games all. Towards the end of this set her opponent picked up her game a lot more perhaps surprising Hingis a little, making it tougher for her to close out the match. Hingis had to battle for 5/all after losing the game at love to win the set at 7/5.

Overall it was good match, a nice test towards the end. Though from what I read she seemed to play a little better in her first match. At this point it's still hard to judge exactly how she's playing, there is definitely an improvement compared to last year's U.S. Open.

She'll of course have to play better if she wants to make it past Kuznetsova in the 4th round, but I'm taking it one match at a time. So again the verdict is she played well, thus avoiding last year's embarrassing loss to Verginie Rozzano in the second round.

Right now I'm just glad she's finally playing. It's never the same without her in any tournament. So I'm wishing her all the luck and hoping her body holds up. Especially since she's pulling double duty playing singles and doubles with Daniela Hantuchova.

In the first set the commentators thought she may have hurt herself, or felt a twinge in her back, but it didn't seem to bother her the rest of the match so I'm hoping it was nothing.

She was also swinging her racket a lot which was a little unusual for her, but I honestly think it was just her trying to stay nice and loose. Anyway, congrats to Martina and here's hoping she can keep the momentum going.

Hingis off to a good start at U.S. Open

Well the first round match went quite well for Hingis, but due to poor coverage by the USA Network (big surprise)


Hingis fans got to see all of 3 games ( a total of 15 minutes) before the wonderful people at the network switched to a different match, because of course unless it is an American player the network doesn't give a hoot. This is something that occurs every year, so it's not a shocker but it just really pisses me off.

I have no doubt Eurosport will prove much more reliable and I will give a full recount of the match once I've seen it. Which will hopefully be sometime tomorrow so stay tuned;). Until then enjoy some pics of Hingis sightseeing in NY :).









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*Gasp* it's an update!

Yeah, I know I have been a total slacker this past week, what can I say? it's August. Haven't had much to write about. But the drought is finally over at least for the next couple of weeks lol. The U.S. Open Championships begun today so it should provide me with plenty of fodder.

I'm glad it is underway, I have been suffering some serious tennis withdrawal lol. But let's get down to the important stuff, I'm sure every Martina Hingis fan out there is wondering how she's feeling physically but most of all mentally. And if she's ready to compete.

With the break-up of her engagement, and the constant plaguing injuries, it's hard to say how she'll perform in New York. Keeping all that in mind I'm not holding out much hope of her actually winning the tournament (even though her draw is favourable).

As with the last few tournaments I'm going to take it one match at a time with no expectations. Well, ok maybe just one small hope of her actually winning in the first round and perhaps making it into the second week.

Here are some photos of Hingis at Arthur Ashe Kids Day which took place this past Saturday, to tie us all over until tomorrow (when Martina will hopefully play). Which should give us an indication of how she's feeling these days. Gotta say it's nice to see her happy and smiling, especially since she hasn't had much reason to recently.

Martina Hingis having a blast with Ana Ivanovic

Friendly competition of men vs. women

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Celebrity baby news update

Earlier this year I mentioned that Sarah Gilbert (Darlene on Roseanne) was pregnant.

Well she give birth on August 2nd so this is actually really late, but she give birth to a little girl named Sawyer.

Who joins her 3-year-old brother Levi. So congratulations to her :).

"Dead Like Me" movie update

Last month I mentioned that there was going to be a straight to dvd movie based on this t.v. series. Well, the movie has wrapped and is expected to hit the shelves sometime next year, yay!.

I also mentioned there were going to be possible cast changes. Unfortunately they replaced 2 of my favourite characters. Mandy Patinkin's character Rube (the most integral character aside from Georgia Lass) and Laura Harris character Daisy Adair.

She has a new t.v. show and I guess Mandy couldn't get out of his "Criminal Minds" contract in time. The rest of the original cast is back though, so if you can over look those changes it should still be a fairly enjoyable movie.

I just hope the 2 replacements gel well with the rest of the cast. It will be interesting to see if this show does return to t.v. how Bryan Fuller will juggle the responsibilities of 3 shows (Heroes, Pushing Daisies) assuming "Pushing Daisies" works out.

Anyone else find it weird that both of his series have a title that refers to death?.

Splish, splash, we were taking a bath

I figure you can never have enough cute pet photos so here are some pics of Cuba and I after taking a bath:), well for him it's a weekly mist shower ;). As you can see from the photos he's very content. :)

Cobra vs. baby

This has got to be one of the freakiest things I've seen in a while. I'm not sure what's more scary the fact that the baby is anywhere near a cobra or the fact that the parents seem to be entertained by it and are laughing in the background.

Hingis and Stepanek announce split

Well, it looks like Martina's professional life is a reflection of her personal one. It was recently announced she is splitting up with her fiancee Radek Stepanek. The two became engaged during Christmas of last year.

In a post from June of last year I mentioned the 2 of them, saying that I wondered how long it would last. Now I'm starting to wish I had made a bet lol.

But seriously, it's actually really sad that someone who has so much going for them just can't make it work in the love department. Unfortunately I think that's a curse shared by many professional athletes.

Perhaps this break-up is partly to blame for her less then stellar performances in the last few tournaments. It would certainly explain why she just checked out mentally in many of her recent matches.

Guess now we'll have to see whether this break-up will bother her during the U.S. Open or whether she'll be able to put it to the back of her mind and play her game.

R.I.P. Merv Griffin

The man responsible for 2 of the best game shows of all time "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" Merv Griffin died today from prostate cancer he was 82. He was a t.v. legend and a pioneer and his creative mind and exuberance for life will be sorely missed.

The curse of Rogers Cup continues

Well, it seems we're getting a repeat of last year with at least 7 of the top twenty women's players withdrawing from the tournament so far.

Including Martina Hingis, which means my reason for watching it is pretty much gone lol. Hingis pulled out in order to have time to rest and prepare for the U.S. Open in a couple of weeks.

Although some press is reporting that she pulled out because of her injuries again, which could be true, but with no real info as of yet who knows?.

I am certain however that the U.S. Open is the main reason everyone else pulled out, not that anyone can truly blame them, with it being a grand slam and all.

But it's really disappointing for Canadian tennis fans, we got dooped again this year. I have a feeling until tennis officials lighten that tour schedule, this will be a constant recurrence.

I'm still thinking of checking the tournament out, but with so many of the big names gone. I'm just not that enthused about it. At least the U.S. Open is not far away. Till then it's back to the waiting game *sigh*.

Another early exit for Hingis

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It seems Martina's rotten luck continues this year with another disappointing loss at the East West Bank Classic in L.A. This time to 30th ranked Sania Mirza in another 3 setter.

Although to be honest I don't know why so many Hingis fans are surprised by her losses. It's sort of understandable with her not playing much due to those nagging injuries.

And I'm sure the constant losses must be getting frustrating for her too, doesn't really help the confidence factor.

It's gotta be hard to stay mentally tough with all the recent losses as well, but of course lack of match play is also to blame.

I think Hingis will probably spend the rest of this year trying to get back into the swing of things, maybe figuring out some different strategies.

Hopefully playing doubles at East Bank with Hantuchova will give her some of that much needed confidence.

And I really hope she reconsiders withdrawing from the Roger's Cup. The tournament just wouldn't be the same without her in it. I also don't think withdrawing from this tournament will make that much of a difference in terms of the U.S. Open in September.

I actually think it would help her, giving her plenty of real match play. Which is as Martina herself often says much better then any on-court training session. So until I hear otherwise I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this weekend.

Hanging with Cuba :)

Cuba taking a nap again lol

I think this one is one of the best ones yet

This one is my favourtie :)

More pretty pics of my birdie, I managed to get him closer to the web-cam this time. They turned out great. Sleepy bird is much easier to take photos of lol.

Hingis falls to Schnyder at Acura Classic

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Another tournament another early loss, this one I would say was more surprising then most. Especially since Hingis was in control and broke plenty of times just couldn't convert. And in the end she lost to fellow country woman Patty Schnyder in 3 grueling sets 1-6 7-6 3-6.

This time the loss can't be blamed on the physical side, because Hingis herself said she's feeling 100%. She certainly give it her all throughout the match, I guess Patty just had a better day. As the saying goes "you win some, you lose some".

Instead of analyzing and agonizing over this loss ('cause really what's the point?) I'm moving on to next weeks tournament in L.A. and Roger's Cup right after. It's definitely going to be an exciting couple of weeks in the world of tennis.

Whoopi new host of "The View"

So the big news this past week, was that Barbara Walters has finally chosen a new co-host for "The View" Ms. Whoopi Goldberg. I had a feeling she would be the one to get the gig, especially considering she has co-hosted at least 14 times lol.

Now don't get me wrong I love Whoopi and I'm very happy she'll be joining the show, but I don't think it'll be enough for me to tune in. Elizabeth Hasselbeck gets on my last nerve.

I might watch the first show (especially if they also get Sherri Shepard which I so hope is true), but beyond that probably not.

Unless Whoopi finds a way to shut Elizabeth up the same way Rosie O'Donnell did lol.