Thanks Pete. Today should provide a good test for Rafa and his knees.

Novak breaks back!
Adje Nole!

Cincinnati Order of Play:

Center at Noon
Venus Williams vs Flavia Pennetta
Kim Clijsters vs Svetlana Kuznetsova
Sybille Bammer vs Serena Williams
Dinara Safina vs Shuai Peng at 7 PM

Grandstand at Noon
Daniela Hantuchova vs Vera Zvonareva
Sorana Cirstea vs Elena Dementieva
Jelena Jankovic vs Victoria Azarenka

Court 3 at 2 PM
Caroline Wozniacki vs Melinda Czink

Note: Tennis Channel tape delayed coverage will start at 3 PM

Montreal Order of Play:

Central
Mikhail Youzhny vs Novak Djokovic are currently playing
Andy Roddick vs Fernando Verdasco at 1 PM (Live on ESPN2)
Philipp Petzschner vs Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer vs Stanislas Wawrinka at 7 PM

BN Court
Juan Martin Del Potro vs Victor Hanescu are currently playing
Andy Murray vs Juan Carlos Ferrero at 1 PM
Fernando Gonzalez vs Nikolay Davydenko
Gilles Simon vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at 7 PM

Novak on serve with Mikhail and Victor on serve with Juan Martin at 2-1

Nice love hold for Nole. Phew.

Thanks for the Rafa action shot there Pete! :) and the new CC, of course.

Mmm...picture. :))) Love him in dark blue.

Welcome back, Pete, hope you had a nice time. :)

Vamos, Elfie and Novak...

Thanks Pete,dont mind the picture.

Novak is standing too far back behind the baseline on a h/court

Doug saying Youzhny's BH the hardest he ever hit in terms of pace...interesting.

novak with the break...c'mon stay focused nole.

novak with the break...c'mon stay focused nole.

Novak to me has tweaked his service action,its not the same since he changed racquets

Love the blue -- way, way better than the pink.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/atp-montreal-rogers-cup-tennis-tenis

Love Novaks colour shorts though,very chic.I have pants the same colour.

4-2 Novak to serve

Elf to serve at 2-3

better service game

5-2

Hanescu holds. JMDP to serve 3-4

AM: One of the commentators was saying his service motion looked different too. Lollipop? Do you notice anything?

Gee Novak where was your racquet head?? there for that volley

Novak to serve 5-3

Djoker serving for the set 5-3

Rafadoc it was probably Doug,he and I are always on the same page lol!

rafadoc: i'm not quite sure, probably don't possess the technical skills to know what exactly has changed. But i can say, it does look a little different.

Del Potro is having problems with his serve and gets broken.
Hanescu to serve for the set 5-3

it does help to Move your feet Novak,no wonder that shot miss the line by?????

Elf broken, largely due to DFs. Hanescu to serve for set at 5-3

Novak 6-3 1st set

nole secures the first set 6-3.

Tfactor: Thanks for the update

AM: You and Doug are a match made in heaven, no?

lollipop: Thanks for the input. And, Nole wins the set fairly convincingly. :)

Novak has improved his 1st serve percentage after the woeful first game.

Elf smashes racket. Hanescu on set point.

And Hanescu holds for the set on his second set point.

Hanescu takes first set. UFEs 15-6 and Elf's first serve 47%

JuanMa with only 43% of first serves in and 4 dfs.
Let's hope his serving improves in the second set.
Well done by Hanescu to capitalize.
JMDP to serve to start the second set after losing the first 3-6

Good novak ges break in the 1st game of 2nd set

1-0 Novak to serve

Tfactor: Color me shocked that Hanescu won the first set. Is it a combo factor or is one on fire or the other playing badly?

Nole on fire now. Agree with Doug that he is using his tennis brain today.

Venus/Flavia and Daniela/Vera matches to start in 6-15 minutes from Cincinnati.

If Flavia wins today, she will be the first Italian to be ranked in the Top 10 and extend her match winning streak to 14.

Okay-thanks Tfactor and JohnC-sounds like Elf is having a baaaaad serving day. How does Hanescu look?

Tfactor Hi,gee thats a bit of a upset,Del Potro needs to improve on his serve percentage ASAP

I think the main problem right now is JMDP first serve. He's not winning much on second serves and has been double faulting as a result, I think.
Hanescu has done well to hold his own serves and capitalize when given the opportunity.

Great now Novak as 2 b/p against him

Elf playing poorly. Hanescu, who I don't know, competent.

Break point against Elf now

what is up with the lapses in concentration from nole? This happens like every match.

Why hasn't the Djoko/Youzh second set started?

Hanescu breaks to start the second!
This I didn't expect. JMDP is a bit lost at the moment.

Elf broken in first game. Looks like he's wilting in the heat too.

Elf saying he has a problem with the right shoulder.

Good response by novak brings it back to his add

Elf has calls for trainer for alleged shoulder problem.

Thanks Tfactor and JohnC-for updates and analysis. I have switched to that match now.

Rafadoc, that would explain the poor serving.
Can anyone update me on Novak/Mikhail?
I lost my stream and my SB is frozen

Novak hold serve after having 2/b points against him

2-0

My scoreboard seems a bit wonky today and is not updating scores- at all. Urgh.

Come on Elf- come on! Geeze- I so wanted him to do well here.

It sounds like he has completely lost his mojo. I do not like this at all!

uh-oh, elf shoulder problem? thats not good..
thanks for the updates everyone.

Thanks AM. I was feeling good about Nole today and that's why I decided to check out JMDP today. That and the remote possibility of Rafa meeting him if he were to survive the earlier matches.

hanescu consolidates. Elf to serve at 0-2.

Oh no- not an injury. :( Not during the hard court swing.

As a big Elf fan- this really sucks.

Youzhny holds,

Novak 2-1,Novak to serve

So much for my hopes that everyone would stay injury free today!

Well i watched the Elfs game the other day,his serve looked good to me.Shame.

elf wins a game, now getting treatment. hanescu to serve at 2-1.

JMDP holds 1-2.
I don't know how serious is his shoulder injury, but I hope he can come back here.

Wonder if Elf picked up shoulder problem after his match with AndyR?

Well, I've never really liked Elf (personality-wise, sorry), so I won't be devastated if he crashes.

Hanescu is stealthy. I should know. *cough* RG *cough*

JohnC

-Well I do like Elf (personality wise) so I will be devastated if he crashes and is injured. :-P

And I never like injuries for anyone- even if they are not my faves.

O/T - watching Phantom Gourmet - who the dickens thought that putting a snickers bar in phyllo dough and putting it in a deep fryer would be a good idea. That sounds like a heart attack waiting to happen

Hanescu holds to go up 3-1 in the second.

Nicely done by Hanescu there. An ace and then a nice winner in the next point. He holds for 3-1

Hanescu holds convincingly, Elf to serve at 1-3

And I never like injuries for anyone- even if they are not my faves"

You read my mind Carrie.
I really whatever is ailing Del Potro is not too serious, regardless of the result here, I would hope he's ok for the rest of the season.

Karen That made me feel sick to my stomach just reading it,let alone eating it.Yuck!

DelPotro injured today. Ferrer and Haas injured yesterday. Soderling out with an injury too. Still no concrete evidence that Nadal's battered knees have healed, which I suspect will again act up after a long match.

All this emphasizes Roger Federer's incredible injury free career. He's the greatest athlete in tennis history.

Hello Mrs. Simon. :)

Carrie: The injuries are ridic.

Davai, Vera!
Come on, Flavia!(for Vera's sake :-))

I really *hope* I meant to say.

Oh brother.

Elf holds there. His shoulder might just be a bit of wear-he did have that long match the other day.

Hey, rafadoc!

Man, I hope this doesn't mean we'll have a depleted field in Cincy. C'mon, boys, MAN UP. Just for me/Jenni/the rest of the TW Cincy crew. ;)

@sokol, how could you cheer against Venus - travesty I tell you.
@AM - and it looks as bad as it sounds - ugh

Good morning,
I'm so ready for Vee-Flavs, Kim-Kuzy, & Ree-Bammer!

Thanks for the schedule Master Ace.

Trainer out again. Makes me nervous.

BC,
You had me right until the last paragraph. Not necessarily what I think about when I see or think of all these injured players.

Vera-Dani?! Who the heck do I root for?

Hmmm. Both. :)

lol Jackie. Man Up. Hee.

Elf continues. His FH looks fine.

Borg is the greatest tennis athlete in history,in my books

A pity most of you atr too young to have witnessed him.

Novak serving 3-2

"sokol, how could you cheer against Venus"

because Vera (if she goes through today) will face the winner of that match and she has better H2H with Flavia. It doesn't mean that Vera will beat Flavia, who plays very well lately. I think it's hard for Vera to go into the match against Venus with 1-6 H2H.

Its a pity some of you guys are too young to see the Grestest tennis athlete Borg playing,pity.

A pity most of you atr too young to have witnessed him"
Not me AM :)

And yes as much as I love Fed I can't say I agree he is the 'greatest athlete in tennis history'

Venus stinking up the joint already. Serving at 17% and already at deuce on her opening service game. Come on Venus. Bring that serve that you brought the other night. Ugh

And now break point - oh for goodness sake woman, get your serve over the net.

Oops my first post re Borg I thought went into cyberspace

I typed another

Elf with a BP. Looks more than okay to this observer.

Novak 4-2,Youzhny serving

Caymen Karen,
Chill, it's only the first game. =)

JMDP Breaks to even the set at 3 all.

And there is the break. I have to say I admire Hanescu in this match though. I find myself cheering for him.

4-3 Novak,Novak to serve

Venus holds after saving a BP for 1-0 while Daniela is on serve at 2-1 on Vera.

Any link for Venus?!