Breaking It Down

A long, drawn-out tennis match can be dramatic -- often, they go hand-in-hand -- but sometimes, it can just seem like overkill. In the case of Tuesday's three-setters in Doha (both near three hours in length), I'm going with the latter.

At face value, the scores seem intriguing (Wozniacki over Azarenka 1-6, 6-4, 7-5; Serena over Venus 5-7, 6-4, 7-6), but they didn't reflect the quality of the tennis that was played: not very good. The reason for this, as we've been wont to discuss this year, was poor serving. I recall reading that there were eight consecutive breaks of serve in the final set of the Woz/Aza match; in Will v. Will, there were six service breaks in the last stanza, during which Serena blew a double-break advantage.

Of course, this is all irrelevant for Wozniacki and Serena, who earned important round-robin wins Wednesday. As they, and the Buffalo Bills, will tell you, a win is a win. I just thought that I had put the Bills/Jets gaffe-fest behind me a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully the fans are treated to some better matches today.

White Group

- Vera Zvonareva vs. Caroline Wozniacki

Maroon Group

*- Serena Williams vs. Elena Dementieva

• Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Venus Williams*

This is your place to chat about today's matches and anything else tennis.

-- Ed McGrogan, TW Contributing Editor