Acura Classic

Martina & Anna-Lena have teamed up for the Acura Classic in Carlsbad, California. They are the #7 seeds and will play a pair of qualifiers,Kateryna Bondarenko & Anastassia Rodionova, in their opening match, scheduled to be played last today on Stadium Court. For the complete draw, courtesy of the tournament website, click here.

Yesterday, Martina participated in the tournament's All-Access Hour where players meet with the media. For a photo, click here. For article from the North County Times, click here. Martina also had kind words for her former doubles partner, Sveta, in this article from the San Diego Tribune.

This and that...

A couple of miscellaneous links collected over the past month...

Mike Bryan talked about playing mixed doubles with Martina at Wimbledon in this article in the Ventura County Star, which also features comments by his mother, Kathy Blake-Bryan, who played on the tour with Martina in the 70s.

How significant was Billie Jean King's "Battle of the Sexes" victory over Bobby Riggs back in 1973? Martina offers her opinion in this interesting piece from the Hartford Courant.

A really nice interview with Martina - including a too-cute-to-miss close-up photo! - from the recent issue of Out Traveller. My special thanks to Marilyn for alerting me to this link.

And finally, Martina is expected to return to Toronto later this month for the Rogers Cup. Martina will be involved in a variety of charitable events during her stay in Toronto, which of course, should come as no surprise to us. For more, check out this column by George Cross for the Canadian sports website Slam Sports. One thing that I found confusing about the article is that it indicates Martina will play with Sveta in Toronto - or at least that's the way I interpreted it. Anna-Lena is also on the Toronto commitments list so I'm not sure why Martina would not be playing with her. If anyone has any information on this, please let me know.

Just a confirmation - Martina has committed to two WTA Tour events this summer before the U.S. Open - Carlsbad and Toronto and she might enter New Haven, depending on how she does at the other events.

World TeamTennis Roundup

My apologies to all fans for not updating the blog over the past month but I'm sure most of you were following Martina's results on the message board or through the WTT website.

Martina's 2005 WTT season was a marked success, capped by the fact that her team, the Boston Lobsters, made the playoffs to be held in Sacramento, Calif., September 16-17! Congratulations to Martina and her Lobsters teammates on this excellent achievement! Martina ended with an impressive 14-7 match record - 5-2 in singles, 5-2 in doubles and 4-3 in the mixed - a winning record in every discipline!

Here are Martina's results summarized from her 7 appearances:

July 6, Wilmington, Delaware
Singles: Martina d. Chanelle Scheepers 5-3
Doubles: Martina/Daja Bedanova d. Liezel Huber/Scheepers 5-1
Mixed: Martina/Thomas Blake l/t Huber/Robbie Koenig 2-5

July 7, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Singles: Martina l/t Martina Hingis 0-5
Doubles: Martina/Daja l/t Hingis/Jennifer Hopkins 3-5
Mixed: Martina/Jonathan Chu l/t Hingis/Mark Merklein 1-5

July 9, Houston, Texas
Singles: Martina d. Ansley Cargill 5-4(4)
Doubles: Martina/Kristen Schlukebir d. Cargill/Edina Gallovits 5-3
Mixed: Martina/Thomas l/t Gallovits/Ashley Fisher 4-5(3)

July 19, Mamaroneck, New York
Singles: Martina d. Hopkins 5-2
Doubles: Martina/Kristen d. Natalie Grandin/Hopkins 5-2
Mixed: Martina/Thomas d. Hopkins/Bobby Reynolds 5-2

July 20, Avon, Connecticut
Singles: Martina l/t Milagros Sequera 1-5
Doubles: Martina/Kristen d. Lisa McShea/Sequera 5-0
Mixed: Martina/Johan Landsberg d. Sequera/Don Johnson 5-1

July 21, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Singles: Martina d. Sequera 5-2
Doubles: Martina/Kristen l/t McShea/Sequera 2-5
Mixed: Martina/Johan d. Sequera/Johnson 5-4(3)

July 23, Mamaroneck, New York
Singles: Martina d. Hopkins 5-3
Doubles: Martina/Kristen d. Grandin/Hopkins 5-4(1)
Mixed: Martina/Johan d. Hopkins/Robert Kendrick 5-4(2)

As you can see, I've only listed Martina's results above. If you want to get the complete team results, visit the WTT website here. For reports from fans who attended the matches along with great photos, visit the message board here.

The following are links to articles, photos, press releases etc. over the past month that I have compiled, in chrnological order: The News Journal (1), The News Journal (2), The Boston Herald (1), The Boston Herald (2), The Boston Globe (1), The Harvard Crimson, Associated Press, The Houston Chronicle, The Journal News (1), The Journal Inquirer, The Bristol Press, The Hartford Courant, The Boston Herald (3), The Boston Herald (4), The Boston Globe, The Journal News (2), Boston Lobsters Official Website.