I am totally torn now!

Tennis.

Women's tennis.

It's gettin' gooooood!

I did say yesterday that I was rooting for Francesca Schiavone (Italy). She played the semifinals today against Elena Dementieva who is usually pretty darn good, but Francesca won the first set and Elena pulled out part-way through the second set! She has a calf tear and apparently it just got to be too much pain.

So Francesca is in the FINAL!

You should have seen the look on her face when Elena came over and told her she couldn't go on - it was like a little kid at Christmastime. She was so excited, and said what looked like "Mama Mia!" several times!

Mama Mia, indeed!

But my dilemma now is that I also just love Samantha ("Sam") Stosur (Australia). I only noticed her really when she won a match at Charleston, SC, this year. She was fabulous. But I haven't really seen much of her otherwise, except that in this tournament she took out Justine Henin and then Serena Williams. To do that in one tournament, you HAVE to have something special.

And this woman certainly has a LOT special!

She is as cool as a cucumber. She is fit to beat the band. She wears sunglasses to play, and a hat, so you rarely see any emotion on her face, but she just keeps that all inside. She is "all business" out there and I love it. I used to love the way Chris Evert played like that, not really showing a lot of emotion - pumping of arms, slumping around the court - the way some players do. And Sam is like that too.

So, now I am officially rooting for BOTH OF THEM! It's been a very long time, in fact, never that I know I will be happy no matter WHO wins the women's final at this tournament.

I wish them both lots of luck!

Cheers,

Bex