Trans Cycling Trailblazer Jillian Bearden Wins 2016 El Tour de Tucson

One of the people I met during my recent trip to Tucson was cyclist Jillian Bearden, who was in town for the El Tour de Tucson bike race and has founded the Transnational Women's Cycling Team, the world's first transgender cycling group that will make its debut in 2017

The El Tour de Tucson was conducted on Saturday, and I was happy to discover that Jillian made a little trans sporting history.  While riding for SAGA (Southern Arizona Gender Alliance) in her first El Tour de Tucson, she won the women's division 106 mile race in a time of 4:36.07.

And as you probably guessed, there were some haters spouting the same transphobic and sexist BS we hear any time a trans woman competes and wins in a sporting event.

The 36 year old Colorado Springs native is sponsored by the Colorado based Naked Women's Racing and has been racing competitively for 10 years.   Bearden has also been one of the people pushing for inclusion and change in the sport of cycling, and has been working with the International Olympic Committee, USA Cycling and other international cycling groups to make it happen.

"Last January, the IOC released a document that said you can compete if you fall under these criteria. With that being said, more policies are coming out, so there's more work to be done to have acceptance worldwide and not just nationally."

But as you probably guessed, she was thrilled to have won the El Tour, one of the largest participatory sporting events in southern Arizona in her first attempt.  She also recognized the significance of this moment for the trans community.

"It's absolutely huge," Bearden said.  "We're at a moment in time - especially now - where not only do we have to come out but we have to be positive.  We have to come together in solidarity and move the country in a direction that is accepting of all."

Congratulations Jillian!  This was an amazing accomplishment and another example of transpeople doing what they love and making history as they simply handle their business.  It's also another example of us accomplishing great things if we're simply given an opportunity to do so.

Will we see Jillian at a future Tour de France or at the 2020 Olympics?   Sure hope so.

2016 Williams Watch- Moving Towards A US Open Semifinals Clash?

Sadly, no.   My fave tennis playing siblings are in this year's 2016 edition of the US Open, and were until yesterday on track to meet in the semifinals.

Serena hasn't dropped a set yet on her way to the quarterfinals.   She beat Russia's Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, then took down fellow American Vania King by the same 6-3, 6-3 straight set score in the second round.

In the third round it took Little Sis exactly one hour to blitz Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-2, 6-1 to set up her fourth round match with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, who also bowed down to the Queen of Tennis in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 to punch her ticket to the quarterfinals.

Serena with the Monday win over Shvedova, also became the winningest player of any gender in Grand Slam tennis history with her 308th match win in Grand Slam play, passing Martina Navratilova (306) and Roger Federer (307).

She will face number 5 seeded Simona Halep of Romania, and should she get past Halep, would face the winner of the Ana Konjuh-Karolina Pliskova match in the semis.

Big Sis was a third set tiebreaker match point away from joining Serena in the US Open quarters, but alas it didn't work out for her.

Venus started her 2016 US open by beating Ukraine's Kateryna Kozlova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, then beat Germany's Julia Gorges in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.

Venus then got past Germany's Laura Siegemund 6-2, 6-1 in the third round before running into Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the fourth round and falling in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (3-7).

So we won't see another Williams Sisters Grand Slam clash, but i'd rather have those happen in a Grand Slam final anyway.

 

2016 Williams Watch- US Open Starts Today

After a surprising exit in the Rio Olympic singles and doubles tournament, Serena Williams enters New York and this edition of the 2016 US Open with an eye toward winning the title that she shockingly lost last year in the semifinals just shy of a calendar year Grand Slam.

It's the last tennis Grand Slam tourney of the year, and she's still not happy about the one that got away.   So look out all you peeps playing against her starting today and over the next two weeks,

Serena's still ranked number one in the world, is the number one seed in this edition of the US Open and number one in our hearts.   She and Venus step on the Flushing Meadows grounds of a USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center that has undergone some major changes,

This will be the first open in which Arthur Ashe Stadium as part of the $550 million dollar renovation to the USTA National Tennis Center will have a retractable roof to cover the main stadium court like the Aussie Open and Wimbledon have had for years over their main Grand Slam tournament venues.  Louis Armstrong Stadium will also have a roof enclosing it once it is reconstructed and its current 10,200 seating capacity is increased to 15,000 by the 2018 Open.

Unlike the Australian Open and Wimbledon, the US Open officials plans are to only close the Ashe Stadium roof for rain, not extreme heat.  We'll see how long that lasts.

A brand new 8000 seat Grandstand Court will also make its debut at this tournament, and for those of you in the New York area planning on attending it this year, you'll be happy to know that the National Tennis Center grounds were also redesigned to improve foot traffic,

But back to talking about the US Open which will run until September 11.   Serena will start her pursuit of her record seventh US Open title title and 23rd major title with a tough opening round match versus Russia's Ekaterina Makarova.  

Should she win that one, it's on to the second round to face the winner of the Antonia Lottner- Vania King match

Venus was the Williams sister that surprisingly took home a medal from Rio, a silver that she won in the mixed doubles tournament with Rajeev Ram.   She's seeded sixth in this edition of the US Open and unfortunately is in the same half of the draw as Little Sis.

She will open up first round play in a match with Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine, and would face the winner of the Julia Gorges-Yanina Wickmayer match in the second round.

And in case you're wondering if Venus and Serena were entered in the US Open doubles, nope they aren't.

Best of luck to my fave tennis playing siblings in this last tennis Grand Slam of 2016.

2016 Olympic Watch- Going For The Sixpeat!

The five time defending Olympic champion USA women's basketball team has been marching toward this hopefully golden moment ever since they opened the Games on August 7 with a 121-56 blowout win in Group B play with Senegal.

The Team USA women then smashed Spain 103-63, Serbia 110-84, Canada 81-51, and China 102-65 to exit Group B play with a 5-0 record.

They then entered the knockout rounds and rolled to a 110-64 win over Japan on August 16 and punched their ticket to the gold medal game with an 86-67 win over FIBA number four ranked France to get to the Olympic basketball final for the sixth time since 1996.

This matchup for the gold medal is with a familiar foe in Spain. In addition to Team USA taking them down in the group stage, they vanquished the Spanish women in the 2014 FIBA World Championship final.

So how impressive and dominant is this 2016 Olympic version of Team USA?  

*They set the all time USA women point record (121) in the Senegal win.
*Set the US record for largest point differential in a game with the 65 point win over Senegal
*They became the first women's Olympic squad to score 100 points in three straight games.
*Set a new Olympic record of 40 assists in one game after tying the Olympic record of 36 assists set by the Soviet Union back in 1976.
* Have beaten their Rio Olympic competition by an average of 38.4 points

A lot is on the line for the Team USA women in addition to capturing their sixth consecutive gold medal since the 1996 Atlanta Games.  Also on the line is continued women's worldwide basketball supremacy, the FIBA number one ranking and auto qualifying spot in the 2019 FIBA championships, and their Olympic winning streak that has now reached 48 straight games since they won the bronze medal in Barcelona in 1992.

There is concern in the Team USA camp with point guard Sue Bird being day to day with a sprained knee suffered in the second quarter of the Japan game, but they are determined to complete their mission of being on the top step of the Olympic platform when this game is over.

If by some miracle Spain wins this game, it would be the biggest upset in Olympic basketball history and rank with the 1972 Munich gold medal game versus the Soviet Union the USA men had stolen from them in the final seconds.

Don't think this gold medal game with Spain will be that close, seeing that Team USA beat Spain by 40 points in pool play and the closest anyone has been to them was France in the semifinal, and they beat France by 19 points without Sue Bird in the lineup.

But Spain won't be rolling over for them either, and have some game film to study as a result of that pool play game. Game film cuts both ways, and we have Geno Auriemma on our bench and they don't.

We'll see if Team USA can win number 49 in a row today and their sixth straight gold medal at 1:30 PM CDT.

2016 Olympics Watch- USA Women Ballers Rolling In Group Play

The USA women's ballers started this Olympic tournament heavily favored to win their sixth straight gold medal since 1996, and were carrying a 58-3 record and 41 game Olympic winning streak into Group B play.

They opened Group B play by whipping out their A+ game, jumping out to a 35-9 first quarter lead, shooting 70.3% in the first half, and coasting to a 121-56 blowout win over Senegal on August 7.

The lights out shooting eventually cooled off somewhat to have them finish with 64.8% shooting for the game, but it was a nice way to start Olympic group play.   The Team USA women had seven players in double figures, and the 121 points scored was the most ever by a USA women's team in Olympic play.  The 65 point margin of victory was also the largest ever.  

The next day at Deodoro Youth Arena found the Team USA facing Spain, and after trailing by two points for several minutes early in the first quarter, went on a 7-0 run fueled by Brittney Griner's eight first quarter points to flip that negative script into a 15 point first quarter lead they would never relinquish as they notched their second win of the Olympic tournament by taking down Spain 106-63.

Five USA players scored in double digits in this game, and 55 of their points came from off the bench as they built that first quarter advantage to a 57-35 halftime lead despite only outscoring Spain in the second quarter 25-23.

The 43rd consecutive Olympic win pushed Team USA to 2-0 in group play and their next game will be on Wednesday against winless (0-2) Serbia, and we face our northern neighbors Canada , who are unbeaten for now at 2-0 on August 12.    Their final group play game will be against China on August 14.

2016 Williams Watch-Shocking Olympic Exits

This Olympic trip to Rio has not been a good one so far for my fave tennis playing siblings.

On Saturday I got to painfully watch fifth seeded Venus go from being two points from winning her match and moving on to a second round match in the Olympic tennis singles tournament to a WTF loss to Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7) .

The pain got worse for we fans of the Williams sisters as we watched the once unbeaten Olympic in doubles and three time Olympic doubles gold medalists have a bad day at the office.

The number on seeded doubles team and defending Olympic champions shockingly suffered their first ever Olympic doubles loss after 15 straight wins in the first round to Barbora Strycova and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in straight sets  3-6, 4-6.

But all is not lost .  You will see a Williams sister playing tennis in Rio.   Number one seeded and defending Olympic singles champion Serena is still alive in the Olympic women's singles competition.   She beat Australia's Danila Gavrilova 6-4, 6-2 to move on to her second round match against Alize Cornet of France.

Winner takes on 15th seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the third round

2016 Williams Watch- Number 22!

Should be an interesting Saturday for the Williams sisters, and you never bet against them when they are playing matches at their personal SW19 tennis playground called the All England Club.
-TransGriot, July 8, 2016

It took a while, but after upset losses in the 2015 US Open semis, the 2016 Australian Open finals and the 2016 French Open finals a month ago, world number one Serena Williams finally gets that elusive Grand Slam title number 22 at her SW19 tennis playground.  She prevailed with a 7-5, 6-3 straight set win on Centre Court over Germany's Angelique Kerber, the player who upset her in Australia a mere six months ago.

That was then, this is now.   While the fourth seeded Kerber came to play and tried to execute the game plan that worked for her in Melbourne by trying to hit those wide crossing shots to pull Serena off the court, Serena was anticipating she'd do that and was ready for her this time.


She cut that off, and when it was time to serve, it was on target and being placed with laser precision accuracy wherever she wanted it.

And oh yeah haters, she repeats as Wimbledon ladies singles champion and equals Steffi Graf with that 22nd Grand Slam singles title.

This was her seventh Wimbledon ladies singles title, and she has a shot at capturing another title today with Big Sis in the ladies doubles championship.  Should they knock off the Timea Babos-Yaroslava Shvedova duo, it would be their 14th doubles Grand Slam crown

TransGriot Update: She and Venus did win the Wimbledon ladies doubles crown.  They won their sixth 'Williams'-don doubles title in a straight set 6-4, 6-3 win over Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova.

They are now 14-0 in Grand Slam doubles finals.  

2016 Williams Watch-Serena And Venus In The Wimbledon Doubles Final!

For the first time since they won it all in 2012, the Williams sisters are playing in the Wimbledon ladies doubles title match.

They knocked off the eight seeded duo of Julia Gorges of Germany and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 on No. 1 Court to advance and play for a shot at their sixth Wimbledon doubles title and 14th Grand Slam career doubles title.

And just a reminder for all you peeps in the doubles competition at the upcoming Rio Olympic Games, Big and Little Sis are the three time doubles gold medalists, winning in 2000, 2008 and in 2012 at their fave tennis venue.

The women standing on the opposite side of the net that will try to stop them from making more tennis history will be the number five seeded doubles duo of Hungary's Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.   They are on a roll after knocking off the number one seeds and defending Wimbledon doubles champs Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 to get to the semis, and a 6-4, 6-2 straight set win over the tenth seeded American duo of Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears to advance to the doubles final.

Should be an interesting Saturday for the Williams sisters, and you never bet against them when they are playing matches at their personal SW19 tennis playground called the All England Club.  

   .    

2016 Williams Watch- Mixed Wimbledon News Day For The Williams Sisters

Today was semifinal day for the'Williams'-don ladies singles tournament, and my fave tennis playing siblings were at Centre Court playing for their first all Williams singles final since 2009.

Serena quickly dispatched Russia's Elena Vesnina in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to make it to her third consecutive Grand Slam final this year and set up an opportunity to win her seventh Wimbledon title and 22nd career Gland Slam title win.

However, eight seeded  Big Sis didn't get to join Little Sis in the Wimbledon ladies singles final.  She unfortunately lost to fifth seeded German Angelique Kerber 4-6, 4-6 and fall just short of the opportunity to win her sixth Wimbledon title.

It is Kerber, who upset Serena in the 2016 Australian Open final that will face Little Sis on Saturday.

Big Sis' London business trip isn't over yet.  She and Serena are still in contention for their first Wimbledon doubles crown since 2012 and their 15th Grand Slam title.

They headed over to Court No. 2 and knocked off the number 4 doubles seeds Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova in three sets 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-2 to punch their ticket to the ladies doubles semifinals

The Williams sisters will take on the 8th seeded doubles duo of Julia Gorges of Germany and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic with a spot in the doubles final on the line.

Should they handle their business tomorrow, they will face in the finals the winner of the Timea Babos/Yaroslava Shvedova - Raquel Atawo/Abigail Spears match

ButThe fifth seeded Babos and Shvedova knocked off the number one seeds and defending Wimbledon doubles champs Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza 6-2, 6-4 in straight sets to take on the 10th seeded American duo.

We'll see what happens tomorrow in  the ladies doubles action and on Saturday at Centre Court.

2016 Williams Watch- In The Wimbledon Semis!

I told y'all the All England Club was the personal tennis playground of the Williams sisters, and in this 2016 Wimbledon tournament they are proving it.   For the first time since 2009, the Williams sisters, who have eleven singles titles combined, are in the Wimbledon ladies singles semifinals at the same time.

World number one Serena won her Centre Court quarterfinal match with Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to punch her ticket to the semifinals against another Russian in Elena Vesnina.

Meanwhile over on No. 1 Court, eighth seeded Venus was pushed a bit and was down 2-5 in the first set tiebreaker, but regrouped and won in straight sets against Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to make it to her semifinal match with number five seed Angelique Kerber

It was the first time since the 2010 US Open that she has made it to a Grand Slam semifinal,

We'll see on Thursday if both Williams sisters make it to the ladies singles final on Saturday.

They are also still in contention for their first 'Williams'-don doubles crown since 2012, and dispatched the Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-4, 6-3 in their third round ladies doubles match

They will face in the ladies doubles quarters the winner of the Barbora Strycova/Michaella Krajicek - Elena Vesnina/Ekaterina Makarova match.

TransGriot Update:  They will face in the Wimbledon doubles quarters the number four seeded Russian duo of Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova.

Olympic Gender Drama Posts

With the Rio Olympics a month from starting, and me being a serious Olympic junkie, it's the perfect timing for a TransGriot compilation post that features an Olympic theme.

Since it's the worlds penultimate sporting competition, international sporting prestige, national pride and tax dollars are on the line in the chase for Olympic glory.  Sometimes interesting stories have emerged as that pursuit of gold, silver and bronze medals gets heated.

Some of those controversies involve gender and 'that's a man' shade thrown at feminine Olympic champions, allegations of better feminine Olympic athletic performance through steroids or shockingly finding out your intersex status in a very public and humiliating way.

Or in Nazi Germany, East Germany and Russia's cases, being caught cheating.

Here are some past TransGriot posts that have tackled that theme.

Gender Drama At The 1936 Berlin Olympics

Olympic Gender Drama- The Press Sisters

Olympic Gender Drama- The 1976 East German Swim Team

Olympic Gender Drama-Erik Schinegger

Olympic Gender Drama- Flo Jo

That's A Man'

Caster Semenya Case Opening Old Wounds

Black Female Athlete Dominates Competition- Gets Gender Identity Questioned

2012 Olympic Watch- Semenya Gets 800m Silver

2016 Williams Watch- Serena And Venus In The Wimbledon Quarters!

The Williams sisters are still alive in this rain delayed 2016 edition of 'Williams-don' and are both in the ladies singles quarterfinals cruising toward a possible All-Williams Wimbledon finals matchup for the first time at the All England club since 2009.

Number one tournament seed Serena handled her third and fourth round business by blitzing Germany's Annika Beck in straight sets 6-3, 6-0 and 13th seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-0 in the same fashion on Centre Court.

The Kuznetsova match was noteworthy because it was Little Sis' 300th Grand Slam match win, and ensured she would keep the number one world WTA ranking for the 300th consecutive week.

Serena will now face 21st seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who knocked off Yulia Putintseva, 11th seeded Timea Bacsinszky, and 27th seeded Coco Vandeweghe to get her shot at the world's number one player.

Should she get past Pavlyuchenkova, she would face in the semis the winner of the Dominika Cibulkova- Elena Vesnina match.

Meanwhile eighth seeded Venus, after surviving two three set matches, found herself in the fourth round facing 12th seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro.   She had to endure a first set tiebreaker, but this time finished her business in only two sets and closed out her match serving for triple break point.  

Big Sis' 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 sent her to a quarterfinal matchup with Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, who has knocked off Julia Gorges, 17th seeded Elina Svitolina, Sabine Lisicki and 28th seeded Lucie Safarova to get to the quarterfinal round.

Should she get past Shvedova, Venus' semifinal match would be another tough one.  She would have to face the survivor of a quarterfinal match between number 4 seed Angelique Kerber and number 5 seed Simona Halep.

The Williams sisters are competing for their first Wimbledon ladies doubles title since 2012 as a warmup for the Rio Olympic tennis tournament, and are now in the third round of this doubles competition after knocking off the Belgian duo of Elise Mertens and An-Sophie Mestach in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.

They will face the sixth seeded Czech duo of Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova for a spot in the ladies doubles quarterfinals.

So far things are looking good for them at their 'Williams'-don playground, and we'll have to wait and see if my fave tennis playing siblings are hoisting trophies this weekend at SW19.

The 2016 USA Women's Olympic B-Ball Squad Is Set

If you were wondering who made the 12 person USA women's Olympic basketball squad that will be seeking to win its sixth consecutive gold medal since 1996, I'm about to tell you.

I jokingly call the Team USA women the 'UConn All-Stars' because of the number of former players USA head coach Geno Auriemma usually selects for his Team USA FIBA world championship and Olympic women's squads.  Hey, they keep winning medals, so I ain't mad at him or the USA Baskeball selection committee for doing so.

There are only five UConn alums on the 2016 Olympic team headed to Rio, but the 2016 Olympic ballers will be Seimone Augustus, Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings, Tina Charles, Elena Delle Donne, Sylvia Fowles, my Houston homegirl Brittney Griner, Angel McCoughtry, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, and Lindsay Whalen  .

Coaching this team in addition to Auriemma will be assistant coaches Doug Bruno of DePaul, Cheryl Reeve of the Minnesota Lynx and Dawn Staley of the University of South Carolina.

When the Team USA women begin pursuit of their sixth consecutive gold medal and seventh all time on August 7, they will start Group B play with Senegal, followed on August 8 by the No 4 qualifier still to be determined by the Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament in Nantes, France from June 13-19.   Team USA will then face Serbia on August 10, Canada on August 12 and the No. 2 qualifier on August 14 to close out group play.


They are 58-3 in Olympic competition, and will also be when they step on the court in Rio attempting to build on a 41 game winning streak that dates back to the bronze medal game of the 1992 Barcelona Games

Should be fun to watch Team USA hopefully roll to a sixth straight Olympic title, but we have to play the games first..


TransGriot Update: The five teams that emerged from the June 13-19 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament were the host France, Belarus, Turkey, China and Spain.   France, Belarus and Turkey are in Group A. China and Spain ended up in Group B with the USA. 

2016 Williams Watch- Serena To The French Open Finals!

It has been a French Open at Roland Garros in which they have battled through rain delays, cold temperatures and the field being decimated by upsets and injuries, but Serena Williams has survived.

She dispatched the red hot Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in straight sets at Court Philippe Chatrier to punch her ticket to the French Open finals 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 but she had to fight for it.

Trailing 4-2 and noting that Bertens was hobbled a bit by a strained left calf, Little Sis zeroed in on that to flip the match script.  While everyone on tour knows that she can hit with power and is undeniably the best shotmaker in the women's game, many people forget that she can also hit an amazing deft drop shot, and she repeatedly deployed it against Bertens to get back in the match..

Like the great champion she is, Serena survived and advanced.  She's now made it to her 27th Grand Slam final and her second consecutive French Open final.  Serena is also playing for her 22nd Grand Slam title to pass Steffi Graf and get her closer to Margaret Court's 24 Grand Slam titles.

Standing in her way of making more tennis history is number four seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain, who dispatched 21st seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 in the other semifinal at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

If that name sounds familiar, she was the player responsible for shockingly knocking Serena out in the 2012 French Open second round in lopsided fashion, which Little Sis beating her in last year's Wimbledon final in straight sets.

But tomorrow Williams will be playing her fourth straight match while Muguruza will be playing her third straight one  because of all the rain delays.  

Will she handle her business tomorrow and make this business trip to Paris a successful one?   We'll see.

2016 Williams Watch-Serena To The French Open Semis!

It took her three sets, but number one seed Serena Williams fought through a bad day at the office and a short rain delay  to prevail over a determined Yulia Putintseva  5-7, 6-4, 6-1 to punch her ticket to the French Open semifinals.

Serena got off to a slow start in large part to the 24 unforced errors she sprayed all over Court Philippe Chatrier in the first set.  Despite that display of error infused tennis, she was serving at 5-5 in the first set up 40-love but got broken, then Putintseva took advantage of the huge gift to serve out the set and become the first person in this edition of the French Open to take a set from the tournament's number one seed.  

Williams ended up with 43 unforced errors to just 16 for Putintseva, but offset that with 36-16 advantage in winners.  Little Sis woke up just in time at 4-4 to rally and take that second set with some timely assistance from Putintseva.  She was down two break points but held serve to take a 5-4 lead, then broke Putintseva to take the second set to even the match when Putintseva double faulted.

Serena then found her A game and blew out Putintseva in the third set to take the match.

She will face the red hot Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, who is on a roll and has taken down four seeded players in number 3 Angelique Kerber, number 25 Daria Kasatkina, number 15 Madison Keys and number 8 Timea Bacsinszky on the way to the semifinals and qualifying for the Dutch Olympic tennis team .

 Fourth seeded Garbine Muguruza and 21st seeded Samantha Stosur will square off in the other women's semifinal.match

2016 Williams Watch- One Sister Still In The French Open, One Sister Is Out

It has been a rainy few days in Paris during this 2016 edition of the French Open that has not only seen rain delays that have wiped out whole days of play, but many of the seeded players falling on the women's side.

That pattern continued in the fourth round after two days of rain delayed play once again in which number two seed Agnieszka Radwanska, number 4 seed Garbine Muguruza, number 6 seed Simona Halep and number 12 seed Carla Suarez-Navarro all fell.

So did number 9 seeded Venus Williams in straight sets to number 8 seeded Timea Bacsinzsky 2-6, 4-6 to end her time at Roland Garros.

But 'Williams'-don will be cranking up on June 27-July 12 on the other side of the Channel.  See you then Big Sis.

Meanwhile, number one seeded Serena cruised to the quarterfinals after blitzing Elina Svitolina in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 to set up her quarterfinal match with Yulia Putintseva, who upset Carla Suarez-Navarro in a hard fought 7-5, 7-5 straight set match.

Should Little Sis prevail against Putintseva, she would take on the winner of the Timea Bacsinzsky-Kiki Bertens match.   Bertens is on a roll, and now that she has qualified for the Dutch Olympic tennis squad in Rio by getting past the third round in a emotional 6-2,3-6,10-8 three set win over Daria Kasatkina, the pressure on her entering the tournament has been lifted.   She could be a dangerous opponent for the eighth seeded Bacsinzsky.  

But once again, you have to play the matches.

2016 Williams Watch-Rolling To The Fourth Round

My fave tennis playing sisters are having a marvelous business trip to Paris so far as we cruise into the second week of the French Open.

Serena is chasing history and another French Open title as usual, while Venus is striving to get back to the elite level of tennis she was playing before she was diagnosed with the autoimmune ailment that has sidetracked her for several years.

This 2016 French Open women's tournament has already witnessed nine seeded players fall in the first round, two in the second and another nine in the third round.   But two of the ten seeded players still left in this 2016 edition of the French Open women's tourney have the last name Williams, and eight of them are bumping heads in the fourth round.

Serena, the tournament's number one and still world number one ranked player is handling her French Open business, and so far hasn't dropped a set on the way to the fourth round and hopefully her fourth French Open title.

She took out Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova in straight sets 6-2, 6-0 in her opening round match,  Brazil's Teliana Pereira 6-2, 6-1, and 26th seeded French homegirl Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 7-6 (12-10). She will face 18th seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in her fourth round match.  .

Should she get past Svitolina, she would face in the quarters the winner of the match between 12th seeded Carla Suarez-Navarro of Spain and Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva.

Ninth seeded Venus is trying to win her first ever French Open title in her illustrious career.  But her road to that first title and the fourth round has been tougher.  Big Sis has had to play several tiebreakers on the way to her fourth round match with number eight seeded Swiss miss Timea Bacsinszky.

She played a tough opening round match with Estonia's Anett Kontaveit, prevailing in straight sets 7-6 (7-5),7-6 (7-4).   Big Sis then sent fellow American qualifier Louisa Chirico to the sidelines by beating her in straight sets 6-2 , 6-1.

In the third round, like Little Sis, she faced a French homegirl in Alize Cornet.   But unlike Serena, it took her three sets to win this match.

Venus captured the first set 7-6 (7-5), dropped the second set 1-6, and blitzed Cornet in the third set 6-0 to punch her ticket to the fourth round match with Bacsinszky.

Should Venus survive this match, she would take on in the quarters the winner of the match between the Netherlands Kiki Bertens and 15th seeded Madison (I'm not Black) Keys

Should my fave tennis playing sibling survive their quarterfinal matches, they would play each other in the semifinals..

The Williams sisters were also entered in the French Open doubles this year, but were knocked out in the third round of the doubles tournament by Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson in straight sets 3-6, 3-6.

Oh well, there's always the 'Williams'-don doubles in a few weeks. .

We'll see how this second week of their Paris business trip plays out and if one of them is holding the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen on Saturday.

2016 Williams Watch-Time For The French Open

We are still in the month of May, and that means it's time for the second Grand Slam tournament on the professional tennis calendar.  It's the 2016 French Open, and the clay courts of Paris' Roland Garros await as the tournament is scheduled to run from May 22-June 5

The big story as usual is world number one Serena Williams and her attempt to win her 22nd Grand Slam title.  Little Sis has unfortunately been upset in her last two attempts to get that title, falling in the 2015 US Open semis and in this year's Australian Open title match.

So you know the defending French Open champ is ready and eager to get this milestone done and over with Williams-don and the Rio Olympics looming.

She's seeded number one in this 115th edition of the French Open, and Serena kicks off her title defense with a first round match against Serbia's Magdalena Rybarikova.   should she handle her tennis playing business she gets the winner of the Teliana Pereira- Kristyna Pliskova match.

Venus Williams is also in this tournament, and she's seeded number 9.  She faces off in the first round against Estonia's Anett Kontaveit.   Should Big Sis win this opening round match, she'll face the winner of an all-American first round battle between Louisa Chirico and Lauren Davis.

Unfortunately the Williams sisters are in the same half of the draw, and would potentially meet in the semis should both sisters go on extended runs during their time at Roland Garros.

Here's hoping my fave tennis playing siblings have a successful business trip to Paris, and Serena finally gets her 22nd Grand Slam title to tie her with Steffi Graf and add another Coupe Suzanne Lenglen to her trophy case..