A Quad Citian, Down Under

I wonder if Keys grew up on
Happy Joe's taco pizza like I did. 

POSTED BY BESS: There's a Quad-Citian in the quarterfinals of a major, you guys! Has this ever happened in the history of the Open Era of ever? 

Last night I got to watch the Quad Cities' own Madison Keys cream Madison Brengle in what someone more clever than I dubbed the "Madison Squared" Garden match-up. 

I'm thrilled with Madison's win. It's almost like she's becoming a top contender right before our eyes. With Lindsay Davenport on board, as Dave pointed out, all the pieces of her immense talent appear to be falling into place. 

ZOMG! - I just realized... Madison is from the Quad Cities, and she is now being coached by Davenport... which is the name of one of the Quad Cities! It's like it was MEANT TO BE. 

I may need to take a moment. I've just rocked my own world with this realization.

OK. Channeling some of Madison's new focus and control... Let's calmly move on.

Venus is on a roll...

Also last night/this morning, I woke up just in time to see Venus beat Aggie Radwanska. What more can we say about Venus? Dave and I both love rooting for her, and to see her get this far is really more than I had hoped for/predicted. 

I did have Venus playing Aggie in my bracket, but I had Aggie winning. I'm thrilled to be wrong. 

For the record, Andy Roddick is on board with the Venus resurgence as well: 

Love it when Andy chimes in on the tennis action.  Doesn't happen often enough, IMHO.

Now for the inner turmoil... 

In tomorrow night's quarterfinals, Madison and Venus face off against each other. What is this Sophie's Choice of mine!? I have no idea who I'll root for during that match, all I know is I hope it lives up to its potential... I plan to be on the edge of my seat. 

Tonight's action promises to be eventful as well. Already:

• Simona Halep (my pick to win it all) went out with barely a whimper to Ekaterina Makarova. So there ends any discussion of my bracket-picking prowess. It was fun being in the top 1 percent while it lasted...
• Genie Bouchard just simply didn't show up for her match against Maria Sharapova. So disappointing. What's worse, I mistakenly told Dave he wouldn't miss this match while teaching his night class.  I hope our friendship withstands this [latest] infraction! 

Gratuitous Rafa photo

Still to come tonight:

• Murray/Kyrgios is sure to have the Aussies in a tizzy. 
• And Rafa/Berdych is sure to have me in a tizzy. 

Hopefully by then Dave and I will be on speaking terms again. 

Oi, oi, oi.