With a late break, Raonic takes the first set 7-5. Into the second set, the crowd is getting a little rowdy, with chants like the familiar, "Who has an ace? GO FISH!" on Mardy's serve. Following a hold by Raonic, a lone voice shouts, "Another game for MILOS!”, which cracks up all the Seinfeld fans, but confuses everyone else. Raonic gets up a break, and in the last couple of games the crowd is really trying to will Fish to get it back. "Mardy, Mardy, Mardy!" is going up against, "Milos! Milos! Milos!" and it's hard to tell who is winning. But on the court, Raonic clearly has the edge tonight, and he uses his sharp serve to filet Fish*.

*I would like to apologize to everyone for this pun. I didn't want to do it, but the ATP made me sign an agreement that every mention of Mardy Fish must include a piscine pun or some sort. Now you know.

Back over on Stadium 1, Dominika Cibulkova has evened her match with Vera Zvonereva at a set each, so I decide to stay a little longer. Besides, the stadium is a ghost town at 11:30 and they could use the extra body. Cibulkova is blasting forehands, low and deep, and Zvonereva can't match her. On one point Dominika pounds four in a row to Vera's backhand corner, until the ball doesn't come back. When Cibulkova gets up a break, she doesn't ease up, nearly breaking again on Vera's next service game.

Later, with Zvonareva serving at 2-4, Cibulkova seems to somehow increase her intensity. Every chance she gets to set up for a shot, Dominika crouches low, glares at the ball, and then explodes up and forward, driving the baseline again and again. I'm sitting 25 feet from the sideline and I swear I can feel a little shock wave from every forehand. Her backhand is not much lighter either. Every point is being fought hard, but Cibulkova comes away with the break.

Up two breaks and serving for the match, Cibulkova double faults at 30-0, but soon has double match point. Vera comes up with an inside-out backhand winner. Suddenly it's deuce, then ad-out, and maybe a glimmer of hope in Zvonareva's eye. She hits a couple of deep backhands, and Cibulkova nets one. Vera holds and now Dominika gets another chance to serve it out. She gets up 40-0, but Vera comes back to 40-30. Cibulkova misses a toss, goes for a short walk, and her coach, who was pretty much shouting advice to her, gets a warning from the chair. She is clearly tightening up and nets an easy forehand to bring up deuce. On match point, Dominika misses her first serve by at least 6 feet, but in the ensuing rally, she gives Vera a deep backhand that comes back wide and the match is over. The small crowd that stayed until midnight shows their appreciation for the effort. Cibulkova is all smiles as she blasts the customary three signed balls into the crowd.

I was about to head home when I was invited to the Players' Lounge for a post-match chat with Dominika. Matt Cronin of TennisReporters.net joined us at the last minute, so it was just the three of us. Matt asked all the match questions I had planned, so I switched it up and we talked about her groundstroke technique, and her ability to play "Big Babe" tennis, despite not being all that big. She may not be the tallest girl on tour, but I can tell you she is an imposing figure right after a match. With strong arms and well muscled shoulders on top of some short but strong legs, she is all power. Pound for pound, she just might be the strongest player in the WTA.

I also tried to find out something about Cibulkova's off-court pursuits, but it was clear she was pretty tired and I caught her off guard. I even tried to help her out a little, "Any hobbies? Passions? Anything special you like to do with your down time?" She hemmed and hawed for a minute before answering, "I can't come up with anything. I'll have to think about that one." She'll get back to me...