French Open: Quarterfinal Preview

I still go back and forth regarding my sporadic blogging about tennis, but I guess waiting until the late stages of a slam to start posting is a temporary solution. With that said, the first 10 days of the French Open has come and gone and after we're left with the last 8 men and women of the tournament. Among them are many of the usual suspects including 5 former champions, but a few surprises as well like a couple of Tommys over 30 years old.

N. Djokovic [1] vs. T. Haas [12]
R. Nadal [3] vs. S. Wawrinka [9]
D. Ferrer [4] vs. T. Robredo [32]
R. Federer [2] vs. J. Tsonga [6]

Yes, Rafael Nadal is going for his 8th French Open title. Yes, top seed Novak Djokovic is looking to improve his results last year by winning and achieving a career Grand Slam. And yes, Roger Federer is attempting not only his second French Open title, but also his first title of the year. But can we just talk about 35 year-old Tommy Haas and 31st year-old Tommy Robredo? By this time last year Haas was ranked outside the top 100 while Robredo, beset with injuries, was ranked in the high 400s. Since then, they've played well enough to get seeded here and their performance is nothing by inspiring. Robredo actually becomes the first man since 1927 to come back two sets down in three consecutive matches while Haas is the first German to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals and the oldest major quarter-finalists since Andre Agassi at the 2005 US Open. Haas' 3rd round match with Isner has been dubbed by many as the match of the tournament so far with the German edging out the tall American 10-8 in the fifth set.

Both men will be underdogs in their next matches as Haas will face a rusty, but still solid Djokovic while Robredo will go up against relentless David Ferrer. Nadal, who had uncharacteristically slow starts in his first few matches, is the obvious favorite against Stan Wawrinka, who had to come back down 0-2 sets in his latest match versus perennial major non-quarterfinalist Richard Gasquet. The most intriguing quarterfinal match of the lot will be between Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga since despite Federer's 9-3 record H2H against the Frenchman, Federer was pushed to 5 sets in his last match while Tsonga hasn't even lost a set the entire tournament.

S. Williams [1] vs. S. Kuznetsova
A. Radwanska [4] vs. S. Errani [5]
V. Azarenka [3] vs. M. Kirilenko [12]
M. Sharapova [2] vs. J. Jankovic [18]

First and foremost, this is Serena Williams' tournament to lose. This is true even though she hasn't won the French Open in more than a decade and had only played ONE match total in Roland Garros the past two years! Of course anything can happen (see her first round loss last year), but she hasn't lost on clay this year and in terms of pure power and talent, there is no one left that should trouble her. She'll have to face former French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova who hasn't had a great year since her quarterfinal result at this year's Australian Open and came into this tournament unseeded. On the same side of the draw is 4th seed Agnieszka Radwanska who beat former champion Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round to reach her first French Open quarterfinals. She'll meet last year's "surprise" finalist Sara Errani who is so far backing up last year's result. That's probably the one match that could go either way.

Defending champion Maria Sharapova is playing like the defending champion and she can certainly repeat provided Serena isn't her opponent at the finals. First she'll have to get through Jelena Jankovic who has had mixed results this year, but seems to be finding some form here. Sharapova should still win based on form. On the same side, Victoria Azarenka took out former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone to reach another major quartefinal (her 7th in her past nine slams). She should be seen as the favorite against Maria Kirilenko who was blessed with an easy (hasn't faced anyone ranked above 50).

US Open Report: First Three Days

Like last year, the weather made an early impact at this year's US Open as a deluge of rain interrupted play for two hours on the first day of play. Thankfully, that was pretty much it for rain delays and the weather has been perfectly cooperative since through the first three days of the tournament. I actually ended up going to the opening night session on Monday to see Kim Clijsters and Roger Federer play. It was my first evening session and first time back at the tennis center for at least a couple years and it was glorious. Onwards to some of the stories of the first three days...

Kim Clijsters Bids Farewell

Three-time US Open champion Kim Clijsters called it a singles career after losing two tiebreak sets to Laura Robson during her second round match. Despite the loss, Clijsters was able to show glimpses of her champion's mettle throughout the match fighting off two match points and even doing some of her trademark splits to the delight of the adoring crowd who gave her a standing ovation. One of the friendliest tennis players you'll ever meet, Clijsters was admired for her affable personality as much as her titles. She ends her career with 41 singles titles including 4 Grand Slam titles, three of which she got after coming back from her first retirement. Today's match is not her final goodbye, however, as she is still slated to play doubles and mixed doubles. After those, the sky is the limit for her. I'm just really got I got to see her play live one last time.

Five-Set Comebacks for Everyone

In honor of Clijsters who has one of the best comeback stories in tennis, it's interesting to note that through the first round this year, nine men have come back from a 0-2 set deficit to win the match. This matches a US Open record and again it's still the first round. Among the winners are 8th seed Janko Tipsarevic and 12th seed Marin Cilic. Among those who let a 2-0 set lead get away from them are 10th seed Juan Monaco, 21st seed Tommy Haas, and the perennially unlucky Nicholas Mahut. Not sure if this adds anything to the ongoing debate of the necessity of five-set matches that's been the go-to topic since the Olympics, but it's definitely something to note.

Americans Find Hope in Hometown Slam

And continuing with the theme of comebacks, Brian Baker, the tennis comeback story of the year, leads a slew of Americans out of the first round. For Baker, his first round match was his first win here since 2005! He is joined by male newcomers Jack Sock, Dennis Novikov, Steve Johnson, and Bradley Kahn into the second round. And even though they are far from their prime Andy Roddick and James Blake also win their first round matches. As for the American women, sisters Venus and Serena Williams moved through easily taking down younger American players while Mallory Burdette and Varvara Lepchenko shock with third round entries.

Germany's Troubles and Other Seeds Fall

Not everything is an inspiring story as a handful of seeds fall early including 8th seed Caroline Wozniacki who was getting over a knee injury. Already mentioned are 23rd seed Clijsters, 10th seed Monaco, and 21st seed Haas. Haas is one of five high-profile Germans who tumbled early. The others are 16th seed Sabine Lisicki, 18th seed Julia Goerges, 22nd seed Florian Mayer, and last year's quarterfinalist Andrea Petkovic. Other notable seeds to fall early include 17th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 21st seed Christina McHale, 22nd seed Francesca Schiavone, 28th seed Mikhail Youzhny, and 29th seed Victor Troiki.

Night Session Blow Outs

On the other end of the spectrum, the traditional night sessions of the US Open has seem the past three nights to be a little more than exhibition matches where the top seeds school their outmatched opponent. As I said previously, I got to see Federer and Clijsters win in straight sets that first night. The next night Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams lost four games between the two of them against their opponents while tonight Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray were business as usual. In fact, other top seeds have moved easily through the first round which should bode well for the later rounds.

I'm looking forward to going back one more day this year, specifically during the upcoming Labor Day weekend, but even though I've only been forced to watch the matches at home, it's been a pretty great experience mostly because of ESPN2's comprehensive coverage as well as the wonderful livestreaming video at the USOpen.org website enabling me to watch matches from six courts in great quality. Yay tennis!

Wimbledon: Men's Final Preview

As predicted by a lot of people when the draw came out two weeks ago, Roger Federer will try and go for history once again reaching his 7th consecutive Wimbledon final. And he will go up against a guy named Andy, though not the one a lot of people thought.


Andy Roddick ended Britain's great hope of having a homegrown Wimbledon champion when he defeated Andy Murray in four thrilling sets. So many people downplayed Roddick's chances against Murray, but it was Roddick who had the last response as he broke down on the green lawns of Wimbledon relieved to have another chance at that elusive Wimbleton title.

Like Robin Soderling at the French Open, however, Roddick is going against the tides of history since the only way for him to win is to beat Federer who has defeated him 18 out of 20 times they have played against one another. Worst news for Roddick? Federer is 7-0 against him in Grand Slam matches with Roddick only winning two sets total.


With history, and now presumably, the crowd behind him, Federer will be playing freely and with lots of confidence. His form has been superb this fortnight having only lost one set and only been broken three times. With this form, he took down Tommy Haas in straight sets punctuated by an overhead smash.

With all of that said, I am predicting Federer to win this title. If it was Murray in the final rather than Roddick, I'd be less confident, but still give it to Federer. With Roddick though, those 2-18 record and 0-7 in Grand Slams are fairly strong indicators of how it will unfold this Sunday. As a Federer fan, I can't wait.

Wimbledon: Semifinals Preview

Prediction: Your [women] semifinalists will be the top four seeds.

And indeed the top four seeds have moved on to the semifinals. It's been quite awhile this has happened in the women's side. Three of the four have moved through the draw with menacing dominance. Venus, Serena, and Dementieva have not dropped a single set. But then there's the no. 1 seed Dinara Safina who has had to gut out most of her wins. She has been completely underestimated this whole tournament. But here she is, in her first Wimbledon semifinals.

Safina will have the nearly impossible task in beating 5-time Wimbledon champion Venus en route to getting her first Slam title. Venus will win that match. The other semifinal match between Dementieva and Serena will probably be more competitive, but I think Serena will win setting up my first day prediction of an all-Williams final.

Prediction: Your semifinalists will be Roddick, Murray, Haas, and Federer.

I predicted these final four since day one and I have to say I'm rather proud of this fact. Predicting Federer, Murray, and even Roddick wasn't too much of a stretch, but I just knew that if Haas continued his strong form from the French Open and Halle, he could beat Djokovic, which he did in four convincing sets.

With their easy wins, Murray has reached his first Wimbledon semifinals while Federer logs his staggering 21st consecutive appearance at a Grand Slam semifinal. Finally, Roddick was able to overcome a match tough Hewitt to win in 5-tight sets. Roddick's tiredness will determine how competitive his match is with Murray while I fully expect Federer to end Haas' fairytale run setting up for the every juicy Federer-Murray final.

Wimbledon: Men's Second Week Preview

Radek Stepanek [23] vs. Lleyton Hewitt
Andy Roddick [6] vs. Tomas Berdych [20]
Andy Murray [3] vs. Stanislas Wawrinka [19]
Gilles Simon [8] vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero

Tommy Haas [24] vs. Igor Andreev [29]
Novak Djokovic [4] vs. Dudi Sela
Fernando Verdasco [7] vs. Ivo Karlovic [22]
Roger Federer [2] vs. Robin Soderling [13]

The marquee matchup of the fourth round will be a French Open final rematch between Roger Federer and Robin Soderling. It was in this same round where Soderling did the impossible, beat Rafael Nadal at the French. Can he topple the favorite once again? He did tell Federer that no man can beat him 11 straight times.

Both Andy's are to be seen as favorites in their respective matches and it is looking very good for them to meet one another in the semifinals.

There are also two veterans with a new lease in life to make it into this round. Tommy Haas backs up his resurging season by surviving yet another 5-set match to make it this far while Lleyton Hewitt takes full advantage of Nadal's absence by beating Juan Martin Del Potro to reach the second week.

Prediction: I'm going to keep my original predictions from the start of the tournament with Murray defeating Roddick and Federer defeating Haas in the semifinals en route to Federer getting his record-breaking 15th Grand Slam title.

Haas, Murray Capture Home Tournaments

With Rafael Nadal taking an extended break to take care of his embattled knees and with Roger Federer enjoying the fruits of his recent Grand Slam win, the two defending champions of the AEGON Championships (Queens) and the Gerry Weber Open (Halle) were absent this week letting the others pick up the scraps.


Third ranked Andy Murray led the lineup in Queens. Without dropping a set, Murray captured the title becoming the first Brit to win a grass court tournament in nearly 70 years. He faced off against American James Blake in the final beating him 7-5, 6-4. Murray now has four titles this year, second only to Rafael Nadal with five.

Novak Djokovic led the lineup in Halle, but he was defeated by a resurging Tommy Haas who followed up his great run at the French Open by defeating the fourth ranked Djokovic 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1. In front of his home crowd, Haas was able to win his first tour title in more than two years.

Looking ahead, Wimbledon officially starts in two weeks June 22nd, but qualifying rounds actually begin this week. Lots of storylines brewing, but it's mostly on the men's side. More of this in a couple of days.