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TENNIS BLOG Tennis Articles The Quarter-Finals Roland Garros ticker! | The Quarter-Finals Roland Garros ticker! |
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| Written by Sergio Cruz | |||
| Jun 02, 2010 at 11:33 PM | |||
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What happened at the French Open in the quarter finals?
Elena Dementieva vs. Nadia Petrova The match was almost about who is going to quit first?! The less injured won! Not much else I can comment about it.
Caroline Wozniacki vs. Francesca Schiavone Many years I have waited for this moment, to say that I am not super happy that Francesca won, would be a lie! Even though Wozniaky is a bit more complete than most of the road rats of women's tennis, she still bores me to death with her run of the mill left right baseline tennis. Schiavone, on the other hand, is exciting to watch, she is creative, she is skillful, she is fast and sometimes she is brilliant! Great for women's tennis! If I were to compare Schiavone to a male player, I would say, a mini Illie Nastase! Now she has Dementieva, who as her name says can drive you to dementia with her endless running and long baseline rallies, but here creativity is a must and Francesca has plenty of that!
Jelena Jankovic vs. Yaroslava Shvedova To be very honest I am not a fan of Jelena, not because of her tennis or fighting which I think it is fine. Rather because of her antics and of her former Coach who left a bad taste in my mouth. You can be the best player in the world but, if the suspicion of cheating or any maneuvers that resemble cheating, like; bathroom breaks at crucial moments, tying up shoes to gain time or rile your opponent, excessive toweling, complaining to the umpire to break your opponents concentration and so on and so forth, you are not going to have any pity from me! Jankovic won and she is a tough contender for the final, Stosur better be aware! Samantha Stosur vs. Serena Williams Something I must say, I envy these two women! As a male athlete I worked literally like a dog, lifting up to 220 kilos (above 400 pounds) freestyle with the legs and I never could get the great big muscles these two girls got! I wonder how they do it with estrogen?! Anyway Samantha did it and is looking forward to the semis! Here is what she said: “As good as it's ever been. Two great matches back to back for me, which is fantastic. It's not over yet - now I'm in the semis, and I want to definitely try and keep going. I made it to this point last year. If I can try and go another set further, then that would be great.' Roger Federer v Robin Soderling Game, set and Match Soderling 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-4 Ok, all right I predicted quarter-finals end station for Feeder and in this case in 4 sets for Soderling, but it was a fluke based on the fact that I had seen a decline on Federer's game that I had not seen in years. That supported by statistics from previous matches who showed Federer with a high quota of 25 unforced errors in other tournaments and still winning matches. In my view with such low standards, unless Roger opponents laid down and said 'beat me' (some did just that in previous rounds), the quarters at Roland Garros would already be an achievement for Federer. Nevertheless Federer against Soderling, hung tough and produced a very low margin of unforced errors 27 to 42 from Soderling! This is what kept the match close allied to brilliant serving by Federer. In the end what separated these two athletes were a mere 3 points, Federer 121, Soderling 124 and if I remember well these were the points that most heavily weighed in the balance of the match: - Third set at 4-4 30-30 Roger sends an easy sitter volley to the stands give Soderling game point. Virtually a game point that could have lead to a break and Roger to serve for the set! - Third set at 5-5 30-40 Soderlings serve, after a dramatic point and miraculous recovery by Federer of a framed overhead from Soderling, the Swede ended up hitting a jump backhand smash winner to get the score even. Had this ball gone past Soderling the third set would have been Rogers. After the first two set tussle it was key for one of the players to win the third set. Knowing that in most cases such as this, the third set winner wins the match, Federer wanted it badly and was forced to push as hard as he could to do it, but those two points will stick in his mind for a while. - Third set: 5-5 30-15 on serve. RAIN DELAY The 'third point' that separated these two players from winning or losing was the rain delay factor. There were two rain delays in this match this one was the deciding factor in this set. Federer was sluggish to start and paid the high price of being broken by Soderling, 6-5! After this the match was over because knowing Federer and the way he desperately fought for the first set, which he usually does but not with such an outlay of energy, I knew the third was crucial and there again Federer pored it on but it did not work. Coming from behind to a fifth set is not Federer's style and anyway Soderling was not about to allow that and closed the match in four 6-4 after another rain delay at 3-3. One thing is for sure in all these years of watching Roger Federer I never saw him volleying as assertively as I saw him in his last two matches, barred any injury situation the Wimbledon crown is his. Anyway if anyone thinks otherwise please let me know in the commentary box. Thomas Berdych vs. Mikhail Youzhny Game, set and Match Berdych 6-3 6-1 6-2 A day that favored 'Big and Strong' Thomas was one of them and took full advantage of the situation to send Russian Youzhny packing! Nothing spectacular, nothing brilliant, not much creation, but simple solid tennis backed up by powerful, serves, backhands and many winning forehands. Who's next? Soderling! Robin has the advantage of last years experience in the final, but Thomas can hit as powerful of a ball as anyone of the ground and his serve is no patsy either. This match will be about who gets the most first serves in and controls the center of the court inside. Novak Djokovic vs. Jurgen Melzer Game, set and Match Melzer 6-3, 6-2, 2-6, 6-7(3), 4-6 Novak should know by now that seedings mean nothing at the French Open. Letting a crucial first set that he started in total control slip away, was the key to the match. Meltzer on the other hand had learned from his defeat to Murray in the US Open 2008! Jurgen was not going to let a similar blunder happen again and his words confirmed it: 'Well, I changed the match. Well, the only thing I told myself, It's my first quarterfinals in my life in a Grand Slam. Just don't go away. Just don't make it easy for him. Fight as much as you can, and I wasn't playing so bad. I just missed a lot of easy shots when I had the chance and the opportunity to finish the point. And after that, I mean, I got back in, and at 2 All in the third it was an open match. I think I got a little under the skin after the third set.' Djokovic or his coach perhaps did not watch that match against Murray in 2008, but it was crucial yesterday! Rafael adal vs. Nicolas Almagro Game set and Match Nadal 7-6(2) 7-6(3) 6-4 The 'Gladiator' defeated the 'El Matador' and Almagro went home without 'El Gordo'! Almagro with the best strokes, best placement and the most squandered chances! Nadal the ultimate warrior who played his best when it really mattered. No need to say that Nadals game does not appeal to me, but respect for the athlete who never gives up and makes all of his opponents earn every single point they win, 'Chapeau'! (Chapeau! is often used as a generic expression of approval and appreciation in France and other parts of Europe : as a sign of admiration or respect, one shall indeed remove his hat.) Sergio Cruz
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