Down to the Elite 8
Well, being sick certainly has it’s advantages. Usually I am a bit too busy to blog on a Monday morning, but given I’m home now with the flu, flicking between 90210 and Inside The Actor’s Studio, I figured might as well get something productive done.
Looks like I was way off when I said one of the Williams sisters would face Jankovic in the finals. Both Venus and Jelena are out, and Serena got a bit lucky yesterday (which might actually be today or tomorrow with the whole time difference thing) when Azarenka defaulted Serena was up a break in the second set, but had lost the first set and was playing way below her typical standard. Unless she steps up her game BIG time, I don’t see her getting past Kuznetsova and Dementieva (who continues to play outstanding tennis in 2009 and takes on unseeded Navarro in her quarterfinal match). In this half, don’t be surprised at an all Russian semi, and if Dementieva’s serve holds up, she could see herself in her first Grand Slam final.
Surprisingly, because of some upsets, the top half of the Women’s draw favors ANOTHER all Russian semi. In order for that to take place, 7th seed Zvonareva would have to take out 16th seeded Marion Bartoli, who destroyed Jankovic. Also, Dinara Safina, seeded 3rd, is the heavy favorite against Jelena Dokic. Yes, you read that correctly, Jelena Dokic. The same Jelena Dokic who was 4th in the world about 8 years ago, and has fallen to almost 200th. The same Jelena Dokic who was Yugoslavian, then Australian, then Serbian, then Australian again. The same Jelena Dokic who has overcome injuries, estrangement from her family (including her psychotic father), depression and financial crisis to come back into the tennis limelight. Win or lose against Safina, she has lots to be proud of, and hopefully she can use this to vault herself back into the top tier of tennis players.
The Men’s draw held up exceptionally well, as seven of the top eight seeds remain. The one missing, trendy favorite Andy Murray. He lost in the Round of 16 to Fernando Verdasco, who has been playing outstanding tennis ever since carrying his Spaniards to the Davis Cup Title last December. His quarterfinal matchup against Tsonga, who throttled James Blake, is really a toss up. The winner of that will take on Rafael Nadal or Gilles Simon. As far as Simon as come, and as well as he is playing, Nadal is simply decimating everything in his site. I see no way to pick against him to make the finals.
The bottom half of the Men’s draw feautres two very intriguing matchups. First there is the only American left, Andy Roddick, taking on Novak Djokovic. This is a rematch of their US Open Quarterfinal match (won by Novak) that featured a few cheap shots from the Serbian about the US crowd. Roddick looks like he is in great shape, now being coached by Stefanki, and if he can serve percentage above 65%, I think he will score a minor upset. Djokovic was also on the court until about 3am against Bagdhatis in his last match. Finally, there is Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro. Federer looked a bit listless in his last match, falling down two sets to love against Czech Tomas Berych, but after that his game came on strong and he finished Berdych off routinely (well, as routinely as coming back from two sets down can be). The young Argentine has played great tennis, but I have a feeling the moment might get to him a bit, and see Federer coming out of this one alive.