It’d be cool for Ferrer to make the final, though I would love Federer vs. either of the other guys.
I enjoyed watching Federer vs Simon yesterday, probably because it was more like grass court tennis than clay at times - there were very few long rallies, helped by Fed throwing in a lot of drop shots (including a couple off second serves, which was entertaining). Roger will need to decrease the unforced error count drastically if he is to get much further - his QF opponent, Tsonga, made very few errors in his last match and will be tough to beat. I was going to add “with the home crowd behind him”, but then I remembered that yesterday, more people seemed to be cheering for Federer than Simon! That has to be tough in your home championship - can’t see it happening at Wimbledon if a plucky Brit gets to play Roger, much as the latter is loved over here.
Wawrinka comes back from two sets down and beats Gasquet 8-6 in the fifth. For those playing at home, the men’s quarterfinals look like this:
Djokovic (1) vs. Haas (12)
Nadal (3) vs. Wawrinka (9)
Robredo (32) vs. Ferrer (4)
Tsonga (6) vs. Federer (2)
And with one more round of 16 match scheduled for today the women’s field looks like this:
Serena (1) vs. Kuznetsova
Radwanska (4) vs. Errani (5)
Kirilenko (12) vs. Azarenka (3)
Hampton/Jankovic (18) vs. Sharapova (2)
I thought Hampton might have a chance there, but no- Jankovic clubbed her 0&2.
When is the last time the top 4 seeds in the Womens game made it to the qtr finals? I don’t think it happens very much anymore.
IIRC, in the King-Goolagoong-Evert-Navratilova-Graf eras, it was an upset when it did not happen.
It happened at the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013, as it turns out. I don’t know how often it happens- I am sure there’s a more efficient way to look than the way I was doing it.
Tsonga takes the first set from Federer.
Tsonga hits Fed with ball to break…
That wasn’t pretty.
Yeah, that looked ugly. Credit to Tsonga, who has looked very strong this tournament. I like his chances against Ferrer. Could he possibly hang in there with Nadal or Djokovic in the finals? It’d be very interesting, especially with the crowd behind him.
I was so hoping that Kuznetsova would be able to beat Serena, but it just wasn’t her day. I can’t stand Serena. But she’s pretty unbeatable at this point.
I think Jankovic is still in it, as well as Sharapova. Kirilenko doesn’t stand a chance. Is Azarenka still in it?
Nadal looked better against Nishikori but he lucked out by having to play someone who was overwhelmed with his physicality. Glad he’s looking stronger than week 1!
Federer looked as human as I’ve ever seen him. He had no confidence. Tsonga’s looking tough, but I still don’t think anyone is going to beat Djokovic.
Sharapova is rolling over Jankovic.
Oops, misread score(just got up) Maria won second, Jankovic has to keep focused.
Well we got the match everyone wanted to see, except it is Friday rather than Sunday.
Rafa vs Novak
Hope it is well played.
I, like Johnny Mac, was appalled that the French federation, scheduled Rafa and Nole to play simultaneously. How disrespectful to tennis fans. And to play the two of them in the morning so that Tsonga could play the marquee night match, well that’s just stupid.
Disappointed that neither Haas nor Warwinka could pull out a set but I’m really happy that we will see the clash of the titans, albeit two days early.
A valid complaint about doing those “matches” at the same time, but Tsonga didn’t play today. The men are off tomorrow and they’ll play the semifinals will Friday. Tomorrow is the mixed doubles final and the women’s singles and men’s doubles semis.
Sharapova and Azarenka are going to a third set, but there’s a rain delay.
Sharapova wins 6-4 in the third. Serena is up 6-0, 2-0 on Errani. This match is 30 minutes old.
Errani wins a game to get to 1-3. She has won a total of 12 points in 10 games.
And it’s over. Serena won 52 points to 16 for Errani. The match lasted a total of 46 minutes, which apparently makes it the shortest of the entire tournament. The third set of Sharapova-Azarenka was longer than this match. This is Serena’s first French Open final since she won the event in 2002.