Haas now seems to have the 4th set in the bag at 4-1.
Yes, it’s over. One of the biggest wins of Haas’ career. He’s only made three other Grand Slam semis: the '99, '02 and '07 Australian Opens. He won the silver medal at the 2000 Olympics and one Masters Series title in 2001. This is a guy who was #2 in the world once, but didn’t get the chance to stay there. (I think I’ve posted this before, but I once heard him referred to as part of a “Lost Generation” of tennis players - him, Safin, Kiefer, Grosjean, for example, - who didn’t achieve as much as expected. These are the guys who were expected to be at the top of the game, but basically Hewitt turned out to be better or more consistent than any of them, and became #1.
Murray has just won the first set from Ferrero, 7-5. But the Mosquito is up 2-0 in the second. We’ll see if he can hang on to that break.
Well Murray is through to the semis.
It’s fairly obvious that despite him being a Scot he’s really batting for England.
What?
And Hewitt sneaks the tie-break to tie it up at one set each.
btw, Roddick has a losing record against all the other players still in the tournament, including Hewitt. Both Haas and Hewitt used to own Roddick in the early part of his career.
That one was as tight as predicted, and Roddick takes out Hewitt, 6-4 in the fifth. Women’s semis tomorrow. I don’t see Dementieva challenging Serena, although she’s pretty tough upstairs. Safina’s the opposite, and Venus’ attitude and amazing grass record should be more than enough to get her through.
The all-Andy semi should be a good match, but Murray hasn’t been pushed as far and has more variety. It looks good for him. And I don’t expect Haas to take two sets off Federer, so it looks like we’re on track for the final Britain wants.
stops whistling
Sorry you didn’t get to gloat. It was a great run for Hewitt though.
To summarise the back page of The Times this morning, a pair of tickets for yesterday’s Murray/Ferrero encounter sold for £3,000 each. Seats for Sunday’s final earlier changed hands for £4,000, but the price will get higher. Somebody paid £11,000 online for a final ticket, the only drawback being that the ticket didn’t exist, and one seller has placed 4 for sale online at £20,000 each. The piece doesn’t say whether anyone has bought at this price, but it seems that a sum in excess of £10,000 per seat won’t be totally out of court (:)) come the day of the final, especially if Murray overcomes Roddick tomorrow.
This is not to disrespect Andy R. I’m looking forward to a good semi-final and if Roddick can win I’ll be delighted for him.
No comments/updates on the Serena-Elena match? Very high quality tennis. Dementieva is up 4-3 in the third set, on serve. Serena painted some lines to make a comeback in the 2nd set.
Good Stuff!
No worries. I’m rooting for Murray anyway. 
I watched the end of the third set. Dementieva was indeed tough. Her leg gave her problems at the end, but there were some great shots and rallies. Serena made a terrific volley to get to (I think) 15-30 in the game where she made her final break of serve. That was a really intense win for Serena.
Venus appears to be giving Safina an ungodly beating. She won the first five games and took the first set 6-1.
Safina does not look like she should be ranked #1. Safina just looked so awkward in the qtr final.
IMO, Serena is the best player in the womens game. I guess she doesn’t play enough tournaments to get the #1 ranking.
Now 5-0 Venus in the second set. If the sisters play as well in the final as they have today, it’s going to be an unbelievable match.
And it’s over.
Safina earned the number one ranking: she made the finals of the Australian and French Opens this year and the semis in Wimbledon and last year’s U.S. Open, which is the kind of thing you expect the #1 player to do. And she’s won or done well in a lot of other significant tournaments lately. But yeah, right now she looks overawed by the idea of winning a slam event, and since she’s blown a bunch of chances it’s affected her confidence. (Even if that weren’t true, you’d expect Venus to beat her on grass - just not like this.) Serena’s the best player, but grass is Venus’ best surface by far. I’m not sure if either of them can get the top ranking Saturday.
You’re right that the difference is in how much they play. The Williamses focus on the biggest tournaments and don’t play that much by comparison with other top players. They’ve had some injury problems too. And Venus always bombs in the Australian Open for some reason. But in any given match I’d take them ahead of Safina.
Some nice asymmetry there.
Serena wins the longest ever womens’ semi-final while Venus triumphs in what must be one of the shortest.
I find it hard to believe that that was the “longest ever” women’s semifinal. It only went two games over. Maybe by time?
Personally, I thought the Williams v Dementieva sem-final had both some really good tennis and some pretty poor tennis. Seems to me that both of them were making some serious unforced errors, which I attribute to trying too hard to win points with one shot, since I think they both wanted to avoid long rallies (esp. Serena). In the third set, Serena was really tentative in the middle of the set, but towards the end, she definitely kicked it up a notch and Dementieva just couldn’t quite keep up with it. Heck of a match to watch. Should have been the final.
Anyone have any guesses yet as to which sister is scheduled to win Sat.? 
What is the schedule for tomorrow? Men’s Semis?
Or do the men play the semis the same day as the womens’ final?
The men play tomorrow. Haas and Federer play first. The Andys play second.
Slight correction.
It was the longest ever womens’ semi-final at Wimbledon in the Open era, in terms of time.