FRENCH OPEN 2010: Women's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the women's quarterfinals at Roland Garros this year.

Serena Williams USA (1) vs. Samantha Stosur AUS (7) Justine Henin BEL (22). For the second year in a row, the winner of the tournament will be decided in the quarterfinal in which Serena Williams competes. Last year, Serena lost a nervy, tension-filled (frankly, ugly) quarterfinal match to eventual champion, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. This year instead of playing the 4-time Roland Garros champion Henin (who had a 24-match winning streak since Tathiana Garbin beat the 2003 defending champion in the second round at this tournament in 2004) Serena will face last year's semifinalist Samantha Stosur. The Serena-Justine showdown had been the most anticipated match on either side of the draw, even in a section of the draw called the "quarter of death" by Brad Gilbert. However, thanks to the hard-hitting, brilliant-serving Sam Stosur, that storyline is now dismissed from the tournament. Serena and Sam have only played four times (all on hard courts) with Stosur winning once, in Stanford last year. Serena is a woman on a mission, and will not be denied her chance to reach another Roland Garros final. PREDICTION: Serena in 3 sets.

Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ vs. Jelena Jankovic SRB (4). Surely Jelena Jankovic is too strong a defensive player to go through her entire career without winning a major? She made it to the 2008 U.S. Open final (losing to Serena in two close sets) but I believe that it is clay where her particular skills should be rewarded the most. Following that first major final Jankovic fell into a major downward spiral (although not as precipitous a decline as her Serbian countrywoman Ana Ivanovic, who although she possesses the 2008 French Open title still does not own a reliable second (or first) serve.) Jankovic has played well on clay this year, having beaten both Williams sisters on her way to the Rome final (which she lost). She should seize on the good fortune of not being in the "quarter of death" and sneak into her second major final. PREDICTION: Jankovic in 2 sets.

Francesca Schiavone ITA (17) vs. Caroline Wozniacki DEN (3). Wozniacki can regain the World #2 ranking by getting to the final, although I suspect her current Italian opponent and future Russian opponent will do their best to help maintain Venus Williams' hold on that position. This is the veteran Schiavone's 4th career quarterfinal, her second in Paris since reaching that lofty height in her debut at the tournament in 2001. The young Dane had never been past the 4th round of a major despite being on the tour for 3 years until her major breakthrough in New York (over Svetlana Kuznetsova in one of the very best matches of 2009) last year, where she lost the final to Kim Clijsters. In these clashes between wily veteran and talented youngster it is often the older player who comes out the loser because they more viscerally understand the significance (and rarity) of the moment and I expect this case to be no different. Youth will be served, again. PREDICTION:Wozniacki in 2 sets.

Elena Dementieva RUS (5) vs. Nadia Petrova RUS (19) Venus Williams USA (2). Oh, Venus! After getting past her 3rd Round Roland Garros jinx easily she meekly went out to the hard-hitting, mentally fragile Petrova on a cold wet day in straight sets, losing to someone she had never lost to on any surface. Sigh. Soon to turn 30 years-old, and for once blessed with a draw that had all the deadliest players in the other half for once, Venus couldn't keep it together long enough to make another deep run at the clay major, despite having amassed a very good record on clay this year. Petrova has always done well in Paris, first breaking through here at age 17 into the semifinals in 2003. Her opponent, Elena Dementieva, has quietly snuck through the draw, losing only one set in a tiebreak to Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, with almost no one discussing her chances despite being a finalist here in 2004 and having played the best women's match on tour last year. Matches between the Russians are very often hideous, very tight affairs with one player losing worse than the other instead of one player winning decisively. That's what I expect to see in this match. Head-to-head there's not much between these two, they are tied 7-7 in career matches, 2-2 in clay court matches and 1-1 in grand slam matches. Petrova has won exactly 2 major quarterfinal matches before, here in Paris, while the 6-month-older Dementieva has won 8 major quarterfinals, although only one in Paris. PREDICTION: Dementieva in 3 sets.

FRENCH OPEN 2010: Venus Stunned By Petrova

Nadia Petrova took out World #2 Venus Williams 6-4 6-3 in the fourth round of the French Open today. World #1 Serena Williams recovered from experiencing dizziness against 18-year-old Anastasia Pavyluchenkova to win in 3-sets 6-1 1-6 6-2 to make the 4th round.

In other results, Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin played a taut, high-quality match in which ended at 1-set all on Saturday and then resumed on Sunday. The third set started with Sharapova leading 2-0 and 40-0 on Henin's serve, but the diminutive Belgian managed to hold serve there and break Sharapova twice for a 4-2 lead. Sharapova struck back and had a point to even the match at 4-all when Henin again managed to win three points in a row to break for 5-3and served out the match easily to win 6-2 3-6 6-3.

If Serena and Justine get through their next match (against Shahar Peer and Samantha Stosur) they will meet in the most anticipated quarterfinal of the tournament (in either draw). The other quarterfinal will feature the winner of Jelena Jankovic and Daniela Hantuchova.

The other half of the quartfinalists are set: Elena Dementieva versus Petrova, Caroline Wozniacki versus Francesco Schiavone. One of these four will make it to the 2010 Roland Garros women's final. Who will it be?

Serena and Venus Will Be World #1 and #2!

For the first time in seven years, Venus Williams will be ranked #2 in the world, following her sister Serena Williams, who will be ranked #1. Serena lost in 3-sets to Nadia Petrova 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in Madrid today while Venus won her match against Francesca Schiavone in 3 sets 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The results today guarantee that the Williams sisters will be seeded #1 and #2 at the second major tournament of the year, with Serena having won the first in Australia.

AUSSIE OPEN 2010: Women's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the women's quarterfinals at the Australian Open this year.

Serena Williams USA (1) vs. Victoria Azarenka BLR (7). Serena is playing like a woman on a mission. Her performance against 13 seed Samantha Stosur in the round before was, in a word, "scary." Pam Shriver called it the best serving she had seen by a female player, ever. Although at the start of the tournament I did not predict Serena to win this title, mostly because she has only defended a title once in ten attempts and I was also entranced by the odd-year symmetry of her wins down under, after seeing what she did to the Aussie's #1 player, I think the rest of the field should be afraid, very afraid. Interestingly, one of the few players who is not afraid of playing Serena is the feisty #7 seed from Belarus, who almost derailed Serena here last year, leading by a set and a break before she was overwhelmed by the heat and retired ignominiously. Azarenka did get her revenge by dispatching a clearly injured Serena in straight sets to win the "fifth major" in Miami later that year so I am confident that Serena will take this match very seriously. Azarenka finished off her last match by inflicting a bagel on Vera Zvonareva in the third set, a not uncommon occurrence. What is an uncommon occurrence in this tournament is Serena in trouble on her serve. She is the only player, male or female, who has not had her service broken, and eliminated the three breakpoints she faced yesterday with three aces. An incredible performance indeed. The only question for Serena is whether she is peaking too early, or whether she is going to continue to play at this high-level for the rest of the tournament. If the latter is indeed, true, then Serena Williams be the 2010 Australian Open women singles champion, regardless of what happens in the rest of the draw. PREDICTION: Serena in 3 sets.

Na Li CHN (16) vs Venus Williams USA (6). I really like the play of the veteran Chinese player (so much so I named my dog after her!) and except for the hiccup against Francesca Schiavone in the previous round, Venus has been playing pretty good, if not overwhelmingly aggressive, tennis. With her natural power and athletic ability that is enough to get the older Williams sister through most matches by simply overwhelming most opponents and the relatively diminutive Li Na will most likely be no exception. PREDICTION: Venus in 2 sets.

Elena Dementieva RUS (5) Justine Henin BEL vs. Kim Clijsters BEL (15). Nadia Petrova RUS (19). I really expected to see Elena Dementieva and/or Kim Clijsters in this quarter of the draw, but it looks like the hard-hitting and extremely talented Petrova may have finally quieted the doubting voices in her head and is simply letting her tennis do the speaking for her. She has the game to beat just about anyone when she is playing her best and is one of the prototypical "big babes." Henin is playing in her first major tournament in two years, and is trying to repeat (or overshadow) her Belgian compatriot Clijsters who was able to win a grand slam within a few weeks of her return to the tour from retirement. Henin has looked to be about 80-90% as effective as she was before she left, and I have no doubt that she will be a threat to win any major she enters this year, and a lock in Paris. However, her wins have become increasingly labored with every successive round. This match is the hardest of the four to predict the result (and most likely will be the hardest to watch, as well). PREDICTION: Petrova in 2 sets or Henin in 3.

Jelena Jankovic SRB (8) Jie Zheng CHN vs. Maria Sharapova RUS (14) Maria Kirilenko RUS. The surprise quarterfinalists! I definitely expected a different Maria from Russia to be occupying this quarterfinal berth, but good job for "the Other Maria" to finally break out of the shadow of her best friend on the tour and not only eliminate Sharapova in the first round but continue all the way to the final eight. The second Chinese player in the quarterfinal represents the first time two Chinese players have made it this far simultaneously in a major tournament, with Zheng also having played in the 2008 Wimbledon ladies semi-final. I believe this match will be determined by who wants it more, not by the tennis of the two players. In that case, I prefer to go with the person who has not been here before. Either way, I have serious doubts the person from this quarter will be making it to the final. PREDICTION: Kirilenko in 3 sets.

AUSSIE OPEN 2010: Clijsters Humiliated By Petrova

The winner of the last slam in 2009, Kim Clijster was bounced from the 2010 Australian Open with her worst career loss in a Grand Slam 6-0 6-1 by Russian Nadia Petrova. And she wasn't too happy about it.

"You know, on the other hand, you know, [Nadia Petrova] was good. But, you know, I let her -- you know, I made all the mistakes and she didn't really have to do much. She served really well and was aggressive in the rallies, but that's because I let her play into the courts. Just because I wasn't feeling the ball well. It sucks."--Kim Clijsters

Justine Henin escaped with a three-set 3-6 6-4 6-2 win over hard-hitting Alisa Kleybanova and will now face countrywoman and 2009 US open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer in the fourth round.

Venus Williams Tops WTA List Of 2008 fastest Servers

The Women's Tennis Blog has the list of the fastest servers for 2008 on the WTA as well as the list of all-time fastest serves. Venus Williams tops both lists, with a 129 mph serve at Wimbledon 2008 (and 2007).

Top 15 Fastest Servers - 2008

1. Williams, Venus (129.0 mph - Wimbledon)
2. Groenefeld, Anna-Lena (128.0 mph - US Open)
3. Williams, Serena (125.0 mph - Miami)
4. Lisicki, Sabine (124.0 mph - Cincinnati)
5. Brémond, Severine (121.8 mph - Australian Open)
6. Bychkova, Ekaterina (121.2 mph - Roland Garros)
Petrova, Nadia (121.2 mph - Roland Garros)
8. Stosur, Samantha (121.0 mph - US Open)
9. Fedossova, Youlia (119.3 mph - Roland Garros)
10. Sprem, Karolina (119.0 mph - Amelia Island)
11. Ivanovic, Ana (118.1 mph - Roland Garros)
Tulyaganova, Iroda (118.1 mph - Australian Open)
13. Amanmuradova, Akgul (118.0 mph - Amelia Island)
Cavaday, Naomi (118.0 mph - Wimbledon)
Kleybanova, Alisa (118.0 mph - Wimbledon)

Jankovic Beats Venus, Then Petrova For Title

Jelena Jankovic lived up to her new World #1 ranking by defeating Venus Williams in a tough 3-set semifinal 6-7(8) 7-5 6-2 and beating Nadia Petrova 6-4 6-3 in the final to win the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.

It is the Serbian's second WTA Tour title in as many weeks after winning the China Open last week.

WTA ACURA CLASSIC: Quarterfinals Preview

The WTA Acura Classic is a hop skip and a jump from Mad Professah's stomping grounds in Southern California so I will be driving down with a bunch of other tennis fans this weekend to see Friday's last quarterfinal as well as both semi-finals on Saturday.

Patty SCHNYDER (SUI) vs Nadia PETROVA (RUS). The crafty lefty finally beat her more famous Swiss compatriot Martina Hingis for the first time in nearly nine years despite losing the second set in a tie-break to reach this quarterfinal against one of five Russians in the Final Eight at this important Tier 1 warm-up to the U.S. Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. Petrova is the "most mentally challenged" of the top Russian players (well, except for Dinara Safina!) and Schnyder is one of the most skillful players onthe tour at getting into someone's head. Despite the fact Schnyder leads their head-to-head 5-4 they haven't played each other in more than a year and the Russian's power game should be enough to blow Schnyder off the court. Prediction: Petrova in 2 sets.

Elena DEMENTIEVA (RUS) vs Maria KIRILENKO (RUS). After she serves, Elena Dementieva has some of the prettiest strokes in the women's game, but they often are not enough to make up for her laughably atrocious serve. Kirilenko has just had the biggest win of her young but not so distinguished career, defeating the indefatigable Jelena Jankovic, currently the #3 player in the world, in three tough sets the round before. Matches between Russians are ugly at the best of times, and this one will be even uglier than usual as these two blonde beauties slug it out. Prediction: Toss-up!

Maria SHARAPOVA (RUS) vs Sania MIRZA (IND). It looks like the Muslim Miracle a.k.a. the Invincible Indian has finally started to live up to her hype and started to win matches. She made the final of Stanford last weekend and easily dispatched former Top 10 player Dinara Safina pretty easily to get to this quarterfinal match-up with the reigning U.S. Open champion. Mirza is a big match player, but the jury is still out on whether she has the weapons to match her will. Sharapova has been looking sharp this week, and her serve seems to be returning to it's former strength and consistency. Prediction: Sharapova in 2 sets.

Anna CHAKVETADZE (RUS) vs Venus WILLIAMS (USA). Chakvetadze is the hottest player on the tour right now, having won the last two tournaments she played in, at Cincinatti and Stanford. However, she hasn't really played anyone of the caliber of the reigning Wimbledon champion in her recent victories. Venus is clearly swinging freely and dispatched hard-hitting Daniela Hantuchova in the previous round in straight sets (including a bagel!), limiting the Slovak to a mere 3 games. (Venus has never lost to Hantuchova in 9 matches.) Happily, the organizers decided to schedule this quarterfinal as the evening match so MadProfessah will be able to watch it live in the stands. I suspect Anna will not go down as quietly as Daniela did, but Venus would love to set up another grudge match with Sharapova in the semis Saturday night. Whoever wins that match should easily defeat the winner of the early semifinal on the other half of the draw. Prediction: Williams in 3 sets.

Wimbledon 2007: Ladies' Quarterfinal Preview

The 2007 Wimbledon Ladies' Quarterfinals are almost set. Despite delayed by rain like everything else during the wettest Wimbledon on record the four quarterfinal matches will be played on one day, thus providing an orgiastic feast of high stakes tennis all in one place. I hope to experience this in person one day, but until then I'll be watching on TV and the web like 99.99% of the spectators who are interested in the results. Without further ado, here are my predictions for Day 9.

Justine Henin BEL (1) vs. Serena Williams USA (7). For the second Grand Slam in a row the showdown between Serena Williams and Justine Henin is the most anticipated match of the tournament. In fact, some people have wondered if Henin hadn't skipped this year's 2007 Australian Open would the result have been different? It's hard to imagine there could be even more drama in Serena's next round after the operatic turn that her fourth round win over Daniela Hantuchova took towards the end of the second set. In fact, I don't think the match will be great, similar to the blowout by the Belgian on clay last month. This time, I expect that the American will overpower her opponent on the faster surface of clay, further stymieing Henin's attempt to win a career Grand Slam. It's true that Henin has been in two Wimbledon finals and is playing excellent tennis but she hasn't had to play anyone remotely close to Serena's ability on grass prior to this match. Some people are already calling this match the equivalent of the final, but I think there are atleast three players in the bottom half of the draw (one of them whose last name is Williams) who take exception to that chracterization and intend ti do something about it. PREDICTION: Williams in 2 sets.

Jelena Jankovic SRB (3) Marion Bartoli FRA (18) vs. Michaella Krajicek NED (31). This surpising quarterfinal matchup is a coming out party for the younger sister of 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek at the tournament where her brother achieved his greatest success on a tennis court and the hard-hitting French player. However, after Jankovic survived a near death experience against hard-hitting Czech youngster Lucie Safarova in the third round I was convinced that she would have had no trouble against the dubiously fit Bartoli but perhaps her excessive playing schedule finally caught up with the Serbian diva. Which one of these players will get to her first Wimbledon semifinal? It's hard to bet against the storied Krajicek name at Wimbledon, but it will be a tough, scratchy match.
PREDICTION: Krajicek in 3 sets.

Nadia Petrova RUS (11) vs. Amelie Mauresmo FRA (4). Ana Ivanovic SRB (6) vs. Nicole Vaidisova CZE (14). This was the trickiest quarterfinal to anticipate because this section of the draw has two great fourth round matchups like Petrova versus 2007 French Open finalist Ana Ivanovic and hard-hitting Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova versus the reigning Wimbledon champion Mauresmo. However, I truly believe that Mauresmo has the game and experience to defeat the up-and-coming Vaidisova, who is one of my personal favorite players who has yet to win a Grand Slam, but at age 18 she has a great future ahead of her. Interestingly, Vaidisova has won the last two times the two have played making their head-to-head record even at 2-2. Petrova really has no right to win this 4th round match but I just think that Ivanovic has to have a let down at some point and believe that it's time for Petrova to make another run at a major. However, I would not be surprised at all to see Ivanovic in this quarterfinal, possibly even playing Vaidisova.

PREDICTION: Mauresmo in 2 sets or a toss-up between Vaidisova/Ivanovic.

Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (5) vs. Venus Williams USA (23). This is an even more unlikely quarterfinal than the Jankovic/Krajicek quarter. Svetlana "the most talented of the Russians" Kuznetsova has been cutting through the draw like a scythe. Venus "3-time Wimbledon Champion" Williams has been lucky to get through two of her first three matches.
However, Venus has been in this position many times before and if she gets past Maria Sharapova in the fourth round it's unlikely any player will be able to stop her from getting to her sixth Wimbledon.
PREDICTION: Venus Williams in 2 sets or tossup between Kuznetsova/Sharapova.