Phew what a day it has been for the quarter finals at Roland Garros, which saw both the men and ladies slog it out for a place in the semi finals.
First up Maria Sharapova took on the rising German star Andrea Petkovic, and I thought myself it would have been a tougher match, but Sharapova just blootered her off the court. Sharapova demolished Petkovic in the first set 6-0 and despite a mini break back from Petko, Maria resumed normal service and ended the match 6-3. I think its a safe bet to say that Sharapova will win the French Open title, she is playing her best tennis again and she has been demolishing players left right and centre and today what she did was incredible, if she doesn't come through I'd be very surprised. Tomorrow she faces Li Na, so we will see how that goes but I firmly predict a Sharapova win.
Next up Li Na as I just mentioned also had a straight set victory over Victoria Azarenka, which was kind of surprising as Li Na came through in 7-5 6-2. So it just shows you, you never can tell, I thought Vika would be the favourite to win that one, but that's tennis, hard to predict sometimes.
Now for the men's quarter finals, starting with Nadal who took on Robin Soderling, which promised to be quite a battle but in the end Rafa brought his game to the match and defeated Robin in straight sets. However it wasn't quite as straightforward as despite a 6-4, 6-1 lead, Robin started playing better and pushed Nadal to a 3rd set tiebreak, but it was Nadal who took the upper hand and won it 7-6(3). Rafa also looked much more confident out there today as he much more spring in his step as well as upping his game very well indeed.
Which brings us to arguably the match of the day, well one of them with Andy Murray taking on the Argentine Juan Inglio Chela. Andy has had a pretty good match record against Chela as he has beaten him every time they play, so you can't get better than that. But of course it still wasn't the easiest of encounters as Andy started off poorly once again, dragging 1-4 down, however after that he rattled off the next four games to make it 5-5 all, and then took the first set in a tiebreaker. In the second set Andy started out strong with a break of serve but then dropped his own serve to again level it at 5-5 all, Andy broke again to serve for the set. In the third set after a slightly shaky start Andy broke and rattled off 4 more games to win the match in 7-6, 7-5, 6-2. This seals his place in the semi finals with none other than the king of clay himself, Rafael Nadal.
So its safe to say a mountain challenge awaits him as he attempts to dethrone the king of clay in a grand slam semi final. This is the first time Andy has reached the semi finals at Roland Garros, and despite some rather ropey moments it has been the most impressive achievement of his clay season bar none. Whether or not Andy can dig out a win against Rafa on Friday is very uncertain and seems very doubtful. But then again this man has come through some real setbacks this week and won inspite of the odds that have been stacked against him. Could he pull off another miracle this Friday? Hmmmmmm. As much as I would like to believe that I remain sceptacle. But what I will say is if Andy can beat Nadal on Friday, I think for sure the title is his. To beat the red dirt king at his own game would give any player a mountain of confidence especially in a grand slam, and at the point you can say to hell with Djokovic or Federer as I can't beat anyone now!! He already has outwith the slams, I think its high time he did it in them. If only once.
But the thing with Andy is he does let his emotions get in the way of his game too often, and Rafa will use that to win the big points, but then again that could help knock Rafa off his game, but I can more often see Andy dropping serve and hitting that net at crucial points, he has been known to do it. So it is a big ask and from here I still can't see it, but I think we are all living in hope of that day he proves us all wrong. It might be this Friday or Sunday, but something tells me Britain's 75 year wait for a grand slam singles men's champion will have to carry on waiting. My own prediction for the match is Rafa winning in 4 sets or at a real stretch 5 sets, I think Andy can trouble him enough to drop a set, but probably not beyond that. But then again they have played each other so often and over the last two times Andy posed a real threat to Rafa, but those two occasions weren't in slams and this is. But Friday will reveal all.
Regardless that's two mouth watering semi finals coming up on Friday for the men and tomorrow two more exciting semi finals await for the woman. For the women it will be Schiavone vs Bartoli and Li Na and Sharapova, so I think we are all in for a real treat over the next two days.
Cannae wait!! Stay tuned.
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