Ok so now onto the final part of my 5th part of my entries on the French Open, which will cover the remaining quarter final matches on the men's and ladies, so let's get going....
Starting with ladies first we had Maria Sharapova take on Jelena Jankovic for a clash to reach the semi finals, and it promised to be quite a tough match. And it turned out to be just that and it was Jelena who got off to a great start as she inflicted a rare grand slam feat on Maria, in that she dished out a bagel set to the Russian. However that didn't last in the 2nd set as Sharapova soon took charge and started her fightback by breaking Jankovic twice, although the Serb ended up getting one of the breaks back, Sharapova still levelled the match at a set all. In the decider it was tight until Sharapova made the break and moved ahead to break Jelena again to win a gruelling encounter in 0-6, 6-4, 6-3. In this match again Sharapova showed her battling qualities and no one can fight back from a set down like she can, and she rarely ever loses a match based on that position (unless its Serena!). So this will set up her semi final with the winner of the next match....
And this is match was between Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko, and the match itself was likewise a tough battle between the two players. The first set was a tough long encounter and it took a tiebreak to separate them and it was Vika that moved ahead and won the breaker 7-3 to seal the 1st set. In the 2nd set however Vika took control and went on to break Kirilenko twice, as she sealed the win to reach her first ever Roland Garros semi final. So this now means we will have another intruiging clash ahead between Vika and Maria, which promises to be quite a match, and although Victoria leads their head to head 7-5, Sharapova has the edge over Victoria on clay having won both their meetings on the red dirt. However this will be the first time they will have met in a grand slam at the French Open so it remains to be seen how it will pan out, but I just think that Maria might just edge this one in three sets, and hopefully it should be a really good match.
Now onto the men's remaining quarter final matches, starting with Rafa who took on Stan Wawrinka, and it had to be said that even before the match that Rafa was overwhelming favourite for this one, as Stan has never beaten Rafa and has failed to even take a set off him in their previous meetings! And it turned out to be no different in this match as Rafa improved his fine form that he has shown in the 2nd week so far, by thrashing Stan in straight sets dropping just a mere six games and nabbing a 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. Naturally this wasn't much of a match to write home about (or putting much on this blog about!) and it was decided before the two men even went on the court. Suffice to say it will set up an infinitely more intruiging match, based on the winner of the next match....
And the next match was between Novak Djokovic and the German player, Tommy Haas, who at the age of 35 has made a terrific comeback in the last year and is playing his best tennis in years. And the match itself was quite an entertaining one, although Djokovic throughout was in commanding form and he barely dropped more than 10 points on his own serve, as he served about as good as he ever has, and he broke Haas in the opening set to nab it. In the 2nd set, it was much tighter and it went by serve until a tiebreak, and despite Haas taking a minibreak at one stage, he soon lost it and Nole sealed the set to take the lead. In the 3rd set Haas managed to break back after Djokovic broke him, but after some relentless pressure, Haas started to fade as tiredness took him over, and he soon surrendered his serve at 5-5, and left Nole to serve it out and seal his semi final place with a 6-3, 7-6, 7-5 win.
So this sets up the ultimate clash between two of the best players the game has seen in Rafa and Nole and it begs the question, who will win it??????????? Well...... its not an easy one to answer because there are a number of different factors, first off the weather as its supposed to be warm and sunny on Friday, which would instantly favour Rafa for the conditions on court. Although if the weather changes to cold and damp conditions then this could favour Nole as it will allow him to take more time on the ball. And then there is Novak who has beaten Rafa in their last clay court meeting in Monte Carlo, where Nole snapped Rafa's winning streak there as well, as he had won eight titles in a row there. Another thing to take into consideration however is that both men are peaking in the tournament just at the right time, which is what makes this in itself so tough to call. But I think the result will simply boil down to who plays the best tennis on the day and we will just have to wait and see who comes out on top. But if I were to make a split prediction I would say if Nole wins it will be in 5 sets, and if Rafa wins it will be in four tight sets.
So that's it for now I will report back on Friday once the ladies and men's semi finals are out of the way and we know who this years grand slam finalists will be.......
Till then bye for noww.
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