Les Hommes
Well, we weren't too startled to hear that David Ferrer of Spain had dismissed his countryman Tommy Robredo in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 on Court Suzanne Lenglen for a seat in the quarterfinal huddle.
But we were astonished by Federer's loss (oh how sacrilegious it seems to utter these words in that order!!) to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in an elimination as quick and unexpected as an axe to a chicken's neck.
In one of his sloppiest matches of the year to date, Roger Federer was shoved out of the race to RG coronation by one tenacious and light-footed Tsonga. Fed was shown no mercy by the Frenchman after racking up a few forehand errors in the middle of the first set. JW Tsonga took full advantage and won the set 7-5.
What astounded the French crowd, and the millions watching from all over the world, was the lack of comeback by the Swiss Maestro. The last time Federer lost the first set in a Grand Slam final was last year at Wimbledon against Andy Murray, but he won then (4–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–4) and we all expected him to win here against a seemingly less qualified opponent than the clean-hitting Murray.
But Jo-Willy was not ready to let down his home crowd and blasted his way to the finish line, ignoring Roger's sluggish movements and channeling all his energy on executing his own game successfully.
The final score of 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 marks an auspicious moment for French tennis by the hands of Tsonga, who has hopes of commemorating the 30th anniversary of a local French Open champion (Yannick Noah, 1983) with a win of his own, come Sunday.
Unfortunately, it also marks the third time that Federer has lost in a French Open quarterfinal. It has been four years since Roger has hoisted La Coupe des Mousquetaires (or "Musketeer's Trophy", as the silver-lined cup is commonly called) in his first and only Parisian conquest in 2009.
So where does this leave us? With several questions, one of which is whether Roger will be physically able to contest this tournament next year (by then, he will close to 33 years young) amid twenty-somethings fresh out of the junior circuit and hungry for titles.
An even more gut-wrenching question: with the "Big Four" all over the age of 25, Roger leading the way in age, titles and all-time records, is the "Golden Era" of tennis coming to a close? Or is another great age headed our way under the ensign of the little ones like Jerzy Janowicz, John Isner and Grigor Dimitrov? Only time will tell.
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| Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, victorious in battle against Roger Federer at RG13 |
Les Dames
Ms. Williams was in full control of her quarterfinal match against Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia on Court Philippe Chatrier. Despite hot hitting from the Russian (who is known for her occasional inconsistency), Serena was able to forge a 6-1 first set choke-hold.
Perhaps sensing Williams's propensity to outpace opponents, Kuznetsova began the clever technique of using the slice backhand to draw Serena in towards the net and then whoosh deep passing shots to gain easy points. Amazingly, Serena did not find an answer to that for the duration of the second set; hence, Svetlana loosened the choke-hold with a 6-3 equalizer.
Looking to pick up the slack before momentum rolled too far away from her, and apparently coming to terms with the butt-load of forehand errors she made in the second set, Serena upped her game just enough to come back from 0-2 down and steal the match from between Lana's deft fingers.
The mood changed at 15-all in the sixth game of the third set when Williams curled a forehand in the ad court to end a long rally with a grimace and a grunt. Showing improved anticipation and timing thenceforth, Serena won the next two games to consolidate a vital break for 5-2.
Not to be put away without retaliation, Kuznetsova bravely held serve then to force Serena to serve it out.
And as her final forehand, laced with controlled aggression, bounced past the 27-year-old Kuznetsova, multiple Grand Slam champion Serena Williams would do just that, crouching in transparent emotion at this, her laborious triumph.
Italy's Sara Errani is her next competitor. Maybe the petite clay court expert from Bologna will be able to bring her best game against Williams, who, in spite of her 15 singles titles, is not as adept on this surface.
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| Serena Williams advances to the French Open semifinals |
WEDNESDAY, DAY 11
Les Hommes
[Quarterfinal results in the Men's Singles draw at Roland Garros, as obtained from the Google search engine.]
Some experts argue that, notwithstanding these latest match results in which Djokovic's scoreline is closer than Nadal's, the Serbian has had an easier time progressing through the draw than the Spaniard.
The tournament statistics attest to this fact: Djokovic has conceded 57 games and just one set en route to this semifinal match with Nadal, who has conceded a total of 62 games and two sets.
What's worrying is the fact that both sets lost by Nadal were first sets to lower ranked players in the first two rounds. In his ongoing comeback, Rafa has been starting off shakily and improving his form as the tournaments progress to their final stages. He is slowly beginning to trust his somewhat-healed knee and his ability to run around and hit his signature whipping forehand.
The problem is that even healthy, pre-comeback Nadal had loads of difficulty beating Djokovic, without exception of surface. And Nole has already stopped him from claiming a record ninth Monte-Carlo title earlier this year. Therefore isn't far-fetched at all to think that the Serb has it in him to beat Nadal here.
All Novak must hope for is not to be bothered by the ego exuding off a man who has been in eight consecutive ATP finals over the past four months and captured six of those titles in grand style. But then again..... Always honest about his feelings, Rafa has already admitted his nervousness ahead of the match against Novak on Friday but promised fans to be driven more by desire to win than (justified) nerves.
Friday's proceedings on Court Philippe Chatrier will put to bed all the wanderings of our imagination, since whoever wins this semifinal would be the overwhelming favorite to win the title. A king must be crowned. Who will it be?
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| Djokovic at the French Open 2013 |
Les Dames
Victoria Azarenka had a pretty routine win over Russian player Maria Kirilenko to book her place in the semifinals on Thursday.
Another Maria, Sharapova specifically, would have an almost as troubling time. Former world #1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia had Sharapova stumbling from one corner of the court to the next, thrashing a mixture of topspin-heavy winners and wild ground-strokes at the defending champion to capture the first set with a bagel (6-0).
In the second set , Sharapova was able to anticipate the ball much better and exploited a few forehands down the line to get an early break with consolidation to lead 3-1. Working the angles much better, MaSha made good on more break opportunities to go up 4-1. Jankovic appeared less and less nimble in her lateral movement but broke back to stay in the set at 5-4. Before long, however, Sharapova had the second set in the bag at 6-4.
Showing telltale signs of exhaustion after one and a half hours of intense play versus a younger opponent, Jankovic eased up off the gas pedal in the third set, allowing Sharapova to easily read her less than deft drop-shots to go up 5-3. Jankovic fervently needed to hold serve at this point but was double match point down when she sent a forehand just wide of the service line and ran almost instinctively to the net to congratulate Sharapova on the win.
Sharapova faces Vika Azarenka in the semifinals on Thursday.
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| 2008 US Open finalist Jelena Jankovic on the stretch |
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