2012 US OPEN Day 8: Serena and Federer Win

REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Serena Williams reached the quarterfinals of the 2012 US Open where she will face 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic by winning 6-0 6-0 against Czech doubles specialist Anna Hlavackova. Earlier, Roger Federer reached his record 34th consecutive major quarterfinal by also not losing a (or winning) a single game when Mardy Fish withdrew from the tournament on the advice of his doctor. Fish has been struggling with a heart condition (accelerated heart rate) for most of the 2012 tennis season. The world #1 will face Tomas Berdych, who beat Federer in the quarterfinals en route to his appearance in the 2010 Wimbledon final. Serena is in dominating form, having won 38 of her last 40 matches, with losses only to Angelique Kerber in Cincinnati and Virginie Razzano in Paris, grabbing the Wimbledon title and gold medals in Singes and Doubles.

The double bagel Serena served was only the 5th in her career and the first at the US Open since Maria Sharapova did it in 2009. Speaking of the Russian, she came back from being down 0-2 in the deciding set against Nadia Petrova after a brief rain delay last night to eventually win her 11th 3-set match of 2012 6-1 4-6 6-4.

The other big result of the weekend was Marion Bartoli taking out 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 1-6 6-2 6-0 to reach a quarterfinal match up with Sharapova. #1 seed Victoria Azarenka has reached her very first US Open quarterfinal by losing a mere 10 games in her first four rounds. (Even with the double bagel, Serena has lost more games than Vika: twelve in four rounds.) Kerber lost a very tough, tight match against 2012 French Open finalist Sara Errani 7-6(5) 6-3.

Andy Roddick continued his last run at a major tournament after announcing his retirement by taking out his handsome buddy Fabio Fognini 7-5 7-6(1) 4-6 6-4. He will face Juan Martin del Potro in a tough 4th round match tomorrow night.

Olympiad XXX Tennis: Serena Wins Singles Gold!

Serena Williams won her first Gold Medal in singles by demolishing 4-time major champion Maria Sharapova 6-0 6-1 in an awe-inspiring display of overwhelming power and devastating accuracy that lasted just over an hour.

As I predicted yesterday, Serena extended her domination over Sharapova by winning their eighth match in a row, extending her career had-to-head lead to 9 wins, 2 losses. Serena hit 24 winners to a mere 7 errors, including 10 aces, breaking her opponent at will. For example, at 0-5 down Sharapova went up 40-0 and Serena proceeded to hit return winner after return winner and after the Russian double faulted to give the American a breakpoint which was also a (bagel) set point, Serena claimed the first set after an exciting exchange at the net.

Sharapova did not play her best tennis, but there really was not much she could do because Serena was moving so well. Sharapova hit 1 ace to 5 double faults, and 10 unforced errors to only 6 winners. She had two breakpoints on Serena's serve at 1-3 to get the match back on serve but Serena wiped them away with two big first serves and never looked back.

Serena was a woman on a mission, hitting winners silently from every corner of the court. She made 3 vocalizations during the match, a "come on!" when she broke Sharapova to go up 2-0 in the second set and then when she saved her first breakpoint 3 games later. Then at the end of the match after she served an ace on match point she let out a very loud and long primal scream as she completed the Golden career slam, the second woman to do it after the great Steffi Graf.

In the Bronze medal match, current World #1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat Maria Kirilenko 6-3 6-4 to win her first Olympic medal. Serena and her sister Venus will be going for their third Gold medal in doubles after they play their semifinal against Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova and the Czech team in the final.

At this rate, I would not be surprised if Serena is #1 before the US Open starts in 3 weeks, but she has quite a number of points to defend during the American hard court summer season. But really it's a question of when, not if, Serena will be at the top of the rankings in women's tennis again.

2012 FRENCH OPEN Day 13: Date With Destiny

On Day 13 of the 2012 Roland Garros tournament Sara Errani of Italy continued her improbable run by winning the doubles final with her partner and countrywoman Roberta Vinci over the Russian pair of Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko 4-6 6-4 6-2 in about 2 hours. Errani will play in the women's final against Russian Maria Sharapova on Saturday. The two have never met on the WTA tour before.

On the men's side, Day 13 was men's semifinals day and featured matches between players who had met very often. First up was World #6 David Ferrer playing his 20th career match against World #2 Rafael Nadal. The two Spaniards know each other very well, with Ferrer having only won 4 times before and once in 13 meetings on clay. However, even Ferrer must have been surprised by the shellacking he received, eventually only able to win 5 games in 3-sets of tennis, and after Nadal survived two break chances in the 5th game of the first set and raised his game, the winner of the match was never in doubt. The final score was 6-2 6-2 6-1 and is not really indicative of the fact that the 6th best player in the world and probably the world's 4th best clay court player was never really in contention.

The other match of the day was the mouht-watering 26th showdown between 16-time major champion Roger Federer and World #1 Novak Djokovic. Federer lead their head-to-head 14-11 and had beaten Djokovic at this stage last year when both players were playing better tennis than this year. Unfortunately, Federer was not able to repeat last year's magic and this year's semifinal was more like the 2011 Austraian Open semifinal than the 2011 French Open semifinal: a straight sets loss where Federer had opportunities to win sets but Djokovic was able to hold him at bay and finish him off 6-4 7-5 6-3 without expending too much energy.

Both matches ended as I predicted, setting up a history-making final on Sunday. Either Djokovic will win his 28th grand slam match in a row, becoming the first man in over 43 years to accomplish such a task, or Nadal will win his 7th major title at Roland Garros, the most anyone has ever won here, and improve his all-time record to a nonpareil 52-1. Bjorn Borg's record at Roland Garros was 49-2, and the 26-year-old Nadal has already surpassed the record of the man who previous generations thought was the best to ever play on red clay.

US OPEN 2011: Stosur Outplays Serena To Win 1st Major

Defying nearly universal predictions of defeat Samantha Stosur of Australia, 27, played the match of her life to defeat a listless, unusually slow Serena Williams and win her first major title at the 2011 U.S. Open 6-2 6-3.

Although Serena started the match with an ace it became clear very soon that she was not moving well and not serving well. If she was playing at 80% to win against Caroline Wozniacki on Saturday night, Sunday afternoon she was at around 50%. I don't know if it was something physical or not, but she as clearly the same player who had shown up for the first 5 rounds of the tournament.

Regardless, Samantha Stosur took a page out of Francesca Schiavone's book and played the smartest match of her life, maximizing her chances and optimizing her talent. She served well, volleyed well and was aggressive with her best shot, the forehand, especially in the return of service. Since Serena's serve was surprisingly slow, Stosur repeatedly hit it back for a clean winner, something Serena usually does to her opponents.

The oddest moment of the match came in the first game of the second set, when Serena was serving at 30-40. She served, got a weak return and hit a blistering forehand into Stosur's backhand corner and screamed  "Come on!" a split second before Stosur, scrambling to her left, managed to get her racquet on the ball. Immediately, the commentator John McEnroe said "Well, they have to play a let now." Instead, bizarrely, the umpire claimed that instead of winning the points she was awarding it to Stosur, due to the "verbal hindrance." Since it was a breakpoint, this meant that Serena not only lost the point, she lost the game. Serena was obviously displeased by this turn of events and asked the umpire "Aren't you the one who screwed me no this court a few years ago? That's not cool." The incident managed to completely turn the crowd in Serena's favor (and against Stosur) and they cheered vociferously until Serena won the next 3 points on Stosur's serve to get triple breakpoint, eventually breaking back on her 3rd chance. After a few games the crowd settled down and Serena's game returned to her listless level, unable ot move her feet to get tothe ball, while Stosur continued to hit the ball sharply and cleanly into the corners.Eventually Serena was broken and Stosur consolidated the break and on the next service game, down 2-6, 3-5 Serena faced double breakpoint which was also double championship point. She was able to save one of them, but on the second one Stosur hit a clean inside-out cross-court forehand winner, winning the point, set and match.

Overall, it was an excellent result for Stosur, who became the first Australian player since Patrick Rafter in 1998 to win a major championship (also the U.S. Open). Regardless of the "hindrance incident" Stosur was the better player on the day and deserved to win the match. It also brings to a close an interesting year for the slams on the women's side where three of the four winners were brand new: Li Na in Paris, Petra Kvitova in London and Samantha Stosur in New York.It should be interesting to see which of these three wins another one first. I would put my money on the Czech lefty.

US OPEN 2011: Women's Final Preview

Serena Williams USA (28) v. Samantha Stosur AUS (9). 

The 2011 US Open finalists are the two women in the draw with the two best serves in women's tennis. Serena demonstrated the importance of having an effective serve in her 6-2 6-4 drubbing of the now and future World #1 Caroline Wozniacki in a routine semifinal whose result was never in doubt. Serena served 11 aces and hit another 23 winners from all over the court--and she was probably playing at about 80% of her ability. Her "B" game. Wozniacki simply had (and has) no weapons with which to bother Serena and almost no offensive intent or capacity so Serena simply bided her time, broke the 21-year-old Dane at will and was content to serve out the match. When suddenly she played a loose match game at 6-2, 5-3 she calmly broke back easily to reach the final.

Stosur's route to the final was more complicated. She played the unheralded (some would say unknown) Angelique Kerber from Germany, at 6pm on the Grandstand court (capacity 6,000) when the second men's semifinal was still going on on the main stage at Ashe which holds 23,000+. Instead of winning easily, Stosur won a relatively tight 6-3 2-6 6-2 victory. Stosur has had a pretty dramatic tournament overall, playing the longest tiebreak in Grand Slam history in the 4th round (losing it 17-15) against Maria Kirilenko and playing the longest U.S. Open women's match (in terms of games played) against Nadia Petrova in the 3rd round, eventually winning7-6(5) 6-7(5) 7-5 in 3 hours, 16 minutes.

Stosur is the probably the only other player in the draw who is not overwhelmed by Serena's physicality. She has won 2 of the 8 matches the two have played on the tour, including one at Roland Garros where she saved a match point! The Australian 27-year-old has very broad shoulders herself and probably an even better kick-serve than Serena's. However, Stosur has one distinct weakness: her backhand. She can either slice it (not very effectively) or she can hit it with two hands, often not very cleanly or powerfully. Sitting in the stands, literally 15 feet from her in the now-famous tiebreak with Kirilenko I was very surprised how softly the ball came off her racquet on the backhand side. Serena can just pin her into the backhand corner with forehands down the line and it will be a very short day. However, Stosur does possess an excellent topspin inside-out forehand so if her footwork is good she may be able to run around her backhand and hit her powerful forehand but unless she hits a winner against a very fit and fast Serena, Stosur will be off the court and unable to reach the reply. Mentally, since Stosur has been in a major final before (losing badly to Francesa Schiavone in the 2010 French Open final) she should not be overwhelmed today, but she simply does not play finals well, having won only twice in 11 attempts. Serena is playing in her 5th U.S. Open final in 12 appearances, with wins in 1999, 2002 and 2008. We all know what Serena's mental toughness is like.

In the 2011 U.S. Open I have correctly predicted 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. Last year I correctly predicted 2 of 2 women's semifinals and 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals. This year I have also correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals, and 1 of 2 men's semifinals. My prediction for the women's final is that Serena Williams will win her 14th major title, putting her a scan 4 titles away from the all-time greats: Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert (but still behind Steffi Graf's 22).

MadProfessah's pick: Serena Williams.

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.