SHOCK: Nadal Loses 2nd Clay Court Match In 2 Weeks!

Following last week's stunning straight sets loss to David Ferrer in the quarterfinals of the ATP Monte Carlo Masters tournament Rafael Nadal has had an even more shocking loss, this time to Nico Almagro in the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open after winning the first set and blowing a 3-1 lead in the 3rd to lose for the first time to his countryman. Nadal has only lost 13 clay court matches in total since 2005, so it is remarkable that two of those losses have come in the last two weeks, a month before he tries to win his 9th record French Open in Paris. Almagro was 0-10 lifetime against Nadal and will certainly cherish this 2-6 7-6(5) 6-4 win, especially on Spanish soil. Nadal had won the Barcelona tournament a ridiculous eight times (41-match winning streak). In fact, Nadal had last lost a set in Barcelona in 2008 (to Ferrer).

This makes the upcoming French Open look very interesting indeed. Can Nadal really defend his title again? Or could Stanislas Wawrinka win his second consecutive major of the year, or will Djokovic finally get to complete his career slam?

ATP Rankings: Ferrer Reaches World #3

As noted in a recent comment, the new World ATP Rankings are out and for the second consecutive week there has been a rare change in the Top 5 rankings. 2013 French Open finalist David Ferrer of Spain swapped places with 2013 Wimbledon champion Andy Murray of Scotland to reach #3 in the world. Ferrer had spent 5 weeks at #3 earlier this summer.

Other interesting moves in the ranking this week are Jo-Wilfried Tsonga going up to #8 and Nicolas Almagro going up to #13. Gael Monfils is the biggest mover in the Top 100 this week, shooting up 11 places to #31 after a week in which he defeated Roger Federer at the Shanghai Masters.

2013 FRENCH OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

The men's quarterfinals are now set at the 2013 French Open. Last year, I predicted 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly and 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. I have also previewed the 2013 French Open women's quarterfinals.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs Tommy Haas (GER) [12].  The last time these two met the German played one of the best matches of his career to demolish the World #1 in straight sets, winning twice as many games as he lost, in a virtuoso performance that stunned Djokovic and the tennis world. The two have only played seven times, with the higher ranked player having won 4 of those meetings, including their sole encounter on clay (here at Roland Garros 7 years ago). Haas has had the more exciting run of the two here this year, having outlasted John Isner despite blowing 12 match points. However, in their previous round Djokovic had to come back from dropping his first set of the tournament against Phillip Kohlschreiber, a good clay court player who had beaten the Serb here at Roland Garros before. Haas on the other hand, had a dream 4th round match, dispatching Mikhail Youzhny in under 90 minutes, barely losing 5 games in the process. Haas should be confident, since he knows that he can beat Nole--he has done it this year, and he has done it in a 5-set match. However, will he beat Nole? Almost definitely not. Mad Professah's Pick: Djokovic in 4 sets.

 Rafael Nadal (ESP) [3] vs Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) [9]. This should be the least interesting quarterfinal of the four. Wawrinka did well to come back from 2 sets down against Frenchman Richard Gasquet to reach his first career quarterfinal at Roland Garros. However, Wawrinka has never even won a set from Nadal, despite losing the nine matches the two have played. In fact, Wawrinka lost to Nadal in the final of the Madrid Masters just a few weeks ago. Wawrinka winning a set would be considered an upset at this point, setting up the long-awaited mouth-watering semifinal between Nadal and Djokovic on Friday. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal in 3 sets.

David Ferrer (ESP) [4] vs Nicolas Almagro (ESP) [11] Tommy Robredo (ESP) [32]. This all Spanish-quarterfinal ensures that there will be at least one Spaniard in the semifinal, and most people expect 7-time defending champion Rafael Nadal to reach the semifinal on the other side of the draw, so that means an all-Spanish final is still possible. Robredo used to be the best looking man in tennis (a title he has since ceded to fellow compatriot Feliciano Lopez) but the now 35-year old is making history at this year's Roland Garros by becoming the first man in nearly 80 years to come back from 2-0 sets down in not one, not two, but three consecutive matches. Robredo outlasted Igor Sijsling 6-7(4) 4-6 6-3 6-1 6-1, Gael Monfils 2-6 6-7(5) 6-2 7-6(3) 6-2 and then Nicolas Almagro 6-7(5) 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-4. Can he really outlast the most fit man in tennis, David Ferrer whom he has 2-6 record against? Doubtful, but he had a 0-5 record against Almago and somehow he won that match. Ferrer has a great draw to get to this first final, and I believe he will (at least) repeat his semifinal run here from last year. Mad Professah's pick: Ferrer in 3 sets.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [6] vs Roger Federer (SUI) [2]. For the second consecutive major these two are meeting in the same round, with Federer prevailing in their tough 5-set enccounter in Melbourne this past January. The Greatest of all Time has a convincing 9-3 head-to-head against the popular Frenchman but has lost to him after holding large leads, most notably the 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinals despite leading 2 sets to none and the 2009 Montreal Masters quarterfinal despite having a 5-1 lead in the final set! Tsonga is a big match player and if the Parisian crowd gets behind him, look out Federer fans! On paper, Federer should win this match, but the two have only met once on clay with the Swiss player winning. Federer has been the second best player on clay for the last 10 years, and that pedigree should get him through this match, but he played some of his worst tennis against another Frenchman Gilles Simon in the round before, needing the full 5-sets to extend his jaw-dropping streak of 36 consecutive quarterfinal appearances in majors. That was also Federer's 900th career tour win, putting him at #4 on the all-time list. Tsonga on the other hand has looked razor-sharp all tournament long and has yet to have a dip in play or lose a set. I suspect this will be a titanic struggle, won be Federer. However, if the Simon match is an indicator Federer's form is going off, Tsonga could make quick work of him to reach his first semifinal (and potentially his first final) at his home Slam. Apart from Gael Monfils reaching the semifinals in 2008, no French man has been a serious contender to win the Roland Garros title in Paris since Yannick Noah did it  exactly 30 years ago. Mad Professah's pick: Federer in 4 or 5 sets (or Tsonga in 3).

Isner Wins 1st Career Clay Title In Houston (Over Almagro)

AP Photo/Eric Gay

John Isner of the United States won his first title of 2013 and the 6th of his career by defeating Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3 7-5 at the U.S. Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas on Sunday. It was the American's first career win on clay, and he had to beat 2012 U.S. Clay Court champion Juan Monaco in the semifinal and one of the Top 5 clay court players in the world to do it. Tennis reporter Matt Cronin ranks the Top 5 clay court players in the world as (Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, David Ferrer and then Almagro. Note the glaring absence of World #2 Andy Murray from this list!) So this was quite a significant achievement for the 27-year-old American who turns 28 on Thursday. His 6 titles include 3 on outdoor hard-court, 2 on grass and 1 on clay. His record in ATP tour finals is now 6 wins and 7 losses (including last year in the final of the same tournament to Monaco). Almagro is also 27 but has won 12 ATP titles (all on clay) and now has a 12-7 record in finals.

Both Almagro and Isner have huge serves, and are currently #1 and #2 on the ATP World Tour MatchFacts for number of aces served in 2013 (266 and 258, respectively). This counts the record 60 aces that Isner served this week in Houston on his way to the title, including 7 in the final, with speeds up to 144 miles per hour. Pete Sampras had previously held the record in Houston with 52.

Isner can't rest on his laurels however; hours after winning he was on a plane to Europe because his first match at the Monaco Masters is probably on Tuesday. That's where 8-time defending champion Rafael Nadal is very likely to win his 9th title since both Federer and Ferrer are not in the draw and Djokovic is likely to withdraw due to the ankle injury he suffered last weekend dispatching Sam Querrey and the United States in the Davis Cup quarterfinals. World #2 Murray is hoping to at least put up his resistance and reduce the size of Djokovic's sizable lead for the top spot by doing well in his half of the draw. Nadal needs to do well in the clay court season if he is to have a chance to remain in the Top 5 before Roland Garros, although it is very possible the King of Clay could win his 8th French Open title without being seeded #1, but a low seed could have him run into fellow members of Cronin's Top 5 clay court list in the quarterfinals or semifinals, which could complicate Rafa's goal to cement his status as the best clay court player of all time.

Last year, Rafa won every tournament he played in on clay except Madrid, where he lost to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco (for the first time in 14 meetings!) on blue clay. (The Madrid Masters will be played on red clay this year.) It's very possible that he could sweep all three clay court ATP Masters tournaments (in Monaco, Madrid and Rome) this year, something he has only done once before, in 2010. In 2010, Nadal was also coming back from an injury lay-off and had his best year on tour winning 3 majors (2010 French Open over Robin Soderling, 2010 Wimbledon over Tomas Berdych and 2010 US Open over Djokovic). Will 2013 be a reprise of 2010? Time will tell.

2013 AUS OPEN: Men's Semifinal Preview

The men's semifinals are now set at the 2013 Australian Open. Last year, I predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly and 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. This year I  correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals.

I have also correctly predicted 1 of 2 women's semifinals this year.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs David Ferrer (ESP) [4]. Ferrer is very lucky to be here because he was down 2 sets and a break against his good friend and countryman Nicolas Almagro whom he had never lost to before in 12 previous matches.

With this belief, Ferrer was able to battle back to win the 3rd set and then after repeatedly trading service breaks he was to win a 4th set tiebreak and then easily run away with the win. Djokovic continued his domination of Tomas Berdych  by winning his 12th match in 13 meetings against the tall Czech, this time in 4 sets. Ferrer and Djokovic have met 14 times in their career with the World #1 enjoying a significant 9-5 edge, including 3-0 in 5-set Grand Slam matches.  In fact, the two met at this very same stage in the previous major in New York with Djokovic prevailing in 4 sets but Ferrer was in control of that match for a significant stretch of time under very difficult windy conditions.  There's nothing that Ferrer does better than Djokovic and he is yet to show that his residency in the Top 4 of Men's Tennis will not be temporary as we await the return of his friend and compatriot who has a dominating record against him: Rafael Nadal. Last year Djokovic was able to outlast Nadal in an instant-classic, nearly 6-hour final (the best match of the year), is there anyone who thinks that Ferrer can exceed that performance? I didn't think so. Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic in 3 sets.

Andy Murray (GBR) [3] vs Roger Federer (SUI) [2].  This has been the most anticipated match-up of the tournament since the draw was released before the 2013 Australian Open began. The big question was with Nadal out of the tournament, in whose part of the draw would the #3 member of the trivalry at the top of men's tennis: Djokovic's half or Federer's half? Not only did Murray finish in Federer's half but so did numerous other problematic opponents like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Milos Raonic and Bernard Tomic. In fact, of the top four players, Federer's path to the final was by far the most difficult. Amazingly, he was able to win a tough 5-set match against Tsonga in the quarterfinal despite playing his worst tennis of the tournament, with what is very likely a career low of a mere six aces in a 5-set match, with less errors but also less winners than his opponent. If you look at the stats of the match, it is astonishing that Federer was able to win 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(4) 3-6 6-3 despite converting far less breakpoints than his opponent as well. With this   win Federer has now made 10 consecutive Australian Open semifinals, and has a 5-4 record in those matches.

Murray on the other hand was able to easily dismiss the hard-hitting Frenchman Jereny Chardy who earlier had upset Juan Martin del Potro 2 round before. In fact, the winner of the last contested major tournament has yet to drop a set in this tournament, the only semifinalists to do so. Murray is simply playing the best tennis of the four and despite Djokovic's head-to-head advantage over him and should be considered the favorite to win the entire tournament at this point. Murray has always matched up well with Federer and has a slight 10-9 career head-to-head edge which he should use to give him confidence to win this mach. Before winning his first major title in New York, Murray often had difficulty playing his best tennis in big matches but that is probably a thing of the past. Mad Professah's pick: Murray in 4 sets.

2013 AUS OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

The men's quarterfinals are now set at the 2013 Australian Open. Last year, I predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly and 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. I have also previewed the 2013 Australian Open women's quarterfinals.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs Tomas Berdych (CZE) [5].  The World #1 played one of the best matches of the year to survive a near-death experience against determined Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in the 4th round. That match lasted 5 hours and 2 matches and was one in which Wawrinka was outplaying Djokovic for extremely long stretches but somehow the Serb kept fighting and was able to take advantage of his limited opportunities to stay close in the match. The Warwrinka-Djokovic slugfest was surprising because Djokovic has owned Wawrinka to date in their career and had been slicing through his opponents with deadly efficiency in the first three rounds.  In fact, Djokovic is the only one of the Big 3 to lose more than one set in the first four rounds, and he did it in one match! One would think playing 5 hours would have a negative impact on Djokovic's performance in his next match, but last year he played an epic match against Andy Murray in the semifinals here and followed it up by winning the best (and most hard-fought) match of the year against Rafael Nadal roughly 48 hours later. Although Berdych is not one of the Big 3 he has been running through his section of the draw like one and comes in to this showdown with the Serbian fresh and ready to cause some damage. The career head-to-head greatly favors Djokovic since the only time in 11 meetings the Czech has won was the grand stage of the 2010 Wimbledon semifinals, but Berdych has made large noises at the slams before by  taking out Roger Federer at the 2010 Wimbledon and 2012 US Open. Can Berdych do so again at the major where Djokovic has been his most dominant? Possibly, but unlikely.  Mad Professah's Pick: Djokovic in 4 sets.

David Ferrer (ESP) [4] vs Nicolas Almagro (ESP) [10]. This all Spanish-quarterfinal ensures that there will be a Spaniard playing in the semifinals of the Australian Open for the fourth time in five years (2010 was the only year that was missed). Both of these players have prospered during the extended absence of their compatriot Rafael Nadal with Ferrer reaching the #4 seed at a major and both players reaching their highest ATP ranking. This match-up should be the least interesting of the four men's quarterfinals played since Ferrer has a 12-0 stranglehold in the career head-to-head with Almagro. Of course, past results are no predictor of future events but it is difficult to see a scenario where Ferrer does not play up to his seeding and reach his 5th major semifinal. Mad Professah's pick: Ferrer in 5 sets.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [7] vs Roger Federer (SUI) [2]. Federer is playing in his 35th consecutive major quarterfinal (and 39 quarterfinals overall) and has reached 32 major semifinals (losing only 7 quarterfinals), so he should be considered a 4:1 favorite to reach his record 33rd semifinal against most opponents. However he is playing someone who has beaten him in a major quarterfinal before, in the 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinals despite Federer winning the first two sets! The career head-to-head favors Federer 8 to 3 but one of those wins is a walkover during their one scheduled meeting in 2012. In 5-set matches, Federer leads 2-1 but Melbourne has to be considered Tsonga's most successful major, since he has reached the final here 5 years ago (losing to a very young Djokovic). Federer has had the most difficult draw of any of the top 4 players but he is also the only player who has managed not to lose his serve at all through 4 rounds, despite facing Benoit Paire, Nikolay Davydenko, Bernard Tomic and #13 seed Milos Raonic. Federer had an astonishingly low 12 unforced errors (to 34 winners) in his dismantling of Raonic in the 4th round and is still yet to lose a set (or have his serve broken) in the tournament. I don't think that streak will continue in the quarterfinal, but I do expect Federer to reach another major semifinal, his 33rd. Mad Professah's pick: Federer in 4 sets.

Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) [6] Jeremy Chardy (FRA) vs Andy Murray (GBR) [3]. Murray has done well in Australia and has probably been the second best hard-court player in the world over the last 12 months. Winning his first major championship in New York appears to have brought clarity to his game and no really expects him to lose to players lower ranked than he is any more. Chardy is playing in his first major quarterfinal, having taken out hard-hitting Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in the 3rd round in a surprising show of mental and physical fortitude after blowing a 2-0 set lead.  That being said, Chardy needed 4-sets to get past Andreas Seppi while Murray has yet to drop a set all tournament long and almost certainly will not do so on his way to reaching his 4th consecutive semifinal in Melbourne. Mad Professah's pick: Murray in 3 sets.

Czech Republic Wins 2012 Fed Cup and Davis Cup

The Czech Republic has completed an historic sweep of the annual international team tennis competitions known as the David Cup and Fed Cup (for men and women, respectively) by winning both titles in 2012.

On Sunday, 32-year-old Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic beat higher-ranked Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-4 7-6(0) 3-6 6-3 in the fifth and final rubber to clinch the tie 3-2 for the Czech team over Spain, which had won the Davis Cup three of the last five years (2009, 2009, 2011) with its top player Rafael Nadal on the team. This year the Spanish team was anchored by World #5 David Ferrer and Almagro. The Czech team featured Stepanek, World #7 Tomas Berdych and Nadal-killer Lukas Rosol.

Amazingly, just about two weeks ago, in the women's competition the Czech team anchored by lefties Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova was able to defend their 2011 Fed Cup title by defeating Serbia 3-1 when Safarova defeated former World #1 Jelena Jankovic 6-1 6-1.

The Czech Republic also won the 2012 Hopman Cup, which is a much lower profile mixed doubles tournament which happens a few weeks before the Australian Open at the very beginning of the tennis season. This year's Hopman Cup-winning team consisted of Kvitova and Berdych.

LOOK: Nadal and Monaco Shirtless After Swim

If you have been wondering, like most of the tennis world has, what Rafael Nadal has been up to on his long injury-induced sabbatical from tennis since July 2012, this shirtless picture posted by Juan Mónaco to his Facebook page this weekend shows that it looks like the current World #4 at least has not fallen out of shape.

Even though Mónaco is from Argentina not Spain, the two Spanish-speaking tennis players are clearly buddies and the World #10 player is on vacation in Mallorca hanging out with Nadal before he continues his quest to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals, one of the most prestigious (and lucrative) tournaments of the year, in which only the Top 8 players are invited. Since Nadal is almost certainly going to turn down his invitation, the person who places 9th in the Race to London standings (Mónaco is currently 12th) will likely make it into the tournament. Ahead of Mónaco is Janko Tipsarevich, Nicolas Almagro and Richard Gasquet.

Nadal has said that he is aiming to return to competitive tennis at the 2013 Australian Open. We hope that is indeed the case, and look forward to seeing all of the Big 4 in action at the same time.

Hat/tip to Tennis.com

2012 FRENCH OPEN Day 9: Qualifier Beats Champ

Shvedova celebrates

Li slumps

Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, ranked 142 in the World and a qualifier for the 2012 French Open, upset defending champion Li Na in three sets on Day 9 of Roland Garros in Paris. The score was 3-2 6-2 6-0 and took just over 2 hours. Shvedova was ranked as high at 29 in the world two years ago after reaching her first major quarterfinal here in Paris but had plummeted down the rankings since then. Li had been playing excellent tennis throughout the clay court season and although she had been flying under the radar for most of the tournament, her loss before the quarterfinals as a solid Top 10 player was still a surprise.

Other important results on Day 9 of the tournament was the conclusion of two men's matches carried over from Day 8. The two players leading (Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martin del Potro) were able to finish off their opponents, Stanislas Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych, respectively. As reward, the two will face World #1 Novak Djokovic and World #3 Roger Federer in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. 6-time defending champion embarrassed Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-2 6-0 6-0 to reach a quarterfinal showdown with compatriot Nicolas Almagro. World #4 Andy Murray ended the hopes of the hometown crowd of having two French quarterfinalists by defeating Richard Gasquet in 4-sets while David Ferrer continued his mechanic demolition of his opponents by adding Janko Tipsarevic to his list of victims. Next up for the Valencia Terminator is Murray, who is trying to reach his 6th consecutive major semifinal.

The dismissal of the defending champion notwithstanding, the match of the day was probably the 3 hour slugfest between Maria Sharapova and Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic won by the Russian 6-4 6-7(5) 6-2. Until this round you could count on one hand the number of games the once and future World #1 had lost in her first 3 matches. In Zakapalova she faced a player who could match Sharapova's firepower off the ground and outmatch her her mobility on the ground. What neither Zakapalova or Sharapova could do was hold serve. The conditions were damp, cold and windy like Day 8 and this led to arguably more exciting tennis. There were twenty-one(!) service breaks in 30 service games played. This does not bode well for Sharapova's chances to win the title for which she is now considered the favorite, but it is doubtful she will have as bad a serving day as she had today. Other results from today was World #3 Petra Kvitova's dismissal of the last American in the draw, Varvara Lepchenko and Kaia Kanepi's second consecutive 3-set win.

On Tuesday and Wednesday the men's and women's quarterfinals will be played.

2012 FRENCH OPEN Day 7: Lepchenko Upsets Schiavone

Varvara Lepchenko, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Uzbekistan (who I saw close up play a tough set against Aggie Radwanska at the Madrid Open which I attended while on vacation last month), eliminated 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the best match of Day 7 at Roland Garros 6-3 3-6 8-6 in 3 hours, 2 minutes. Some people called it an upset, but I totally expected Varvara to win this match. Other winners on Day 7 were Maria Sharapova, Kaia Kanepi (over former #1 Carolina Wozniacki), 2011 French Open champion Li Na and 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. The last two players dropped a set but easily won the deciding set against their less experienced opponents. Lepchenko plays Kvitova in the 4th round and it should be a tough match since lefties also do not like playing each other (since it happens so rarely). Lepchenko and Sloane Stephens are the two remaining American players in the tournament (male or female).

On the men's side the best match of the day was the very fit Juan Monaco's win over future phenom Milos Raonic 6-7(5) 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 in nearly 5 hours. Monaco's prize will be a 4th round appointment with the King of Clay Rafael Nadal who made short work of attractive Eduardo Schwank. Other contenders to win today were Janko Tipsarevic, David Ferrer, Richard Gasquet (demolishing Tommy Haas 6-7(3) 6-3 6-0 6-0) and Nicolas Almagro.

2012 FRENCH OPEN Day 5: Isner Loses Marathon

PASCAL GUYOT/AFP

Day 5 of the 2012 French Open brought a nightmarish echo of the longest match of all time: John Isner playing a 5-set match against a talented Frenchman in a tournament without a 5th set tiebreaker. However this time Paul-Henri Mathieu was able to win 18-16 in the 5th set after 5 hours, 41 minutes of play. The final score was 6-7(2) 6-4 6-4 3-6 18-16,with the final set being the longest set in games ever played at Roland Garros. Isner saved 6  match points, but the stoic American succumbed on the 7th match point.

Most of the other top seeds advanced to the third round: Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nicolas Almagro. Other notable people also advancing were Milos Raonic, Janko Tipsarevic and the beautiful Fabio Fognini.

On the women's side Maria Sharapova had her match postponed to the next day due to the Isner-Mathieu marathon while Petra Kvitova, 2011 French Open champion Li Na, 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and former #1 Caroline Wozniacki advanced. Other players to watch out for who advanced are the dangerous lefties Angelique Kerber and Varvara Lepchenko (who dismissed Jelena Jankovic). Virginie Razzano who dramatically beat Serena Williams on Tuesday was herself dismissed by unheralded Arantxa Rus in straight sets.

2012 FRENCH OPEN: Day 3 (Rafa, Ferrer, Murray Win)

Of course Day 3 at Roland Garros was dominated by Serena Williams' shocking first round exit to hometown fave Virginie Razano but there were other important results on the day as well. First, World #2 and 6-time French Open defending champion Rafael Nadal beat the handsome Simone Bolelli easily while World #4 Andy Murray also won. Other clay court notables like Nicolas Almagro, David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet won their first round matches.

On the women's side Maria Sharapova did not lose a game in her opening round, and Petra Kvitova, Carolina Wozniacki, Francesca Schiavone and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova all advanced.

FRENCH OPEN 2010: Men's Semifinals Preview

I previously made predictions of the four women's quarterfinals and four men's quarterfinals and got 4 of 8 results correct at this year's French Open. The 2010 Roland Garros men's semifinals are now set.

Roger Federer SUI (1) Robin Soderling SWE (5) vs. Tomas Berdych CZE (15). Soderling loves Court Phillippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros. Last year he beat defending champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round before losing to Roger Federer in the final. This year he beat defending champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinal and seems destined to reach his second consecutive Roland Garros final on the biggest clay court in the world. But there's someone who is even taller and serves bigger in the way of Soderling's dream: Tomas Berdych. Berdych has cut through the men's draw like the 6'5", 200 pound Czech scythe that he is, eliminating Andy Murray and John Isner along the way without dropping a set. Berdych recently had a career milestone when he finally beat Roger Federer for the first time in 9 matches(second time overall) in Miami in March. Soderling beat Federer for the first time of his career on Tuesday. The two have played 8 times overall, with Soderling holding a slim 5-3 lead in their career head-to-head match up. They have split the two matches they played this year, and they have split the two matches they have played on clay. In my mind, either Berdych will continue his rout of the field and win easily in straight sets (a low probability event) or he will start off hot and not be able to sustain his high level against someone like the powerful Swede who can match him toe-to-toe. Also, although this is Berdych's very first major semifinal, it is only Soderling's second, but this is also where Soderling outlasted Fernando Gonzalez in a very thrilling semifinal last year. I believe he will make it to the final for the second year in a row.

MadProfessah's pick: Berdych in 3 sets or Soderling in 4 or 5.

Novak Djokovic SRB (3) Jurgen Melzer AUT (22) vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2). Although Nadal survived his toughest test of the tournament in countryman Nicolas Almagro by having to play three very tight sets (7-6(2) 7-6(3) 6-4), there is almost no doubt that the Spaniard will reach his 5th Roland Garros final in six years by dismissing the surprising Austrian veteran relatively quickly. Many people (myself included) were salivating at the chance of seeing another showdown between Nadal and Novak Djokovic in an important clay court match which could possibly reprise their now-legendary 2009 Madrid semifinal where Nadal won a 3-set match in 4 hours. However, it is significant that the Serb let slip a double set and a break advantage to lose another Roland Garros semifinal, this time to the relatively unheralded Melzer. Could he possibly have blanched at the thought of having to face Nadal for the third time in four years in the semifinal round? Nadal and Melzer have only met twice before, once on clay, with Nadal winning easily both times and this time will be no different.

MadProfessah's pick: Nadal in 3 sets.

Berdych Upsets Federer in Miami

Tomas Berdych beat World #1 Roger Federer 6-4 6-7(3) 7-6(6) in the 4th round of the Sony Ericsson Open after midnight on Tuesday night, saving a match point, after being up a service break in the third set. The Czech player had last beaten Federer at the Athens Olympics but lost 8 consecutive matches in a row to the 16-time major champion.

In addition to Berdych, the remaining quarterfinalists in the tournament are Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal, Robin Soderling, Nicolas Almagro, Fernando Verdasco, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mikhail Youzhny.

AUSSIE OPEN 2010: Men's Semifinals Preview

I predicted the results of 3 of the 4 the men's quarterfinals correctly but only 1 of 4 of the women's quarterfinals correctly. I have already written my women's semifinals preview. Here is my preview of the men's semfinals in the 2010 Australian Open:

Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Novak Djokovic SRB (3) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (10). For the twenty-third consecutive time, Roger Federer is in a major grand slam semifinal. Let me say that again. 23 times in a row. That is nearly 6 years of every slam. The next closest total is Ivan Lendl with 10. Federer has also been in the last 17 of 18 major finals (winning 11); his only slip-up was two years ago here in Melbourne, to Novak Djokovic, who ended up winning the tournament against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 2008 final. Tsonga got his revenge last night by beating the Serbian , a result which I welcome but did not expect or predict. "Jo-Willie" really seems to enjoy the big lights and enthusiastic crowd down in Australia and they bring out the best tennis in the charismatic, hard-hitting Frenchman. Just to get to this point, Tsonga has had to win two tough 5-set matches (his first ever!), most particularly the 4th Round thriller against Nicolas Almagro where he had to recover from "being two sets to none up" (as Mary Carillo quipped earlier this week) and ended up winning the match 6-3 6-4 4-6 6-7(6) 9-7. Against Djokovic, the Frenchman played two very close sets and only ended up winning one of them and then went "on walkabout" during the third set before Djokovic's physical ailments seem to weigh down the Serb's game more and more until it finally collapsed completely in a 7-6(8) 6-7(5) 1-6 6-3 6-1 loss.

The match-up between Federer and Tsonga is an interesting (and exciting) one. They have only played twice (in the last two years), both times on hard courts and the score is tied 1-1. I well remember their meeting at the ATP Masters Series during the Montreal massacre last year because Tsonga lost 10 games in a row and was down 5-1 in the third set before coming back to win in a decisive tie-breaker. Federer showed with his tight 2-6 6-3 6-0 7-5 dismissal of a more energized Nikolay Davydenko for the 13th time in 15 matches that he does not like to lose to the same person in consecutive matches. I personally will be happy with whomever wins this match, there's no one left in the tournament that would annoy me if they claimed the title.
MadProfessah's pick: Federer in 4 sets OR Tsonga in 5 sets.


Marin Cilic CRO (14) vs. Andy Murray GBR (5).This is Andy Murray's year. Unless it's not. On paper, the Scotsman sports head-to-head advantages over all of the remaining semifinalists (6-4 against Federer, 2-1 against Tsonga and 3-1 against his semifinal opponent, Marin Cilic) and should be the favorite for the 2010 Australian Open men's title. He was in the process of imposing his will on the defending champion Rafael Nadal before the Spaniard said ¡No Más! trailing 6-3 7-6(2) 3-0. Murray is yet to drop a set in the tournament, the only player on either side of the draw to do so. Cilic on the other hand last beat Murray the last time they played, in New York, handily 7-5 6-2 6-2. However, here in Melbourne Cilic has played three 5 set matches and a 4-set match to reach his first major semifinal, but the quality of his opponents has been substantially higher than Murray's: 2009 defending US Open champion Juan Martín del Potro, 2009 Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick and the always wily Fabrice Santoro in the first round. That being said, I think that Murray has both the game and the will to win this match and one more. MadProfessah's pick: Murray in 4 sets.

Paris Masters Semifinals: Nadal v Djokovic, Monfils v Stepanek

Gael Monfils will face Radek Stepanek in one semifinal while Novak Djokovic will face Rafael Nadal in the other to see who makes the final of the Paris Indoor Masters tournament.

I think I'll take Monfils over Stepanek, and Nadal over Djokovic, since the World #2 is playing on borrowed time after not one but two narrow escapes earlier in the week against Nicolas Almagro (saving 5 match points) and Tommy Robredo, although he had a good win over defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the previous round. Djokovic keeps on mentioning how tired he is, carrying the record of the most wins on tour for the year of any competitor, and starting off tired against a determined Nadal is not bode well for a good result.

Paris Masters: Nadal Saves 5 Match Points To Beat Almagro; Federer Upset

At the Paris Masters, World #2 Rafael Nadal of Spain saved 5 match points in the twelth game of the second set at 3-6, 5-6 to win the match 3-6, 7-6(2) 7-5 against compatriot Nicolas Almagro.

World #1 Roger Federer lost to local fave Julien Benneteau 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4. World #3 Andy Murray had 21 aces to defeat American James Blake 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4).