Nadal Marches On; Henin v Serena French Open Preview
Posted on June 5, 2007
Hewitt No Sweat for Nadal; henin v Serena Today at French Open
Lleyton Hewitt's brash talk that he could hang with Rafael Nadal on any surface after a tight match weeks ago in Hamburg came back at him on Monday when the Australian was dismissed in straight sets by the Spaniard 6-3, 6-1, 7-6(5) at the French Open.
"I'm very happy today with my game," Nadal said. "I'm happy about the win. Very good win against Lleyton. So, yeah, I played the best match of the tournament, my best match."
Also advancing Monday were No. 6 seed Novak Djokovic and unseeded Russian Igor Andreev who set up a quarterfinal encounter.
Novak tamed the big forehand of unseeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(1), while Andreev upset No. 16 seed Marcos Baghdatis 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.
Baghdatis was also impressed with the Andreev forehand.
"I have a feeling [his forehand] is even more powerful than that of Nadal," Baghdatis said of Andreev. "He hurt me quite a lot with his forehand. You never know where he is going to place the ball, it keeps you moving from one end of the court to the other, and it's never easy."
Setting up a quarterfinal meeting with Nadal Monday was his Spanish mentor and No. 23 seed Carlos Moya, who stopped the run of 35-year-old Swede Jonas Bjorkman 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-5.
"Now I'm the oldest guy in the field," Moya said, "but I still remember when I was the youngest guy in the draw, and now I have become the oldest. Time has passed so fast, but I'm very proud of being the oldest guy now, and I think I still have very good tennis ahead of me. When you're younger, maybe you don't value the things as I do right now. For me, it's a great honor to be in the last eight in a Grand Slam like this one, so I enjoy it more now. When I was 22, 23, I was in the Top 10 so I was supposed to be in the quarterfinals of the Roland Garros, and now I'm in the Top 20, so it's great for me to be here."
On court Tuesday at Roland Garros are (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. (7) Ana Ivanovic, (1) Justine Henin vs. (8) Serena Williams, (1) Roger Federer vs. (9) Tommy Robredo, (4) Jelena Jankovic vs. (6) Nicole Vaidisova, (9) Anna Chakvetadze vs. (2) Maria Sharapova in an all-Russian match-up, and (4) Nikolay Davydenko vs. (19) Guillermo Canas.
Henin v Serena, French Open Womens QF Previews
PARIS, France -- On Tuesday, eight will become four at Roland Garros, as the quarterfinalists at the year's second Grand Slam take to the court in Paris. All four matches are likely to give the spectators on Courts Philippe Chatrier and Suzanne Lenglen something to savor, but undoubtedly the match of the round will be the clash between world No.1 and reigning champion Justine Henin and eight-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams.
Court Philippe Chatrier
(3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) vs. (7) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) -- Ivanovic leads, 2-1
The first quarterfinal in the bottom half of the draw will see two of the leading exponents of clay court tennis on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour go head-to-head for the second time in less than a month. Kuznetsova enjoyed a wonderful clay court season in 2006, culminating in a runner-up finish at Roland Garros; she has followed this up with an even better 2007 reaching the semifinals in Warsaw before final defeats in Berlin and Rome.
Her conqueror in Berlin was the ever-improving Ivanovic, who triumphed in an absorbing contest on her way to securing the second Tier I title of her career. This encounter will be the high-flying Serbian's second quarterfinal appearance in Paris and the 19-year-old will be keen to erase the memories of a tame straight set defeat to Nadia Petrova two years ago. Kuznetsova has yet to drop a set in the French capital and her commanding victory over Israeli talent Shahar Peer in the last round will have made the other players in the draw sit up and take notice. Ivanovic looked no less impressive in her first three rounds, but was really made to work for her quarterfinal berth, struggling with clay court standout Anabel Medina Garrigues for over two hours before finally overcoming the tenacious Spaniard in three tough sets.
(1) Justine Henin (BEL) vs. (8) Serena Williams (USA) -- Williams leads, 6-3
Ever since the draw for Roland Garros was made a week and a half ago, all eyes have been on the top section of the draw and the potential quarterfinal meeting between two of the season's outstanding performers, Henin and Williams. On Sunday afternoon the dream match-up became reality when both players came through potentially tricky fourth-round matches in impressive fashion. Five-time Grand Slam winner Henin has been in imperious form for the first half of the fortnight and is yet to drop a set in the defence of the title she has held for the past two years.
Standing in her way will be the rejuvenated Williams, a former Roland Garros champion herself and winner of the year's first Slam, the Australian Open. The 25-year-old American is yet to find her best form in Paris, but she has improved as the tournament has progressed and she will be eager to record her second victory of the season over her Belgian rival. The first came by way of a thrilling comeback win in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open in March, where the world No.8 bounced back from a first set drubbing to record a memorable three-set victory. This win in Miami snapped a thirteen match winning streak for Henin and Williams will be keen to end another run on Tuesday. The current world No.1 has won a staggering 18 matches in a row in Paris and if she emerges triumphant from her quarterfinal battle, she will move ahead of Steffi Graf into fifth place on the all-time list of consecutive singles match wins at Roland Garros.
Court Suzanne Lenglen
(4) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) vs. (6) Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) -- Vaidisova leads, 4-2
When Jankovic and Vaidisova step on court for their quarterfinal contest on Suzanne Lenglen they certainly will not view each other as strangers, having clashed six times in the past two years. Despite failing to take a set off the Czech teenager in their first three meetings, Jankovic has had the better of their last three encounters, with a defeat in Linz last October being sandwiched between two three-set victories at the US Open and then Sydney at the turn of the year.
The win at Flushing Meadows proved to be the catalyst for a run all the way to the semifinals and Jankovic will hope victory on her Roland Garros quarterfinal debut will inspire her to go all the way in Paris. However, Vaidisova will arguably be the 22-year-old Serbian's toughest challenge to date and the 18-year-old Czech has looked highly impressive during the first week of the tournament. She also has pedigree in the French capital, having made it all the way to the semifinals in just her second ever Roland Garros appearance 12 months ago and if she can repeat the performance she gave during her 66-minute destruction of Tathiana Garbin on Sunday then she has every chance of going even further this time round.
(2) Maria Sharapova (RUS) vs. (9) Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) -- Sharapova leads, 3-0
Sharapova's reward for her thrilling three-set victory over Patty Schnyder is a quarterfinal match-up with her compatriot and rival Chakvetadze. The pair also met at the same stage of the Australian Open and world No.9 Chakvetadze will be out to avenge the narrow defeat she suffered at Melbourne Park. Prior to this year the Muscovite had never been beyond the fourth round in Grand Slam competition, but now she has achieved the feat in consecutive Majors.
Sharapova on the other hand will be making her third quarterfinal bow at Roland Garros; her previous two appearances both ended in defeat losing straight sets encounters with Paola Suarez in 2004 and Justine Henin one year later. Entering the tournament off the back of an injury-plagued last few months, the Russian has improved with every round and will be quietly confident of chalking up her fourth career triumph over her fellow 20-year-old. However, Chakvetadze will be out to put an end to that run and in a year which has seen the elegant Russian capture her third career title in Hobart, as well as climb to her highest ever world ranking of No.9, few would rule her out of doing so and recording her 30th victory of the season in the process.
-- Courtesy WTA Tour
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Rafael Nadal is 18-0 career at Roland Garros...Igor Andreev -- in the French Open quarterfinals, dating Maria Kirilenko, life is good...Roger Federer says he is fine without a coach thanks for asking: "I was never a guy who looked up into my player's box very much in the first place. Maybe it's to protect myself in a situation like this. If you do split up with a coach or wife or your girlfriend or somebody, you look up there, you don't feel...you can't play tennis anymore. I have to concentrate on my own and on myself, that usually worked out."...From the AP: "John McEnroe will receive the International Tennis Federation's highest honor. McEnroe will receive the Philippe Chatrier award during a gala dinner Tuesday at the Pavillon d'Armenonville restaurant, tucked away in woodlands surrounding Roland Garros."...Rafael Nadal on Carlos Moya: "He is a friend. He is somebody important to me for my career, and I need to thank him. He's always been a gentleman. And I had wonderful experiences with him. We can have dinner together every evening and have conversations together. It's always a sort of bitter aftertaste when you win against one of your best friends...thank God we are in quarterfinals together. And that's already very positive."...Entering her quarterfinal match with Justine Henin, Serena Williams says now is about the right time to turn up the volume: "Usually I don't like to peak too soon. I like to bring up the level of my play right around quarters, semis -- mainly in the finals."