Serena Lays Down, Federer Loses Set at French Open
Posted on June 6, 2007
Serena Strangely Lays Down to Henin at French Open
Stellar play by two Grand Slam champions and poor fitness and a bout of choking by two others featured in women's quarterfinal action Tuesday at the French Open.
Top seed Justine Henin and No. 2 Maria Sharapova were in fine form, with the Belgian dispatching of a sluggish No. 8 seed Serena Williams 6-4, 6-3, and Sharapova beating No. 9 seed and fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-3, 6-4.
Williams strangely showed little fight throughout the contest, and was broken in the last game when seemed to simply give up. Afterwards in her press conference Serena spun the loss as more to do with her playing poorly than her opponent playing well.
"All she had to do was show up," Williams said. "I thought that she did well, but I've played against her when she's played even better."
They were the 30th and 31st consecutive sets won by Henin at Roland Garros.
"She didn't look very aggressive," Henin said. "So I just understood, if I was mentally and emotionally under control today, I was going to win this match."
Sharapova is in the French semifinals for the first time, as are all the other semifinal competitors except Henin.
"I didn't come off the court and go, 'Wow, I'm in the semifinals.' That wasn't really the feeling that I had," Sharapova said. "In any tournament that I play, whether it's on clay or mud or whatever it is, I know what I'm capable of."
Two Serbs completed the semifinals when No. 4 seed Jelena Jankovic beat No. 6 Nicole Vaidisova, and No. 7 Ana Ivanovic dispatched of title contender and No. 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-0, 3-6, 6-1.
Kuznetsova shook off her nerves in the second set but then aggravated an abdominal muscle in the final game of the set, quickly losing the third 6-1.
"I had to pull out for the doubles with abdominal muscle pain," Kuznetsova said. "It had been disturbing me for a while but it wasn't hurting that badly. But at the end of the second set, I served hard and that pulled it more. So it was extremely hard in the third set."
Jankovic needed five match points to close out Vaidisova.
"I was moving really well today and I tried to defend her balls," Jankovic said. "That's mainly what the key to the match was. I was just retrieving well."
In the semifinals Henin will face Jankovic, and Sharapova will meet Ivanovic.
On court Wednesday at Roland Garros are the remainder of the men's quarterfinals in (6) Novak Djokovic vs. Igor Andreev, and (2) Rafael Nadal vs. (23) Carlos Moya.
Federer Finally Drops a Set, Davydenko Next at French Open
Two men's quarterfinal matches were contested Tuesday at the French Open, where world No. 1 Roger Federer overcame a second-set hiccup to defeat No. 9 seed Tommy Robredo 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, and No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko stopped No. 19-seeded Argentine Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.
The first set won by Federer over Robredo was his 36th in a row won in Grand Slam play, besting the record John McEnroe set in 1984.
"If I can break some records, that's fantastic," Federer said. "But I would say that I want to stay focused on each match, each set, each point, each game...I don't lose sets 6-1 that often. I was like, okay, this could become really bad here. But it's the way it happens in tennis, 20 minutes, you play the wrong way, and it's 6-1."
Federer improved to 8-0 lifetime against Robredo, and will now face Davydenko who he is also 8-0 against.
On court Wednesday at Roland Garros are the remainder of the men's quarterfinals in (6) Novak Djokovic vs. Igor Andreev, and (2) Rafael Nadal vs. (23) Carlos Moya.
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Wayne Ferreira on the Blackrock Tennis Champions Podcast: "I think [Rafael] Nadal will win on the grass at Wimbledon before Roger [Federer] wins the French Open. He came close to winning Wimbledon last year and he wasn't far from beating Roger. Until Rafa either falls over, gets injured or quits, Roger is not going to win the French Open." And from Michael Stich: "I agree, I think Rafa will win Wimbledon before Roger wins the French because he is improving his game so intensively on other surfaces. Roger needs the weather to be hot to win the French, and he needs to play his own game. He needs to improve his claycourt game still."...From the Rafael Nadal blog: "I mentioned all those people also because they were witnesses as the stake of the play station game from the other day was "paid". Actually I made Moyini [Carlos Moya] pay for the game by doing ten trunk flexions in the middle of the restaurant. There are no pictures and there won't be any (even if there was a camera which immortalized the moment), but he did it...He paid the stake. Moyini did ten trunk flexions in the middle of the restaurant!!! What a laugh...!!! I was laughing so much and I tell you that I didn't laugh because of malicious joy, but because two years ago, exactly two years ago, I had to do the same thing. In the middle of the Champs Elysees with two hundred people staring I had to do ten flexions in the middle of the street on the zebra crossing. The owner of the restaurant was staring a bit as well but has was laughing quite a lot. I have been looking on my computer for the picture they took of me two years ago, but I couldn't find it. I swear that I'll show it in the blog if I find it."
Stellar play by two Grand Slam champions and poor fitness and a bout of choking by two others featured in women's quarterfinal action Tuesday at the French Open.
Top seed Justine Henin and No. 2 Maria Sharapova were in fine form, with the Belgian dispatching of a sluggish No. 8 seed Serena Williams 6-4, 6-3, and Sharapova beating No. 9 seed and fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-3, 6-4.
Williams strangely showed little fight throughout the contest, and was broken in the last game when seemed to simply give up. Afterwards in her press conference Serena spun the loss as more to do with her playing poorly than her opponent playing well.
"All she had to do was show up," Williams said. "I thought that she did well, but I've played against her when she's played even better."
They were the 30th and 31st consecutive sets won by Henin at Roland Garros.
"She didn't look very aggressive," Henin said. "So I just understood, if I was mentally and emotionally under control today, I was going to win this match."
Sharapova is in the French semifinals for the first time, as are all the other semifinal competitors except Henin.
"I didn't come off the court and go, 'Wow, I'm in the semifinals.' That wasn't really the feeling that I had," Sharapova said. "In any tournament that I play, whether it's on clay or mud or whatever it is, I know what I'm capable of."
Two Serbs completed the semifinals when No. 4 seed Jelena Jankovic beat No. 6 Nicole Vaidisova, and No. 7 Ana Ivanovic dispatched of title contender and No. 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-0, 3-6, 6-1.
Kuznetsova shook off her nerves in the second set but then aggravated an abdominal muscle in the final game of the set, quickly losing the third 6-1.
"I had to pull out for the doubles with abdominal muscle pain," Kuznetsova said. "It had been disturbing me for a while but it wasn't hurting that badly. But at the end of the second set, I served hard and that pulled it more. So it was extremely hard in the third set."
Jankovic needed five match points to close out Vaidisova.
"I was moving really well today and I tried to defend her balls," Jankovic said. "That's mainly what the key to the match was. I was just retrieving well."
In the semifinals Henin will face Jankovic, and Sharapova will meet Ivanovic.
On court Wednesday at Roland Garros are the remainder of the men's quarterfinals in (6) Novak Djokovic vs. Igor Andreev, and (2) Rafael Nadal vs. (23) Carlos Moya.
Federer Finally Drops a Set, Davydenko Next at French Open
Two men's quarterfinal matches were contested Tuesday at the French Open, where world No. 1 Roger Federer overcame a second-set hiccup to defeat No. 9 seed Tommy Robredo 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, and No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko stopped No. 19-seeded Argentine Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.
The first set won by Federer over Robredo was his 36th in a row won in Grand Slam play, besting the record John McEnroe set in 1984.
"If I can break some records, that's fantastic," Federer said. "But I would say that I want to stay focused on each match, each set, each point, each game...I don't lose sets 6-1 that often. I was like, okay, this could become really bad here. But it's the way it happens in tennis, 20 minutes, you play the wrong way, and it's 6-1."
Federer improved to 8-0 lifetime against Robredo, and will now face Davydenko who he is also 8-0 against.
On court Wednesday at Roland Garros are the remainder of the men's quarterfinals in (6) Novak Djokovic vs. Igor Andreev, and (2) Rafael Nadal vs. (23) Carlos Moya.
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Wayne Ferreira on the Blackrock Tennis Champions Podcast: "I think [Rafael] Nadal will win on the grass at Wimbledon before Roger [Federer] wins the French Open. He came close to winning Wimbledon last year and he wasn't far from beating Roger. Until Rafa either falls over, gets injured or quits, Roger is not going to win the French Open." And from Michael Stich: "I agree, I think Rafa will win Wimbledon before Roger wins the French because he is improving his game so intensively on other surfaces. Roger needs the weather to be hot to win the French, and he needs to play his own game. He needs to improve his claycourt game still."...From the Rafael Nadal blog: "I mentioned all those people also because they were witnesses as the stake of the play station game from the other day was "paid". Actually I made Moyini [Carlos Moya] pay for the game by doing ten trunk flexions in the middle of the restaurant. There are no pictures and there won't be any (even if there was a camera which immortalized the moment), but he did it...He paid the stake. Moyini did ten trunk flexions in the middle of the restaurant!!! What a laugh...!!! I was laughing so much and I tell you that I didn't laugh because of malicious joy, but because two years ago, exactly two years ago, I had to do the same thing. In the middle of the Champs Elysees with two hundred people staring I had to do ten flexions in the middle of the street on the zebra crossing. The owner of the restaurant was staring a bit as well but has was laughing quite a lot. I have been looking on my computer for the picture they took of me two years ago, but I couldn't find it. I swear that I'll show it in the blog if I find it."