Henin v Ivanovic in French Final; Roddick Flips Out
Posted on June 8, 2007
Sharapova Out, Henin v Ivanovic in French Open Final
It's one Serb down, one to go for world No. 1 Justine Henin, who is one match away from her third consecutive French Open title.
On Thursday the Belgian was in top form, easily defeating world No. 4 Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-2, to move into the final where she will face another Serbian upstart, pin-up girl Ana Ivanovic, who defeated the equally-photogenic Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-1 to reach her first Grand Slam final.
Henin had gone the three-set diatnace in all five of her previous meetings with Jankovic, but on Thursday would brook no delays on the Roland Garros red clay.
"She just played flawlessly," Jankovic said. "Unfortunately I lost, but it was to the best player in the world, so nothing to be ashamed of."
With history telling her she was in for a drawn-out fight, Henin entered the contest with extra intensity.
"I was ready to play a tough match, because all our other meetings were pretty hard -- I expected a fight, and I was ready to play hard every point," Henin said. "I was very intense the entire match. I showed that I really wanted to win."
Henin is now on the verge of becoming only the second player in Open Era history to win three straight Roland Garros singles titles behind Monica Seles who swept to three in 1990-92.
"It's an honor people are talking about me like that, but it's not the most important thing for me," said Henin, responding to media members ready to christen her as the best player ever at Roland Garros. "I just love to win here. It's my favorite event."
Sharapova was never in the match with Ivanovic, nursing a sore shoulder throughout the event, with her poor movement on the clay in full display.
"Once you start off slow, as I did in the beginning of the first and second sets, the train's already in London -- it's gone," Sharapova said. "But despite losing today, I think this was a very positive two weeks for me, considering I was out for so long. But I'm excited -- my favorite time of the year is coming up, the grass and hardcourt season."
Ivanovic said the final berth is just hard work paying off.
"I've put in a lot of hard work," Ivanovic said. "I have been working a lot on my fitness, especially lately. On clay, that's very important. And especially at a Grand Slam, you have to keep the fitness level for two weeks. I won in Berlin as well, which gave me a lot of confidence. So those are all little things that helped me focus and helped me get through the tough matches I had."
Henin and Ivanovic have only played once, two years ago on clay when the Belgian won 6-4, 7-5.
"Justine won this tournament before, so she's playing well on clay," Ivanovic said. "But at the end of the day, I think it's most important for me to play my game, get focused and move forward -- not to get overexcited about the finals."
French Open Mens Semifinal Preview
Can anyone stop world No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal from a repeat of last year's final at Roland Garros? Now only Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Serb Novak Djokovic stand in the way.
Unfortunately it might not be much of stand, as Federer is 8-0 career against Davydenko (1-0 on clay), and Nadal is 3-1 career versus Djokovic (2-0 on clay).
The Friday semifinals feature three of the Top 4 players in the world, with Federer making his 12th straight semifinal showing in a Grand Slam. Nadal is undefeated in his previous three Grand Slam semifinals. Djokovic is making his Grand Slam semifinal debut.
In the Federer-Davydenko match, look for Federer to find the right balance of patience and attack against the rarely-missing Russian. In Nadal-Djokovic, watch to see if the Serb can duplicate the balance of trigger-pulling and making miraculous "gets" that earned him a win over Spaniard earlier this year on hardcourt in Miami.
"I won against him in Miami. It was a hardcourt, though, so it's a different surface," Djokovic said. "I think he plays much better on the clay. You know, he's a different player. It's not the same match. It's not the same player."
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Andy Murray has pulled from Queen's due to his wrist injury, with his Wimbledon participation now in jeopardy: "My wrist is getting better every day but it's just too soon to play. I've been hitting balls softly and doing strengthening exercises for it, also been getting treatment every day and working out at the gym."...When you're the former No. 1 player in the world, dropping into a grasscourt Challenger-level tournament to get some early grasscourt play can be fun for you and the locals -- until you lose first round. That was the story during the second week of the French Open when Andy Roddick paired with American countryman Robby Ginepri at the Surbiton (Great Britain) Challenger, almost getting bageled in the second set in a 7-5, 6-1 loss to Australians Chris Guccione and Nathan Healey. After the loss Roddick scurried off site in a limousine with coach Jimmy Connors, who local media said looked embarrassed after the poor display by his charge. Roddick blew off his post-match press conference after the match. "He will be fined the maximum amount allowed at this tournament, which is 500 euros [?338], said ATP official Tom Kinloch. "Players are supposed to make themselves available for interview, win or lose." Roddick came to the challenger event from Paris where he lost in the first round at Roland Garros, reportedly on advice from coach Connors, but he was too late to make the singles cut. According to a BBC reporter: "Although his serve was as fearsome as ever, he was hopelessly out of touch at the net and his groundstrokes were wayward. After he missed yet another volley in the second set, his partner, Ginepri, looked toward the crowd and said: "I need a new partner. Is there anybody?" Their opponents, Guccione and Healey, showed the doubles expertise and skills that Roddick so patently lacked."...Rafael Nadal is 19-0 career at the French Open...From ESPN's ever-present and ever-solid Bonnie DeSimone: "The Nadal-Moya match, pitting two Mallorca homeboys 10 years apart in age, provided a ready-made picture frame for storytelling. L'Equipe, the French sports daily newspaper, filled that frame Wednesday with a 1999 photograph of Moya presenting Nadal with a junior trophy. Moya was then in his early 20s, with what was to be his only Grand Slam victory tucked under his belt. He has the backlit air of a celebrity in the photo, moussed curls tumbling to his shoulders, wearing a blazer and dress shoes. Next to him, the 13-year-old Nadal sports a warm-up jacket, a bowl haircut, a winsome expression and a hint of the muscular build to come in his sturdy legs." BTW what's that video of ESPN tennis blogger Peter Bodo interviewing Bonnie? That should be subtitled 'Why we're writers and not on-air personalities.' That was about as ugly as Tennis-X's Richard Vach on The Tennis Channel's "Tennis Insiders" -- keep the writers in the closet, let Anna Kournikova interview someone, she has nothing to do...From ESPN's Greg "The Ugly American" Garber: "Much has been made -- and rightly so -- of Federer's 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory over Nadal three weeks ago in the Hamburg final. But there are several reasons that result might not be repeated at Roland Garros. It's been well-documented that Nadal was tired from too many matches. And, yes, there is Nadal's motivation to win his third straight title here and, at the same time, deny Federer a chance to win the all-inclusive Grand Slam. What hasn't been talked about much is the nature of the courts in Hamburg and Paris. While they both feature red clay, players say that Hamburg's was far slower than the more famous stuff here. As a result, the balls bounce a lot higher in Paris. In Hamburg, most of Nadal's shots stayed down -- right in Federer's strike zone."...Serena Williams on Serena after her loss to Justine Henin: "No, I mean, Serena kept hitting balls in the net and Serena kept making errors. And it wasn't that. It was just that I couldn't hit my shots the way, you know, I was hitting them earlier or whatever."...Tommy Haas' father says his son will miss Halle and Wimbledon after a flare-up of his surgically-repaired shoulder...Mariano Puerta is back on tour this week playing a challenger, while top seed Sam Querrey lost in the first round at the Surbiton Challenger on grass...From Tennisreporters.com: "Clijsters and her basketballer fiance Brian Lynch have chosen the day of Belgium's Fed Cup play-off tie against China for their wedding, and with Clijsters wanting Caroline Maes to be there, she is robbing the Belgian team of one of its players. That has not endeared the newly retired Clijsters to Belgian tennis fans, and Henin is profiting, if only by default."...France's Nathalie Dechy and Israel's Andy Ram upset defending champions Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjic 7-5, 6-3 to win the French Open mixed doubles final Thursday.