Henin v Ivanovic, Federer v Nadal in French Open Finals

Posted on June 9, 2007

Federer v Nadal Again in French Open Final

World No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal advanced to a rematch of last year's final at the French Open with wins Friday at Roland Garros. Federer subdued Russian Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets, while Nadal did the same to Serb upstart Novak Djokovic.

"From every match, I learn something new," said Djokovic after the 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 loss to Nadal. "Especially this tournament -- it's one of the four biggest tournaments in tennis, and it brought me a lot of positive things. I can always learn something new out of the Grand Slam."


Ranked No. 4, Djokovic says he is a long way off the mark from Federer and Nadal.

"So far I did incredible results for my age," Djokovic said. "But I say what is realistic: They are the two best players in the world right now. On every surface, they are the biggest favorites to win the title. And I think everybody knows that."

Federer beat Davydenko 7-5, 7-6(5), 7-6(7) to put himself one victory away from a career Grand Slam. The Swiss has also now reached a record eight straight Grand Slam finals.

"It's hard to put it against other records, of course, you know, because this is over a long time," Federer said. "This shows consistency. And it always used to be the problem of my young career, you know, back in the day, consistency. And now, I'm, you know, the most consistent player, you know, and it's great to be. And it's a great feeling being in all these big matches over and over again. And I love it. So this is big. No doubt."

On Saturday Justine Henin will take on Ana Ivanovic in the women's final.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Andy Roddick appeared on the popular BBC talk-show Friday Night With Jonathan Ross last night, appearing alongside classical musician Myleene Klass, 'Hot Fuzz' star Nick Frost and the band My Chemical Romance. Friday Night With Jonathan Ross is the most-watched television talk show in the United Kingdom, averaging 6 million viewers with a 35% audience share...According to Reuters, U.S. doctor and couch potato Julio Bonis got a sore shoulder after playing hours of the Wii tennis game where you actually swing a controller. "The variant in this patient can be labelled more specifically as 'Wiiitis,'" Dr. Bonis, a family practice physician, wrote in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine. Brilliant, all those years in medical school paid off...Alicia Molik of Australia and Mara Santangelo of Italy won their first French Open women's doubles title Friday, beating Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama 7-6(5), 6-4...Rafael Nadal blogging on Novak Djokovic: "Actually he's a very young player, he's one year younger than me but still it seems that I'm older. Maybe because I've been on the circuit for four or almost five years, which are a few years already...I think that he's been there for about two years which is a lot as well and now he has very good results. I think that he might be a future number 1."...From the BBC's Jonathan Overend: "How shocking has the turnout been on Court Philippe Chatrier for this year's French Open? How embarrassing for the French Federation and the other tennis authorities that quarter-finals were played to half-full stands and a vacant front row of the President's Box (the best seats in the house). The start of Thursday's semi-final day wasn't much better, although Maria Sharapova later said she'd much rather be having lunch than be 3-0 down in the first set. Let's go back to Tuesday when Ana Ivanovic played the set of the Championship against Svetlana Kuznetsova and went on to win in three. There were banks of empty seats -- half full would be generous -- and the atmosphere was dead."