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It was over Before it was Over for Andy Roddick

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This is the ATP World Tour Championships, which means that old bromide about it not being over until it’s over is a bunch of eyewash.

It was over for Andy Roddick on Friday after the first set because even had he come back to beat Novak Djokovic in three, Nole with a 1-2 record (same as Roddick and Tomas Berdych) would have moved on to the semifinals with world No. 1 Rafa Nadal (3-0) out of Group 1.

So, yeah, it was over before it was over. I don’t want to say that Roddick chucked it in in this 6-2, 6-3 loss because he probably played a little better in the second set, though that’s pretty faint praise in a match in which he had only three aces and 12 winners to go with 22 unforced errors.

It was a surprising result, given Roddick’s successes over Djokovic in the past (five wins in seven matches), but The Djoker was hitting service returns like a demon on the medium fast indoor carpet at the O2 Arena in London. He was never broken and looked strong from start to finish.

Andy Roddick

Really, about the only drama in this one hour and five-minute clocking came with Roddick up love-30 in the final game after a couple of Djokovic frame jobs. The near full house got pretty excited at that point, thinking Roddick could take this thing to a third set. Probably very few of them understood that this was all so much window dressing at that point.

It didn’t matter, anyway, because Nole smacked two aces, whacked a service winner and wrapped it when Roddick’s forehand on the final swing of this match was intercepted by the net.

Djokovic moves on to play Roger Federer in the semis and Nadal gets Andy Murray. I guess this is what the money guys wanted. A Brit in the final four along with No. 1 and No. 2 in the world and Djokovic – the, uh, Djoker in the mix.

The first set of the Roddick match took 31 minutes. Djokovic took a kick second serve in the ad court and slapped it back as if the ball was perched on a tee to finish it.

He threw in a rare serve-and-volley point at 40-30 to go up 2-1 in the second, then broke Roddick at 30-40 when Andy’s second serve went wide.

So ended Roddick’s season with a 48-18 record, two titles (at Brisbane in January and Key Biscayne in April) and a lot of disappointment and bad karma in the final months, including nagging injuries and a case of mononucleosis.

Will he and coach Larry Stefanki remain together for a third year? My guess is yes. When things were good, they were very good. Roddick won 28 of his first 32 matches this season, knocking down Nadal and Berdych to win Key Biscayne.

He got off the clay, playing only Roland Garros, where he lost in the third round to Teymuraz Gabashvili, then was upset in the round of 16 at Wimbledon by No. 82 Lu Yen-Hsun in five sets. That one hurt badly. He pushed on to the U.S. hardcourt season, losing twice to Mardy Fish and once to Gilles Simon as the mono set in. He was a second round loser at the U.S. Open.

He’s 8-7 since New York, three of those losses coming in London at the World Tour Championships.

At 28, he’s got good years ahead of him, but it just seems that no matter how hard you train off-court after 10 years on tour, you can’t avoid the injuries. And certainly not in an 11-month season. I’m thinking he’ll schedule next season much as he did this year, forgoing the clay season, which becomes less and less significant to him as he gets older.

Roddick didn’t play Davis Cup this year, so he saved himself some travel and wear-down, but it looks as if he’ll play for new captain Jim Courier in 2011. We’ll see.

All Wozniacki Does is Win

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Just ten unforced errors against one of the hardest ground strokers in women’s tennis, and, frankly, it was just another day at the office, statistically, for Caroline Wozniacki.

No thunderclap services, though she’s capable of cranking it up to 115 mph. No shrieking. No theatrics. No self-designed tennis clothes. And not a lot of spectacular shots.

She must be driving the press room tennis dilletantes nuts because they’ve got nothing they can hang their hats on with Wozniacki except her exceedingly good looks, which has nothing to do with her tennis.

Caroline Wozniacki

But those of us who appreciate the more subtle aspects of her game see a lot more. All she does, and it’s quite enough, is get the ball back and get it back deep. All she does is move her opponents, as she did with Maria Sharapova on Monday, from side to side until their knees ache from the rapid changes of direction. All she does is force errors. All she does is get her first serve in an average 70 percent of the time.

And that’s Wozniacki, a sort of female version of Andy Murray and a 20-year-old who, after this 6-3, 6-4 win, is just three victories from not only capturing her first Grand Slam singles title, but becoming the No. 1 ranked player in the world as well.

Oh, she has weapons all right. Her backhand is the rock in her game and she has such absolute control of it that you could see Sharapova hustling back to the center on the backhand-to-backhand exchanges, extremely wary of The Woz’s backhand down the line.

And there is that devastating, take-control return of serve that led to a 19-10 won/lost mark on Maria’s second deliveries — a return of serve, incidentally, that is so deep and strong that it was a major reason why Sharapova pounded out nine double faults in this match.

Sharapova plays high-risk tennis — 32 winners and 36 unforced errors in this match. Wozniacki? Her shots are deep but safe and low-risk — 16 winners and 10 unforced errors. And those numbers are not an aberration.

Here’s Wozniacki in three previous matches at this Open: 11 winners and 10 unforced errors; 12 winners and 7 unforced errors; 7 winners and 6 unforced errors.

She doesn’t give it away and has so much patience and intelligence in the long, grinding rallies that she reminds you a bit of Martina Hingis, but with a lot more juice on the ball. There’s also a bit of Chris Evert there with her superb anticipation of ball direction. When Sharapova aced her twice in the second set, it was the first aces recorded against Wozniacki in the Open.

Of course she’s not unconquerable. She’s played some stinkers this season, and Sharapova for a moment appeared to have found a nice changeup with a couple of drop shots that left Wozniacki frozen at the baseline early in the second set. But this Danish ingenue, daughter of Polish-born parents, makes mid-match adjustments like a veteran.

If you think Wozniacki is all counter-punch and defense, you’re mistaken. While she doesn’t roll up a lot of aces, her first serve is extremely accurate. She’s not anywhere near the leaders in aces, but if the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour kept statistics on “free points,” I’m sure she’d be near the top.

In fact, the SEWTA keeps statistics in only 10 key areas. Wozniacki, currently No. 2 in the world, is among the top 10 players in only two categories — No. 6 in points won returning first serve and No. 9 in return games won.

What does it mean? It means consistency. One category the WTA doesn’t keep is “unforced errors.” Wozniacki certainly would be among the elite in fewest committed. The WTA also doesn’t record forced errors of opponents — another category that would find Wozniacki at or near the top.

There are any number of players who serve with more pace or hit more winners. But right now, at this moment in women’s tennis history, there is no one, with the exception of the absent Serena Williams and possibly Kim Clijsters, who have a fuller understanding of what it takes to win tennis matches.

This hasn’t been the greatest of women’s seasons with too many injuries (Serena, Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina), but Wozniacki’s rise to prominence is going to save the year.

A Wozniacki-Clijsters final would be wondrous, and I think it will happen.

Wozniacki and Surprises in Women’s Quarterfinals

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NEW YORK – Aided by her opponent’s 36 unforced errors, including nine double-faults, top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark grabbed a spot in the US Open quarterfinals Monday where she was joined by seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia and two surprises – Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova and Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi.

Wozniacki, who reached the final here a year ago, outslugged former US Open champion Maria Sharapova 6-3 6-4 in a hard-hitting, error-filled baseline battle in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Dominika Cibulkova

“I felt like I was playing well out there. I made her do those errors,” Wozniacki said after her 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Cibulkova, at 5-foot-3 (1.61m) by far the smallest competitor still remaining in the year’s final Grand Slam tournament, knocked off 11th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 7-5 7-6 (4); Kanepi beat 15th-seeded Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 0-6 7-6 (2) 6-1; and Zvonareva crushed Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 6-1 6-2.

In the quarterfinals, Wozniacki will play Cibulkova and Kanepi will meet Zvonareva. The bottom half of the draw pits defending champion Kim Clijsters, the second seed, against fifth-seeded Samantha Stosur, while two-time US Open winner Venus Williams, seeded third this year, will face sixth-seeded Francesca Schiavone, the reigning French Open champion.

“I knew I could win, but I knew it was going to be tough,” Wozniacki said of her battle against Sharapova. Time and again the two traded booming ground strokes from the baseline, moving each other from side to side, probing for an opening and usually finding none. These long points – many of them over 20 strokes long – usually ended in an error as each player, but especially Sharapova, tried to go for a little too much.

“I was doing whatever I felt like was working out for me,” Wozniacki said of the slugfest. “So I had some feelings and I was going for those shots I felt like I could go for.”

For Sharapova, it was like playing a backboard.

“I don’t think I did enough,” said Sharapova, who captured the title at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in 2006. “And that really allowed her to stand, you know, far back behind the baseline and keep retrieving balls. And that’s just what she does best.

“When she had the opportunity to step in, she took it and went for her shots. Then I was on the defense.”

Sharapova was her own worst enemy. She double-faulted on three consecutive points to give Wozniacki her first service break of the match.

In her first three matches Wozniacki had lost a total of three games, so dominant was she. Sharapova matched that in the opening set. In the second set the two battled evenly until Wozniacki took charge in the seventh game to break serve, thanks to another double fault from Sharapova.

“I knew that I had to be ready for the first ball,” Wozniacki said. “I knew she was going to try to attack me from the beginning. I knew she was trying to be aggressive. For me it was important to keep as many balls in the court but still try to move her around and try to dictate as well.”

Cibulkova also tried to be aggressive. It was a tactic that worked for her.

“I was really pumped for this,” she said. “I know my game and I know myself, so I knew I could make it. I could beat everybody in this tournament.”

Kuznetsova, who also won the French Open in 2009, grabbed early breaks in both sets, only to have Cibulkova rally. The Slovakian, who is ranked 45th in the world, the lowest ranked player still in the draw, captured the first set when Kuznetsova double-faulted at break point in the 12th game.

Cibulkova served for the match, but Kuznetsova staved off two match points. The Slovak dominated the tie-break to reach a Grand Slam tournament quarterfinal for just the second time.

“It’s the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam, so we’re going to fight for every point,” Cibulkova said.

After a horrendous first set, Kanepi grabbed a quarterfinal berth in her second straight Grand Slam tournament. She trailed 6-0 1-0 and was facing two break points on her serve when she finally put on display the game that had eliminated fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic in the previous round.

“I had a little luck,” Kanepi said. “I was 15-40 on my serve and I served two aces. I said to myself, ’15-40, just go for it.’ I relaxed. Then the match started turning around from my side.

She broke Wickmayer twice in the second set and dominated the tie-break. The third set was a romp.

“I think she played really well” in the opening set, Kanepi said of Wickmayer. “She was hitting very hard and near the lines. So everything worked for her.

“I didn’t think I hit so bad. Just a little bit tight, a little slow, and she played very well.”

Wickmayer agreed.

“I played a really good first set, but I felt she was not far,” Wickmayer said. “I mean, she played really good tennis first set. I won the set pretty easily on the score, but all the games were pretty tough and I had to fight for every point.”

Advancing to the quarterfinals in men’s singles were Gael Monfils of France, third-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia and fifth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden winner the early matches. The night’s final match pitted second-seeded Roger Federer against Austria’s Jurgen Melzer.

Monfils became the first Frenchman in 10 years to reach the US Open quarterfinals when he beat compatriot Richard Gasquet 6-4 7-5 7-5. Djokovic raced past American Mardy Fish 6-3 6-4 6-1; while Soderling held off Albert Montanes of Spain 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-3.

Wozniacki Advances to Face Cibulkova

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By Blair Henley

Maria Sharapova ran into a brick wall named Caroline Wozniacki on Monday afternoon and couldn’t find a way to break down the top-seeded Dane’s seemingly endless supply of deep, solid groundstrokes. Wozniacki calmly handled Sharapova’s power, delivering a decisive 6-3, 6-4 win.

The first sign of trouble for Sharapova came when she double faulted three consecutive times to go down 1-3 in the first set. She double faulted again on game point at 3-3 in the second set, giving Wozniacki the break she needed. By the end of the match, Sharapova had a total of 33 unforced errors, while Wozniacki committed just 10.

As expected, Sharapova used her considerable firepower to whip out almost 30 winners, but Wozniacki’s consistency and fitness proved to be the biggest weapons on Arthur Ashe today.

During her on-court interview after the match, Wozniacki thanked the crowd and her father, who is also her coach, for their support. And when asked how she will prepare for her next match against Dominika Cibulkova, she flashed a smile and said, “I’ll think about that a couple of hours before the match.”

Unlike the bottom half of the women’s draw where the top seeds prevailed, there were multiple upsets in the top half including Cibulkova’s 7-5, 7-6 win over No. 11 seed and 2004 champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova. Cibulkova, ranked 45th, didn’t need much to take out the seasoned Russian – Kuznetsova had 10 double faults and 42 unforced errors.

“I think she plays good, but my level is higher, and I have to win these matches,” Kuznetsova said. “I played against myself, not her.”

Cibulkova, the lowest ranked player to advance to the quarterfinals, has never been past the third round at the U.S. Open.

Kaia Kanepi of Estonia will be another new face in the quarters at Flushing Meadows. After losing her first set 6-0 to No. 15 seed Yanina Wickmayer, Kanepi clawed her way back, finishing the match 7-6, 6-1 in the final two sets. She will play next play Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva who defeated unseeded Andrea Petkovic.

Great Things Could Await the New, Agressive-Playing Murray

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By Charles Bricker

There must have been about 5,000 Andy Murray fans in the stands and half of Scotland back home ready to boil him in oil for that impetuous, and failed, drop shot attempt on match point Sunday.

But, what was that the Bard said about things that end well? Two points later, as Andy got back down to business and Roger Federer’s drive from the baseline sailed well long, the British No. 1 was home with his second straight Rogers Cup title and his fifth ATP 1000 shield.

Crazy drop shots aside, this was the new, redefined Andy Murray out there and maybe, just maybe he has finally been convinced that he can’t reach the mountaintop in this game unless he comes out of his counter-punching shell and starts walloping winners.

That’s what he has done the last two days in dunking world No. 1 Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-4 and now No. 3 Federer by 7-5, 7-5. I don’t know how many pieces I’ve written over the last three years about Murray’s overly-defensive tactics.

Andy Murray

He’s a great defender because of his speed, his ability to redirect the ball on the run and his amazing consistency from the backcourt, and I’ve never had a quibble with Murray about playing that kind of tennis through the early rounds of an ATP 1000 or a Grand Slam.

But once he reaches the semis and in some cases the quarters, you’ve got to do more because the elite players in this game are capable of trading safe shots point-for-point with him.

On another day, Murray would come out of a match like this final with 13 winners and 10 unforced errors — something along that line. He had 24 and 24 in this match, and those increased unforced errors are not a worry because when you commit to playing more offensively you’re going to have more misses.

The point is that Murray has also increased his winners against the top players and by playing more aggressively, he forces changes in the games of his opponents.

Federer, now 29, had some golden moments in this rain-delayed match, but he was never consistently as good as Murray and he may have been feeling some fatigue after having long matches and close calls against both Tomas Berdych in the quarters and No. 2 Novak Djokovic in the semis.

This match came to a head (yes, I know Murray uses a Head racket) on the first match point, when Federer returned a backhand crosscourt not deep but sharply angled. Murray was on it and, with one of the best down-the-line backhands in the game, that was his shot. Instead, in one of those incomprehensible Murray Moments, he tried to brush a backhand dropper. It never cleared the net.

He immediately won his serve to earn a second match point and this time he went to the power and induced Federer into a forced error to end it.

Murray was No. 4 coming into this match and won’t go higher because, having won Rogers Cup a year ago, he is only treading water with the 1,000 points he earned. But he is, suddenly and hopefully, a new player and that cold foretell great things the rest of 2010.

He has 11 losses to go with 30 wins this season, but, though he’s been in a few finals, he had not won that one blockbuster until he whipped Federer on Sunday.

This one is a blockbuster. It lasted two hours and four minutes, not counting umbrella time, and Murray now has his 15th overall title. He was broken only once by Federer, and in the second set, Murray won 18 of his 20 first-serve points — a major key. But not quite as major as Murray’s recognition, at last, that he can’t just play ping-pong out there.

Will he carry these tactics over to Cincinnati this week? We’ll see. He doesn’t have to be super-aggressive in the early rounds because his defensive and counter-punching skills are good enough to get him through the first few days. But he has to recognize the point at which he has to turn on the juice.

If he does that at Cincinnati, backing up what he did at Toronto, he’s suddenly the lead favorite at the U.S. Open.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

Rusty Match for Nadal a Blessing

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By Charles Bricker

This wasn’t even close to a World War II battleship coming out of mothballs. Still, there was no mistaking the rust dripping off Rafa Nadal’s game in his first match in 37 days.

Rogers Cup
Rafael Nadal

He had, for him, an astounding 27 unforced errors in a 92-minute opening set against his other Swiss foil, Stan Wawrinka, including two blown overheads. He also had to deprive Wawrinka of five set points and work harder than usual to rein in a succession of wild forehands on the way to a 7-6 (12), 6-3 victory on an oppressively humid night in Toronto.

Coupled with a first-round bye, Nadal, the richly deserving No. 1 player in the world, is now into the third round at this crucial ATP 1000 event and will next play the tall, slender, ace-serving South African Kevin Anderson.

As difficult as the first set of this match was for Nadal, it was, in a greater sense, a blessing. Having not played since winning Wimbledon on July 4, he needs time on court, and he got all he wanted in the sometimes brilliant, sometimes disturbingly bad opening set.

Torpid he wasn’t. The movement is there. God, can he run and play defense. But that delicate timing that exists among feet, stroke and ball contact was understandably lacking after more than a month away from the tour.

There were timing problems as well for No. 3 Roger Federer in his opening win over Juan Ignacio Chela. But, like Federer, by the second set Nadal was much closer to form. He’ll tell you he has a few more matches to go before he’ll declare himself back in top gear. But does anyone doubt he’ll get there sooner than later.

After 27 unforced errors in the opening set, 16 off the forehand side, Rafa had just nine misfires in the second. But he was very close to having to take this one three sets to win.

He blew two points in the tiebreak to go down 3-5 — first with a backhand volley over his head that he failed to angle off, leaving Wawrinka one more shot, which he hit for a winner. Then, on an overhead that Nadal probably could hit from a lounge chair, he smacked the ball about 20 feet beyond the baseline.

But he never relented on his aggressiveness, working on the assumption that all these points, won or lost, would ultimately help him find his rhythm.

Poor Wawrinka, the No. 2 Swiss behind Federer. He’s now 0-6 vs. Nadal and 0-13 in sets. Nadal vs. both Swiss players: 20-7. Nadal since losing to Andy Roddick in the semis at Key Biscayne in April: 32-1.

Watching first Federer on Tuesday and then Nadal on Wednesday produced some interesting tactical changes. Federer was working for the first time with former Pete Sampras coach Paul Annacone and Federer looked more aggressive than he has in previous matches this year. He’s attacking service returns more, no longer blocking balls back.

As for Nadal, who used to hit about 99 percent of his serves into the ad court with a 99 mph slice to the corner. Yet he scarcely went that route with Wawrinka, preferring instead to work on his up-the-line serves, and he was effective. In the deuce court, Nadal took away Wawrinka’s big cuts by serving a lot of body shots. He is, at age 24, a fully matured player — not only physically but mentally. He is so good at mid-match tactics.

The second set didn’t resemble the first in any way. Nadal broke to 3-1 by stepping in on a couple of Wawrinka serves to the ad court and pasting back forehand winners up the line. After facing three break points in the opening set, he was never threatened on serve in the second.

As tight as this match was in the opening stages, it was good for Nadal. He’ll be a lot smoother in the third round because of the tension of the tiebreak and the number of points they played.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com. He is an alumni of the University of California at Berkeley and has had 41 distinguished years in the news business, covering 25 NFL seasons and Super Bowls and for the last 16 years, he has covered men’s and women’s professional tennis. Listen to Charlie every Monday at 7 pm – and on podcast – on World Tennis talk at http://primesportsnetwork.com/tennis.html

JAN KODES: TOMAS BERDYCH ON THE RISE

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By Jan Kodes

Jan Kodes of the Czech Republic, the 1973 Wimbledon champion and 1970-71 French Open champion, is the author of the new book JAN KODES: A JOURNEY TO GLORY FROM BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN, a one-of-a-kind coffee table book featuring incredible, never-been-published historic photos. The book, featuring many anecdotes and stories about Czech tennis including Martina Navratilova, Ivan Lendl and others, is available for $35.96 on amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/Jan-Kodes-Journey-Behind-Curtain/dp/0942257685/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280583452&sr=8-1

Tomas Berdych this week is playing in Washington, D.C. in his first summer hard court event in the United States in preparation for the U.S. Open. The last few months – with a final-round showing at Wimbledon and a semifinal showing at Roland Garros – have proved that that he has finally sold his powerful game at the Grand Slam tournament level.

Tomas Berdych
Tomas Berdych

Czech tennis has waited for several years for him to have success at Grand Slam tournaments. Two years ago, Tomas reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, losing to Rafael Nadal. We thought that this showing would expedite him breaking into the top 10. However, his performances slowed down after that and he did not fulfill his immediate potential.

But 2010 is another year for him and his demeanor on court, his game and his thinking has shown much more confidence. He has finally started to believe in himself and his powerful strokes, especially his forehand. He is able to dictate points with power and hit more winners with reduced unforced errors. His first serve started to be more effective and his two-handed backhand down the line has become a “killing” shot. His win at Wimbledon over Roger Federer was not a big surprise for me since he beat him already two times before, earlier this year in Key Biscayne and at the Olympics in 2004.

I think reaching semifinals at the French Open was crucial for his future career as it was his first breakthrough into the final four and gave him great confidence. During his match with Federer at Wimbledon, he showed his confidence by ending the match with cool mind. Keeping his cool and remaining confident will be the key for his future success.

To win his first Grand Slam title on Wimbledon’s Centre Court proved to be too difficult for him due to the Nadal’s power and lefty topspin strokes, which did not give him much time. Rafa was more experienced in Grand Slam finals and he played smart, consistent and superbly on a windy day.

Tomas is now a very dangerous player and reminds us of Ivan Lendl and his “big start” in 1984 when he beat John McEnroe in the French Open finals from two sets down.

We will see what will happen to Tomas this summer, but I caution everyone to watch for him to make more noise at the U.S. Open in New York.

MUSTER, 42, CRASHES OUT OF GERMAN CHALLENGER

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Former world No. 1 Thomas Muster crashed out in a flurry of unforced errors at the $125,000 ITF challenger in Braunschweig, Germany Tuesday, losing 6-2, 6-1 in the opening round to Irishman Conor Niland. Muster, 42, was playing his first pro event since the 1999 French Open.

The 28-year-old Niland, currently ranked at a career high No. 165 in the world, was content to mainly hit balls deep down the middle of the court as the 1995 French Open champion struggled with his timing throughout, only holding serve once the whole match and committing six double faults.

Muster is still scheduled to play in the doubles event with Jaan-Frederick Brunken of Germany.

By McCarton Ackerman

STOSUR STOPS SERENA TO GUARANTEE FIRST-TIME MAJOR TITLIST AT ROLAND GARROS

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By Blair Henley

There will be a first-time Grand Slam tournament champion at the 2010 French Open.

A calm, collected Sam Stosur followed up her win over Justine Henin by defeating world No. 1 Serena Williams 6-2, 6-7 (2), 8-6. None of this year’s semifinalists, including Stosur’s next opponent, No. 4 Jelena Jankovic, have won a major singles title.

Stosur, seeded seventh, dominated throughout the first half of the match, but failed to convert her service game up 6-2, 5-3. That allowed Serena to regain momentum after two sets littered with unforced errors and double faults, but it also provided extra motivation when the 26-year-old Aussie earned a second chance to serve for the match at 7-6 in the third set.

“Obviously I was a little bit nervous,” Stosur said. “I think I was a little bit worse when I first served for it, and I just didn’t want to let that same thing happen again. So I just went for it and tried to play it like any other game.”

Just minutes before, Stosur was one point away from losing the match on her serve, but Serena flubbed the opportunity on a missed forehand. The Australian then took control with her aggressive serve, looking far more confident than her typically unflappable opponent.

Stosur will be making her second French Open semifinal appearance in as many years, but she admitted her results are a bit more satisfying this time around.

“The match against Justine was probably the best win of my career,” she said. “This one today, I don’t know where it stands, but I’m so happy to get to the semis again and hopefully I can go a little bit further.”

Jelena Jankovic, who ended unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova’s unlikely French Open run 7-5, 6-4, will take play Stosur tomorrow. No. 5 Elena Dementieva will play No. 17 Francesca Schiavone in the other semifinal.

CAN NADAL WIN SIX BEST-OF-FIVE MATCHES IN 10 DAYS? ONE DOWN, FIVE TO GO

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The tournament schedule at the French Open is certainly not helping Rafael Nadal.

The four-time champion – and strong favorite to win a fifth title in 2010 – came into Friday’s second-round match with Horacio Zeballos having to win six best-of-five-set matches over 10 days in order to win a fifth title at Roland Garros.

After his 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win Friday, Nadal now has to win five matches over nine days.

While many will say that Nadal is practically unbeatable on clay and at Roland Garros (he won his first 31 matches at the tournament), his toughest opponent is likely himself and if he can hold up physically. His fourth-round loss to Robin Soderling last year – his first and only loss to date at Roland Garros – was certainly influenced by knee problems that have plagued the Spaniard recently, and prevented him from defending his Wimbledon title last year.

Nadal’s match with Zeballos was postponed a day due to rain. The fact that he beat the No. 44-ranked Argentine with such ease and in only 105 minutes will serve him well. He has lost only 13 games in his first two matches, but tougher opponents await deeper in the draw.

Against Zeballos, Nadal played cleanly, making 12 unforced errors and losing serve once, in the seventh game of the third set. He immediately broke back.

Nadal is attempting to become the second man to win five French Open titles; Bjorn Borg holds the record of six.

ROGER FEDERER AND THE FIRST SET CONUNDRUM

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By Ritesh Gupta

Is Roger Federer going through any “first set scare” phenomenon?

For Federer, this may not be an issue at all, but his die-hard supporters are going through some anxious moments of late.

It might be a self-imposed situation or one which is arising due to the initial exuberance of his opponents, but Federer does seem to be taking longer than usual in wrapping up the first set in the ongoing French Open.

One can’t help thinking the same. Going by his first two rounds in the only Grand Slam on clay, the defending champion is taking time in settling down. Also, recently, during the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Madrid, he lost the first set against Rafael Nadal (Federer lost the final, too), won 7-5 against David Ferrer in the semis and lost 3-6 to Ernests Gulbis before avenging his recent defeat to the Latvian in the quarterfinal.

Roger Federer
Roger Federer at the French Open 2010

Despite these hiccups, it has to be remembered that Federer and Grand Slams can be a nightmarish proposition for any pro. But still, if there is any opportunity of pushing Federer, one has to grab chances early in the match.

At the French Open, Federer hasn’t lost these first set battles. They are definitely quite close, more than one would expect. Importantly, the way Federer comes out from these challenges only show the class of the Swiss.

During the second round match against Alejandro Falla in Paris today, Federer did struggle in the first set. He  committed 21 unforced errors. To his credit, his left-handed rival made most of the long rallies and held serve without much fuss in the initial stages. Falla did break Federer’s serve in the 11th game. But the Colombian failed to serve out the set. More than Federer’s tenacity, the turn of events had to do more with self-belief of Falla.

Twice, Federer achieved mini-breaks in the first set tie-break with a couple of fabulous strokes. At 3-3, he went for a blazing backhand down the line to force a volley winner. And then, again, at 5-4, he went for an outright forehand cross-court winner. Falla finally gave up with an error.

Even though Federer missed a couple of forehands in the tie-break, it was Federer who forced the pace. The class, as usual, was written all over when it mattered the most.

There are times when Federer’s opponents, too, just fail to rise to the occasion or succumb to the pressure.

Looking at the scoreline between Federer and his first round rival, Peter Luczak, there might not be much to read. But the Australian just stroked error after error in the crucial 10th game before losing the first set.

Like Luczak, Falla, too, lost his fizz in similar fashion after dropping the first set. Falla lost 6-7 (4-7), 2-6, 4-6.

Luczak went down 4-6, 1-6, 2-6 earlier this week.

Both Luczak and Falla did their bit, but the man on the other side didn’t give them much of a chance once he got into his groove.

Federer might be starting off slowly. But he is still finishing his job with aplomb.

RAFA IS “PHENOMI-NADAL!” ROBBIE KOENIG BLOG FROM ROME

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Well a great day on Thursday at the Foro Italico! We finally had some decent matches to commentate on! Filippo Volandri threw the Italians into a religious fervor for the best part of two-and-a-half hours against Ernests Gulbis. It was a great atmosphere! It would have been good if he could have stuck around for another match. The Italians are definitely the most biased crowd at a regular event!!!

As for Rafael Nadal, he was simply “PHENOMI-NADAL“….this is my new word to describe the Mallorcan!!! The quality of tennis from him was outrageous. Victor Hanescu played his part too, in what was by far and away the best test for Rafa, on clay, so far, this spring, no question! Between them 47 winners and just 21 unforced errors, testimony to the quality of the contest.

I want to set the record straight for a comment I made after Rafa demolished Ferrero in Monte-Carlo. I said Rafa was not gonna lose a set this clay court season…Roland Garros included!!!  I want to see him challenged, but boy is he looking good! Come on back Davy, Delpo, Gonzo and Nalbi…

Bye for now!
RK