Still a week to go, right?

Ending Nadal's 81-game winning streak has to be a confidence booster for Federer, but it should relax Nadal some too. Definitely pulling for them to make the final.

Yes its next week. For some reason I thought it had started today but checked to see some results and there were none lol.

I think the loss is good for Nadal actually. Takes off a bit of pressure much like Federer losing to Roddick at Kooyong before the Oz Open.

I just have a feeling Federer will finally do it though.

French Open next week.

Serena and Federer continue the possible Grand Slam run. Woo!

Poor Hingis had to withdraw. *cry*

Roddick is out again in the first round. I don't consider it shocking now.

With the guy he drew in the 1st round, I don't think many expected him to win.

If Roddick wants to bother showing up at the FO in the future he should spend the offseason practicing on Clay courts in europe and nothing but, however, he may not even care that much about the FO and just focus his efforts on Wimby and US.

Andy Roddick: Professional Fraud

Because he doesn't do well in the french open?

It's a completly different style of court that you need a different kind of game for. His is not even close to being good enough for it.

And if Federer weren't around he'd have 3 or 4 majors under his belt. Hard going up against the greatest tennis player the game has ever seen and actually winning a lot of majors.

Maybe it would help if he actually played on red clay in Europe before the French Open.

Not many of the Americans seem to want to make that committment and until they do Paris will just be a stop over after Miami and before Wimbledon.

Tomorrow sees the first big match of the tournament (I think) with Jankovic facing Venus Williams on Phillipe Chatrier at 5am EST. I'd be surprised if Venus takes a set of Jankovic, but Jelena's mental state has, at times, been a bit Clijsters like, so that's always a worry.

It would help, definitely. But, as mentioned, they don't seem to care, heh.

Mens Fourth Round

Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Mikhail Youzhny RUS (13)
Tommy Robredo ESP (9) vs. Filippo Volandri ITA (29)
Nikolay Davydenko RUS (4) vs. David Nalbandian ARG (15)
Guillermo Canas ARG (19) vs. Juan Monaco ARG

Novak Djokovic SRB (6) vs. Fernando Verdasco ESP
Marcos Baghdatis CYP (16) vs. Igor Andreev RUS
Jonas Bjorkman SWE vs. Carlos Moya ESP (23)
Lleyton Hewitt AUS (14) vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2)


Federer's road to the final gets a lot tougher after this round, where he might have to face the two people, other than Nadal that have defeated him this year in Volandri and Canas, with Volandri taking him out on Clay. Still I look for Federer to get through, but I see him losing a set in both the QF and the SF.

Nadal also faces two tests on his road to the rematch with Federer, his first one comes in this round where he faces Hewitt, who took a set off of Nadal last year at the FO. Then in a potential SF with Novak, which should be entertaining and pose as much a risk to Nadal as Volandri and Canas does to Federer.

Womens Fourth Round

Justine Henin BEL (1) vs. Sybille Bammer AUT (20)
Dinara Safina RUS (10) vs. Serena Williams USA (8)
Jelena Jankovic SRB (4) vs. Marion Bartoli FRA (18)
Tathiana Garbin ITA (19) vs. Nicole Vaidisova CZE (6)

Ana Ivanovic SRB (7) vs. A. Medina Garrigues ESP (24)
Shahar Peer ISR (15) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (3)
Lucie Safarova CZE (25) vs. Anna Chakvetadze RUS (9)
Patty Schnyder SUI (14) vs. Maria Sharapova RUS (2)

That quarterfinal between Henin and Williams looks to be a go, I can't see either of their 4r opponents troubling them so much as to derail their match. Jankovic looks to be headed to her 2nd GS SF in the last 3 GS's.

The bottom half is less straight forward, I expect Ivanovic to make it through her 4r, where she'll most likely face Kuznetsova who is fairly proficient on Clay, and who is Federer's pick to win it all. Safarova, who upset Mauresmo today should take that momentum and 'upset' Chakvetadze. The last match I see as being the most interesting, I wouldn't be surprised to see Sharapova get eliminated by the tricky Schnyder on clay.

Even French Open is getting kind of predictable now and doesn't see as many upsets any more.

I think that could be a result of the increased focus on surfaces other than clay from many europeans and south americans. Once there were clay court specialists ranked in the 50's, now they've brought their ranking up to the teens and it's not an upset if they beat people now.

There was never really an abundance on the women's side, in any slam really.

Womens Quarterfinals

Justine Henin BEL (1) vs. Serena Williams USA (8)
Jelena Jankovic SRB (4) vs. Nicole Vaidisova CZE (6)

Ana Ivanovic SRB (7) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (3)
Anna Chakvetadze RUS (9) vs. Maria Sharapova RUS (2)

It's quite possible that this year will see the no 1-4 seeds in the semifinals, but it's also possible that Serena will win the second leg of the Grand Slam. Serena's looked better at this tournament than Henin, but Henin has never been known to have a great first week in grand slams, and is more comfortable on clay than Serena. It's hard to think that this match won't go three.

Jelena has looked very good leading up to RG, and should book her ticket to the semifinals taking out the young czech.

The bottom half seems a bit more open, with no real clearcut favourite to make it through the section, Ivanovic has been playing well, but Kuznetsova is one of the best clay courters in the game and should make it through.

Maria has never been at home on the clay, and had to save 2 MP's against Schnyder last round, that said, I don't think Chakvetadze has the power, or the mental strength to rise to the occasion.

Mens Quarterfinals

Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Tommy Robredo ESP (9)
Nikolay Davydenko RUS (4) vs. Guillermo Canas ARG (19)

Novak Djokovic SRB (6) vs. Igor Andreev RUS
Carlos Moya ESP (23) vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2)

The only potential upset I see happening in the Mens QFs is Canas over Davydenko, but Davydenko looked pretty good against Nalbandian so, I still see the 4th seed getting through. Other than that, Federer, Djokovic and Nadal should all make it through comfortably.

I think this is the strongest quarterfinal field on the men's side in years at French Open, and combining with the fact that the 8 women are all from the top 9, this is one of the most uneventful first week ever, but making the quarterfinals all that more exciting.

Well the most hyped match of the tournament turned out to be pretty routine, Serena looked disinterested at times and Justine served at 43% yet only got broken once. On to the semis

Womens Semifinals
Justine Henin BEL (1) vs. Jelena Jankovic SRB (4)

Ana Ivanovic SRB (7) vs. Maria Sharapova RUS (2)

Henin/Jankovic will most likely determine the champion, as I can't see either Ana or Maria taking the winner out in the final. Justine didn't exert a lot of energy taking out Serena, and she has had the mental edge over Jankovic in their last few meetings, which while tight, have seen Justine come out on top. I look for much of the same on Thursday.

Ana/Maria could go either way, I don't see a clear favourite in that one, Maria has done well to get to this point on clay, and Ana had a nice win over Kuznetsova in the QFs. Look for lots of errors and for Maria's mental toughness to eek out a victory.

Classic Serena. Why couldn't she give her opponent credit for once? Maybe, just maybe, nothing worked today because of the quality of opposition.

Been camping so I've missed the whole FO so far, but I'm not surprised Henin won over Serena. Just too superior on clay, and I think she's upset over missed oppurtunities lately. I think Maria might outperform Serena in the last 2 majors of this year, just a hunch.

Two more lopsided quarterfinal matches. Nadal has looked unreal and only gotten stronger. The anticipated match appears inevitable now.

Yeah, I think Federer/Nadal on Sunday is going to happen as well, but I think they'll each drop a set en route. Djokovic beat Nadal in Miami, and believe took a set off of him at a warm up clay court event a few weeks ago, and has also been playing well. So he could take a set off of Nadal.

I hope Henin wins now that Serena is out and a Federer win would almost make the Grand Slam inevitable which would be a wonderful thing.

Will any womens match live up to the billing? Both snoozers of semifinals today.

Womens Final

Justine Henin BEL [1] vs. Ana Ivanovic SRB [7]

Everyone seems to be playing well until they face Justine, and then they just go away. I don't really expect any different from Ana in her first GS final. Justine three-peats in straight sets.

Fantastic. I'd be happy to see her win 6-2 6-1. Fine by me.