Wednesday, June 4, 2008

French Open Semifinals

Tomorrow morning brings us the women's semifinals, featuring an all-Russian slugfest between the surging Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first match, followed by a pair of Serbians, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic.
All tourney, the women's draw has been wide open, and now that we're down to the final four, that is ever-more the truth. It's all going to come down to who wants it more and who is ready to step up and win break points, set points, and match points. Opportunity beckons, ladies.
I'm going with Ana Ivanovic and Dinara Safina to make it to the finals, and it'll be Safina hoisting the champion's trophy Saturday morning. She's winning tough matches and big points, and that's the kind of backbone it'll take to win.
On the men's side, there are a pair of dream semifinals for us to enjoy on Friday. Honestly, I couldn't think of two more delicious matchups.
First up is Rafa Nadal vs Novak Djokovic. This needs no embellishment from me, except DON'T MISS IT!
Second is Roger Federer vs Gael Monfils. Federer has played brilliantly all tournament, and now faces the enigmatic Monfils. This kid is long, fit, and incredibly talented. The knock on him has been his inability to put all his tools together. This tourney; however, looks quite different, as he absolutely dismantled David Ferrer today in the quarters.
Here's the X-factor, Monfils is French.
This means a wild atmosphere on Friday in Paris. It's been 25 years since a Frenchman won, and 8 years since the last French semifinalist. Federer has always had an easy time with Monfils, but this will be a different player in an entirely different setting.
Predictions: Nadal pushes past Djokovic into the finals where he will face Federer in the dream championship match.
I have my thoughts about the winner of this duel, but I don't want to jinx anything, so let's wait until the final is set.
TV times for the semifinals:
-tomorrow at 9:00AM Pacific on ESPN 2 (both women's semifinal matches)
-Friday at 7:00AM Pacific on NBC (first men's semifinal), then switching over to ESPN at either 9 or 10AM for the second semifinal
And remember that matches can be watched live online for free at tennischannel.com

1 comment:

jessica said...

Fantastic forecasting on the semis, my man. Ana played such exciting tennis today that she completely hijacked my morning. It was a break-fest that I hope will give her the confidence to get into Dinara's head and bring on the broken rackets.