The Clay

Well I awoke this morning to coverage of Sharpova's quarter final match.  She is looking great.  Kvitova, her next opponent, looks strong, but not as strong as Maria.  The way the French Open is structured, the two quarter finals for each section were played at the same time.  Therefore, yesterday you could either watch Fedderer/Del Potro OR Djockovic/Tsonga, but not both.  Unfortunately, I tuned in after the matches were over to hear a hoarse Darren Cahill describe how absolutely wonderful both matches were.  Yes, Federer and Djockovic came through, but it wasn't easy.  Del Potro went up two sets to none forcing Federer to come from behind in five sets.  Tsonga really took it to Djockovic and even got to a few match points.  I didn't get to see all of the matches, but my imagination fills in what must have been very exciting matches.

This morning, I saw the women and I was very happy to see Maria power through and Kvitova win.  Kvitova has the game to beat Maria, but Maria has more depth of weapons and experience.  I don't think she'll have any problem beating Kvitova, if her serve doesn't desert her.

The other women's semi-final is Errani vs. Stosur.  I don't know.  I really like Sam Stosur and so I'll want her to win, but Errani is such a scrappy, determined player.  She is either in over her head, or she'll be real trouble for Stosur. 

I saw on line that Nadal beat Almagro.  Not unexpected.  And that Ferrer beat Murray.  Well look at that.  David Ferrer is a very dynamic player.  I'm not sure what his record is against Nadal, but that could be a very good challenge for Nadal.  After his disappointing draw (as far as any real challenge--he hasn't dropped a single set this slam), he finally has some real competition.  On the other hand, I thought Verdasco was going to give him trouble last year and Fernando folded.  We'll see.

So Errani v. Stosur and Kvitova v. Sharapova tomorrow, then Fed v. Djok and Ferrer v. Nadal on Friday, then (hopefully I predict) Stosur v. Sharapova on Saturday and Djok v Nadal on Sunday.  What an awesome line up.