An Unlikely Eight

Well, don't we have an unlikely set of semi-finalists in s'Hertogenbosch? And in Nottingham? Nottingham less so, but these are a bunch of guys you wouldn't expect to see, say, in the second week at Wimbledon (mostly.) So... it's interesting.

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This may be a testament more to the calibre of players playing this week more than anything else - Federer, Nadal and Djokovic all conspicuously absent, along with grasscourt heavyweights like Roddick and Hewitt. The one man who was playing this week that I would normally put money on to reach the second round of Wimbledon, Richard Gasquet, got knocked out early. But consider this: Rafa Nadal, who has reached the final of Wimbledon for the past two years, has only just won his first grasscourt title. That says something about how difficult it is to do well on grass. So it will be interesting to see which two of these eight walks away with the prize.

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Let's look at Nottingham first. In the first semi final we have Gael Monfils, recent French Open semi finalist, and Ivo Karlovic, defending champion. I'd venture to say that whoever wins this semi will win the match. It's hard for three set matches to be real throwdown affairs - there is only so long a match like that can go on for. (That is why five set matches are so preferable, in my opinion... they're gladiatorial, and they're amazing tests of endurance, both mental and physical.) Dr Ivo will have the edge with his monstrous serve - we must remember the close shave that Rafa had with him over at Queen's - but Monfils has such flairs of unpredictable brilliance. If Monfils plays like he does in the first and second sets of his semi at Roland Garros against Federer, I'd back him. Otherwise, I might have to come down on the side of Dr Ivo's dull but effective percentage tennis.

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In the other semi we have Fernando Verdasco and Marin Cilic. Verdasco is the higher seed - he's seeded #3 - but I've been quite impressed with Cilic of late. His win at the Australian Open over Gonzalez was nothing short of remarkable, and as he grows in confidence, I think he's going to be a real danger. However, Verdasco has a psychological advantage over him, I think. They played in the semis of St Petersburg last year, a match which Verdasco won. But Verdasco's quarter-final win over Simon seems much scratchier than Cilic's win over Johansson... so I think I'm going to go for the underdog in this one. So my pick for the Nottingham final is Karlovic/Cilic.

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Now, in s'Hertogenbosch, we have four players that are really not grasscourters... Gicquel, maybe, but definitely not the other three. We have Ferrer against Del Potro, and Gicquel against Canas. You've got to back Ferru for the title - especially after he had such a great victory over Ancic, who definitely is a grasscourt player. Del Potro is good, but he isn't exactly Captain Grass, and he has a long way to go before he becomes the player he has the talent to be. He's only a littl'un... not in stature, obviously, but in age, certainly. So I'm saying Ferru, and Ferru easily, because he's awesome and in form and a cool guy, and stuff. Vamos Ferru!

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The other one will be interesting. I think people often fall into the trap of categorising Willy Canas as a claycourter because he's Argentinian, but his best results have come on hard courts. That doesn't make him a grasscourter, but I think it makes him more of one than, say, Nicolas Almagro. I can't say I know a whole lot about Gicquel... I do remember that, ah, incident with him and Benjamin Becker's serve at Halle last year, wherein he ended up in a lot of pain and, although he beat Becker (and that pesky 129km serve, hehehe) he had to retire against Nieminen. I think every man that was watching that day must have winced in unison.

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Just for that, I'm gunning for Gicquel, because I feel sorry for him, and also because I don't like Willy very much. So Ferru/Gicquel for the s'Hertogenbosch final.

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But it's odd, isn't it? Karlovic is probably the closest to a grass courter we have in either of these semis. It's heavy on the Latins, and that's a bit unusual, when it comes down to it. Not that it's bad, but it's definitely weird.

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Today's Results

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Ordina Open (s'Hertogenbosch)

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David Ferrer def. Mario Ancic, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Juan Martin del Potro def. Arnaud Clement, 2-6 6-3 6-1

Guillermo Canas def. Viktor Troicki, 6-2 6-2

Marc Gicquel def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-3 6-4

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Elena Dementieva def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-2 6-4

Tamarine Tanasugarn def. Michaella Krajicek, 3-6 6-3 6-4

Alona Bondarenko def. Anna Chakvetadze, 6-2 3-6 6-2

Dinara Safina def. Katerina Srebotnik, walkover

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Slazenger Open (Nottingham)

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Gael Monfils def. Vince Spadea, 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

Ivo Karlovic def. Andreas Seppi, 6-3 3-6 6-4

Fernando Verdasco def. Gilles Simon, 6-3 2-6 6-3

Marin Cilic def. Thomas Johansson, 6-1 6-2

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International Women's Open (Eastbourne)

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Samantha Stosur def. Caroline Wozniacki, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4

Nadia Petrova def. Ekaterina Makarova, 6-4 6-3

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Gisela Dulko, 7-5 7-5

Marion Bartoli def. Alisa Kleybanova, 6-3 6-3