Toastmaster

Nothing too especially exciting went down in Barcelona overnight - in addition to Rafa, who made his way to the semis courtesy of a David Nalbandian walkover (which was a shame: that would have been an interesting rematch, considering Rafa never looks more vulnerable than when he plays Dave - if he can ever be said to look vulnerable at all!) we have David Ferrer, the resurgent Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Gonzalez who, perhaps surprisingly, took out #2 seed Nando Verdasco.

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Now, I was hoping Nando would go all the way (to the final - I wouldn't be foolish enough to pull against the Rafinator!) so I was a little disappointed, but I think this will be an interesting lineup nonetheless. I confess, however, that I was surprised that Nando was the one of the top four seeds that got upset - I would have thought it much more likely that either Ferrer or Davydenko would be taken down. Ferru was playing Tommy Robredo, who has been playing pretty decently (though he seems to have petered off a bit of late, which is a little disappointing... still, I'm sticking with him as a potential Roland Garros semi-finalist). And Davydenko is just back on the horse, playing against the wily wily Worm, Radek Stepanek.

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Let's talk Kolya for a minute. He's only just back, and he's been playing pretty shiny good tennis for a guy who has had no match play over the past, what, three, four months? He has the personality of a piece of toast, so people pretty much forgot that he was gone, but now he's back... God, it's nice to have him. The bottom half of the top ten - that pack below the leading posse of Rafa, Roger, Novak and Andy - has been so volatile and explosive that it's nice to have a relatively calm influence in there. Kolya was the best of the rest for so long - he was solid in that position. And it was kind of nice to have someone solid and consistent in there - who proved that you could be excellent by dint of hard work, sans flair.

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Not that I don't like flair. I love flair. I'm all about flair. But you have to admire the sheer consistency of players like Kolya. He was out of the game for months, hardly anyone noticed and he still managed to stay in the top ten. That says something about his level of results.

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He'll face Rafa in the next round, so it's going to be bye bye Kolya in the semis this time. But I'd like to see him back on the horse, in the fullness of time, winning the odd tournament here and there. He deserves it.

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Today's Results

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Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell (Barcelona)
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Fernando Gonzalez def. Fernando Verdasco, 6-3 4-6 6-4

Nikolay Davydenko def. Radek Stepanek, 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-2

David Ferrer def. Tommy Robredo, 6-3 6-4