SO not a good day to be seeded #4 at Roland Garros. However, if you're me, it was a pretty excellent day, because I was pulling against both #4 seeds, and they lost, and I was pulling for Federer, and he won, so fun times!
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Let's start with the dismissal of the women's #4 seed, Elena Dementieva. I quite like Elena (except for her serve) and probably wouldn't pull against her normally, but she was playing one of our own, Australian Samantha Stosur - who is now, incidentally, the last Aussie left in the draw after Jelena Jankovic made mincemeat of Jarmila Groth. Hats off to Sammy Stosur, who played absolutely wonderful tennis, especially in the first set. Her third set performance was also very solid, but Dementieva fell to pieces really. I guess this is a sort of pale justice after Jelena Dokic was all set to knock Dementieva out but then came down with that awful back injury.
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You've got to say this about Sam Stosur - she is one of the most likeable players on tour. She's just laidback and easy going and not much seems to phase her. And you have to like her game as well - her serving is excellent, her volleys exquisite... as long as she's at the net, you can assume you're in for a big one. She might not win all of them, but she wins enough. It's a very lovely game to watch, and it's quite clever as well... and as a sportswoman, she is a real role model for Australian tennis, if you ask me. And she's a role model with a real chance to make the quarter finals - she faces Virginie Razzano, and if she can beat Dementieva...
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Over to the other #4 seed, and though we all know my immense hate affair with Novak Djokovic, I feel a little bit sorry for him. He just looked totally lost out there on court today, like he'd completely forgotten how to play tennis. He started off all right, but then Kohlschreiber seemed to... I don't even know what he did, but he messed up the Djokovic rhythm, and Novak never got it back. Kudos to Kohlschreiber - not many people could close out Djokovic in straights like that. Even Rafa couldn't do it in Madrid. A lot of people were tipping Djokovic to be the one who might trouble Rafa, and the most likely finalist from the bottom half. Obviously that isn't going to happen this decade.
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Which leaves the way open for my man Roger Federer, who played a sloppy first set against Paul-Henri Mathieu but then tightened it up to win in four. It was the last match on, and I valiantly tried to stay awake for it... only to fall asleep and then wake up at 3-3 in the third, for the Seventh Game (tm) wherein Federer promptly broke Mathieu and sealed the match. Not his bestest match ever, by all sounds, but he's hitting some balls out there and getting some time to work on that flawless drop shot he's somehow developed out of pretty much nowhere. (That bizarre outside spin he gets on it, so that it almost bounces sideways... I've never really seen anything like it!) He's through to play Haas, and presuming he gets through either Roddick or Monfils in the quarters, he could play just about anyone in the semis. Del Potro and Tsonga are both in the mix - won't that fourth round match be a classic! My early semi final pick Tommy Robredo is also in there. The only one I don't really think has a chance of making the semis is, ironically, Kohlschreiber, who put Djokovic out in the first place. Now watch me be spectacularly wrong...
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One has to throw a shout out to Andy Roddick as well, whose achievement got overshadowed by the elimination of Djokovic. He made the fourth round for the very first time - good on you, Andy! He'll face Gael Monfils, which should be a stern test, providing Monfils can remain uninjured for longer than four seconds. That one could go deep and late. I actually think, injury nonwithstanding, Monfils will come out on top, but I am 100% prepared to be wrong. In fact, I'd like to be wrong. I'd like to see Roddick make a decent stab at the second week.
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And another shout out has to go to Sorana Cirstea, who knocked out my finals pick, Caroline Wozniacki. If she's not seeded by the US Open, I will be very surprised. Girl's got game!
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Today's Results
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French Open (Roland Garros)
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Men's Draw
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Roger Federer def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-4
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Christophe Rochus, 6-2 6-2 6-2
Andy Roddick def. Marc Gicquel, 6-1 6-4 6-4
Gael Monfils def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-1
Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Novak Djokovic, 6-4 6-4 6-4
Tommy Haas def. Jeremy Chardy, 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-4
Juan Martin del Potro def. Igor Andreev, 6-4 7-5 6-4
Tommy Robredo def. Maximo Gonzalez, 4-6 7-5 6-1 6-0
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Women's Draw
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Virginie Razzano def. Tathiana Garbin, 7-5 7-5
Samantha Stosur def. Elena Dementieva, 6-3 4-6 6-1
Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Melinda Czink, 6-1 6-3
Serena Williams def. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 4-6 6-3 6-4
Victoria Azarenka def. Carla Suarez Navarro, 5-7 7-5 6-2
Jelena Jankovic def. Jarmila Groth, 6-1 6-1
Sorana Cirstea def. Caroline Wozniacki, 7-6 (7-3) 7-5
Agnieszka Radwanska def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-2 604
Aleksandra Wozniak def. Lourdes Dominguez Lino, 6-2 3-6 6-3
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