Lost Souls, Lucky Losers, Stars and a Russian Rematch

Well, well, well. There were a couple of very interesting results overnight - maybe not necessarily at first glance, but... yeah, I thought they were interesting.

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#1: James Blake is through to the semi-finals in Estoril. That would be the semi finals of a tournament on clay, where he had to beat actual players to get there. Excuse me while I stumble around in shock for a moment. He beat Florent Serra overnight - and pretty handily as well - to get into the semis. I totally didn't see him sneaking through this draw, but I'm glad he has. I inducted him into the Club of Lost Souls a couple of weeks ago: this could be a good step for him to get out.

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#2: Another Club of Lost Souls inductee, Tomas Berdych, is also through to the semis - in Munich, in this case - after a win, but it's not the win I want to focus on, it's the opponent. Lleyton Hewitt pushed Berdych all the way to a third set breaker in the quarter finals - on clay, which has never been Hewitt's forte, and especially not in this stage of his career, where his body is giving out. I didn't see the match, so I don't know if Hewitt lifted his level or Berdych dropped his, but even though Hewitt lost, I think this is a good result for him going into the French Open.

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#3: In a battle of the Stars, Jeremy Chardy beat Marin Cilic. Wouldn't have picked that one, but I'm now gunning for Jeremy to take the title!

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#4: Lukasz Kubot, a lucky loser, is through to the semis in Belgrade. How about that?

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#5: And last but definitely not least - we're going to have a rematch of the final in Stuttgart last week in Rome. Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Victoria Azarenka (excellent result for Sveta) and Dinara Safina beat Venus Williams (also an excellent result) to make it to the final, and it's going to see who walks away with this one. Whoever would have picked Sveta to make two finals in a row, after she's been such a non-entity for the last little while? And I am so glad that Dinara seems to have picked herself up and dusted herself off - even though the on-court coaching facility, which seems to be helping her a great deal, will not be available to her at Roland Garros. Great results for both girls - am pulling for Dinara to take this one, but if Sveta won... maybe she's going to be a contender at Roland Garros after all.

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Today's Results

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Estoril Open (Estoril)

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Men's Draw

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Albert Montanes def. Gilles Simon, 5-7 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Nikolay Davydenko def. Mardy Fish, 6-4 6-3

James Blake def. Florent Serra, 6-4 6-1

Paul Capdeville def. Oscar Hernandez, 4-6 6-1 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Ekaterina Makarova def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 6-3 6-1

Yanina Wickmayer def. Shahar Peer, 3-0 retired

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BMW Open (Munich)

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Jeremy Chardy def. Marin Cilic, 3-6 7-5 6-4

Tomas Berdych def. Lleyton Hewitt, 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Mikhail Youzhny def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 7-5 3-6 6-3

Daniel Brands def. Potito Starace, 6-4 1-1 retired

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Serbia Open (Belgrade)

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Ivo Karlovic def. Flavio Cipolla, 6-3 6-3

Andreas Seppi def. Marcos Daniel, 6-4 7-5

Lukasz Kubot def. Kristof Vliegen, 7-6 (8-6) 6-3

Novak Djokovic def. Viktor Troicki, 6-3 6-2

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Internazionali BNL d'Italia (Rome)

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Dinara Safina def. Venus Williams, 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-4

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Victoria Azarenka, 6-2 6-4