French Open--what they said

(Razzano's remarks are translated.)

"She would fight; I would fight. She would hit; I would hit. Nice points, interesting, pleasant."

Virginie Razzano, on her match against Daniela Hantuchova

"It's always a good idea to have a roof, so then we can continue the match so that we don't have to stop and wait around, you know, for an hour or more and then come back on court, because it's not so easy, you know, to stop the match and then--especially being in the areas over there when you have to eat lunch."

Jelena Jankovic, commenting on the rain delay

"We have more or less the same game, the same style. We love that. It was not kicks and it was not like the Spaniards, you know."

Virginie Razzano, on her match against Daniela Hantuchova

"I think Serena will be playing better and better each round, so it was the best chance to at least play with her or beat her. She’s Serena."

Klara Zakopalova

"Marion complimented me in the cloak rooms. It was from the bottom of her heart. I found it so cute from her, so nice. She said, 'You don't like Hantuchova at all, do you?'"

Virginie Razzano

Ivanovic to face Henin in French Open championship

Ana Ivanovic took out Maria Sharapova in what looked like an almost effortless romp through her French Open semifinal


Last week, when Maria Sharapova was interviewed about her vulnerability on clay, the droll, self-deprecating two-time Grand Slam winner described herself as a "cow on ice" on the Roland Garros surface. Today, in her semifinal against Ana Ivanovic, she lived up to that description.

Ivanovic, who began and ended the match with aces, not only brought her power game to the match; she brought a lot of confidence, and a gracefulness that defies her large frame. It took Ivanovic barely over an hour to dispense with Sharapova, 6-2, 6-1, and she left the court as fresh as she entered it. Sharapova was never even in the match, and indeed, had the same kind of bad day that Serena Williams had against Justine Henin in the quarterfinals. She never had control of the ball, her serve was off, and she repeatedly missed her signature swinging volleys.

In the second semifinal, Justine Henin played as near-perfect tennis as we are ever likely to see from anyone. Her first and second serves were excellent, her timing and movement were superb, her court sense was stunning, and the famous backhand was at its most lethal. Her opponent, Jelena Jankovic, who has given her a lot of trouble in the past (twice losing to Henin when Jankovic was up in the third set--once when she was up 4-0) had trouble getting into the first set. Jankovic was rushing things, and--as ESPN commentator Mary Joe Fernandez pointed out--the sudden humidity made the ball very heavy, which meant that Henin's heavy topspin was even harder to return than usual. The second set was a different story. Jankovic broke Henin when Henin was serving at 3-1, but her hopes were dashed when Henin broke her right back. The games were close from that point on--until the very end--but Henin found a way to prevail.

Jankovic's serve, never anything to brag about, was especially poor today. It is the only part of her game that is weak, but it is an important part, and she needs to improve it. Jankovic's strategy could have been better, too. On the one hand, she did go to the net a lot more than usual, which is crucial when playing Henin, but she didn't show enough originality. She hit a whole string of drop shots, which Henin countered with her own drop shots, resulting in a string of points for Henin.

Henin's game is a puzzle that Jankovic has actually solved before, only to cave at the last minute, presumably because of nerves. But today, she was overwhelmed by the Belgian. Anyone would have been.

Which Ic?

It seems almost inevitable to me that one of the Serbian players, Jelena Jankovic or Ana Ivanovic, will be in the French Open final. If someone had asked me a few weeks ago, I would have said Jankovic, but times have changed. For one thing, Ivanovic surprised me by winning the German Open, proving that she has conquered the clay surface. More important, however, is that in order to get into the final, Jankovic has to defeat her nemesis, world number one and defending champion Justine Henin, whom she has never beaten.

Of course, if Jankovic were to finally defeat Henin and Ivanovic were to defeat Maria Sharapova, the two Serbians would face each other in the final. Ivanovic has won their last two matches, meaning that Jankovic is now left in a draw with a player she has never beaten and a player she has trouble beating. The two women play very different styles of tennis, and Richard Pagliaro, writing for Tennis Week, has done a nice analysis of their contrasting games.

It's still all up for grabs, though. I expect Ivanovic to beat Sharapova, but Sharapova has surprised the hell out of me so far, and you just never know. As for Jankovic, I would love to see her defeat Henin, but the semifinals of the French Open is not likely to be the place where she does it.

"I think, all she had to do was show up."

So said Serena Williams of Justine Henin, who won their French Open quarterfinal match, 6-4, 6-3. The dejected Williams said she had a bad practice, and that gave her a bad feeling about the match. The sluggish Australian Open champion looked as if she were slogging through sand as Henin gracefully slid and glided her way to an easy victory. It was a bit of a shock, especially for those of us who thought Williams had a very good chance to win this year's French Open.

Henin will now face Jelena Jankovic, over whom she has a 5-0 career lead. They last played in Berlin a few weeks ago. Jankovic was up 4-0 in the third, and Henin still won the match.

Who would have thought it? Sharapova in the French Open semifinals

An injured Sharavpova at that. When she is healthy, I don't expect her to get beyond the quarterfinals, if she gets that far. With her shoulder injury, I thought she might go out in the third round or so. What do I know? Today, she defeated a regressive (crying on court again--something I thought she'd left behind long ago) Anna Chakvetadze, 6-3, 6-4, to gain a spot in the semifinals, where she will face Ana Ivanovic. (Chakvetadze, for her part, said she never recovered from Sunday's three-hour ordeal against Anabel Medina Garrigues, and she was tired by the middle of the first set.)

Sharapova has always had problems on clay. The slow, heavy surface has not suited her quick game, and she has never mastered the art of sliding. When she beat clay expert Patty Schnyder in the round of 16, she said that she was not a clay court player, that she played very aggressively in order to squeak past Schnyder.

The interesting thing is that Ivanovic, until recently, had a reputation for not being a clay court player, either. But when she won in Berlin last month--beating Svetlana Kuznetsova with the full use of just one foot--we all had to re-assess her ability on the tricky red surface. In an interview at Roland Garros, Ivanovic said: "At the moment, I think I'm enjoying playing on the clay much more. I feel I improve my fitness a lot which helps on clay, because you have to do a lot of running. And now I feel comfortable, and, yeah, I really enjoy."

Apparently. So much so, that today, she defeated Kuznetsova again, 6-0, 3-6, 6-1.

Schnyder exits in dramatic round of 16 match

Swiss star Patty Schnyder served for the match three times today against Maria Sharapova, but could not win it


The only time Patty Schnyder had ever beat Maria Sharapova was on clay in Rome in 2005. With Schnyder playing extremely well lately and Sharapova still with a bad shoulder inhibiting her serve, there was every reason to think that Schnyder would prevail in their round of 16 match today at the French Open.

And prevail she did in the first set, taking easy advantage of Sharapova's vunlnerability on clay courts, and winning it 6-3. Sharavpova stepped it up in the second set, though, and took it 6-3, also.

The third set is one for the books. At all of the Grand Slams except for the U.S. Open, there is no third set tiebreak (or fifth set tiebreak, for the men)--players simply keep playing until someone wins by two games. When, after thirteen games had been played and there had been nine breaks of serve, it was hard to keep watching. On the one hand, the longer it went, the worse Sharapova would feel physically, but it was also more likely that Schnyder, a head case from way back, would start to fold.

Patty Schnyder is one of my very favorite players on the tour, but it isn't easy, being her fan. Some people say that she has not advanced more in her career because she is not a power player. And while it is true that she is not a power player, she has become very physically fit, is stronger than she looks, and is serving at between 114 and 120 mph. consistently. Some say she has not advanced farther because she does not have enough weapons. Again, I disagree. Schnyder is a lefty, which gives her an advantage, both her first and second serves are good, she has extremely good court sense (a fact Radio Roland Garros commentator Sandra Harwitt does not know, for some reason), she possesses a large variety of shots, and her forehand can be lethal. I confess to not being a tennis expert, but I have been watching tennis for a long, long time, and I do not think that Schnyder is short on weapons, despite the fact that she would, of course, be vulnerable to big power players like Serena Williams, and super-athletes like Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Schnyder's game is not very good on grass, and it is especially good on clay because of her tendency to loop, lob and slice the ball. Her backhand has always been her weakness, but most top players have weaknesses. Schnyder's problem is that she does not have a true winner's mentality. Last year in Charleston, when she was interviewed after a night match, she came right out and said "I have trouble with my feellings, my emotions."

It is a pity that a clay court player of Schynder's superiority has gotten to the quarterfinals of the French Open only once in her career, and it is a pity that--as many times as she has been a Tier I tournament finalist--she does not have a long string of Tier I wins.

Today, Schnyder served for the match three times (once at 5-4) and could not close. At the end, when she was down 7-8, she went up 40-15, and I breathed a sigh of relief. But she was quickly broken by Sharapova, and it was over.

Sharapova applauded Schnyder when she left the court, and indeed, both women played their hearts out. I take nothing away from Sharapova, who is a fighter to the last point. But really, this was Schnyder's match to lose, and lose it she did. The Swiss star is twenty-eight years old; to think of what she could have done is heartbreaking for me, and probably for all of her fans.

Allee Mary Pierce

That's the new avenue on the Roland Garros site, named after you-know-who. Pierce is still out of commission from a bad knee injury, but is in Paris to see the opening of her street.