French Open--what they said

So now I change my mind--I like clay court.

Li Na

When she was leading 5-3, she really started to play a lot better.

Marion Bartoli

You obviously try to adjust, especially after you lose the first set.

Maria Sharapova

I have match point, I don't know I can win the match or not because she never give up--always tough.

Li Na

Masha double-faults at 15-15 then sends one wide at 15-30. Suddenly there are two match points for Na! Second service... and she double-faults again! Li Na defeats Maria Sharapova 6-4, 7-5! Oh wow, I had Dinara flashbacks there.

Drew Lilley

I had to run a lot--a lot.

Francesca Schiavone

I like to take a massage and see the opponents still fighting on the court.

Li Na

We were always going walk off the court knowing we went for it. Well, we went for it, and we've got a Grand Slam title!

Casey Dellacqua

I had to fight [along] with my fans--we have 50, but really strong.

Francesca Schiavone

Dellacqua and Lipsky win French Open mixed doubles title

Casey Dellacqua re-entered the scene in a very nice way today. She and partner Scott Lipsky defeated top seeds and defending champions Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjic, and thereby won the 2011 French Open mixed doubles championship. Dellacqua and Lipsky defeated Srebotnik and Zimonjic 7-6, 4-6, 10-7.

The unseeded team has decided to play together at Wimbledon.

Changing the subject to wheelchair tennis--it should come as no surprise to anyone that Esther Vergeer has advanced to the final in both singles and doubles.

And finally, some news about the girls' competition. 3rd seed Caroline Garcia--the player who collapsed mentally when she realized she was about to upset Maria Sharapova--has advanced to the semifinals. Joining her are 2nd seed Irina Khromacheva, 5th seed Monica Puig and 9th seed Ons Jabeur, who upset top seed Daria Gavrilova in the quarterfinals.

Li and Schiavone to contend for French Open title

There's still one more match to be played at the French Open, and I don't what the Maria Sharapova Channel (otherwise known as ESPN2) commentators are going to do. Mary Joe Fernandez and Cliff Drysdale have done everything but step onto the court and give Sharapova the trophy, and now--oops--she's out of the tournament. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that what I'm saying is in no way intended to denigrate the Russian player; I've maintained all along that she would one day return to form. But the non-stop Sharapova-boosting between the two commentators has no place in broadcasting.

This isn't the first time that Fernandez and Drysdale have forgotten that other players are in the tournament (and winning), but it may be the most outrageous.

Which brings me to Li Na, the no-nonsense player who has now defeated Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka and Sharapova. The deeper she has gone into the tournament, the more consistent the Chinese number 1 has become. Today, with the wind gusting around her (again), Li went with the wind, and took advantage of a flustered Sharapova whose only attempt to solve her service problem was to hit harder.

Li went up a quick break in the first set, as Sharapova made a number of unforced errors, including double faults. The 7th seed did break back a couple of times, however, and one of those times was when Li served for the set at 5-3. But Sharapova continued to have problems with her serve, and was broken again. Li won the first set when Sharapova tried to hit a smash, and sent the ball into the net.

The wind continued to gust--a lot. Li began the next set with a 40-0 service game, but when Sharapova made four straight points, it looked as though--just maybe--the  match could be turning. Li saved three break points, but on the fourth, she double-faulted. Sharapova then held at love, which had to have given her some confidence. Both players struggled with the wind, and Li double-faulted twice at 1-3. To make things worse, she had to hit an extra ball because of an incorrect line call. But she held.

Continuing to toss the ball high during her serve, Sharapova double-faulted twice when she served at 4-3. She was broken, and then Li held with a big serve. At 5-all, Li held at love, and then had two match points on her opponent's serve. She capitalized on the first one when Sharapova double-faulted for the tenth time.

Several years ago, before the shoulder injury, Sharapova had an outstanding second serve. You wouldn't  have known that today, as she seemingly ignored the fickle nature of the wind and tried to go for so much on so  many second serves. And without a good service game, the Russian was not going to be able to do much about Li's through-the-wind ball-striking, and her ability to expose Sharapova's limitations when it comes to moving on clay. Hitting fearlessly on both sides, Li was able to move Sharapova around and dictate points when she needed to.

In the other semifinal, which I found more enjoyable to watch, defending champion Francesca Schiavone faced Marion Bartoli. This match was a contrast of styles, and a coming together of two very spirited competitors--one a clay expert, the other only recently finding comfort on the surface. It was a good match, but no matter how many angles the ball-stinging Bartoli found, Schiavone was there--at the baseline, at the net, and all over the place. The Italian put on a display of her signature spins and slices, and it was just a bit much for Bartoli to manage. Schiavone won the match, 6-3, 6-3.

In both matches, the unforced error count was close to even (though Sharapova made five more than Li), but Li and Schiavone hit twice as many winners as their opponents.

As far as I'm concerned, this is almost a dream final. Two of the greatest personalities on the tour--both of them witty, authentic and hilariously philosophical--will bring more than enough color to the match. They will also bring a lot of talent, and a win by either of them will be historic. With these two, the interviews alone would be worth the viewing time. Schiavone, of course, "wasn't supposed" to have much chance to defend her title. Li, the Australian Open runner-up, "wasn't supposed" to be able to play on clay. But look what they have done

I say that it is "almost" a dream final because there is indeed one drawback: One of them will lose. When the finalists are Li Na and Francesca Schiavone, that's a hard fact for a fan to face.

French Open--what they said

I don't think I was playing my best tennis today, but I was trying really hard to get the momentum going. She was really solid.

Victoria Azarenka

So many people think I'm not so good on clay court; I think now they should change a little bit.

Li Na

I think I played really smart on the important points.

Maria Sharapova

In the second set I came back, and maybe for an instant I could have turned the match, but I couldn't take the chances I had.

Andrea Petkovic

Oh! Oh! How did that happen? Li waited, like a coiled spring, then pounced to take the first set 7-5 with the cheekiest, most insolent of breaks in the 12th game. Deft drops from behind the baseline, inside-out forehands down the line and the Chinese number 6 seed is halfway to the semis.

Drew Lilley

Did you think you were this good on clay yourself?
So you think I'm not so good?
Li Na

King and Shvedova upset in French Open semifinals

When the French Open began, I thought there might be a chance for the all-Czech team to win. I was right--only I picked the wrong all-Czech team. Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, seeded 8th, went out in the first round. In fact, they were defeated by countrywomen Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. Today, the unseeded team of Hlavackova and Hradecka (who also beat 2nd seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik) upset 3rd seeds Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals.

Hlavackova and Hradecka are the second unseeded team to play in the French Open final in the last 30 years. The other unseeded team, Casey Dellacqua and Francesca Schiavone, had runner-up status in 2008.

The 4th seeds, Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond were also defeated in the semifinals, by 7th seeds Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina. Mirza and Vesnina, who won on clay in Charleston, defeated Huber and Raymond 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Also today, Katarina Srebotnik and partner Nenad Zimojic advanced to the mixed doubles final with a 7-6, 7-6 win over Nadia Petrova and Jamie Murray. Srebotnik and Zimonjic are seeded number 1.

Whoever wins in Paris, it will be big news

There are now four women standing in Paris, and each carries a storyline dramatic enough to make her potential championship a very big piece of sports news:

Marion Bartoli, seeded number 11: Bartoli is the number 1 French player, and no Frenchwoman has won the French Open since 2000, when Mary Pierce became the champion. Bartoli has reached a major final before; she stunned the likes of Jelena Jankovic and Justine Henin at Wimbledon in 2007, but could not get past Venus Williams. So many times, Bartoli has played her way to the the quarterfinals and beyond all kinds of big tournaments, but has had to retire (or play in pain) because of injury or illness. So much attention has been paid to Bartoli's physical fragility and unorthodox persona, both fans and members of the tennis media have sometimes failed to recognize the high quality of her tennis.

Hitting two-handed on both sides with an extra-long racquet, Bartoli is an expert returner of serve. She can find laser-like angles, and on days when her serve is good, it's very good, and she's hard to beat. But the Frenchwoman, like several other players on the tour, also has bad days with regard to her serve.

This year, instead of exhibiting the usual fears that French players have at the French Open, Bartoli has let the crowd carry her to greater emotional depths. Known for not liking to play on clay courts, the world number 11 has decided to embrace the experience instead. Bartoli, whose quirkiness makes her all the more charming, has a fighting spirit that can be dampened only be a physical issue; let's hope she stays healthy.

Francesca Schiavone, seeded number 5: Schiavone, the defending champion, won the tournament last year as the 17th seed. Given her seeding, her record and her age, her ascension to major championship level was one of the great sports stories of the last several years. For years, Schiavone would reach finals and not be able to close, but her mentality changed late in her career. She has not had a very good season, but also, at one point, she pretty much came out and said she was saving her energy for the French Open. Her defeat (after a really bad start) of an aggressive Anastasia Pavlyuchenova in the quarterfinals was a testament to her overwhelming sense of survival and her mental and physical grit.

Should Schiavone, who is just weeks shy of her 31st birthday, defend her championship, we will have to find new adjectives to describe the win, because--in some ways--the feat would be even greater than the one she pulled off last year. One of the great personalities of the tour, Schiavone can do everything, and she constantly reminds us that tennis can be an art, even though most of the players around her have opted for craft only.

Li Na, seeded number 6: Earlier this year, Li became the first Chinese woman to reach the final of a major when she made an outstanding run to the last match of the Australian Open. She is now the first Chinese woman to reach the semifinals of the French Open. Should she win the tournament, Li would become truly legendary. Like Bartoli and Maria Sharapova, the Chinese number 1 is not known for having clay court skills, yet here she is, in the semifinals. What makes her run ever more remarkable is that Li's career took a big turn downward after the Australian Open. She has recently hired a new coach, and the change appears to have worked for her.

Maria Sharapova, seeded number 7: I wish I had a nice, crisp $10 bill for every person who said Sharapova's career was "over" and she should retire. Hello! She's back, and she's in the semifinals of the one tournament observers said she couldn't win back when she was considered one of the tour's greats. Though she still can't slide, Sharapova has improved her movement on clay courts, and is now a genuine threat in Paris. Were she to win the French Open, she would not only complete her comeback in the most dramatic way possible--she would also have a Career Slam.

Some other observations: It just so happens that all four semifinalists range from witty to outright comic, so--no matter the outcome--we can look forward to some wonderful speeches and press conferences. I especially like the personality makeup of the final four.

And now, a plea to Tennis Channel and ESPN commentators: Stop making a "girl drama" out of the fact that Li's former coach left her to coach Sharapova, and now Li and Sharapova have to play each other. What are they, eleven? That Li Na is so emotionally fragile, she's made it all the way to the French Open semifinals.

Li and Sharapova advance to French Open semifinals

Victoria Azarenka, the highest seed left in the French Open quarterfinal draw, is out of the tournament. She was defeated today, clinically and without fuss, by 6th seed Li Na. Li. The 4th seed, who has yet to get beyond the quarterfinals in a major, broke her opponent in both sets, but Li appeared to treat the breaks of serve as minor annoyances, rather than match-changing events. She was able to easily break back, as Azarenka was forced to become increasingly defensive (but not in a good way) as she ran out of ideas.

Li was her usual hard-hitting self, but she also demonstrated enough creativity to make this a straight-set win. She beat Azarenka 7-5, 6-2; in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, she beat her 6-3, 6-3. At this point, the Belarusian is feeling The Curse of the Golden Flower, with a different--but equally deadly--plot line.

Maria Sharapova's destruction of Andrea Petkovic in the other semifinal was an odd affair. Sharapova cruised through the first set 6-0 while Petkovic appeared to have wandered onto Court Suzanne Lenglen by mistake and picked up a racquet for the hell of it. I say this not to take anything away from Sharapova; I guess it just proves that Petko still has a problem in the nerve department.

In this match, the German also had a problem in the serve department, making it even easier for Sharapova to push her around. Petkovic had an awakening in the second set, however, and figured out that making Sharapova move vertically was a good idea. Once she broke the 7th seed, I thought she might gain enough confidence to make a match of it. But Petkovic is no Li Na. She fought the wind the entire match, and could not find the balance between keeping the ball away from Sharapova and keeping it inside the lines. To make matters even worse for her, Sharapova's movement was quite deft (though I still wish she could slide), and her mentality--needless to say--was much stronger.

After an hour and a half, Sharapova defeated the 15th seed 6-0, 6-3, and thereby reached her first major semifinal in three years.