Day 8: A Fittingly Formful & Uneventful Day... well, almost

They came. They saw. They conquered. Just like they were supposed to. Yawwwwnnnn. Really, there was very little that occurred that was at all surprising at the All-England Club on Tuesday.

Well, unless you count the latest Centre Court streaker who made his appearance during the Sharapova-Dementieva match, of course.



In the women's quarterfinals, Severine Bremond gave a good showing against #3-seed Justine Henin-Hardenne in a tighter-than-expected (6-4/6-4) match, Na Li missed out on a late shot to push #2 Kim Clijsters to three sets (the Belgian narrowly avoided a 2nd set tie-break), Elena Dementieva's most vociferous action during her match against #4 Maria Sharapova was to complain about the Supernova's grunting, and #1 Amelie Mauresmo took a while before eventually gaining control of her three-setter against Anastasia Myskina. Other than the brief flash of nudity, it was just a work(wo)manlike day at the office for the top four seeds -- amongst the group the current title holders at the other three slams, and the Wimbledon champ from two years ago -- as the draw held to form for the fourth time in the past fifteen years.

**TOP 4 SEEDS TO WOMEN'S SF**
[since 1992]
2006 - Mauresmo, Clijsters, JHH, Sharapova
2003 - S.Williams, Clijsters, JHH, V.Williams
1995 - Graf, Sanchez Vicario, Martinez, Novotna
1992 - Seles, Graf, Sabatini, Navratilova
--
(*)-the last #1 vs. #2 final match-up was in 2002 (Williams/Williams)

Hmmm, could this have happened because of the lack of pigeons at Wimbledon? Apparently, Finnegan the Falcon is used to patrol the grounds to avoid the on-court landings that occurred in Paris a few weeks back and set off a screwy set of circumstances. Something to think about.



**WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR AT WIMBLEDON**
Amelie Mauresmo
SF - 2002,2004,2005,2006
3rd - 2001
2nd - 1998
1st - 2000
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Kim Clijsters
SF - 2003,2006
QF - 2001
4th - 1999,2005
2nd - 2000,2002
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Justine Henin-Hardenne
RU - 2001
SF - 2002,2003,2006
1st - 2000,2005
-----------------------------
Maria Sharapova
WON - 2004
SF - 2005,2006
4th - 2003
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**WON/LOST AT WIMBLEDON**
.909 - Maria Sharapova (20-2)
.808 - Justine Henin-Hardenne (21-5)
.793 - Amelie Mauresmo (23-6)
.778 - Kim Clijsters (21-6)

**SEMIFINALISTS - AGE/RANK**
26...Amelie Mauresmo (#1)
24...Justine Henin-Hardenne (#3)
23...Kim Clijstes (#2)
19...Maria Sharapova (#4)

**2006 WTA SF (w/ Wimbledon)**
9...JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE (6-2)
8...Svetlana Kuznetsova (3-5)
7...AMELIE MAURESMO (4-2)
7...MARIA SHARAPOVA (3-3)
6...Nadia Petrova (4-2)
6...KIM CLIJSTERS (1-4)

**2006 LONG WTA WINNING STREAKS**
16...JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE (MAY-current)
16...Amelie Mauresmo (Jan-Feb)
15...Nadia Petrova (Apr-May)
11...Maria Sharapova (March)

**SHARAPOVA ON GRASS**
38-4...CAREER
30-2...2004-present

**MID-ROUND AWARDS**
[3rd-QF]
==TOP PLAYERS==
1.Justine Henin-Hardenne
2.Maria Sharapova
3.Amelie Mauresmo
...on course for a Le Petit Taureau vs. Supernova final? I should have know to simply honor that first coin flip's result.
-----------------------------
RISERS: Na Li & Jelena Jankovic
...Li's run and Jankovic's upset of Venus have been the biggest stories on the women's side so far
-----------------------------
SURPRISE: Severine Bremond
..."Miss Opportunity" took advantage of nearly all of her's to string together the best two-plus weeks of her career
-----------------------------
VETERANS: Virginia Ruano-Pascual/Paola Suarez & Ai Sugiyama
...the former #1 doubles team reasserted it's strength, while Sugiyama made a case that she's the best and healthiest of the thirty-somethings
-----------------------------
FRESH FACES: Shenay Perry & Agnieszka Radwanska
...Perry was the last American standing at Wimbledon. Normally, that'd be a nice calling card, but this year it's the answer to a trivia question. Might Radwanska be Poland's best hope... ever? As of yet, though Marta Domachowska has reached two finals, no Polish player has ever won a WTA singles title.
-----------------------------
DOWN: Venus Williams
...her early exit this year was just as surprising as her 2005 title. But, really, is ANY Venus result EVER a true surprise?
-----------------------------

=MATCHES=
1.3rd - Jankovic d. V.Williams
...7-6(10)/4-6/6-4. Soon Serena will return and the entire circus can begin all over again. Look out, New York.
-----------------------------
2.Doubles 3rd - Ruano-Pascual/Suarez d. Raymond/Stosur
...6-4/6-4. You'd think that the superior volleying ability of Raymond/Stosur would play in their favor on the grass courts, but VRP/Suarez were an even better team a few seasons ago than Raymond/Stosur have been in '06.
-----------------------------



All for Day 8. More tomorrow.