Day 11: Tell Him Something Pretty

"Tell him something pretty."

That was the last line of the final episode of "Deadwood," said by saloon owner Al Swearengen to an underling when asked what a somewhat "less jaded" employee should be told about how Swearengen had just been forced by "external forces" of survival to murder a prostitute the man had befriended.

"Tell him something pretty," Swearengen muttered before he dropped to his knees to wipe up the pool of blood on the floor.

After Roger Federer's 6-4/6-0/6-2 destruction of Andy Roddick -- who might have been led to believe that his Kooyang win over the Holy Trinity of Tennis could mean the dynamic had changed a little in this "non-rivalry" -- in the men's semifinals, I wonder if Jimmy Connors managed to come up with something appropriately "pretty" to tell his charge?

Whew! Beating Federer in that exhibition could have been the worst thing that Roddick's ever done. I mean, with that 12-1 career record against the American, Federer might have been able to take winning a match against him for granted. But Roddick's unofficial victory put him back on the All-Powerful One's radar... and this is what happens when He looks at an opponent as a threat. Hello, 13-1, with a twist of the knife in Roddick's gut for good measure. You know, just as a reminder of where he REALLY stands.

Honestly, sometimes your jaw just reflexively drops and you can't help but shake your head at how easy Federer makes things look sometimes. It used to be that only Lleyton Hewitt was subjected to this sort of public schooling by Headmaster Federer in a slam. Welcome to the club, Andy... see if there's any open seats where you can sit down.

For the record, Federer has won 35 straight matches. He's appeared in seven straight slam finals. He's three sets away from winning his 10th slam title, and if he can do it in straights he'll become the first maan in 27 years to win a slam without dropping a single set. Yeah, just what Federer needs... MORE records.

Get used to it. After a few years of the likes of John McEnroe and Andre Agassi talking about how Federer might just be the best ever it's becoming clear that they could be right.

I know I'm a believer. I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. As for Andy, Andy, James and maybe even Rafa... well, I hope someone tells them something pretty.




Love-Love... in the end, all four of the women's semifinalists played to type.

In the first match, Nicole Vaidisova stayed close to Serena Williams. But she couldn't quite close out the opening set (she had a set point) when she had the chance, reacted emotionally and then fell behind in the 2nd, caught herself before things got ugly and battled herself back into the match before ultimately losing 7-6/6-4 to Williams. Serena, displaying the muscle memory of a champion two years removed, used her big match, big point experience to hold off the Czech teen's ascension for at least one more slam. After coming this far, she's going to be very difficult to beat in the final.

In Match #2, Maria Sharapova continued to be shaky on her serve, tossing in more double-faults than in her lackluster effort against Chakvetadze in the QF... but she was able to hold herself together and play the big points with more ease than her opponent. Kim Clijsters was able to break the Russian twice in the 1st set, only to immediately give the advantage right back in the next game both times. Sharapova ultimately took a tight 6-4 1st stanza. The Belgian took a 40-0 lead on Sharapova's serve to open the 2nd, but lost the game and then squandered more break point opportunities throughout the set as the 19-year old closed out the match with a 6-2 set, thereby ending the 23-year old's Australian Open career.

So, bring on Serena vs. the Supernova, Part V... their first clash since Sharapova had three match points ripped from her grasp by Williams in the Oz SF in 2005 -- the last tourament that Serena won. Really, is there any other women's tennis matchup with so much going for it? What with Serena's in-and-out presence the past two seasons, this treat is a rare delicacy. But the Aussie Open couldn't ask for a better final than the game's biggest star (the odds-on favorite when the tournament began) versus its most talented player (who came to Melbourne as a longshot, but also as the most dangerous floater in the history of tennis draws).

Sure, Serena isn't quite in TOP form at the moment, but she's so "special good" that anything close allows her to put on an extended performance like the one she's given us in Melbourne. Hey, Sharapova isn't exactly making anyone compare her to Federer at the moment, either. But here they are, Justine Henin (how oddly short that seems now) aside, the two most fierce competitors in women's tennis meeting on the big stage.

This could be a classic. Should be fun.
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15-Love...


**MOST CAREER SLAM TITLES - WOMEN**
24...Margaret Smith-Court
22...Steffi Graf
19...Helen Wills-Moody
18...Martina Navratilova
18...Chris Evert
12...Billie Jean King
12...Suzanne Lenglen
9....Monica Seles
8....Maureen Connolly
8....Molla Bjurstedt Mallory
7....SERENA WILLIAMS
7....Maria Bueno
7....Evonne Goolagong-Cawley
7....Dorothea Lambert-Chambers

**SLAM FINALS - ACTIVE**
12...Martina Hingis (5-7)
11...Venus Williams (5-6)
10*..SERENA WILLIAMS (7-2)
9....Justine Henin (5-4)
6....Mary Pierce (2-4)
5....Kim Clijsters (1-4)
3*...MARIA SHARAPOVA (2-0)
3....Jennifer Capriati (3-0)
3....Amelie Mauresmo (2-1)
--
*-including '07 Aust.Open final

**RUSSIAN WOMEN IN SLAM FINALS**
1974 Wimbledon - Evert d. MOROZOVA
1974 U.S. - Evert d. MOROZOVA
2004 R.G. - MYSKINA d. DEMENTIEVA
2004 Wimbledon - SHARAPOVA d. S.Williams
2004 U.S. - KUZNETSOVA d. DEMENTIEVA
2006 R.G. - Henin-H. d. KUZNETSOVA
2006 U.S. - SHARAPOVA d. Henin-H.
2007 Australian - SHARAPOVA vs. S.Williams

**RECENT UNSEEDED SLAM FINALISTS**
1997 Australian - Mary Pierce (lost to Hingis)
1997 US Open - Venus Williams (lost to Hingis)
1999 Australian - Amelie Mauresmo (lost to Hingis)
2007 AUSTRALIAN - SERENA WILLIAMS

**AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINALS IN 2000's**
2000 Davenport def. Hingis
2001 Capriati def. Hingis
2002 Capriati def. Hingis
2003 S.Williams def. V.Williams
2004 Henin-Hardenne def. Clijsters
2005 S.Williams def. Davenport
2006 Mauresmo def. Henin-Hardenne
2007 SHARAPOVA vs. S.WILLIAMS

**SERENA vs. MARIA**
2004 Miami 4r - Serena 6-4/6-3
2004 Wimbledon F - Sharapova 6-1/6-4
2004 WTA Chsp F - Sharapova 4-6/6-2/6-4
2005 Aust.SF - Serena 2-6/7-5/8-6
2007 AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINAL

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30-Love...

**MOST CAREER SLAM TITLES - MEN**
14...Pete Sampras
12...Roy Emerson
11...Bjorn Borg
11...Rod Laver
10...Bill Tilden
9....ROGER FEDERER

**SLAM FINALS - ACTIVE**
11*..ROGER FEDERER (9-1)
4....Marat Safin (2-2)
4....Lleyton Hewitt (2-2)
4....Andy Roddick (1-3)
--
*-including '07 Aust.Open final

**AUSTRALIAN OPEN BOYS CHAMPIONS**
2000 Andy Roddick
2001 Janko Tipsarevic
2002 Clement Morel
2003 Marcos Baghdatis
2004 Gael Monfils
2005 Donald Young
2006 Alexandre Sidorenko

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30-15... a big upset happened in the Women's Doubles SF on Day 11, as #2-seeded defending champions Zi Yan & Jie Zheng were knocked out by a Taiwanese team, 17-year old Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang, 22, by a 6-3/6-4 score.

Individually, the doubles players still in contention for multiple titles are Liezel Huber, Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi. All three are in Doubles finals, and still alive in the Mixed SF.
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40-15

... just as the Belarussians impressed in the early rounds of the main draw, one has done so in the Girls competition, as well. 16-year old #3-seed Ksenia Milevskaya advanced to the SF with a win over Urszula Radwanska. She'll play the lowest-seeded semifinalist, 16-year old American #16-seed Madison Brengle. The other two Girls semifinalists are defending champion and #1-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and #6-seeded French Pastry Alize Cornet (who also was a qualifier for the main draw).

Aussie Brydan Klein advanced on the Boys side, and will face #10-seed Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania. The other semi will be contested by #2-seed Jonathan Eysseric of France and Italian #8-seed Thomas Fabbiano.

**GIRLS DOUBLES SF**
#1 Julia Cohen(USA) & Urszula Radwanska(POL)
vs.
Evgeniya Rodina(RUS) & Arina Rodionva(RUS)

**BOYS DOUBLES SF**
#8 Stephen Donald(AUS) & Rupesh Roy(IND)
vs.
Graeme Dyce(GBR) & Harri Heliovaara(FIN)

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MATCH, "Down to the Wire"...

**MEN'S FINAL**
#1 Roger Federer vs. #10 Fernando Gonzalez or #12 Tommy Haas
**WOMEN'S FINAL**
#1 Maria Sharapova vs. Serena Williams
**MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL**
#1 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan vs. #2 Jonas Bjorkman/Max Mirnyi
**WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL**
#3 Cara Black/Liezel Huber vs. Yung-Jan Chan/Chia-Jung Chuang
**MIXED DOUBLES SEMIFINAS**
#4 Francesca Schiavone/Jonas Bjorkman vs. Victoria Azarenka/Max Mirnyi
-----------------------------
#7 Liezel Huber/Kevin Ullyett vs. Elena Likhovtseva/Daniel Nestor

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All for Day 11.