RG.10- Non Sequitur Jubilee (Paris Edition)

If you're thinking, "Hmmm... a 'Non Sequitur Jubilee' in the middle of a grand slam? There must not be a solid Day Ten story to go with on the ol' Daily Backspin," well, you'd be right.

...with Jelena Jankovic's advancement to the SF today, she matched her 2007 Roland Garros result. Of course, that's nothing new for JJ at slams during her career. She's returned to slam events fifteen times after her four debuts in Melbourne, Paris, London & New York, and fourteen times she's managed to either match or improve upon her previous result in each slam. Only her QF at last year's U.S. Open (following a SF in '06) prevents her from being able to say she's NEVER taken a step back at a slam.

...Roland Garros "It Girl" Dinara Safina is on a 10-match winning streak. RG "Comeback Player" Elena Dementieva, who tomorrow will play in her only QF in Paris other than when she was runner-up in 2004, has reached the final at her last two tour events.

...Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic have never met in a grand slam... so their SF clash on Thursday will be the historic first of what will hopefully be many big-stage face-offs. Overall, AnaIvo leads their career head-to-head 5-1, with one walkover in her favor, as well.

...in their four career matchups on clay, Rafael Nadal has not only gone 4-0 against Novak Djokovic, but he's also won nine of the ten sets they've played. The Serb won his only set off the Spaniard in Hamburg a few weeks ago. Nadal leads 7-3 in match wins on all surfaces

...in her special player diary in USA TODAY, Jankovic said that her coach calls her a Ferrari, and said that it's time to "step it to another gear." And after she actually matched Ana Ivanovic's final scoreline against Patty Schnyder today with her own 6-3/6-2 win over Carla Suarez-Navarro, maybe she did just that. Could it have been the quick trip back to Serbia after her match with A-Rad to get some treatment on her arm that did the trick?

...she'll now have a day off before her next match. Wonder if she'll go again?

...unless Svetlana Kuznetsova wins this title, we'll have a first-time slam winner on the women's side. Not only that, but with Sharapova's 4th Round loss it means we're assured of having a fourth different slam women's champion in the last four slams, and five different in the last six. 2007's champs were Serena, Henin, Venus & Henin, and Sharapova won in Melbourne, of course.

...and Mister Gulbis of Latvia, who played and lost to Djokovic in their QF match today, spells his name with an "extra s." As in, Ernests Gulbis. Who knew? Of course, not being able to name another Latvian player off the top of my head, maybe that was a normal thing in Riga's maternity wards back in '88.



=DAY 10 NOTES=
...in completed 4th Round matches today, Svetlana Kuznetsova finished off Victoria Azarenka in straight sets, while Kaia Kanepi continued her surprise run through the draw by taking the 3rd set of her match with Petra Kvitova by a 6-1 score.

...Novak Djokovic advanced to his fifth straight grand slam SF, while Rafael Nadal ran his career Roland Garros record to 26-0. The two will now meet for the third straight year in this tournament.

...in the junior competition, the highest seed to fall so far in either the Boys or Girls draws was #3 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, who lost to #13 Ksenia Lykina in the 3rd Round today. Of note, Romania's Simona Halep (the #9 seed) advanced to the QF with a win over Australia's #5-seeded Jessica Moore, the same Sheila who knocked off Halep in the Oz Girls SF back in January (Moore eventually lost to Arantxa Rus in the final). Rus is the #2-seed in the RG Girls draw.

...the Sisters Bondarenko are now one SF victory away from getting a chance to play for back-to-back slam crowns in Women's Doubles. They next face Casey Dellacqua and Francesca Schiavone.

...and, finally, Jelena Jankovic loves Paris -- it was even written right on the wrap around her forearm today. We'll know just how much Paris loves her back by the end of the weekend.



*WOMEN'S DOUBLES SF*
#1 Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) vs. #10 Medina-Garrigues/Ruano-Pascual (ESP/ESP)
Dellacqua/Schiavone (AUS/ITA) vs.
#7 Bondarenko/Bondarenko (UKR/UKR)
*MEN'S DOUBLES SF*
Cuevas/Horna (URA/PER) vs. Soares/Vemic (BRA/SRB)
Kunitsyn/Tursunov (RUS/RUS) vs. #2 Nestor/Zimonjic (CAN/SRB)



*IVANOVIC vs. JANKOVIC*
05 Zurich 3rd - Ivanovic 6-2/6-1
06 L.A. QF - Jankovic 6-4/7-6
06 Montreal 3rd - Ivanovic w/o
07 Tokyo QF - Ivanovic 3-6/6-4/6-2
07 A.Island QF - Ivanovic 7-5/6-3
07 L.A. SF - Ivanovic 4-6/6-3/7-5 [JJ had 2 MP]
08 I.Wells SF - Ivanovic 7-6/6-3
08 Roland Garros SF - ??

*LAST RG WOMEN'S CHAMPION SEEDED...*
#2 (Ivanovic) = 1995 Steffi Graf
#3 (Jankovic) = 2002 Serena Williams
#4 (Kuznetsova) = 2003 Justine Henin
#7 (Dementieva) = 1989 Arantxa Sanchez
#13 (Safina) = never
unseeded (Kanepi) = never

*ROLAND GARROS "IT GIRL" WINNERS*
2006 Nicole Vaidisova, CZE
2007 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2008 Dinara Safina, RUS

*SLAM "COMEBACK" WINNERS*
2007 AO: Serena Williams, USA
2007 RG: Patty Schnyder, SUI
2007 W: Venus Williams, USA
2007 US: Vera Zvonareva, RUS
2008 AO: Yan Zi/Zheng Jie, CHN/CHN
2008 RG: Elena Dementieva, RUS




TOP QUALIFIERS: Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez/ESP & Yanina Wickmayer/BEL
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Ana Ivanovic/SRB
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st- Sharapova d. Rodina 6-1/3-6/8-6
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #15 Nicole Vaidisova/CZE (1st-Benesova)
UPSET QUEENS: The Czechs
REVELATION LADIES: The Czechs
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP (QF)
IT GIRL: Dinara Safina/RUS
MADEMOISELLE OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Elena Dementieva/RUS
CRASH & BURN: Serena Williams/USA (3r- lost to Srebotnik)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Maria Sharapova/RUS [2 pts. from 1st Rd. loss]
LAST PASTRIES STANDING: Alize Cornet & Emilie Loit (both 3rd Rd.)
DOUBLES STAR: xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx





All for Day 10. More tomorrow.