RG.11- "Judge for Yourself!" *

To call what's happened in recent days in Paris simply "Middle-Round Madness" would be something of an understatement. But by the end of the weekend, the WTA's power structure very well could have a new/old feel. So, really, just how "mad" have things actually been in France? Even with all that's happened, maybe not nearly as "mad" as we might have been expecting.

When this Roland Garros began, the assumption was this slam was going to be a great opportunity for the upcoming young stars of the tour to move into the open space vacated by many of the veterans who've dominated in the slams the last few years. With the Williams Sisters out and Justine Henin retired, the biggest names of tennis' most recent ruling generation weren't a factor. Kim Clijsters showed up to play, but didn't last beyond two matches. Surely, THIS assured that at least one of the understudy-level youngsters would seize the day and change her career trajectory forever, right?

Umm, nope.

With just four players left in the Women's Singles draw, either a 30-year old defending RG champ, a 29-year old Australian Open finalist, a 26-year old former Wimbledon runner-up or a 24-year old who was arguably the most accomplished player in the women's draw two weeks ago will end up hoisting the Couple de Suzanne Lenglen.

The more things change the more they stay the same.


=MIDDLE ROUND AWARDS - 3r to QF (Days 6-11)=
TOP PLAYER: Li Na/CHN
...no one gave her much juice as a potential champion two weeks ago, but here she is one win from surviving the treacherous bottom half of the draw and appearing in her second straight slam final. (RU: Maria Sharapova/RUS... only her brief lapses against A-Rad keep her from the top spot. But surely she's only really looking to come out on top in THE END, anyway, right?)
RISER: Marion Bartoli/FRA
...pulling off a "miracle" by playing, still living her "dream" by being a match away from the final, and staring French women's tennis history right in the face. (RU: Andrea Petkovic/GER... no match for Sharapova in the QF, but it was her second straight Final 8 in a slam)
SURPRISES: Andrea Hlavckova & Lucie Hradecka, CZE/CZE
...unseeded Doubles finalists. (RU: Sania Mirza/Elena Vesnina, IND/RUS... as the #7 seeds, the Czechs' Women's Doubles final opponents)
VETERAN: Francesca Schiavone/ITA
...in Oz, we wondered what she could do to top her RG and Fed Cup-winning 2010 campaign, then she won that classic match against Kuznetsova. In Paris, it was figured she couldn't possibly come up with a suitable encore. Well...? (RU: Katarina Srebotnik/SLO... playing in the final for her sixth career slam Mixed title)
FRESH FACE Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS
...after reaching her first career slam QF, it's apparent she's the next Russian primed to make a huge breakthrough. Check back in another year. (RU: Yulia Putintseva/RUS & Anett Kontaveit/ESP... the Hordette pulled off a big junior win on Day 11 to reach the QF, while unseeded Girls quarterfinailst Kontaveit gives Estonia a female tennis name to remember other than "Kanepi.")
COMEBACK: Casey Dellacqua/AUS
...her comeback from an injury-riddled '10 is one win from being taken to an entirely different level, with her quite possibly becoming a first-time slam titlist in Mixed Doubles. (RU: Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS... it didn't end with fanfare but, at least for a while, she found SOMETHING that she'd lost. Now, about not totally losing it again...)
DOWN: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
...only alone here because of her top seed. (RU: Vera Zvonareva/RUS, Samantha Stosur/AUS, Victoria Azarenka/BLR & Petra Kvitova/CZE... opportunities lost)

"You want her to be a 'scorpion,' but maybe she's just a 'frog,'" - Martina Navratilova, during the Australian Open, expressing both her desires for and maybe the reality of Caroline Wozniacki's game. With Piotr Wozniacki exploring the possibility of Martina helping out Caroline, maybe the all-time great can play a hand in some sort of "metamorphosis" of the Dane.

*BEST "ARTISTIC IMPROVISATION," PT.1*
4th Round - Schiavone d. Jankovic 6-3/2-6/6-4
...just when it looked like Schiavone's title defense was over, Francesca flipped the switch and turned the tables on JJ in the final two games.
*BEST "ARTISTIC IMPROVISATION," PT.2*
QF - Schiavone d. Pavlyuchenkova 1-6/7-5/7-5
...down 6-1/4-1, Francesca had the 19-year old just where she wanted her. At least that's how we'll remember it if she wins a second staight RG title.

*I GUESS IT DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING*
4th Round - Li d. Kvitova 2-6/6-1/6-3
...the Czech blew the Chinese vet off the court in the Madrid SF, and did a pretty good impression of herself for about one and a half sets of this one. But Li won one and a half sets, too, and, most importantly... the LAST half.
*I GUESS IT MEANT EVERYTHING*
QF - Li d. Azarenka 7-5/6-2
...in the Round of 16 in Melbourne, Li comprehensively pickd apart Azarenka's game in a 6-3/6-3 victory. It was closer -- for a while -- in this one, but the end result was the same in Paris.

"I don’t know what happened. Maybe just my husband left and I can win six games in a row." - Li Na, after staging a 3rd set comeback from 3-0 down against Petra Kvitova in the Round of 16, a surge which began only after her husband/ex-coach Jiang Shan left his seat in the stands

ZOMBIE QUEEN (3r-QF): Though Sharapova gets the overall ZQ title, Francesca Schiavone earns a small tiara with her win from 6-1/4-1 down vs. Pavlyuchenkova. Schiavone and Sharapova could still face-off in an All-Zombie final.
CRASH & BURNERS (3r-QF): Following in the footsteps of #2 Kim Clijsters in the 2nd Round, #1 Caroline Wozniacki (3rd), #3 Vera Zvonareva (4th) and #4 Victoria Azarenka (QF)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: Marion Bartoli (in SF)
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Chan Yung-Jan & Nuria Llagostera-Vives (3rd Round)
COMEBACK PLAYER: Casey Dellacqua

"That serve is so tortured-looking I'm surprised she hasn't cut off her ear." - Martina Navratilova, on Marion Bartoli's labored pre-serve mechanics. I'm going to take it on faith that this was indeed a Vincent van Gogh reference, and since one dead Dutch painter is a good fantasy draft trade for one dead Danish philosopher, I'm thinking this might end up being my "Line of the Year" come November.

And on top of all that, a first-time slam winner could still be crowned at Roland Garros. Of the thirteen different women who've hoisted the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen since 1985, nine of them won their maiden slam in this same little spring event in Paris. After Saturday, it could be ten of fourteen.


* - Thanks again, Søren.



=DAY 11 NOTES=
...first off, what the heck were the RG organizers thinking with Day 11's schedule? Seriously, what WAS that? You've got two women's quarterfinals being played and you schedule them both to take place simultaneously at the start of the day? Then, you've got two men's quarterfinals being played, and you schedule them both to take place immediately after the women's matches, meaning they, too, will likely take place (and finish) simultaneously. No doubles matches (of which there were many of note to play with) were sprinkled into the show courts' Order of Play to stagger the start times so that fans/broadcasts around the world in one of the four tournaments that actually ARE broadcast pretty much everywhere in the world (in places that matter to tennis, at least) would be able to focus on the key moments in each match, or even just focus on the men's or women's matches alone.

With the way things were scheduled, you'd think the tournament had been beset by rain delays and matches were being piled up in order to catch the draws up, or that some big storm was slated to arrive later today and the organizers wanted to make sure every main draw singles match got played. The only way the day could have been scheduled worse would have been for all FOUR matches to be played at the same time, ala the first few days of the tournament when there are almost too many men's and women's singles matches to keep count. ESPN2 didn't pick up North American coverage until noon (not exactly late, really), and all the day's singles matches were nearly over, with Rafael Nadal games away from a straight sets win, and Andy Murray about to go up two sets to none.

I'm sure the excuse for both women's matches starting first is because the semifinals are set to go tomorrow, but two hours or so time difference between the two wasn't going to make a competitive difference, and today's weather was never a factor.

...okay, now that that's out of the way, let's get to what happened today:

Truthfully, it was pretty much one big, long (well, not as long as it might have been had the matches been spaced out a bit more) disappointment. Day 11's women's quarterfinals had none of the drama that we saw on Day 10. No Artist finding inspiration in the latters stages of a match. No Pastry continuing to live out a childhood dream in front of her home nation's fans.

I sort of figured going into the Maria Sharapova/Andrea Petkovic QF that either the German would play great, as she did versus Sharapova in Melbourne, and win or Sharapova would pretty much walk away with the thing with ease. As it turned out, it was the latter. Petkovic went up 40/love on her serve in the first game of the match, and those few minutes in that multi-deuce game were the only ones in the entire contest in which she was in the lead. Sharapova ended up breaking serve, and raced to a 6-0 win in the 1st set.

She took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd, as well. Petkovic didn't get shut out, but she had to fight just to struggle to stay even in the set. Briefly, the German managed to move Sharapova around the court a bit, bringing her uncomfortably toward the net during a few points which finally allowed her to gain an advantage. She got a break to knot things at 2-2, and pounded her heart to show how in the match she still was. It didn't last, though. They exchanged breaks the next two games, then Sharapova fully imposed her will again and finished things off 6-0/6-3.

Right now, this sort of thing is what's happening in a Sharapova match if the Russian doesn't have any of those extended error-filled lapses that have made things sticky for her a few times at the tournament. Well, at least that was the case against Agnieszka Radwanska... Caroline Garcia was actually outhitting Sharapova, who wasn't playing that badly, for a set and a half. Once she got her serve in order this spring, everything else has fallen into place in a way that Sharapova can finally resemble her old Supernovic self on occasion. She surely did today. And now she's two wins away from becoming the tenth woman to notch a victory at all four slams.

As disappointing as the Sharapova/Petkovic match turned out to be, the Li/Victoria Azarenka one might have been even worse. Not because of Li, who played, according to Martina Navratilova, "even better" than she did en route to the Australian Open final in January, but because Azarenka didn't resemble the player who has been so on top of things this spring, when she lost only one match that was played out to a match point (and losing twice more via retirements in matches she was leading). Li handled the Belarusian's pace of shot well, as Tennis Channel's on-screen stats often showed the groundstroke replies to Azarenka's shots actually coming back faster than they'd arrived on Li's side of the net.

After exchanging breaks early in the 1st set, the two were on serve when Azarenka slipped and nearly went down in the backcourt while serving at 5-6, love/15. Whether the moment might have effected her or not after that (she seemed fine, but one never knows with her), Azarenka was broken in that game to drop the set 7-5 after having won all eight sets she'd played in Paris before this match. Azarenka got an early break in the 2nd, but Li got it back immediately and soon pushed her advantage to 5-2. Azarenka saved two Li match points in game #8 (one a drop shot that trickled over the net into Li's court to extend the match), but the AO finalist still got the break of her serve, which had once been almost untouchable earlier this tournament, to win 7-5/6-2 to reach her second straight slam SF.

"It was completely fruitless to quarrel with the world, whereas the quarrel with oneself was occasionally fruitful and always, she had to admit, interesting." - Søren Kierkegaard

And, thus, Azarenka's quest for her first slam semifinal continues. As I noted before, she's not alone in this generation of stars furiously seeking personal slam breakthroughs, but constantly being thwarted by their older fellow competitors. Of those younger players, the Belarusian has traditionally had the most volatile on-court presence. One wonders when these continued trip-ups just short of her goals might begin to get to her. As always, her progress, or lack of it, will remain interesting.

Now, we've got two semifinals where the side stories arguably rival the actual matches. Schiavone's drive for a second Roland Garros crown will meet up with Bartoli (with eagle-eyed Dr. Bartoli, watching over her from the stands) trying to become the first French-born Pastry to win RG since Simonne Mathieu in 1939, ('00 champ Mary Pierce was born in Montreal, '67 winner Francoise Durr in Algiers to French parents, and Belgium-born '48 titlist Nelly Landry obtained a passport through marriage). Sharapova is still going for a career Grand Slam, and to get the chance to grab it in the final she'll have to next take out Li Na, with the ex-Li coach -- Thomas Hogstedt -- that she jacked from the Chinese veteran in HER corner when they face off. Meanwhile, Li's comedic "punching bag," husband Jiang Shan, and Sharapova's fiance, NBA player (ex-Laker, current New Jersey Net) Sasha Vujacic, will surely have cameras trained on them all afternoon, as well.

...in Women's Doubles, #3 Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova's attempt to win a third slam within the span of a year failed today, as they lost in the SF to the unseeded Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. In the other semi, #7 Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina upset #4 Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond. Huber had been trying to win her first slam Doubles crown since the end of her partnership with Cara Black, as well as complete a career Women's Doubles Grand Slam by claiming her first RG title.

Now, we're assured of seeing a pair of first-time Women's Doubles slam champions. Of the four players in the final, only Sania Mirza has ever claimed a slam title, but it was the '09 AO Mixed with Mahesh Bhupathi.

Earlier in the day, the first final of this Roland Garros was set, as Casey Dellacqua (with Scott Lipsky) won the Battle of the Aussies with countrywoman Jarmila Gajdosova (with Thomaz Bellucci) to reach the Mixed Doubles final. They'll meet top-seeded Katarina Srebotnik/Nenad Zimonjic, the '06 and '10 RG Mixed champs (Srebotnik has five career Mixed slam crowns), as Dellacqua will try to win her first slam title.

...in the juniors, there won't be back-to-back Belgian Girls slam champions in 2011. After An-Sophie Mestach won the junior title in Melbourne, it looked quite possible that Waffle Alison van Uytvanck might have a shot in Paris. After all, she DID come in with a 43-2 combined mark on the year (15-0 in junior play), with her only losses coming in pro events to Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Yanina Wickmayer (in a close two-setter in Brussels). I picked her to win the Girls title... so, naturally, she lost her first junior match of the season today against Yulia Putintseva in the 3rd Round.

With the Girls QF set, four are holdovers from Melbourne: Caroline Garcia, Irina Khromacheva, Natalija Kostic and Monica Puig. While the Final 8 girls were from eight different nations in Oz, there are three Russians in the mix in Paris -- #1 Daria Gavrilova, #2 Khromacheva and #7 Putintseva. Also still alive are the '10 RG Girls runner-up, #9 Ons Jabeur, and unseeded Anett Kontaveit.

While six of the top eight seeds (and 7 of 9) reached the Girls QF, only three Boys seeds have done so, and only one of them was seeded in the Top 10. There are two qualifiers, and one French wild card, still in the mix.

...and, finally, Sharapova's SF berth continues the Hordettes' long run of accomplishments in the slams, as this is the 26th of the last 29 slams in which at least one Russian woman has reached a slam Final 4. Fittingly, the latest notch on the Hordettes' collective belt comes in Paris, since this is where the current Russian Tennis Revolution first gained its footing. In 2003, aside from a young Anna Kournikova's Wimbledon SF run in '97, Nadia Petrova was the first of the recent crop of Russians to reach a slam semi, and she did it in Paris. In 2004, when Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva met in the RG final it was the first time any women from that nation had played in a slam singles final in thirty years, and Myskina was the first Russian slam singles champion. Sharapova's semifinal makes this the ninth straight year a Hordette is in the RG last four, and if she were to win the title, following in the footsteps of Myskina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, Roland Garros would thus become the first of the slams won by three different Russian women.



*WOMEN'S SINGLES SF*
#11 Marion Bartoli/FRA vs. #5 Francesca Schiavone/ITA
#6 Li Na/CHN vs. #7 Maria Sharapova/RUS

*MEN'S SINGLES SF*
#1 Rafael Nadal/ESP vs. #4 Andy Murray/GBR
#3 Roger Federer/SUI vs. #2 Novak Djokovic/SRB

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#7 Mirza/Vesnina (IND/RUS) vs. Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE)

*MEN'S DOUBLES SF*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs.Cabal/Schwank (COL/ARG)
#4 Llodra/Zimonjic (FRA/SRB) vs. #2 Mirnyi/Nestor (BLR/CAN)

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Srebotnik/Zimonjic (SLO/SRB) vs. Dellacqua/Lipsky (AUS/USA)

*GIRLS SINGLES QF*
#1 Daria Gavrilova/RUS vs. #9 Ons Jabeur/TUN
#3 Caroline Garcia/FRA vs. #7 Yulia Putintseva/RUS
#5 Monica Puig/PUR vs. #4 Natalija Kostic/MNE
Anett Kontaveit/EST vs. #2 Irina Khromacheva/RUS

*BOYS SINGLES QF*
(Q) Miki Jankovic/SRB vs. Mate Delic/CRO
#14 Dominic Thiem/AUT vs. (Q) Oriol Roca Batalla/ESP
#11 Joris de Loore/BEL vs. #4 Oliver Golding/GBR
Robin Kern/GER vs. (WC) Tristan Lamasine/FRA




*CAREER SLAM SF - ACTIVE*
19...Serena Williams (16-3)
19...Venus Williams (134-5)
15...Kim Clijsters (8-7)
11...MARIA SHARAPOVA (4-6)
6...Jelena Jankovic (1-5)
5...Svetlana Kuznetsova (4-1)
5...Dinara Safina (3-2)
4...Ana Ivanovic (3-1)
4...Vera Zvonareva (2-2)
3...LI NA (1-1)
3...Caroline Wozniacki (1-2)
--
2011 RG: Marion Bartoli (in 2nd, is 1-0), Francesca Schiavone (in 2nd, is 1-0)

*2011 WTA SF*
8...Caroline Wozniacki (6-2)
5...LI NA (2-2)
5...MARION BARTOLI (2-2)
5...Vera Zvonareva (1-4)
4...MARIA SHARAPOVA (3-0)
4...Jelena Jankovic (1-3)
4...Peng Shuai (1-3)
--
2011 RG: Francesca Schiavone (in 2nd, is 0-1)

*2011 LONG WTA/FED CUP WINNING STREAKS*
12...Kim Clijsters, January-February
12...Victoria Azarenka, March-April
11...Li Na, January
11...Petra Kvitova, May *
10...Julia Goerges, April-May
10...MARIA SHARAPOVA, May-current
--
* - lost match in $100K challenger in time period

*LOWEST-SEEDED RG SEMIFINALISTS, since 2000*
unseeded - Nadia Petrova (2003)
unseeded - Clarisa Fernandez (2002)
#30 - Samantha Stosur (2009)
#21 - Mary Pierce (2005 RU)
#20 - Dominika Cibulkova (2009)
#17 - Francesca Schiavone (2010 W)
#16 - Nicole Vaidisova (2006)
#16 - Elena Likhovtseva (2005)
#14 - Paola Suarez (2004)
#14 - Justine Henin (2001)
#13 - Dinara Safina (2008 RU)
#12 - Kim Clijsters (2001 RU)
#11 - MARION BARTOLI (2011)
#10 - Justine Henin (2005 W)

*RUSSIAN RG SEMIFINALISTS, since 2003*
2003 Nadia Petrova
2004 Elena Dementieva (RU), Anastasia Myskina (W)
2005 Elena Likhovtseva, Nadia Petrova
2006 Svetlana Kuznetsova (RU)
2007 Maria Sharapova
2008 Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina (RU)
2009 Svetlana Kuznetsova (W), Dinara Safina (RU)
2010 Elena Dementieva
2011 Maria Sharapova

*COMPLETED CAREER "GRAND SLAM" - WOMEN*
[AO-RG-WI-US; where/when completed; age]
Doris Hart, USA [1-2-1-2, 1949 AO, 24]
Maureen Connolly, USA [1-2-3-3, 1953 AO, 20]
Shirley Fry, USA [1-1-1-1, 1952 AO, 30]
Margaret Smith-Court, AUS [11-5-3-5, 1963 WI, 20]
Billie Jean King, USA [1-1-6-4, 1972 RG, 28]
Chris Evert, USA [2-7-3-6, 1982 AO, 27]
Martina Navratilova, USA [3-2-9-4, 1983 US, 26]
Steffi Graf, GER [4-6-7-5, 1988 US, 19]
Serena Williams, USA [5-1-4-3, 2003 AO, 21]
--
Maria Sharapova, RUS???????? [1-0-1-1, 24]




TOP QUALIFIER: #21 Sloane Stephens/USA
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #8 Samantha Stosur/AUS
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #6 Li Na/CHN
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Ekaterina Bychkova/RUS d. Lindsay Lee-Waters/USA 3-6/7-6/10-8
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - #3 Vera Zvonareva/RUS d. (Q) Sabine Lisicki/GER 4-6/7-5/7-5
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): QF - #5 Francesca Schiavone/ITA d. #14 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS 1-6/7-5/7-5
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: Simona Halep/ROU (def. Alla Kudryavtseva/RUS)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Shahar Peer/ISR (lost to Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez/ESP)
UPSET QUEENS: The Romanians
REVELATION LADIES: The North Americans
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Chan Yung-Jan/TPE & Nuria Llagostera-Vives/ESP (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Iryna Bremond/FRA, Caroline Garcia/FRA & Pauline Parmentier/FRA (2nd Rd.)
IT GIRL: xx
MADEMOISELLE/MADAM OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Casey Dellacqua/AUS
CRASH & BURN: #2 Kim Clijsters/BEL (lost in 2nd Rd. to #114 Arantxa Rus/NED after leading 6-3/5-2 and holding 2 MP; worst slam result since 2002)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: #7 Maria Sharapova, RUS (down 6-3/4-1, 2 breaks, in 2nd Rd. vs. Garcia)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: #11 Marion Bartoli/FRA (in SF)
JOIE DE VIVRE: Virginie Razzano/FRA
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx




All for Day 11. More tomorrow.