W.9- The Day After, and the Day Before

Looking in the mirror, and still feeling the same. Minionization or no Minionization.

First up, a flashback to 2005 when a certain Pole was a Wimbledon singles champion as a wee sprite aged sweet sixteen:



Who knew, huh?



=DAY 9 NOTES=
...no women's matches on Day 9, but the men put on a fitful follow-up to yesterday's drama.

Andy Murray came back from two sets down against Fernando Verdasco to reach his fifth straight Wimbledon semifinal. It's his seventh career win after being two sets down, just one fewer than active ATP tour leader Roger Federer's eight. Of course, Federer had already won four slam titles before Murray had made his slam debut, so Murray's seven comebacks have come in quite a bit fewer matches. Kudos to Murray for pulling it off, as he now has the belief he formerly didn't before Ivan Lendl came aboard as his coach, ending all the Scot's self-destructive on-court protestations (Lendl simply wouldn't take that crap... he'd just walk). Murray won Olympic Gold on Centre Court, then followed up with a U.S. Open title last summer. He's now a legit slam threat, not the "pretender" he seemed to be a few years ago. He WILL win another slam, and probably more than one.

But, still, you have to ask, why does he get himself into these situations so often? Sheesh.

Meanwhile, another Pole (Jerzy Janowicz) is still alive in the men's semis, having defeated yet another Polish man, Lukasz Kubot today. Novak Djokovic is still on track for grand slam #7, and Juan Martin del Potro battled his body yet again (an ugly hyperextension of his knee, his second at this Wimbledon, on a fall today immediately looked like it might be been a ligament tear or something). Thankfully, he pulled it together, managed the injury and advanced to his first Wimbledon semi over David Ferrer. Of course, del Potro holds a certain favored spot in these parts, having been the victim of a "Kuznetsova Curse" at the start of the 2010 season, leading to my long-overdue decision to STOP predicting year-end #1-ranked players in the pre-season in order to prevent any more pre-Radwanskian (or was it?) carnage.

Maybe The Rad threw me a bone with this one?

...the Women's Doubles semifinals are set and, like the singles, nary a top seed is in sight. Not even a Radwanska. The #7 (Groenefeld/Peschke), #8 (Hsieh/Peng) and #12 (Barty/Dellacqua) seeds are joined the unseeded team of Aoyama/Scheepers. With the Mixed Doubles through to the quarterfinals, the top three seeds are still alive, but the only women still alive in BOTH doubles and mixed are veteran Kveta Peschke and Ashleigh Barty. Barty & Dellacqua, the AO runners-up, defeated #2-seed Hlavackova/Hradecka today, while Peschke & ALG knocked off #3 Petrova/Srebotnik.

...in junior action, both sets of Final Eights are set and, unlike in the regular singles, the fields are populated with more Americans than anything -- four, including three of the Girls quarterfinalists. Six of the top seven seeded girls held their seeding, with only #3 Katerina Siniakova (she lost today to Louisa Chirico) not advancing. In the boys, top-seeded Aussie Nick Kyrgios lost to Korean Hyeon Chung.

...??? FROM DAY 9:

-- wondering if there were only some way to separate Aga from The Rad. Maybe Citizen Anna and Vika will find a way.

...DAY 10 ALERT:

-- Mike Tirico announced that Hannah Storm will be hosting ESPN's coverage of the women's semifinals tomorrow. Gulp. Could L.Z. Granderson be far behind?

...DAY 10 FAIT ACCOMPLI:

-- Joey Chestnut will claim his seventh straight Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest on Coney Island, setting back American healthy eating efforts ten years.



...and, finally, here is supposedly a link where Aga Radwanksa talks about appearing in the ESPN Body Issue next week, although the link isn't working for me. If it does for anyone else, though, have at it: A-Rad speaks.



*LADIES' SINGLES SF*
#23 Sabine Lisicki/GER vs. #4 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
#15 Marion Bartoli/FRA vs. #20 Kirsten Flipkens/BEL

*GENTLEMEN'S SINGLES SF*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. #8 Juan Martin del Potro/ARG
#24 Jerzy Janowicz/POL vs. #2 Andy Murray/GBR

*LADIES' DOUBLES SF*
Aoyama/Scheepers (JPN/RSA) vs. #8 Hsieh/Peng (TPE/CHN)
#7 Groenefeld/Peschke (GER/CZE) vs. #12 Barty/Dellacqua (AUS/AUS)

*GENTLEMEN'S DOUBLES SF*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. #14 Bopanna/Roger-Vasselin (IND/FRA)
#4 Paes/Stepanek (IND/CZE) vs. Dodig/Melo (CRO/BRA)

*MIXED DOUBLES QF*
#1 Raymond/Soares (USA/BRA) vs. Barty/Peers (AUS/AUS)
Dushevina/Rojer (RUS/NED) vs. #7 Zheng/Bopanna (CHN/IND)
#11 Peschke/Matkowski (CZE/POL) vs. #3 Srebotnik/Zimonjic (SLO/SRB)
#8 Mladenovic/Nestor (FRA/CAN) vs. #2 Mirza/Tecau (IND/ROU)

*GIRLS SINGLES QF*
#1 Belinda Bencic/SUI vs. Jamie Loeb/USA
#15 Louisa Chirco/USA vs. #6 Elise Mertens/BEL
#5 Taylor Townsend/USA vs. #4 Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
#12 Anhelina Kalinina/UKR vs. #2 Ana Konjuh/CRO

*BOYS SINGLES QF*
Hyeon Chung/KOR vs. #8 Borna Coric/CRO
#4 Lalso Djere/SRB vs. Maximilian Merterer/GER
#5 Kyle Edmund/GBR vs. Stefan Kozlov/USA
#6 Gianluigi Quinzi/ITA vs. #2 Nikola Milojevic/SRB




**"UNLIKELY" WIMBLEDON SEMIFINALISTS - Open Era**
[#10+ seeds]
1982 - #11 Bettina Bunge & #12 Billie Jean King
1983 - Yvonne Vermaak (unseeded) & #10 Billie Jean King
1994 - Gigi Fernandez (unseeded) & Lori McNeil (unseeded)
1996 - Meredith McGrath (unseeded) & #12 Kimiko Date
1998 - Natasha Zvereva (unseeded) & #16 Nathalie Tauziat
1999 - Alexandra Stevenson (qualifier) & Mirjana Lucic (unseeded)
2007 - #23 Venus Williams & #18 Marion Bartoli
2010 - Petra Kvitova (unseeded), Tsvetana Pironkova (unseeded) & #21 Vera Zvonareva
2013 - #23 Sabine Lisicki, #20 Kirsten Flipkens & #15 Marion Bartoli

**JUNIOR QUARTERFINALISTS - BY NATION**
4...USA (Chirico/Loeb/Townsend; Kozlov)
2...CRO (Coric/Konjuh)
2...SRB (Djere/Milojevic)
1...(Girls) - BEL (Mertens), CZE (Krejcikova) SUI (Bencic), UKR (Kalinina)
1...(Boys) - GBR (Edmund), GER (Marterer), ITA (Quinzi), KOR (Chung)

**ATP CONSECUTIVE SLAM SF - Open Era**
23...Roger Federer, 2004-10
13...NOVAK DJOKOVIC, 2010-current
10...Ivan Lendl, 1985-88
--
NOTE: Rod Laver had 11 con. from 1960-62, pre-Open era




TOP QUALIFIER: Petra Cetkovska/CZE
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #1 Serena Williams/USA
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #23 Sabine Lisicki/GER
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: #11q Mariana Duque-Marino/COL d. An-Sophie Mestach/BEL 6-7/6-3/8-6
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - (Q) Michelle Larcher de Brito/POR d. #3 Maria Sharapova/RUS 6-3/6-4
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd. - #23 Sabine Lisicki/GER d. #1 Serena Williams/USA 6-2/1-6/6-4
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP UNDER-THE-ROOF MATCH: Nominee: QF - A.Radwanska d. Li (partial under roof)
=============================
FIRST WINNER: Lesia Tsurenko/UKR (def. Arruabarrena-Vecino/ESP)
FIRST SEED OUT: #5 Sara Errani/ITA (lost to Puig/1st Rd.)
UPSET QUEENS: Czech Republic
REVELATION LADIES: Australia/New Zealand
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (1-6 in 1st Rd.)
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Eva Birnerova/CZE, Petra Cetkovska/CZE & Michelle Larcher de Brito/POR (all 3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Alison Riske/USA (3rd Rd.)
LAST BRIT STANDING: Laura Robson/GBR (4th Rd.)
IT ("Upstart"): Michelle Larcher de Brito, POR (def. #3 Sharapova/2nd Rd.)
Ms.OPPORTUNITY: #20 Kirsten Flipkens/BEL
COMEBACK PLAYER: #15 Marion Bartoli/FRA
CRASH & BURN: #13 Nadia Petrova/RUS (1st Rd./Ka.Pliskova; third straight 1st Round slam loss)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Eugenie Bouchard/CAN (escaped early-round carnage, winning after being down 7-5/5-4 vs. G.Voskoboeva, with Kazakh serving for match, in 1st Rd.)
DOUBLES STAR: Nominees: A.Barty/AUS, K.Peschke/CZE, Barty/Dellacqua (AUS/AUS)
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx




All for Day 9. More tomorrow.