Tuesday, June 05, 2007
French Quarters - All Set
So the quarters are set and the Big Two have still not lost a set yet. There is a third member of ’12-0 in Sets Club’ – Tommy Robredo. He’s often the forgotten Spaniard, but he’s been a consistently steady presence at the French ever since he first played here in 2001. His worst showing was a 3rd round loss in 2002 as a 20 year old. Now 25, he’s in the quarters of the French for the third time in his career (note: he should have made the semi’s in 2003, up 2-0 in sets against Albert Costa, but, only 21, he got tight and lost the next three sets). Watching all of his last two matches against Tipsarevic and Volandri, I was reminded of how graceful, smooth, and yet lightening quick he is. His ability to change direction and time his slides perfectly is amazing and quite enjoyable to watch. In a world without Nadal & Federer, Tommy would be seeking titles here, not just quarterfinal appearances. He plays Federer next (same round he lost to him in Australia this year), and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him take a set off the living legend.Nadal gets his fellow Mallorcan and good friend and advisor from his teenage days on the tour, Carlos Moya, next. The draw opened up nicely for the 1998 French Open champ – he hasn’t faced a seed yet – but I expect Nadal to take him down in 3, and I’d be surprised if Moya won 10 total games in the match. Novak Djokovic, who surprisingly struggled in the 3rd round against Olivier Patience, winning in five sets, easily handled the hard-hitting Spanish lefty Fernando Verdasco in the 4th round without dropping a set. Up next for him is Igor Andreev, who has now strung together 4 impressive wins in a row – Roddick, Massu, Mathieu, and then Baghdatis in the 4th round. The Russian will face his biggest test yet by far in Djokovic though, and will be a big underdog. I see a No Joke victory in four sets here.
The Nicolay Davydenko / Guillermo Canas match might end up being the most interesting of the four. They are quite similar players, both content to bang away from the baseline and chase down every ball in sight. Davydenko is younger and probably faster, but Canas is a pitbull who never quits. Both players are in top shape, and we could see a world of marathon rallies in this contest. I’ll take Davydenko to win in five sets – when in doubt, go with the youth.
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