RG Day 10

[Wagasi]

yeah as long as Ivanovic wins her semi, any result is palatable

[Grarliner]

janie said:

grarline said:

I don't see that anybody is in anybody's head. It's Euro clay. Who did you expect to win, simply based upon what you knew going in about the two players on clay?

Yes, I did expect Serena to win because I always expect my favorite players to lose.

grarline said:

It'll be fun to watch it unfold.

Yeah, it will! If Jelena beats JH I can live with that, but I'd really hate to see that screaming banshee beat her, so if those 2 play the final, I'm going to be nervous as well as pessimistic!

Mmm ... Maria still moves like a giant tumbling boulder on clay.

Why is the word "decadent" applied to Red Lobster food? What company would call their food "decadent"? It's like naming a car "Caprice" or something ...

[DBBN]

JH

JJ may get her this time. What a day for Serbia.

Looks like Henin vs. Sharapova in the final, but both upsets are more than possible.

[Grarliner]

hurley said:

JH

JJ may get her this time. What a day for Serbia.

Looks like Henin vs. Sharapova in the final, but both upsets are more than possible.

You really think Testud can beat H ... I mean, JJ can beat JH?

[Calico]

Well done to Maria for routining Anna in straight sets and advancing to the French Open semifinal's for the first time in her illustrious career. But she's going to have to serve well against Ivanovic in their semfinal match to avoid getting obliterated by Ana they way she did in their Tokyo semifnal match in February.

I'm pulling for a Jankovic - Sharapova final. It would make Nick Bollettieri proud. ;D But I'm expecting a Jankovic - Ivanovic all Serbian final.

[janie]

Kuzzy explanation from some article:

She said she was hampered by a stomach injury that flared up in the second set.

Nice to see you around again, Hurley.

[janie]

ALL BOW TO THE HAT!

Doubles QF: (17) Molik/Santangelo def. (5) Chan/Chuang 6-3 4-6 6-1

[Grarliner]

I didn't think Robredo could make this an interesting match, but here we are.

I think the wind is playing havoc with Roger's accuracy and timing ... he is off right now.

[Brinyi]

janie said:

She said she was hampered by a stomach injury that flared up in the second set.

Nice to see you around again, Hurley.

Is there a some sort of causal relation implied there?

[janie]

Ha, no, two separate things. I shoulda put them in separate posts.

[Brinyi]

King Kolya is dominating Willy with a barrage of weeners.

[janie]

Robredo won a set? Where've I been?

[Brinyi]

L.Dlouhy CZE (9) / P.Vizner CZE (9) serving for ze match vs the Bryans.

[Grarliner]

And now Fed is rolling.

I miss Andre.

The statistician in me, rather than the pleasure-seeker, would like to see Fed win this just so no doubt could ever be raised that he is the best ever. But I find the men's tournament about as engrossing as doing a lengthy series of long division equations. Btw, is there short division? Is that when you use a calculator?

I'll go out on a limb. I think this is either his year, or he never does it.

[janie]

Bryans are out.

Oh, well, there's always World Team Tennis!

[Brinyi]

Facing a break point here...
Deuce
Break point again
Deuce
Break point again
Deuce
Match point
Bryans gone!

[Grarliner]

Tommy broke back and held. Have to like that.

If Fed surrenders the double break, I'd be flabbergasted. But ... it's that type of day.

[Brinyi]

Semifinal matchup:

Lukas Dlouhy / Pavel Vizner vs. Gnomonjic

[sasha]

Nikki!

Even Johnny Mac is starting to respect him!

They still mock his horrible volleying skills, though.

[janie]

Brinyi, I can't remember why you don't like the Bryans. Is it because they look like they're straight out of Riverdale High? It's true that I always find myself searching the crowd for Miss Grundy and Mr. Weatherbee when they play, but I don't hold that against them!

[sasha]

Bob has a bug serve. That might be why.

I don't like them either. For no good reason, really. They're kinda annoying with their chest bump thing, and they always have a few fans who are obnoxious in the crowd.

[:rolleyes:]

Ivanovic will now be at least #5 in the world. Two years ago or so I told some Serbian Nationalists that she was overrated and would never be in the top 5 and would never reach a grand slam final, and that she would never get anywhere near as much attention as Sharpie for her looks.

Well at least one of my predictions will hold true.

[sasha]

Neither are that attractive.

[Brinyi]

Like Nikki says. Plus the Riverdale High thing. Plus, they stole the chest bump from the Indian Express and then had the nerve to accuse Leander of stealing it from them.

[lexpretend]

ALLEZ!

I hate the Bryans too. They're obnoxious, and disingenuous with it. People who are doubles specialists already have a demerit in my eyes anyway.

I love Justine, but an all-Serb final would be quite something...I think Justine is more in Jelena's head than ever right now, Jelena will beat her at some point but not this point; but the other SF comes down to Ana's nerves, I think. The only thing in $harapova's favour is experience. But Ana has dealt with a lot of her career milestones fairly easily.

King Kolya Roger dodged a bullet there.

[janie]

brinyi said:

Like Nikki says. Plus the Riverdale High thing. Plus, they stole the chest bump from the Indian Express and then had the nerve to accuse Leander of stealing it from them.

Leander and Mahesh are probably suing each other over who invented it, too. ;D

But okay, that's a bad strike against the Bryans. Plus I admit I also have an instinctive aversion to that "All-American wholesome Midwesterner" thing, but I try to fight it, because it seems like a form of Bizarro World bigotry, rooted in my hippie days.

But the Identical Twin thing bugs me for some reason, too!

[sasha]

Nikki will win on Friday. I guarantee it. That is all.

[R. Black]

Q. Obviously, taking into account what you're saying, but can you address Justine's game? I mean, how you felt she played? How much of how she played was due to how you were playing, et cetera?

SERENA WILLIAMS: She played -- I think, all she had to do was show up. I mean, she didn't -- I thought that she did well, but I've played against her when she's played even better. I thought she played really well, though. She had her little tactics, and, you know, but I thought she hit decent.

Q. It seemed like on a lot of the points that you got into rallies, she was dictating a lot of the time. Did you feel that, and if so, why do you think that was? Was she more aggressive than Miami? Was it that your shots weren't going through the court as much? What do you think the reason was?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I mean, I didn't take my opportunities, and I didn't, you know, do anything that I was supposed to do, like move up and things like that, and all of the other things I was supposed to do. I just pretty much stood back and let her take advantage of me. And I feel violated.

[janie]

Serena is a true original, you've got to give her that.

[corswandt]

corswandt said:

Cañas will probably reach the final and get whomped 2, 1 and 2 by Rahfuh-Ill Nudd-Ahl.

Thankfully King Kolya proved I'm an idiot who doesn't know a thing about tennis.

King Kolya

It's beyond me how can anyone find such a shotmaker "boring".