Rome Quarterfinals

I apologize for this post not coming out sooner but blogger was having technical difficulties so better late than never, I guess. So without further ado, here you go:

ATP
1) Rafael Nadal (ESP)
2) Novak Djokovic (SRB)
4) Andy Murray (GBR)
5) Robin Soderling (SWE)
7) Tomas Berdych (CZE)
16) Richard Gasquet (FRA)
Marin Cilic (CRO)
Florian Mayer (GER)

The news so far in the tournament has to be Federer being upset by Gasquet yesterday as the Frenchman broke an eight-match losing streak to the Swiss. Other than that, the top players have seemed to march right on with only Melzer losing early to Mayer. (Ferrer had to withdraw with illness.) The German #1 is really putting together a quality season especially over the past month or so including that run to final in Munich. We’ll see if some decent results at the slams will follow.

Interesting to note that the last 8 includes players from 8 different countries, and all the prominent nations of tennis appear to be represented, with of course the notable exception of the USA. However, the Americans have 3 teams still left in the doubles’ quarters. I took a look and was surprised to find this last happened in Shanghai last fall. With the rising play of Ferrer over the past year there has almost always been 2 Spaniards if not 2 of some other country.

Half the remaining players also were in the quarters of Madrid last week: Nadal, Djokovic, Soderling, and Berdych. Of course also of note is that the Djokovic streak is still intact but he faces a gauntlet of players if he wants to keep it going through Rome: Soderling, Murray, and likely Nadal, and this after fending off Wawrinka and numerous break points yesterday.

Today’s quarterfinals:
-Nadal def. Cilic
-Berdych vs. Gasquet
-Murray def. Mayer
-Djokovic vs. Soderling

***BREAKING NEWS: Nadal just defeated Cilic in the quarters so he secured the #1 ranking at least till the French Open.

WTA
1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
2) Francesca Schiavone (ITA)
3) Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
4) Na Li (CHN)
5) Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
6) Samantha Stosur (AUS)
7) Maria Sharapova (RUS)
Greta Arn (HUN)

So after the tumultuous draw in Madrid, where #4 met #16 in the final, the top 7 women’s seeds have said, “Take that, skeptics” and rose to the occasion. The top 8 seeds go a combined 14-1 with Radwanska dropping her first match to Vesnina. Note though that Zvonareva took the week off, which is allowed under the WTA Roadmap rules, to miss one of the 5 non-Mandatory top-level Premier events. Confusing isn’t it? I also see 8 different countries represented, and surprisingly enough, only Serbia (Djokovic and Jankovic) has representatives in both the ATP and WTA events, meaning FIFTEEN different countries are still playing (or were, before the action began today). This is further confirmation that tennis is a global game.

Not a ton of huge news in the draw this week. In a harsh draw for both players, Safarova and Jankovic made at least the quarters of both Rome and Madrid last year, but drew in each other in round of 32 at BOTH tournaments this year. Safarova won in Madrid and Jankovic in Rome, and both then made the quarters. Mattek-Sands continued her run of upsets by taking down hometown favorite Pennetta but then lost to Gajdosova in the second round. I’m holding out hope she can get a seed in Paris with some of the withdrawals we’ve had. Ivanovic was upset by Wickmayer in the second round as she struggles to gain traction. Petkovic seems to have cooled off as she was beaten in the second round by a player who’s had a bunch of trouble winning in the past year, Polona Hercog.

Two players made the quarters of both Rome and Madrid this year, so tip your cap to Azarenka and Li. And on a solemn note, Dinara Safina has shut it down indefinitely. The three-time slam finalist and former world no. 1 had decent results here and there but never could get much momentum due to her back pain.

Today’s quarterfinals, which due to all the high seeds, should be amazing:
-Wozniacki def. Jankovic (BLOCKBUSTER)
-Azarenka vs. Sharapova (Miami F rematch)
-Li def. Arn (only 5 letters for both names?)
-Stosur def. Schiavone (’10 French Open F rematch)