We have (almost) our quarterfinalists:

Serena/Sharapova v Vaidisova
Peer v Garbin
-
Li v Chakvetadze
Henin v Petrova

The first thing that jumps out at me is that, for Serena to reach the final, she'd have to play her final three AO matches in reverse: Sharapova, Vaidisova and (in all probability) Peer. If Henin falls to Petrova, she'd even have another AO rematch in the final. :P

Of course Henin does have that 10-2 H2H over Petrova (not unlike her H2H with all the top Russians), and though she's never played Li and only once against Chakvetadze, I think she could confidently get past either assuming no more Razzano-esque lapses. She'd have to be the sure favourite to get to the final even if she weren't newly ranked No 1. Nevertheless it's worth noting that Petrova's two wins over Henin came on big stages (the USO when Henin was defending champion, and a gruelling Tier I final in Berlin just last year), and that Henin historically seems to fare poorly at this event.

I'd like to see Li repeat a second Tier I semi placing in a row, but ever since and including Moscow (which launched her into the upper reaches of the Top 20), Chakvetadze has lived up to her new ranking and seems to do very well against lower-ranked players, usually notching convincing wins. Before the tight loss to Peer, she'd only lost to Top 5 players this year.

A lot seems to be hinging on the Serena v Sharapova match, of course. With the departure of Hingis and now Kuznetsova and Clijsters, Serena is the only remaining champion in the draw. The three-time champion faces the twice-finalist Sharapova, which but for Henin's presence on the other side of the draw would seem to make it a de facto final.

A couple of ranking observations: with her QF placing, Chakvetadze is back into the Top 10 for the first time since her lone week spent there earlier in the year, at the expense of Dementieva. Peer, Li or Serena would have to win the title in order to sneak past her into the No 10 spot. Kuznetsova will be glad to have reached the final in IW, which with the new system was almost the equivalent of her Miami title points that will now fall off, putting her back safely at No 4 under Mauresmo after a brief spell at a career-high No 3. If Henin lifts the trophy and Sharapova comes up short against Serena, she will trail the Belgian by 700 points in the rankings, leaving a comfortable margin for Henin to remain at No 1 even if she underperforms in the clay season (especially considering the Russian's relative weakness on the surface and her own strength on it). Frankly both women will be hard to topple once they finally hit the 17-tourney threshold, which each is still well short of, assuming they remain fit.

Good luck Serena :D I hope you get to the quarters tonight. I think, the match could well follow a very similar pattern to the Venus/Sharapova match except this time with Serena toughing it out :pray:

Great summary :ok:

Justine v Petrova - I'm not sure about this one at all. If it were anywhere else then i'd favour Justine but her record here is poor. Then again she does have a tendancy to handle the potentially tricky matches more comfortably than might be expected as seen my her easy win over Vera coming hot on the heels of the real struggle against Razanno. Also Petrova hasn't been playing that well herself so I reckon Justine will take this one & move into her first Miami semi final.

Chakvetadze v Li Na - Could go either way this one - both have been playing well - particularly Anna who has breezed through the tournament so far. A lot of it will depend on how Li reacts after her first win against Clijsters - She's not the most consistent of players so I reckon we could see a let down here and Anna will come through.

Peer v Garbin - Peer will win.

Sharapova v Serena - The big match and the only 4th round still to be played. I've got to go for Serena here - she's looked very solid in her first two rounds while Sharapova only survived by the skin of her teeth against Venus and still doesn't seem to have her serve under control. Serena is the more consistent of the sisters and I can't see her giving Maria the opportunities Venus did. Plus as we saw in Melbourne Serena will eat up Maria's serve if given the chance.

If Serena wins this i'd expect her to beat Vaidisova without too many problems, if Maria does i'd still expect her to make it through to the semis but I would think it would be much closer.

Chakvetadze v Li Na 3-4 on serve at the moment.

Anna has only lost two points on serve at the moment but hasn't been able to take advantage of the 3 break points she has had so far.

So of course she gets broken :rolleyes:

Li Na serving for the set 5-3 up.

Li Na took the first set 6-4.

Li now up 6-4 *3-1 :o

Li to win!
Though just lost her break of serve, so back even at 3-2.
Really hoping Li can again reach a Tier I SF like last week at Indian Wells!

:) well.. well... it seems GS2 ... . like you said earlier... Li Na really wants to crack the top ten somehow this year... She's becoming such a fighter..... :)

yeah i think Li Na can really make an impact in the womens circuit this year. and hopefully crack the top ten. right now she is on the verge of cracking the top 15, though with Peer probably going through to the SF and with Serena right behind Li in the rankings, Li will have to probably make the SF to make any ranking improvements.

Its a shame that Li came into the WTA circuit so late though. She started in 2004, and had won 19 ITF singles titles, and she won her lone WTA title as a qualifier in 2004. Personally I think she was kept back in the ITF circuit by the old chinese government and this has prevented Li from reaching her potential. With her best season last year (2006), and at the age of 25 now, i don't think she will be able to be a major top 5 star in tennis, which is a shame, as she definately has the talent :(

Chakvetadze wins second set 7-5.

awww... Li couldnt hold her serve in the penultimate game of the set.

lets hope she recomposes herself, and takes the deciding set (6-0) :wub:

Well Jack, your girl was 1-0 15-40 up and about to break BUT Anna held :yahoo: and then broke :yahoo:

2-1 in the third to chakvetadze!!

haha yeah :( NO FAIR :angry:

Li had 4 break opportunities and didnt take any :(

i was right about Kim yesterday... wishing im right again !

come one Li!!!! SF and we might be able to crack the top 15 :o


EDIT:
BROKE STRAIGHT BACK!

thats right!!! :rolleyes:

EDIT 2:

spoke too soon, chakvetadze breaks straight back :( :unsure:

:yahoo: Go Anna 4-2 now!!!

5-2 now :(
up a double break...

think im gonna cry :P
poor Li, would take a miracle for her to pull this one back :(:(:(

:( Sorry... she started so well.... what a heartbreaker ......

Chakvetadze wins, 46 75 62

well done to her :)
Poor Li :P atleast she catches up with Ivanovic now, but Serena and Peer are sure to pass her, I think she will move down one rank to 18, even though the got to the QF.
:(

EDIT:

yeah she did. i think things turned when it was 5-5in the second set, and Li was serving and was broken.
Also the second game of the first set, where she swandered 4 break points on Chakvetadze's serve. Next time.
Though she should be pleased with a Top 5 win here, and QF showing isnt bad for the world 17.. i suppose :huh:

Yay Go Anna :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

Avengin the loss for Kim :yahoo:

haha how rude :P

Kim had beaten Li enough :P 3 times, though yes, Kim was so nice about Li after match, saying she should be cracking the Top 10! :D

Look at my sig....you'll see who my faves are..I don't think i could've taken two of them losing to the same person in consecutive rounds ;) ;)


Well that's Kim-Nice about everyone :D


Just don't let Dl hear you say that... :giggle:

:P whos DI?

yeah well, my aim is to get Li onto that list in the future :P

looks like you won't be getting any more Li posts for quite a while, count yourself lucky :P

Dl-Huge Venus fan-Hates Kim.....also has the highest number of posts on here......

Me and him always have a good banter about our players....... :rolleyes:


No more posts-not joining us for Serena vs Sharapova then??

haha... hmmm i must of forgot about serena :P i was deluded from that loss :P

yeah serena to win then :P
im doing some work at same time, so posts wont be as detailed as those of Li's, but yes, i very much like the Williams sisters!

Li lost :(

Well at least she sent Kim out and did the tourny a favour roflmao

Good on Petrova for holding her own against Henin in a tight two-setter (tiebreakers in each), but the Belgian reaffirmed her dominance in their H2H to reach her first Miami SF.

So long as Peer comes through as expected against the unheralded Garbin, we're guaranteed a nice line-up of semifinalists. But it certainly is looking like a Serena v Henin blockbuster final, one whose nature and outcome I can't even dare to predict.

Wow awesome display from Serena - I expected her to win but not as comfortably as that! Interestingly her win/loss record against world number 2's is something like 14-1

Big question marks over Sharapova once more though and the clay season is hardly the best time for her to get her game in order.

Good result from Chakvetadze who looked in danger of going out when she was a set and a break down but hung on there - mentally she seems stronger than a lot of the other youngsters who struggle to close things out.

Nice to see Justine get through to the semis with a hard fought win over Petrova stretching her win streak to 12 matches (just ahead of Serena who is on 10 at the moment). She'll start the semi as favourite and should have too much for Chakvetadze who she beat comfortably at Wimbledon in their only previous meeting.

Serena moves onto part two of her AO rematches and on current form should be able to deal with Vaidisova without too many problems. However it's worth noting that Nicole had her chances in their semi final match in Melbourne so she could definitely run Serena close at least.

We seem to be moving towards a Serena v Justine final which would be great to see, though given their respective attitudes towards this tournament Serena would start the heavy favourite. Amazingly not only have they not played each other since Wimbledon 2003 but they haven't played on a hardcourt since 2001!

So wierd that this is the only tier 1 that Justine had previously never made the semis. I'm sensing serena vs JH ;)

Much as I'd love to see a Henin vs Serena match up (and I'm not being sarcastic there-even if that's usually a safe assumption)

Two of my faves are still in the draw Chakvetadze and Peer

So I am firmly rooting for them!!!

Peers on her way to a bagel in the opening singles match

maybe a double bagel. 6-0 3-0 up so far

Looks like Peer will finally take the final set 63... but lost one match point to a double fault... nerves eh?

takes the match on 2nd match point...

60 63

well done Peer, but personally not too happy :P she is gonna be atleast 100 ranking points above Li now, depending on if she can go further in the tournament.... :(

but good match

Peer wins. Cavaday is serving for the first set in the girls singles

Its now one set all in the cavaday match

Oh no Cavaday retires 1-2 down in the final set :(

That's a shame :( Naomi won her first 25K Challenger title the other week in Orange County (yes the land of the OC) I hope it's nothing serious

Me too, she has been added to the Fed Cup squad, and its not like we have many options in that department :(

Serena continues her pattern of improving upon her AO victories, overcoming Vaidisova 6-1, 6-4 to book a spot in the SFs. She'll face Peer next, and given that their match in Melbourne reached an epic 8-6 in the third, the scoreline is guaranteed to also be a lesser one for Serena if she can repeat a win. But the Israeli will be the first truly defensive player she's faced this week, so her work will be cut out for her.

It had to be a heartbreaking loss for Vaidisova, though. Serena got very tentative in the first half of the second set, and the Czech teen (who considerably upped her pace and aggression whilst returning serve) had a raft of opportunities to level the match--not just the four break points she failed to convert (three of those coming at 0-40 which would have put her up 5-3 to serve out the set) but the several points where she successfully opened up the court with her sharply angled groundstrokes yet either overhit or found the net when time came to put the ball away. Still, she missed out on Miami last year so adding Tier I QF points all into the positive column won't hurt as far as consolidating her Top 10 status, with what is shaping up to be fierce competition in the coming months for entry into that select group (not the least of which coming from Serena herself).

We have three players in the semis all thying to assert a spot in the top 10.

Chakvetadze knows what it's like (but only for a week :lol: ) And she'll want to put as big a gap as possible between her and the rest.

Serena WILL make the top 10 again-that is undeniable, it's just how soon? I think victory here does put her top 10.

Peer WILL also make the top 10 and I think Victory here might do it but not sure.

COME ON MY TWO GALS CHAKVETADZE AND PEER :yahoo:


(althouh serena vs Henin would be something special)

Serena rolls on :D

her serve at times, is just phenomonal :bow:

amazing game!
serena serving for the match, and hits two aces to take it!

her serve is just phenomenum!