There could yet be another upset in the French Open women’s semi-finals

History dictates that a Safina/Kuznetsova final is far from certain

Top seed Dinara Safina and Serena-conquering Svetlana Kuznetsova are strong favourites to overcome Dominika Cibulkova and Samantha Stosur in today’s French Open semi-finals. However, in ten of the last 11 years at least one of the women’s semis has been won by the lower seed, meaning there is potential for an upset.

Dinara Safina v Dominika Cibulkova
The major concern for Safina will be that the top seed has made the final just once in nine years at Roland Garros, with four falling at the semi-finals over that period. The Russian lost the final last year and it is notoriously difficult to bounce back, with Ana Ivanovic last year becoming the first woman to do it since 1996. Safina has won her two previous meetings with the Slovakian in straight sets but Cibulkova, who has never been this far at a Grand Slam before, has dropped just 15 games in her last four matches.

Posted: June 4th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Local hero Gael Monfils tries to take down Roger Federer

Previews of today’s four French Open quarter-final matches

Usually it’s the women’s tournament that produces the biggest upsets but yesterday two more male favourites were sent packing as Robin Soderling and Fernando Gonzalez took care of Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Murray. The man hoping to make the year of the underdog continue today is Gael Monfils, the last remaining Frenchman in the tournament, who meets favourite Roger Federer, who knocked him out 12 months ago:

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Sorana Cirstea v Samantha Stosur
The Grand Slam quarter-final stage is unfamiliar territory for both of these women, neither of whom are in the top 30 of the world rankings. There’s not much to go on as the pair have never clashed before but Cirstea has only dropped one set so far compared to Stosur’s two. Both have taken high-profile scalps, with the 19-year-old Romanian stopping Jelena Jankovic, who reached the semi-finals in 2007 and 2008, and Australian Stosur getting rid of former finalist Elena Dementieva. Stosur is the favourite here.

Svetlana Kuznetsova v Serena Williams
Serena/Safina is the final that most expect but Kuznetsova won’t roll over for the self-proclaimed world number one. In the last three years, the Russian has reached the final, quarter-finals and semi-finals at Roland Garros, whereas Williams last got past this point in 2003. In fact, four of Serena’s last

Posted: June 3rd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment