On paper one might have been surprised that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France upset the great Roger Federer of Switzerland on Tuesday 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 in the men’s quarterfinals of the French Open.
Federer has won 17 grand slam career titles including the 2009 French Open, and 256 grand slam victories to only 38 defeats.
However the loss on Tuesday, should not be of great surprise. Tsonga actually went further than Federer at the ATP Masters Series in Madrid. Tsonga advanced to the quarterfinals, while Federer was knocked out in the third round to Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
Ranked eighth in the world, and sixth at the French Open because of injuries to Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro, Tsonga will now play David Ferrer of Spain in the semi-finals in a very interesting semi-final on Friday.
Ferrer, who beat fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-2, 6-1, 6-1, is obviously pleased he will see Tsonga over Federer. All-time, Federer is 14-0 against Ferrer.
Tommy Robredo (Nacho Martinez Castejon, Wikimedia Commons)
Tommy Robredo of Spain is creating quite the story at the second grand slam event of 2013.
On Sunday, Robredo, the 32nd seed, came back from two sets to love to beat Spain’s Nicolas Almagro, the 11th seed, 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the fourth round.
Ok. Many players come back from two love down in major tournaments to win matches. However, Robredo has now accomplished the feat in three consecutive wins at the French Open. Robredo defeated Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 in the second round and then French star Gael Monfils, 2-6, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 6-2 in the third round.
Robredo becomes only the second player in grand slam tennis history to win three consecutive matches after dropping the first two sets. In 1927, Henri Cochet did the same thing as Robredo at Wimbledon. Robredo will now play David Ferrer in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the great Roger Federer, seeded second, defeated Gilles Simon of France after losing the first two sets. He will next face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals.
I know Serena Williams was not 100% percent last night. She was having immense back and ankle issues, and lacked positivism on the court as portrayed by her slamming her racket in the second set.
But even though Williams was not at a hundred percent, she was still unable to beat the 29th ranked player in the world, fellow American Sloane Stephens in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
Stephens showed significantly more patience and poise in downing the more experienced veteran, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in Melbourne last night. However, the schedule will remain difficult for Stephens, as she plays world number one and defending Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the semi-finals tonight and then either Li Na of China or Maria Sharapova in Saturday’s final.
In men’s action, it should come as no surprise that David Ferrer of Spain is playing Novak Djokovic of Serbia in one semi-final and Roger Federer of Switzerland is playing Andy Murray of Great Britain in the other semi-final. However I strongly believe Ferrer has the speed, experience and footwork to upset Djokovic in the middle of the night.
Roger Federer (Vinod Divakaran, Wikimedia Commons)
Milos Raonic may be ranked 13th at the Australian Open, but he has a lot of work to do to crack the top five in men’s tennis.
On Sunday, Raonic lost 6-4, 7-6, 6-2 in straight sets to the great Roger Federer in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Federer made Raonic run and exploit his weak backhand. The bottom line is Federer’s experience and maturity paid off and despite Raonic’s 19 aces, Raonic was unable to win many long points against the four time Australian Open champion.
Yes there’s hockey and football this weekend, but how could one not get excited about the Australian Open at the moment. There is literally some thrilling tennis from down under. Last night, Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ontario advanced to the fourth round with a straight sets win over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber. Bad news is he has Roger Federer next!
On the ladies side, Ana Ivanovic, the former French Open champion takes on Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, the Wimbledon finalist, in the fourth round (Sunday, TSN2, 1:00 a.m.)
Here are the other games I’m watching this weekend:
Saturday–NHL–Toronto Maple Leafs @ Montreal Canadiens–CBC–5:00 p.m.–I heard a report on Sportsnet yesterday that the Maple Leafs and Canadiens could battle for the worst team in the Eastern Conference this season. The Habs are expected to have Tomas Plekanec in their lineup despite some sore ribs. The Maple Leafs meanwhile will be led this season by Phil Kessel, who averaged a point a game last season.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we discuss the latest NHL lockout news, a rough couple of weeks on the Edmonton arena front, the KHL signing with ESPN and the potential for replacement players. As well, we take a look at a big win for the Edmonton Eskimos on the weekend, which launched them back into a playoff spot.
In the GABBYs: Miguel Cabrera, Adam Greenberg, Michael Phelps, Zinedine Zidane, Roger Federer and Michael Vick. The Punchline this week is US track celebrity Lolo Jones.
Andy Murray of Great Britain is finally a grand slam champion. On Monday he defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia in five grueling sets, 7-6, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 in the men’s final of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, New York.
The term finally is used here because Murray has received an immense amount of hype the last couple of years but has never seemed to close it out. Monday was his fifth final and until Monday was never really been able to play the necessary tennis in the championship required to be a grand slam champion.
Things yesterday however. Murray was dominant in the fifth and final set, when it mattered the very most. He becomes the first man from Great Britain to win a grand slam tennis tournament since Fred Perry won the U.S. Open in 1936.
There were also two interesting statistics. Murray’s win came in four hours and fifty-three minutes. That ties the longest match in U.S. Open history for a men’s final. Also, Murray’s 12-10 win in the first set tiebreak was also the longest tiebreaker for the men’s final at the U.S. Open.
We now know who are in the final four at the U.S. Open.
On Thursday in a riveting afternoon and evening of tennis, David Ferrer of Spain and Novak Djokovic of Serbia booked their tickets for Saturday.
Ferrer won what could be considered one of the best matches of the year in defeating Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, 6-3, 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 in five outstanding sets.
Djokovic meanwhile beat Juan Martin del Potro in three straight sets, 6-2, 7-6, 6-4. The second set will go down in the history books as one of the greatest sets ever played, with Djokovic winning in 85 minutes. The long rallies and degree of difficulty in shot making by both players was legendary and historic.
Djokovic will now play Ferrer in one semi-final while Andy Murray of Great Britain will play Tomas Berdych in the other semi-final. Berdych beat the great Roger Federer last night.
In women’ action Friday, Serena Williams will play French Open finalist Sara Errani of Italy, while Victoria Azarenka of Belarus will play Maria Sharapova of Russia.
The log jammed Western Division in the Canadian Football League continues to get tighter. After Edmonton’s blow out loss to the Montreal Alouettes last night, the Calgary Stampeders can tie the Eskimos with a win against the Toronto Argonauts at 4-3 (Saturday, TSN, 5pm).
The Stampeders acquired offensive lineman Obby Khan this week. Khan was part of the 2011 Eastern Division champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers before announcing his retirement.
In Toronto meanwhile, the Chad Kackert experiment as the Argonauts’ number one running back begins with Cory Boyd off to Edmonton.
The Argonauts management must know something special from Kackert, who has -3 yards rushing this season.
Roger Federer still has some tennis left in the tank.
On Sunday, Federer won his seventh Wimbledon of his career and 17th Grand Slam singles title with a four set win over Great Britain’s Andy Murray– 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
But more interestingly, Federer moved back into number one in the world rankings– a little bit surprisingly because both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have also played excellent tennis over the last year.
Federer also has tied Pete Sampras for the most weeks ever ranked no.1 at 286, and most Wimbledon titles in history with seven.
Federer might not have played his best tennis at times throughout the week, as he needed five sets to beat Julien Benneteau of France, but I do feel he was the best player in the second week of action. The match was very even until the roof was closed and then Federer took control.
Meanwhile, in boys action, Canada’s Filip Peliwo of Vancouver defeated Luke Saville of Australia 7-5, 6-4.
The Edmonton Eskimos will look to improve on their 1-0 record when they play the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium Sunday at 5pm on TSN.
However, even though both teams got into the win column last week, I was much more impressed with Saskatchewan than Edmonton.
The Roughriders completely dominated the Tiger-Cats in recording a 43-16 victory. The Eskimos have struggled mightily over the last few years in Regina and I expect most the same this weekend.
One thing the Eskimos do have going for them right now is their overall team defense. Edmonton has a chance if they force Darian Durant to be as disorganized as Ricky Ray was last week.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching:
Saturday–Women’s Wimbledon Final–(3) Agnieszka Radwanska–POL vs. (6) Serena Williams–USA–TSN–7am–There is a possibility this tennis match may not even take place at all. Radwanska, according to the Associated Press, has a serious respiratory illness right now and was forced to cancel her press conference today because of her health condition. Williams has the 2-0 advantage head to head, including an easy 6-4, 6-0 win in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Wimbledon. With the win, Radwanska will move into the world’s number one ranking.
We now know who will meet each other in the 2012 Wimbledon Final.
Friday Andy Murray, the fourth seed from Great Britain defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the fifth seed from France 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Murray becomes the first British men’s tennis player to advance to the Wimbledon men’s final since Bunny Austin in 1938. Fred Perry was the last British male player to win Wimbledon in 1936. Virginia Wade won Wimbledon on the women’s side in 1977.
Austin made headlines in 1938 as he was one of the first tennis players to wear shorts at Wimbledon.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer of Switzerland, seeded third, defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia, the first seed 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Federer and Djokovic competed at a very fast pace. It took them less than an hour to compete the first two sets. The tempo seemed to be dictated by Federer throughout the entire match, as Djokovic normally plays very slow, as he bounces the tennis ball numerous times before serving.
Roger Federer might just have had his most complete victory in his history at Wimbledon.
Wednesday in England, Federer, the six-time Wimbledon champion, defeated Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in straight sets 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. The match only took ninety minutes to complete.
Federer won 88% of his first serve points and won thirty more points than Youzhny. He also had no double faults and broke Youzhny’s serve six times.
Down 4-1 in the third set, ESPN’s John McEnroe stated the only way Youzhny would get back into the match is if he got Tonya Harding’s help.
Prior to the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Harding’s bodyguard and ex-husband hired someone to smack Harding’s major women’s figure skating competitor Nancy Kerrigan with a police baton. Kerrigan was struck, but only suffered a leg bruise as a result. Harding, who was aware of the development of the incident, was sentenced to three years probation.
The Canadian Football League commences this weekend.
On Saturday night the Edmonton Eskimos host a familiar person to town. Ricky Ray will be quarterbacking not the Eskimos however at Commonwealth Stadium, but the Toronto Argonauts (Saturday, TSN, 5pm).
In a very controversial off season deal, Eskimos GM Eric Tillman traded Ray for quarterback Steven Jyles, kicker Grant Shaw and a first round pick in 2012.
In the Canadian Football League I thought you needed a solid quarterback to win football games. Ricky Ray is a great quarterback and the Eskimos let him go. Apparently Tillman didn’t get the memo.
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