Battle of the Matadors

Whew! After 5 hours and 14 minutes, Rafael Nadal[1] defeated his compatriot Fernando Verdasco[14]  in the semifinal round, 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(2) 6-7(1) 6-4. It was as good as the finals. Props to Nando for putting up a great fight against Nadal.

It will be a rematch of the epic Wimbledon 2008 finals between Rafa and Roger on Sunday.

Quick facts (from australianopen.com)

Verdasco hit 95 winners to Nadal’s 52
The 14th seed had 76 unforced errors; the No.1 seed had only 25
Verdasco served 20 aces to Nadal’s 12
Nadal converted just four of 20 break point opportunities, while Verdasco was 2-for-4 on break point chances
Nadal won 193 points to Verdasco’s 192 for the match
The match lasted 314 minutes, an Australian Open record

Rafa vs. Nando

An all-Spaniard semifinal round between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco. Rafa leads 6-0 against Nando and I’m pretty sure he’ll win this one and face The Rodge in the finals. Nando had an impressive run beating World No. 4 Andy Murray in the 4th round and last year’s AO finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarters but Rafa is even better. The World No. 1 is absolutely in good form and he might be the one holding the Aussie Open trophy on Sunday. But you can always surprise me, Nando. Vamos!

Filipino Pride

Seventh seed Francis Casey “Niño” Alcantara from the Philippines and Cheng-Peng Hsieh from Chinese Taipei are through to the semifinal round of the Australian Open Boys’ Doubles. They defeated Kevin Krawietz and Dominik Schulz from Germany in straight sets, 6-4 7-6(5). Alcantara and Hsieh will next face the tandem of Maximilian Neuchrist and Tristan-Samuel Weissborn from Austria for a place in the finals.

Francis is the only Filipino tennis player who made it in the main draw of this year’s Australian Open. He is seeded ten in the singles, but was ousted by Swedish Daniel Berta, 6-3 6-4, in the first round.

Good Luck Francis! We are all proud of you.

Rodge vs Rocket

Roger Federer will face Andy Roddick in the semifinal round of the Australian Open. Three time Aussie champ, Rfed, crushed Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarters, giving him two bagels, 6-3 6-0 6-0. I doubted RFed’s form when he was pushed into five sets by Berdych but in his match against JMDP he just played flawless.

A-Rod advanced to the semifinals after defending champion Novak Djokovic retired from their match 6-7(3) 6-4 6-2 2-1. Andy played aggresively and forced Novak to retire, with the crazy temperature, Andy emerged as the fitter player.

Might be a Federer-Nadal showdown on Sunday.

W. o. w.

Jelena Dokic was just amazing tonight. Though she lost to third seed Dinara Safina in thrilling three sets 4-6 6-4 4-6, she will still be the biggest winner for me in the tournament. What a comeback for Jelena and I’m sure this will be your year. Best of luck JD!

Dinara fired 11 double faults including one that handed Dokic the second set. Hanging tough, she benefited from an unforced error by Dokic and gained a crucial break at 5-4 and served for the match.  She will face fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva in the semis who defeated Marion Bartoli in straight sets, 6-3 6-0.

Road to AO Finals: Men’s

The last men standing:

Rafael Nadal [1] vs Gilles Simon [6]

Fernando Verdasco [14] vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [5]

Andy Roddick [7] vs Novak Djokovic [3]

Juan Martin Del Potro [8] vs Roger Federer [2]

Road to AO Finals: Women’s

The last eight standing:

Marion Bartoli [16] vs Vera Zvonareva [7]

Dinara Safina [3] vs Jelena Dokic

Elena Dementieva [4] vs Carla Suarez Navarro

Svetlana Kuznetsova [8] vs Serena Williams [2]

Matches on Sunday: Men’s

Roger Federer [2] vs. Tomas Berdych [20]

Marcos Baghdatis to face defending champ Novak Djokovic [3]

Juan Martin Del Potro [8] against Marin Cilic [19]

Andy Roddick [7] and Tommy Robredo [21]

Matches on Sunday: Women’s

Jelena Jankovic [1] to face Marion Bartoli [16]

Dinara Safina [3] against Alize Cornet [15]

All-Russian match between Vera Zvonareva [7] and Nadia Petrova [10]

Jelena Dokic against Alisa Kleybanova [29]

The other Jelena

Jelena Dokic reached the fourth round of the Australian Open after ousting the eleventh seed Caroline Wozniacki, 3-6 6-1 6-2. She had an amazing run this week and hopefully she’ll reach the quarterfinals. What a comeback for Jelena!

AP Photo