Nadal's Draw Simple, Federer's Unpredictable;
Serena Henin, Sharapova in Same Quarter By Matthew Cronin
Men’s Top Half, 1rst Quarter
Defending champ Roger Federer takes on Australian Peter Luczak in the
first round, not a very difficult opener, but he’ll need to get
cranking by the fourth round, when he could face France's Gael Monfils
or Swiss Stan Wawrinka. The quarters could put him up against three men
who are threats to him and would have been to Nadal: Robin Soderling,
Ernests Gulbis and Marin Cilic, powerful guys who can hit through anyone
on a great day.
WireImageRoger
is going to have to figure things out.
Men’s Top Half, 2nd Quarter
Fourth-seeded Andy Murray has the toughest first round of any of the top
guys having to go up against Frenchman Richard Gasquet. Murray has lost
two of his three matches against Gasquet and although the Frenchman has
been sporadic in his comeback, he’s capable of one great day on
the surface. Whoever wins that should face Marco Baghdatis in round three,
and John Isner or Tomas Berdych in round four. Jo Tsonga has a decent
draw here too to the quarters with only Mikhail Youzhny and Tommy Robredo
standing as decent sized threats.
Men’s Bottom Half, 3rd Quarter
No. 3 Novak Djokovic leads the quarters, but he hasn’t been in a
good form since February and could be troubled by Juan Carlos Ferrero
or Sam Querrey in round four. At No. 6, Andy Roddick opens against Jarkko
Nieminen, might face Eddie Schwank and possible Juan Monaco in the 3rd
round. Even earning a match up against David Ferrer in the fourth round
would be an accomplishment for Roddick and the ninth seeded Spaniard is
certainly favored to take over this squatter given his sound results on
dirt this year.
Men’s Bottom Half, 4th Quarter
Out and out favorite Rafael Nadal has a an excellent quarter, facing the
talented yet young French wild cars Gianni Mina to open, maybe Australian
Lleyton Hewitt or Jeremy Chardy, then possibly Ivan Ljubicic. who is coming
off an injury. He has a potential quarterfinal against Fernando Verdasco,
whom he has never lost to, but the “other” Spanish lefthander
must be concerned with Nicolas Almagro and Fernando Gonzalez, Any way
you slice it, it would be absolutely stunning if Nadal lost to any of
those men on his favored dirt. All the other formidable Spaniards are
on Rafa’s side, just the way he likes it.
Women’s Top Half, 1rst Quarter
This by far the toughest quarter with Serena Williams, Justine Henin,
Sam Stosur Maria Sharapova lurking. Serena takes on Swiss Stefanie Voegele
in the first round, and then might have to play Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
in round three whom if she plays to form, can be very dangerous. Then
Serena may have to go up against Shahar Peer and Marion Bartoli, who will
be in good form if they make it that far.
Sharapova and Henin are looking at a round three match up, which is bad
luck for the both of them. Henin will certainly be favored by Sharapova
is capable of making it a long, fierce match on a great day. Stosur doesn’t
have it easy either if she has to face Jie Zheng in round three and then
the winner of Henin vs. Sharapova. Whoever make it to the semis is sure
to be battle tested and then to the final, even more so if she has to
face JJ.
Women’s Top Half, 2nd Quarter
This is without a doubt Jelena Jankovic’s quarter to take over.
There are potential road blocks here but none that are impossible, with
a possible meeting with Alona Bondarenko in R3, Yanina Wickmayer or Daniela
Hantuchova as potential fourth round match ups and Dinara Safina, Vera
Zvonareva, Alisa Kleybanova and Aggie Radwanska as quarterfinal foes.
Heck, let’s every throw Ana Ivanovic into the mix and she’s
capable of beating either Kleybanova or Radwanska The Russians are sure
to beat each other up and the Pole has yet to show primetime stuff.
Women’s Bottom Half, 3rd Quarter
This entire half is fragile, with the slumping holder Sveta Kuznetsova,
heading the charge but who is vulnerable to a first round upset at the
hands of Sorana Cirstea, as well as a second round defeat to Andre Petkovic,
or third round loss to Maria Kirilenko. Na Li is around, as is Francesca
Schiavone.
Then there’s No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki, who can’t seem to recover
from her ankle injury, but is still in the draw. She’s vulnerable
to Alexandra Dulgheru in round three and Flavia Pennetta or Lucie Safarova
in round four. We could very well have a first time Slam semifinalist
come out of this segment.
Women’s Bottom Half, 4th Quarter
Second seed Venus Williams has a better draw than Serena overall, but
having to take on Swiss Patty Schnyder in the first round on clay is not
a highly desired draw on paper, except that she is 10-0 against the Swiss
including her last four victories over her, all which were on dirt and
one that happened just a few weeks ago in Rome. Dominica Cibulkova could
be her third round, and either Nadia Petrova or Aravane Rezai might await
in the fourth round, and that's before she’d be able to sink her
teeth into Elena Dementieva or Victoria Azarenka. Given that she lost
to Rezai in Madrid and that Serena lost to Petrova in Madrid, Venus is
going to have to show pretty special stuff to make it into the quarters.
