The first to pass a difficult exam was Nadezhda Petrova today. A very high-quality tennis player who showed earlier at the tournament, the Russian woman fought against Serena Williams, who was once the first racket of the world, who returned after an injury. The American is still far from the best form, but her desire to fight for every point is impressive. This factor, perhaps, has become decisive.
The first set Nadia held flawlessly - 6: 1. But already in the second Petrova had to catch up with an opponent with a score of 0: 3, and she almost managed to turn the tide of the match, taking five games in a row. At this point, Williams began to cling to each ball with her teeth and still pulled out a set - 7: 5. In the decisive game with a score of 3: 2 on her serve, she made a break and without any problems squeezed the confused Petrova - 6: 3. "In the second set, Serena managed to win some incredible goals, which added courage to her, but on the contrary, they psychologically broke me," she explained the reasons for Petrov’s defeat at a press conference.
Before the match with Roger Federer, Mikhail Yuzhny could only be trusted. Even being in the best shape, units manage to beat the Swiss at any tournament, and then, if they find something to surprise. Misha did not find it. He was able to impose a fight on the main favorite only in the third set, bringing him to a tie-break, but he remained behind the opponent - 6: 3, 6: 3, 7: 6 (7: 5).
The main match of the day for us on Friday, of course, was the confrontation between Marat Safin and American Andy Roddick. For Safin, who had previously won two hardest matches with not the strongest opponents, this game was implied as one of the most important in the tournament: having beat Roddik, Marat could prove to himself and many that he had finally returned to the previous level, and the previous two five-set matches were only traditional for him the inability to tune in to less famous ones.
But it’s worth mentioning right away that it was extremely difficult to beat an American. Roddick at the beginning of the season shows excellent tennis, very different from the one in which he played even six months ago. The main reason for this is called the trainer Andy Jimmy Connors, who widely diversified the technical arsenal of the tennis player.
The start of this match turned out to be rather unexpected - Safin, and not Roddick at all, began to gain point after point with the most powerful aces, while demonstrating a reliable reception on someone else's serve. The American rebuilt the game on time and began to serve not so much, but spinning the ball more, and largely thanks to this technique he was able to bring the set to a tie-break, where he did not leave Marat a chance. After the lost set, Safin, according to tradition, rehabilitated himself by making a quick break and leading 3-0. Roddick also quickly began to think about the next batch.
At the beginning of it, perhaps, a key episode of the match occurred. With a score of 2: 2 on his serve, Safin, getting a difficult ball, fell to the court and tore the little finger of his right hand to the blood. I had to call a doctor who treated the wound and put a patch on it. It would seem nothing serious, a scratch. But the face of Marat showed that he was very nervous. As a result, he began to argue more and more with the judges, swear at himself, splashing energy. She was not enough in the end of the set. Having decided to play short several times, the Russian could not even throw the ball to the opponent’s side, and Roddick took advantage of these errors with pleasure. It is worth adding that at the end of the second game for a few minutes it began to rain, symbolic for Marat, but, as subsequent events showed, now it was just an atmospheric phenomenon, and not a “sign of heaven”, as in the previous match between Safin and Sela.
In the third set, with an objectively equal game, Roddick again managed to bring the set to a tie-break, which he confidently won, ending the meeting with a victory - 7: 6 (7: 2), 2: 6, 6: 4, 7: 6 (7: 2 ) Now in the 1/8 finals, the American will play with the Croatian Mario Anchich.
The Russian Maria Kirilenko also leaves the tournament, but in this case the disappointment is not so great, because our tennis player Svetlana Kuznetsova beat her - 6: 1, 6: 4. In the next round, Svetlana will play with the 16th racket of the tournament Israeli Shahar Peer. As expected, Elena Dementieva reached the 1/8 finals without problems, defeating Italian Maria Elena Kamerin - 6: 1, 6: 3. Her next rival will be Czech Nicole Vaidisova.
Andrey IVANTSOV