Hammer and anvil for a saffina
Dinara Safina need to go to the quarterfinals to protect last year's points. And who do you think will bother her? Right - Serena Williams. But do not lose heart. After losing to Schnyder in Rome, Serena on the ground does not seem so formidable, and Dinara has a good experience in beating attackers at Roland Garros - remember last year and Sharapova. But in fact in the quarterfinals to lose Justine Henin is not at all a sin. Of course, there is a possibility, and rather high, that Serena will still reach the quarter-finals. Then it will certainly be the most exciting quarterfinal match of the women's tournament. Serena said - "I, Justine and Venus." You will have to literally answer for your words.
Bad luck Yankovic
The gods again turned their backs on Helena Jankovic and sowed her in one half of the net with Justin Henin. But this, however, does not matter. The meeting can only take place in the semifinals, which is already a good result for Jankovic - at least from a rating point of view. After all, she never went on the “Roland Garros” further than the 3rd round. In its quarter of the grid, there are Venus Williams (3 circle), and Dementieva (4 circle) and Petrova with Vaidishova (quarterfinal). It is absolutely impossible to predict anything. Elena herself plays the 5th week without stopping (it’s good even thought of withdrawing from the semifinals in Strasbourg), Dementieva is only gaining shape after an injury, Petrova recently suffered a back injury, Vaidishova missed almost the entire dirt season due to an injury. And Venus, it seems, is a little crazy - Aravan Rezai lost in Istanbul.
KAMBEK MYSKINA
Sadly enough, Nastya Myskina was not lucky with the net - already in the second round we may see the Russian derby Myskina - Kuznetsova. Nastya leads in personal meetings with Kuznetsova 4: 2, and she beat Svetlana both on hard, and on grass, and on the ground, including the winning Roland Garros for herself in 2004. But now, it will probably be difficult for her repeat this. For Myskina, it will already be a good result to pass in the first round Megan Shaughnessy, with whom she has negative statistics of personal meetings.
Revenge Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova to the semi-final continuous zone of vengeance. She will compete with Shahar Peer for reaching the quarter-finals, which she still has not won even once. And in the quarterfinals, Svetlana can get Daniela Hantuhova and Ana Ivanovich, with whom Sveta lost two out of four finals this year. True, in this quarter of the grid there is still Yulia Vakulenko, who beat Kim Clijsters and Amelie Moresmo at past dirt tournaments. Let's hope that before the quarterfinal meeting with Kuznetsova, if it takes place, Julia’s supply of surprises will be over.
SECOND QUARTER OF THE CHAKVETADZE
Anna Chakvetadze already set a personal record in Australia this year, reaching the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career. Now she has a good opportunity to repeat it. In the 4th round, she is likely to be the company of Amelie Moresmo or Lucy Safarova. This will be the most difficult part of the program for Ani. Safarova on the ground this year did not show anything outstanding, except that she beat Chakvetadze proper, so that Anya will have the opportunity to return the favor. Anya has not yet won a match against Amelie, out of three, but now is the best time to turn the tide. Moreover, in the last meeting, Chucky finally managed to take one set - and this is at the tournament in Antwerp, where Amelie fought for a diamond racket! And in the quarterfinal, Ani may have Masha Sharapova. In Australia, they have already met at this stage.
A moment of truth for the ball
The loss of Maria Sharapova Aravan Rezai in Istanbul, of course, is a sad event, but we will not confuse God's gift with fried eggs - Roland Garros and Istanbul. In principle, Masha complaining about the net is a sin. She should go into the fourth round, and protecting last year’s result is already not bad. But for the quarter-finals, she will argue either with Alena Bondarenko, or with Patti Schnyder - both unpleasant rivals. Masha leads Schnyder in personal meetings 4: 1, but lost the only meeting just on the ground, and the recent victory of the Swiss on Serena Williams should also be kept in mind. Masha has not yet met with Alena, but Alena knows how to return the balls like no other. Most likely, the fourth round will be the moment of truth for Sharapova. We will not run ahead.
FEDERER AND OUR
Making forecasts for Roland Garros, Shamil Tarpishchev said that he expected success from Yuzhny and Safin. Can the 4th circle of the South be called success? Hardly. And what to do - in the 4th round at Misha Federer. It is very hard to believe that Roger, after finally defeating Nadal on the ground, will give up the match to Misha, who previously won 9 games in a row. But Safin’s quarterfinal can definitely be called a success. And if Marat fights and wins at least Federer’s set in the quarter-finals, he’ll be weird at all.
Speaking about our prospects at Roland Garros, Shamil Anvyarovich for some reason kept silent about Davydenko. Probably, he had good reason. And Kolya, meanwhile, in Perthshah lost to Juan Monaco. You might think that Kolya saves strength. But the previous two years, he won the Austrian tournament, did not think about saving power and at the same time reached in France at least the quarter-finals. Of course, Kolya out of solidarity may also try to reach Federer, that is, to the semi-finals, but there are doubts. Their name is Almagro, Chela, Monfils, Olivier Rochus, Santoro, Hyun-Tyke Lee, Melser, Gasquet, Vligen, Cañas, Acasuso, Gonzalez and all the same Monaco.
NADAL PROTECTION
Most likely, Rafael Nadal will reach the finals, but Roger Federer, having beaten him in Hamburg, definitely did the Spaniard a disservice - now there are many who want to pat his nerves. And in his half of the grid all the faces are familiar - Hewitt, Moya, Kolshrayber, Berdych, Bagdatis, Ferrer, Djokovic.
Ours in this half of the grid are represented by the second composition, and you don’t even know which composition was more fortunate. Probably, all the same, the second - they won’t have to be upset because of the loss to Nadal, since they will most likely “not survive” before him. Except maybe Taimuraz Gabashvili, who has Nadal in the 2nd round. Kunitsyn is unlikely to survive a meeting with Carlos Moya in the 2nd round. About Tursunov, the story is silent, but, one must think, a meeting with Ferrer in the 3rd circle will be for him for happiness. The only one who has at least a spark of hope is Igor Andreev. In the first round, he has Andy Roddick, who has been losing to the people lately and with forehand easier on the ground recently. Then there will be many difficult rivals, but all of them are difficult for Andreev just as much as Andreev himself is difficult for them. And if you look even further, you can see the quarter-finals with Novak Djokovic. This year, in Estoril, Igor, by the way, lost to him in the third set in a tie-break. And there, you look, and Nadal.
Ksenia VITRYAK