紐約時報雖然沒明說，但是標題看起來就是－－今年費德勒(Roger FEDERER)真是好運。這一年多來費德勒的氣勢已不如之前的四年了，以往的手下敗將納達爾(Rafael NADAL)去年連續在法網與溫布敦的決賽打敗他，也順利的升上世界第一的排名。今年的法網，近來贏過他的選手都出局了，看來他會是冠軍的大熱門。
在迎戰地主選手時，觀眾竟然分成兩派：一派幫地主選手 Gaël MONFILS 加油，一派是為費德勒。相較於納達爾觀眾喝倒采，那真是天壤之別。
女子組小威也出局了，所以今年法網男單和女單都將各有一位新冠軍。費德勒打球揮灑自如，球路多變。納達爾精力十足，打起球來十分狂放，心理素質稍微差了些。不過這瑞士人與西班牙人的對決始終都很精彩。那被形容打球像重捶般暴力的瑞典人索德林打球是什麼樣的呢？好久沒有瑞典球王了，索德林(Robin SODERLING)會不會是繼伯格(Björn BORG)與艾柏格(Stefan EDBERG)之後，另一個在網壇大放異彩的瑞典人呢？
Roadblocks Keep Falling for Federer
Roger Federer defeated Gaël Monfils on Wednesday to reach the semifinals at the French Open.
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Published: June 3, 2009
PARIS —With just two victories separating Roger Federer from that trophy and with no Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray in sight, Federer was ready to accept the obvious on Wednesday at the French Open.
“It’s true that I’m the big favorite now,” Federer said, his ball cap perched on his left knee and a smile coming easily to his familiar face. “But I was really nervous yesterday and today, because I knew this match against Monfils would be tricky.”
With his elastic power, sprinter’s speed and ability to feed off a home crowd, Gaël Monfils was clearly one of the young men to be avoided at this French Open. But Federer coolly worked and served his way past the 11th-seeded Monfils in their quarterfinal, 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4, showing little of the edginess that had riddled some of his early-round matches with mis-hits and doubt.
The key was the first set, in which Federer fought off three break points and a set point in the tie breaker. Monfils, an emotive sort, then drooped noticeably for a few games and the lull gave Federer all the momentum he required to roll to victory without once losing his serve.
“My problem in this tournament is I’ve had lots of problems at the start of my matches,” said Federer who had to rally from a two-set deficit in the fourth round to beat Tommy Haas. “I just couldn’t really shake free. Today for the first time I felt I could play a bit more comfortably, and you could see it in my style of play. I hope you’ll see it in my next match. My next two matches.”
The second-seeded Federer also beat Monfils in last year’s semifinals. This year, his opponent Friday will be No. 5 seed Juan Martín del Potro, the tall, powerful and deceptively mobile 20-year-old Argentine who advanced by defeating Tommy Robredo of Spain. Though Robredo, a four-time French Open quarterfinalist, had much more experience, Del Potro was the more poised and powerful force, winning, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
There will be a new men’s champion and a new women’s champion at Roland Garros. Robin Soderling of Sweden expanded the men’s possibilities by shocking Nadal on Sunday in the fourth round. On Wednesday, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia eliminated Serena Williams, the only woman remaining who had won the singles title.
Kuznetsova, seeded seventh, weathered a typically spirited fight-back from Williams that lacked the typical ending as Kuznetsova prevailed, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-5.
“In the third I had an opportunity, and I got really tight, and I pretty much gave it to her,” Williams said. “It was like, here, you know, do you want to go to the semis? Because I don’t.
“She was like, O.K.”
Kuznetsova did not see it quite that way, but however you distributed blame or credit, this was the latest letdown for Williams at Roland Garros. A 10-time major singles champion, she won once here in 2002 but has not advanced past the quarterfinals since 2003. With her huge swings and taste for risk, she is at her most dangerous on surfaces where her big serve gets more rewards and where the footing is surer and allows her to be more stable when she unleashes a big ground stroke.
She did raise her clay-court game after arriving here with an 0-3 record on the surface and a shortage of training time because of her latest knee problems. She has won Grand Slam titles from a similarly weak platform, but on Wednesday, she was the slightly less consistent and convincing force in the critical phases of play. She lost an early 2-0 lead in the third and then dropped her serve again with a backhand error that put an end a 2-hour-46-minute endurance test.
It was quite a shift in roles for these women of similarly imposing builds and strengths. Williams had won five of their six previous matches and had rallied from a one-set, 3-5 deficit to beat Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals of this year’s Australian Open. Kuznetsova will be the favorite to reach her second French Open final against the surprise semifinalist Samantha Stosur, the 30th seed from Australia.
In Thursday’s other semifinal, No. 1 seed Dinara Safina of Russia will play another unfamiliar contender: 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
Stosur beat the unseeded Sorana Cirstea, a 19-year-old Romanian, 6-1, 6-3, on Wednesday. Stosur had to restart her career after missing seven months of competition in 2007 and early 2008 because of Lyme disease. At 25, she is the first Australian woman in the semifinals here since Nicole Provis in 1988.
The warm, dry weather has created quick conditions that benefit attacking players like Federer and Stosur, whose heavy serve and forehand are leaping off the clay more than usual.
This will also be the first Grand Slam semifinal for Del Potro, who has joined the top five. But he has never beaten Federer in five previous matches, most recently in the semifinals in Madrid last month. In the quarterfinals of this year’s Australian Open, Federer left him looking bewildered after overwhelming him, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0.
The psychological hurdle, in this case, could feel as real as the physical hurdle of trying to upset an all-time great who has been waiting nearly a decade for a chance like this and should have huge crowd support. The French fans, who even sounded divided on Wednesday when he faced Monfils, favor Federer for a number of reasons, but the big ones are his fluency in French and the dues he has paid by losing to Nadal here the last four years.
“When I walk on the streets or drive in the transportation, or I go for dinner, everybody is like, ‘This is your year. You’ve got to do it!’ ” Federer said. “They’re screaming from their scooters and out of the car. They even get out at the red lights and want me to sign an autograph or take a picture. It’s quite incredible, this last couple of weeks.”
Friday’s other semifinal will match Soderling against Fernando González of Chile. Federer’s record against the three men remaining is 26-1, with his loss coming against González in a round-robin match at the Tennis Masters Cup in 2007, a tournament he went on to win.
Federer had not won a tournament this year until he beat Nadal in the final in Madrid, but he is riding an 11-match winning streak along with a more mind-boggling streak. Federer has extended his record by reaching his 20th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal.
But what matters most to Federer is winning here for the first time, which would allow him to tie Pete Sampras’s record of 14 major singles titles. Even Monfils would like to see him do it and told him so at the net.
“I hope, for once, this one will be for him,” Monfils said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/sports/tennis/04tennis.html?ref=sports
The story is taken from The New York Times at above-mentioned URL. The copyright of this story belongs to its original owners. The auther of this story and the New York Times are not involved with, nor endorse the production of this blog.
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