Na Li Topples Venus

Na Li mounted a stirring rally stunning sixth seed Venus William in a 2-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 in a day of shocking quarterfinal comebacks. Every men’s and women’s match featured compelling, tension-packed reversals. The most shocking was Na Li’s amazing effort against the taller, more powerful, more polished and experienced Venus Williams.

With the win, China now has two representatives in the final four of the women’s draw. It wasn’t just the fact that Li came from behind, it was the manner in which the 5’8” 12-year professional turned the match. Having lost the first set 2-6 and trailing the heavily favored Williams 4-5, Li managed a stunning break of one of the world’s most dominant servers.

Previously, Williams had struggled with her serve in the round of 16, appearing tired and out of focus. In the beginning, Li committed far too many unforced errors. As Williams’ service woes mounted, Na Li took heart. In the key 10th game of the second set, the underdog used a beautiful topspin lob to offset Williams’ big groundstrokes and seal the game.

Na Li’s serve was far from impressive and her inconsistent play was not championship quality, but she won points with aggressive play and persistence. With a career won-lost record of 158-86, Na Li is an unlikely semifinalist, but she already possessed an Olympic singles victory over Venus.

In the final set, an exhausted Williams offered five double faults in a set marked by nine service breaks. The match clearly hinged on who would hold serve, not upon who would break serve. Li broke in the tenth game to go up 5-4 before Venus broke back at love, only to have Li return the favor in game 11.

In the decisive 12th game Venus fought off two match points, before Li managed her second hold of the set. The key to the surprising outcome may well have been Li’s ability to have moved Williams across the court. In the beginning of the match, Venus hit deep baseline drives that Li could not handle. At the same time, Venus had difficulty moving from side to side, often reaching for shots rather than getting in position.

Williams had 11 aces to Li’s 5. Both players hit 27 winners while Williams had 53 unforced errors to Li’s 57. Li will move on but will be a deeper underdog against the younger Williams sister.

Serena Restores Order

Just when it seemed the tennis world was falling apart, along came a remarkable come-from-way-behind victory from the world’s premier female tennis player. Serena Williams knew her sister had gone down at the hands of Na Li. She was aware of yesterday’s stunning upsets that sent two unseeded women into the semis on the other side of her bracket and two underdog wins on the men’s side.

Yet, the younger Williams and tourney’s top seed came out flat against a poised, hard hitting, loud grunting 20-year old blonde from Belarus who has some credentials including twelve wins against top ten opponents. With a set in hand and serving at 4-0 in the second, Victoria Azarenka seemingly had the match in hand.

The young star-to-be had kept her volatile emotions in check. She even managed to block out the crowd who mocked her loud grunts. Williams looked slow afoot, out-of-sorts and lethargic before receiving help from her trainer. She then ran off four games eventually evening the set at 6-6.

In the pivotal tiebreaker, Serena added to her 22 outright winners in set two and stole the tiebreaker 7-4. Azarenka felt the match slipping away. Williams was now closing on the ball and had added velocity to every shot.

Azarenka was on the run. When she was broken in the third game, the handwriting was on the wall. The Australian Open’s final four now consists of the number one seed, an error-prone 16 seed and two unseeded semifinalists. Hmmm, nice draw!

He’s Number One!

Again the rumors are out there. The man is past prime. After 22 consecutive trips to Grand Slam semifinals, this would be the tourney Federer would falter. The tour’s hottest player stood squarely in a quarterfinal bracket that had upset written all over it.

Having lost the first set 2-6, down a break at 1-3 and trailing 15-40, Nikolay Davydenko had Roger Federer right where he wanted him. But, just when you count Federer out or think he looks tired, something inside the man happens. He fought off those two break points and ran off five straight games to claim the set.

Now his groundstrokes were more decisive and his serve more accurate. A stunned Davydenko helplessly watched as Roger ran off all six games in set three. The normally passive Russian began to show his frustration but the Swiss star had control of the tempo and the match. And, when Roger Federer is dictating play, you can pack your bags. Here is a man that knows how to close out Grand Slam matches.

In the fourth set, Federer scored early breaks only to have Davydenko mount a rally and draw even at 5-5. Federer then scored the final break and served out at love to reach his 23rd straight Grand Slam semifinals, a record likely to hold ad infinitum.

Tsonga Somehow!

In an unusual match typifying other crucial Djokovic matches, France’s Jo Wilfried Tsonga knocked off the number three seed 7-6 (8), 6-7 (5), 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 in puzzling fashion. Tsonga and Djokovic have contrasting styles. Djokovic employs classic strokes, a strong serve and superior baseline play while Tsonga plays with an open stance, makes bold net rushes, uses brazen drop shots and angles sharp shots to surprise opponents and shorten points.

In this quarterfinal match, both styles were effective. Tsonga’s passionate play carried him through a roller coaster first set and tiebreaker where both combatants had set points. In the ninth game, one rally included 32 shots. Tsonga finally rolled two points together to take the crucial tiebreaker 10-8.

Tsonga began to play loosely in the second set. Djokovic gained confidence and looked to have control in set two until the Frenchman broke back to square the set at 4-4. In the tiebreaker, Tsonga committed three unforced errors to give Djokovic the early lead before he managed three breaks to go ahead 4-3. At 5-5, Tsonga hit two wayward shots to hand Djokovic the set.

The Serb then made his move charging through the third set in 37 minutes. The players held serve and Djokovic looked to be heading to the semis.

Djokovic dropped his first service game of the fourth set and called for a medical timeout. It was reported that he experienced vomiting and diarrhea before returning to the court. Down 5-0, Djokovic mounted a rally, climbing back to 3-5. At least he looked to be back in form, but the hole was too deep and Tsonga served out the set.

Tsonga then broke immediately. The heart came out of the Serb when the Frenchman held to go up 3-0. Djokovic held to go 1-3 but the bus was hard to stop as Tsonga cruised into a semifinal matchup with Roger Federer. It wasn’t pretty. In fact at points it was downright ugly, but that’s the way Jo Wilfried likes it.