Another Rainy Day at Roland Garros
Rain delayed the start of yesterday's quarterfinal matches by nearly three hours. Fortunately, the rain let up and there was just enough time to get all of the remaining singles quarterfinals completed by the end of the day.
6-2
6-2 was the score of the day in the women's quarterfinal matches yesterday. All four sets ended with 6-2 scores. Simona Halep cruised past former Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova while Andrea Petkovic upset former Roland Garros finalist Sara Errani.
Burning the Midnight Oil
Andy Murray needed five sets to see of the elastic Frenchman Gael Monfils. Monfils—a former top ten player—lost the first two sets before he came roaring back to win the third and fourth sets, forcing a decisive fifth. Because rain delayed the start of yesterday's matches, it seemed unlikely that the match would finish before it got too dark, but Murray hustled through a 24 minute 6-0 fifth set to slam the door and win at 9:40 PM Paris time.
Return to Sender
Andrea Petkovic took advantage of Sara Errani's weak service to grab hold of the match and never let go. Petko won 66% of the total points that Errani served, though she only hit one return winner. Her aggressive returning proved to be the difference and she easily advanced to her first career Grand Slam semifinal with a straight set 6-2, 6-2 victory. She'll face Simona Halep who also will be contesting her first ever Grand Slam semifinal. As a side note, Petkovic is the first German to make the Roland Garros semis since Steffi Graf won the tournament in 1999.
Slow Start for Nadal
Rafael Nadal dropped his first set at this year's French Open to David Ferrer. The top seed committed 15 errors in the first set while hitting just 6 winners. He cleaned up his game through rest of the match, committing only 16 additional errors through three sets. He had an exceptional third set where he committed no unforced errors and only hit three in the fourth set. Ferrer hit an uncharacteristic 50 unforced errors throughout the match.
Semifinals are Set
All of the singles semifinals are now set. The women's semis will be contested today no earlier than 3 PM Paris time (9 AM EST), after the mixed doubles final. Maria Sharapova will start the semifinals off against rising Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard. Simona Halep will follow against the resurgent Andrea Petkovic. The men's semifinals are scheduled for tomorrow.