Australian Open Semifinals Underway

I'm surprised at how much injuries and illnesses have proved to be in these late stages of the Australian Open. It is not a good sign for the rest of the season if the year is just underway and nobody can stay fit.

Djokovic was looking good against Tsonga last night, up two sets to one, when he became physically ill. I give him a lot of credit for two things - first of all, he didn't throw up in a flowerpot on court a la Pete Sampras, and second, he did finish the match, unlike last year. It's a shame, though. I don't know whether it was a problem with conditioning or something that he ate, or what, but he has to regret losing that first set tiebreak. If he'd taken it, he would have been off the court in straight sets. Instead, Tsonga is in to his second grand slam semifinal, where he will face...

Roger Federer, who gets half the credit in his win against Nikolay Davydenko. He was getting blown off the court for the first set and a half. He wasn't even in the match. But the moment that Davydenko blinked, Federer was more than happy to snatch control of the match out of the Russian's hands. They only played well at the same time in the last three games of the match, and it was Federer in four. Davydenko was at least very good-spirited in his defeat. You should definitely see his post-match interview, if you can.

Also, the Williams sisters' opponents showed much more game than I expected of either of them. Serena's match was a lot like Roger's, with Serena starting slow while Azarenka was blowing her off the court for the first set and a half. But then Serena started playing the best possible tennis. Not her best, but *the* best. There was nothing Azarenka could do after Serena reached that gear, except hope that Serena would let up. She didn't.

Venus was less lucky, losing an ugly third set against Li Na of China. She was broken five times in the last set, which went to 7-5. I wouldn't expect Serena to repeat that kind of performance against Li. That match is tonight, and the only danger is that Serena might not be able to recover very well without a day of rest in between her quarter and semifinal matches. Even without rest, I expect Serena to win.

Li Na's compatriot Zheng Jie has a tough ask as well, as she's up against Justine Henin in the other semifinal. The Chinese players are both trying to act as spoilers, preventing the world from getting the Serena-Justine final that everybody has been wanting since Clijsters was knocked out of the tournament. We'll see if that's what we get.

The men's semifinal tonight is a rematch of a fourth-round matchup from the U.S. Open, when Andy Murray came out distracted and never got his game together against Marin Cilic. I expect that things will be much tougher tonight. Marin has just played too much tennis, and add that to the fact that he's in his first grand slam semifinal, and this is Murray's match to win or lose. He was so sharp against Nadal, and he only had to play two sets. I expect him to be fresher, more focused, and hungrier.