Matches to watch, day 10

While the lineup for last night's matches may have prefigured a blockbuster, once again injuries kept us from getting as much as we could have. The Roddick-Cilic match was competitive, but it shouldn't have been. Roddick was hobbled and only managed to win a couple of sets when Cilic took an hour-long walkabout. In the fifth set, Cilic realized he had to start playing again while Roddick, who seemed within reach of an impossibly unlikely victory, tightened up. A very strange match.

But at least it was a match. Nadal and Murray played two tight sets before Nadal had to retire. Pencil Murray in through to the finals, as he won't be losing to Cilic in two slams in a row.

On the women's side, Justine Henin will face unlikely semifinalist Zheng Jie for a spot against whichever Williams sister opts to play better in the other half of the draw.

I admit that the events of the past few days have tempered my excitement for the upcoming season. If the players can't even stay healthy in the first month of the season, it's tough to expect them to do so for the last nine. But anyway...

Even though tonight's matches look like they could possibly be stunners, I'm feeling a bit cynical.

Roger Federer vs. Nikolay Davydenko - For the first few rounds of the tournament, Federer struggled while Davydenko looked like a world-beater. But in the 4th round, order was restored. Federer demolished Hewitt while Davydenko limped past Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco, who gifted him nearly a set's worth of double-faults. While Davydenko may be 2-0 against Federer in the past couple of months, that run ends here.

Novak Djokovic vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - Another potentially interesting match, and a rematch of the 2008 final, which Djokovic won. Since then, Tsonga has prevailed in four out of their five contests. But this is a grand slam, and it's three-out-five, where Djokovic has proven himself to be a stronger competitor than the Frenchman.

As for the women, the only reason one of the Williams sisters might lose is if they don't show up for the match. It's really out of their opponents' hands.