Rome Quarterfinals

We're down to the last eight in Rome. The action today was, for the most part, not too terribly exciting. Only one match went three sets, and it wasn't because of the thrilling tennis. Ernests Gulbis was trying almost as hard as he did on Monday to choke away a match that he was playing well enough to win, and his opponent Filippo Volandri nearly let him, but he wasn't sufficiently solid to take the third set either. Gulbis advances to the quarterfinal and faces the winnner (if you can call him that) of the only match to go fewer than two sets.

That's right. Ivan Ljubicic apparently injured his rib during the warm-up in his match against Feliciano Lopez, and was forced to withdraw. Great result for Lopez, who really had no business making it to this stage. And how thrilled is he to see Ernests Gulbis, who almost gave away both of his previous matches, rather than Roger Federer? If Ernie plays the way he can, he should win, but if he gets overwhelmed by the situation, then it will be tough for him.

They'll be playing for the honor of facing the winner of Rafael Nadal vs. Stanislas Wawrinka, which is to say - they'll be playing to face Nadal. Credit to Wawrinka, who upset Robin Soderling, but the Swede was playing jaded after all the tennis he's played lately. And in that condition, who can get too excited about probably getting a revenge beatdown from Nadal? Soderling definitely didn't tank, but I doubt that his heart was entirely in it today. And who could blame him? Best of luck to Stan, who staged the best win of his career here a couple years ago when he beat Roger Federer, but I don't give him too much chance against Nadal. He would have to play perfect and then get a Nadal who's somewhat off his game. In his match today, Hanescu was the best I've ever seen him play for stretches, but Nadal still dispatched him with ease. Good luck, Stan.

While there's only a single seed left in the top half of the draw, and he could probably beat the other three players if they were all working together, the bottom half of the draw is still loaded with top players. The first quarterfinal is JW Tsonga against David Ferrer, who have never faced each other on tour before. One's a big hitter, the other's a big returner. I give Ferrer the edge on this surface, but it could go either way.

The other quarterfinal is even tighter. Novak Djokovic, still the number two player in the world, squares off against a guy who is putting together a spectacular run this season so far, Fernando Verdasco. "Hot Sauce" made the final in Monte Carlo and won Barcelona, so he's playing well. Djoko, on the other hand, hasn't been showing his best stuff with any consistency since his win in the Davis Cup against the US. He's been great for a match or two, but then he falls apart again. The Serb hasn't beaten a player ranked inside the top 15 all year. The thing is, though, that he hasn't had the chance to play that many, either. He could start to get his year back on track with a win here against Verdasco. Should be a fun one, though.