Week 18 Semifinals

Of the three ATP tournaments going on this week, two of them are going according to plan, more or less. Not much of particular excitement is taking place in either Estoril or Munich, but we'll address their semifinal lineups momentarily, anyway. First of all, I want to talk about one of the most exciting quarterfinal days we've had all year, at the Serbia Open in Belgrade.

The day opened with John Isner against Richard Gasquet. Despite Gasquet's lower ranking, there was little doubt that he was the favorite. He was the much more accomplished clay court player, and his game should have been suited to the surface. The first set was something of a rout, with Isner losing his serve twice and not even getting a break point against the Frenchman. The second set was tight, and got all the way to 5-all in the tiebreak. At this point, the story was that Isner should have folded under the pressure, but he held tough, took the set, and then won the third 6-3. It's a big win for the American, who has decided he doesn't want to believe the talk about U.S. players or big servers not being able to play on the clay.

The other American in action, Sam Querrey, had a match that I would have bet on him to lose. He took the first set and lost the second, then got up two breaks in the third set. At that point, he completely choked while serving for the match, and let the Russian Igor Andreev get back into the match. It looked similar to his loss in Rome, where he served for the match and was broken. However, here, Sam recovered and managed to serve it out in the second time of asking. Kudos to Querrey for getting out of his own way and winning.

The middle match was supposed to be the highlight, and it was probably the tightest match of the day. Stanislas Wawrinka, a very good clay-court player, was taking on a local favorite, so Viktor Troicki knew he had the crowd behind him. The match went 7-5, 6-7(3), 7-6(6). Wawrinka saved three match points in the third set. It was really a deflating loss for the Serbian fans, but it was nothing compared to what happened in the night match.

Novak Djokovic was slated to play Serbian teenager and wildcard Filip Krajinovic, and he sort of did - for a set. I don't think Djokovic was in any shape to play any kidn of tennis, but he showed up and did his best for a set, because he's the owner of the tournament. This is such a weird situation, but kudos to Djokovic for giving the fans something to see, even if it wasn't what they were hoping for. And it's a lucky break for Krajinovic, who had never won an ATP match before this week and whose previous loss came to a player ranked outside the top 450 in the world. Unless Sam Querrey loses his mind, then Krajinovic is going to get smoked in the semis. The match between Isner and Wawrinka is much more exciting. That one could go either way.

In any case, looking over to Estoril, things have gotten exceptionally boring. I mentioned at the beginning of the week that the only two players who could challenge Federer are Monfils and Ljubicic, who both withdrew before play began. That means that the second-highest ranked player in this tournament is Albert Montanes, ranked 30 places below Federer. That will be Fed's opponent tomorrow, but really, there isn't anyone left who should trouble Roger. A win is a win, but it's almost like he's winning a minor-league event at this point. I don't know how much momentum he can expect to get from notching wins over these guys, who - all respect to their capabilities - are relative scrubs.

There's some potential drama in Munich, at least, as Marcos Baghdatis, who had never been much of a clay court player before, won his match against the top German player, Philipp Kohlschreiber. But the German fans in the audience did get to see one of their own make it through, as Philipp Petzschner upset Tomas Berdych. These players will face the two men are now the favorites to meet in the final, Marin Cilic and Mikhail Youzhny. That could be an exciting match-up. We'll see how things shake out. Cilic has still been a bit shaky, but seems to be more confident than he has been in quite a few weeks.

On the women's tour, Serena Williams was doing her best Roger Federer impersonation in Rome. She lost to Jelena Jankovic, after being up a break in the third set, having a match point on serve, and then being up a mini-break in the third set tiebreak. It's an impressive fightback from Jankovic, who has now beaten both William Sisters back to back, but really a disappointing performance from Serena. Still, does she really need to win Rome again? We'll see how she bounces back in the coming weeks. Jankovic could have faced a resurgent Ana Ivanovic in the final, but her run was upset by another player having a dream week, 26th ranked Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Not quite the blockbuster final that the organizers were hoping for, but it's good to see Jankovic playing well again.