Week 43 Semifinals

There was one big piece of news in the tennis world, today: the shocking retirement of Elena Dementieva, who played her last WTA match against Francesca Schiavone and lost. It's really a shame to see her go, but on one level, I can understand - her year was plagued with injuries, and at age 29, it's possible that her lingering conditions are only going to get worse, not better, as time goes on. It also sounded like she was interested in settling down and having a baby, which is completely understandable. Finally, she didn't want to slide down in the rankings and be struggling to qualify for entry into tournaments. All of this is commendable, but I'm still sad to see her go. She was a great player to watch when she was on - even though her serving woes and mental fragility in big moments could also make her bad days tough to endure. Still, she was an absolute class act and had the cleanest ground strokes you could ever hope to see. She'll be missed, and I wish her all the best in her future endeavors. As a player who also seemed to be a fan of the sport, I wouldn't be surprised if she stayed near to the game in some capacity, once she's had a little time away.

While that may have been all that was on people's minds today, there was also some pretty good tennis. Though not in Doha, where none of the matches had any significance regarding who would make it to the semifinals, and they were basically played that way. On the other hand, the quarterfinals of the men's events taking place this week had some excellent action. Nine of the 12 matches went three sets, and three of them ended in decisive-set tiebreaks.

There were some big upsets today. Albert Montanes benefited from Nikolay Davydenko's continued poor run of form, as the Russian lost to the Spaniard in second and third set tiebreaks, having won the first set 6-3. Davy's year is pretty much over, and he's got to be looking to rebuild next season. After he fails to defend his ranking points from the year-end championships last year, his ranking is going to drop like a stone. I'm not sure where he'll end up, but he'll probably be the farthest he's been from the top ten in a long while.

Otherwise, in Monpellier, the favorites came out on top. Monfils ended up being too strong for John Isner. The American took the first set after breaking Monfils in an early moment of lackadaisical play from Monfils, but after that, it was all business. In the end, Monfils returning was stronger than Isner's serving power. The same could not be said for Gilles Simon or Jarkko Nieminen, who both lost to big-serving, big-hitting players as well. Simon stole the second set from JW Tsonga by running away with the tiebreak 7-0, but Tsonga recovered in the third set. His weakest passage of play was in the second set tiebreak, when he just went on walkabout. Very strange from a player with a good record in tiebreaks, generally. Nieminen, on the other hand, lost a very tight third-set tiebreak to Ivan Ljubicic after a pair of calls from the umpire failed to go his way - one a serve from Ljubicic that was probably out by the ump declined to overrule, and another a ball from the Finn that was very close (and farther away from the umpire's chair) which he called out. Tough break for Jarkko, but he's playing well and should be encouraged by how he's finishing the season.

The semifinals here are Ljubicic-Montanes and Monfils-Tsonga. I have to say that I think whoever wins between Monfils and Tsonga will win in the final, no matter who comes through between Ljubicic and Montanes. Both of these guys love playing in France, they're both showmen, and that combined with their natural talent should be enough to get them the championship.

In Vienna, the most anticipated match-up of the day fizzled out, but at least it did so in the way that was preferable for the tournament. Jurgen Melzer automatically advanced when Kohlschreiber withdrew with injury. Surprisingly, he's joined in the semifinals by lucky loser Andreas Haider-Maurer, who demolished second seed Marin Cilic today. It was an impressive performance from the young (well, young in terms of experience) Austrian. He benefited even more when Marcos Baghdatis was surprisingly beaten by German journeyman Michael Berrer. That's a winnable semifinal for Andreas, and if Melzer can get past Nicolas Almagro, we could have an all-Austrian final in Vienna. That would be spectacular for the tournament. I know that I and the tournament organizers will be keeping our fingers crossed for the hometown boys.

Unfortunately, there's no hope for a similar final in St. Petersburg, though one of the semis is an all Russian affair. In fact, that's probably the more important semifinal, as Mikhail Youzhny and Dmitry Tursunov are both experienced players with multiple titles on their belt, while both of their potential opponents in the other semifinal, Mikhail Kukushkin and Ilya Marchenko, are vying for their first tour-level final appearance. I like Youzhny to win this match, but I'm rooting for Tursunov, who is recovering from ankle surgery. He's such a character, it would be fun to have him in the mix again next year.

Still lots of great action yet to come this weekend, as the semifinals in Doha start tomorrow as well. Now things really count, as the elimination matches begin. Clijsters plays Stosur and Zvonareva plays Wozniacki, which are both coincidentally rematches from this year's U.S. Open! All four of these players have been playing exceptional tennis this week, but Zvonareva is the only one who didn't drop a match in round robin play. It's tough to know what to expect tomorrow, but it should be fun to watch.