Quarterfinal Results!

Sup everyone, M here. The quarterfinals came to a close today and the semifinals are set to go tomorrow in Barcelona. As we had mentioned in a previous entry Ferrer was the first one through to the semis after taking down Nalbandian. This was their sixth meeting and the fifth win for Ferrrer in their head to head. He didn't face a break point, which is hard to come by on clay courts and even harder so against such a high caliber player like Nalbandian, who seemed to be on a hot streak after his convincing win against former #1 Carlos Moya. The second quarterfinal match that got under way involved Nadal. He was seeking his 70th straight clay court win already way ahead of Guillermo Villa's previous record of 53. It will be a long time for this new record to be broken. Nadal was playing exceptionally well in his previous two matches but today, well we can say he played sloppier than usual. He was broken when serving for the match. This was the first time his serve was broken in the tournament. Either Starace was playing high quality tennis or Nadal was just off. Let's give the Italian some credit shall we. He hung tight in the second set until he served at 5 -5 when Nadal broke and then served out the match. I guess Starace just couldn't deal with Nadal's energy as the Spaniard pump fisted his way to a 7-5 win. We mentioned before that Nadal last beat Ferrer in 2005 at the French Open. He has three straight wins against Ferrer coming into this semifinal. Nadal will be fueled by a couple things, his current streak and the chance to defend his title once again. Ferrer will fight to prove his fellow countrymen that he is a factor to be reckoned with on clay. They play tomorrow as the second semifinal at around 3:45pm Barcelona time or 9:45am easter time. The first semifinal will be played at 1:oopm Barcelona time or at 7am eastern time and involves Calleri and Canas.

Canas will be the clear favorite. Not only because of Rankings but the mere fact that he didn't have a quarterfinal match will give him a edge in physical ability. No match you say? Yep, what was supposed to be a great quarterfinal turned to dissapointment as not a single game was played between Canas and Davydenko. The number 4 in the world retired citing a wrist injury. Apparently he was getting massaged for a sore shoulder and by the end of it he couldn't freely move his fingers. A let down for sure as he was poised to make a resurgence this clay court season after many dissapointing results. Calleri on the other hand did have to play his quarterfinal and got through quite easily. He defeated Oscar Hernandez from Spain 6-0, 6-3. He played great tennis, he lost just one point on serve and thus did not face a single break point. He hopes to carry that win against Canas, who is looking to reach his third final of the year(Costa do Sauipe and Miami). We will of course be on top of all the results and we'll be posting them as fast as they come in so come back tomorrow morning for your dose of tennis action. Have a great weekend everyone. M out.