As Sally so graciously pointed out below, my picks were right for the Wimbledon quarterfinals (Well, except for Rainer Schuettler and Arnaud Clement who haven’t finished their match yet)! I’m amazed at myself.
The most impressive of the three completed matches was Rafael Nadal’s pounding of Andy Murray. I knew it was coming. I think a lot of us knew it was coming, and since I’m not British, I wasn’t forced by birth into rooting for lost causes.
Three lop-sided sets later (6-3, 6-2, 6-4), Murray was wiping his brow and Rafa was looking like a dominant front-runner to win Wimbledon. …read more

Roger Federer took a commanding 6-1 first set from Mario Ancic, and it was 1-all in the second when the rains shooed them off court.
In the other quarter of this half of the draw, Feliciano Lopez holds a 5-2 first set lead before the rain break over Marat Safin. Granted, a lot can happen in a best-of-five match, but it’s not a great way for Safin to start out.
But here goes my picks. Roger over Ancic. Safin takes advantage of the rain break, comes back and takes out Lopez. In the other half of the draw, Rainer Schuettler over Arnaud …read more

Well, it wasn’t the match I was hoping for. It wasn’t anything really. Roger Federer imposed his will on Lleyton Hewitt and ousted the Aussie in straight sets (7-6, 6-2, 6-4) to move into the quarterfinals. Federer looks good, folks. He looks really sharp.
Holy whoa! What have we got going on Court 11?! Fernando Verdasco and Mario Ancic are in an old-fashioned brawl. Verdasco won the first two sets 6-3, 6-4, but Ancic counter-punched by winning the next two sets 6-4, 6-3. Neither one is giving way in the fifth set; they’re deadlocked at 9-all. Man, I wish I …read more

Andy Murray sent Mario Ancic packing in the Marseille Open, beating the Croatian 6-3, 6-4 to win the title. After the match Murray said he thought he’d be back in the top 10 when the new ATP rankings were released but the ATP statistician said that wasn’t the case. Thank goodness there was one of those on hand to set the record straight. It’s a wonder tennis survived through those years when ATP statisticians weren’t around every corner. The burning question here, however; does Murray have a hair stylist amongst his team of “experts”? If not, he needs one. Badly. Desperately.

Mario Ancic took out Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals at Marseille to set up a final showdown with fourth-seeded Andy Murray. Murray beat eighth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-2 earlier for his ticket to Sunday’s final.
Not that this is the most interesting piece of tennis news out there but I thought it worthy of note for two reasons. Ancic has been down and out due to injury – missing six months of last season – has been struggling to get back to where he used to be: a former world number seven tennis player.
Murray has been hit and miss …read more