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.

On the other side of the bracket, Roger Federer continued his impressive style, winning in straight sets over Mario Ancic. Prior to the match, reporters were touting Ancic’s position as the last man to beat Federer at Wimbledon. That was in 2002. Riiiiight. That was so far from being a factor in this match that it was a non-factor. It had nothing to do with it at all, and the results (6-1, 7-5, 6-4) proved it.

Two things to note about the top two players, though.
1) While Federer hasn’t dropped a set in the tournament (Rafa only dropped one against Ernest Gulbis), Rafa is playing his way into dominating form. That scary type of domination where he’s untouchable; the same type that led him to another French Open title a few weeks ago.
2) Federer has to face down Marat Safin in the semis. Safin is on his last hurrah (until the next one comes six years from now…), and players who think their last chance is at hand can be really dangerous. Even if there wasn’t that factor, Marat is the real deal. This isn’t his first time at a grass court hoedown, and Federer could have some trouble with the big-serving Safin. However, Rafa is going to have an unknown player who is unfamiliar with this type of stage. That player - Clement or Schuettler - will have also been on the court longer, been through more stress because of rain delays and generally will probably be less on point.

Speaking of Safin, how about his comeback against Feliciano Lopez? Safin lost the first set 6-3 but a long rain break helped the Russian regroup his commonly scattered concentrations and won the next three sets 7-5, 7-6, 6-3 to set up his date with God Roger in the semis.

Ultimately, I think we see Rafa and Roger in the final again. I want Roger to win this title. I’m cursed with being a realist, however, and I’m well aware that Rafa is playing with pocket aces.

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 Clement (I don’t know much of anything about either one of them), and as much as the entire population of the British Isles would love to see Andy Murray win, it’s going to be Rafael Nadal into the semis.

There - I’ve predicted. And since I’m quite horrible at calling games (hence why I’ve never taken up the occupation of gambling), I’ll be lucky to get two of the four.

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 was there.

How ’bout my girl Jelena? Yeah. Le sigh. Jelena Jankovic didn’t do much of anything in a piddly, po-dunk match against Tamarine Tanasugarn. T-squared gave the second-ranked Serb the boot 6-3, 6-2. I may end up having two today, but early morning Slacker of the Day honors have to go to JJ.

Both Serena and Venus Williams moved into the quarters with ease and the path to an all-Williams’ final is looking pretty sweet for the duo. Gosh, it’ll be like rolling back the clock a few years.

And Nicole Vaidisova, not at all known for her mental strength, came from a set down to move past Anna Chakvetadze for a quarterfinal berth.

The round of 16 - so very exciting - so very many matches and so very much drama!

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 with his biggest miss coming in the 2008 Australian Open. He was expected to make some sort of run but was booted in the first round by eventual finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

For those two reasons - the ability for these two players to win and get to the final - that is why this piece of news is noteworthy.

Not that it’s going to be meaningful in the long run but this Saturday in February - it makes a difference.