Aftershocks rumbled around Roland Garros as Serena Williams became the latest champion to topple, but Rafael Nadal proved rock solid by staying on course to regain his French Open title on Wednesday.
The day after defending champion Roger Federer’s hopes were shattered by Robin Soderling, Williams suffered a devastating quarter-final defeat, losing a three-set cliffhanger to Australia’s Samantha Stosur after squandering a match-point.
Novak Djokovic, the former Australian Open champion, suffered a similar fate when the men’s third seed blew a two-set lead against journeyman Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
PHOTO: EPA
It was the fall of world No. 1 Williams that made the biggest impact, however, as she had seemed to be closing in on a 13th Grand Slam title and her first in Paris since 2002.
The American amazingly lost 17 consecutive points midway through her match with Stosur, but still came back fighting and but for a forehand that missed by less than a ball’s width, she would have survived to fight another day.
As it was, steely seventh seed Stosur stayed the course to win 6-2, 6-7 (2/7), 8-6 as some Gold Coast-like sunshine finally returned to illuminate Court Philippe Chatrier after most of the clay-court Slam had unfolded under gray skies and drizzle.
PHOTO: REUTERS
It was a first victory against a current world No. 1 for Stosur, who stunned four-time champion Justine Henin in round four, while for Williams it was her first Grand Slam defeat having held match-point since the 1999 Australian Open.
“I expected to play better. I’m a little disappointed in the way I played,” the 28-year-old Williams told reporters. “Had I played better for two minutes, maybe the result could have been different. It was my match and I lost it. That’s basically what happened.”
Her loss meant only one of the top four women’s seeds reached the semi-finals, that being Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic, who prevailed 7-5, 6-4 against Kazakhstan’s unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova to seal a clash against Stosur.
With Russia’s Elena Dementieva and Italy’s Francesca Schiavone contesting the other women’s semi-final, one thing is certain — this year’s French Open will have a first-time Grand Slam champion.
“Two great matches back-to-back for me, which is fantastic,” said Stosur, who served for the match at 5-3 in the second set. “It’s not over yet. Now I’m in the semis, and I want to definitely try and keep going.”
With Federer off in search of grass courts and Djokovic out of the way, Nadal’s route to retake his title and the world No. 1 spot looks enticing, although danger lurks in the form of Soderling, still the only man to beat Nadal in 37 matches at Roland Garros.
Apart from a careless start against Nicolas Almagro on Wednesday and a couple of warnings for taking too much time between points, despite Nadal sporting a US$500,000 wristwatch, the Spaniard was faultless.
He needed to be to earn a 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 victory against a pugnacious opponent who went toe-to-toe with the four-time champion in a high-intensity baseline battle.
“I’m very happy how I played the tiebreaks. I played aggressive, very focused, and in the important moments I think I played better than the rest of the match,” said Nadal, who is now victorious in 22 consecutive matches against fellow Spaniards.
Nadal even indulged in some tricks usually reserved for grass-courts, saving a break-point at 4-4 in the second set with a classic serve and volley, before losing his rag with the umpire after being rapped for time-wasting.
“I thought I was being very fast. I didn’t even take the time to wipe my face,” he said. “I didn’t want to be fined or get a penalty-point, but I have a watch, I should check it.”
Match of the day was staged on Court Suzanne Lenglen where Djokovic and Melzer grafted for more than four hours.
Djokovic looked razor sharp when broke to lead 2-0 in the third set after bossing the opening two, but the wheels fell off and Melzer played the match of his life to win 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 and become the first Austrian since Thomas Muster in 1995 to reach the last four of the French Open.
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