2011 FRENCH OPEN: Woz, Stosur Upset! Raja, Gael, Gasquet In R16

Daniela Hantuchova celebrates her defeat of World #1 Caroline Wozniacki at the 2011 French Open

For the first time since 1971 in the era of Open tennis, the two top seeds on the women side have been eliminated in a major tournament before the 4th round. World #1 Caroline Wozniacki followed World #2 Kim Clijsters exit yesterday by being swept off the court 6-1 6-3 by hard-hitting, mentally fragile Daniela Hantuchova. Wozniacki has been #1 despite being in only one major final (which she lost to Clijsters). Hantuchova will face 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova for a quarterfinal berth. Another stunning upset on the women's side was the disappearance of 2010 French Open finalist Samantha Stosur who got outplayed by Gisela Dulko 6-4 1-6 6-3. Vera Zvonareva, Jelea Jankovic and defending champion Francesca Schiavone all advanced to the round of 16.

On the men's side the marquee match of the tournament between the only players besides Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to have won a major title in the last 5 years was scheduled last on for the day and thus had to be stopped completely even with Novak Djokovic winning the first set 6-3 and Juan Martín del Potro returning the favor. They will play a best of 3-sets tomorrow after a women's match. Djokovic has a 39-match winning streak on the line against someone who everyone acknowledges is a Top 5-level player even though he is currently seeded #25. Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils are in the final 16 at their hometown tournament but unfortunately their third musketeer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was unable to join them despite winning the first two sets against Stanislas Wawrinka, who will play Federer in the fourth round. Monfils will face David Ferrer who has not dropped a set all tournament for a potential quarterfinal berth against Federer. Gasquet has the unenviable task of playing the winner of the Del Potro-Djokovic encounter.

ROME: Djokovic Outlasts Murray In 3-set Thriller, Faces Nadal

Novak Djokovic faced his toughest test of the year against fellow 2011 Australian Open finalist Andy Murray in the semifinals of the Italian Open. After nearly 3 hours, Djokovic won the match 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (2) despite being down a break in the final set repeatedly, including 4-5. The match was full of hard-hitting, "lung bursting" rallies and thrilling shots from both ends of the court, one of the best matches of the year.

The Serb's 36th match win of 2011 sets up a 4th final match up with World #1 Rafael Nadal, who had dismissed Richard Gasquet 7-5 6-1. Gasquet was playing his best tennis in years, having dispatched Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych from the tournament.

Djokovic beat Nadal for the first time last week in an astonishing display of poise and power 7-5 6-4 to win his 3rd Masters 1000 Series shield of the year in Madrid.  Nadal still owns a 16-10 advantage over Djokovic and a 10-1 advantage on clay. However, he has a mere 5-3 edge in finals, with the Serbian winning the last 3 in a row.

Last week I predicted Nadal to win, and I think I will do so again, because I feel that Djokovic will not be as fresh as he was last week. Nadal will be incredibly motivated not to lose 4 times in a row to Djokovic and will want to try out a new game plan against him on clay before Roland Garros. Then again, Djokovic may feel like he simply can not lose after outlasting Murray and may use that confidence to extend his amazing 2011 streak.

MadProfesah's pick: Nadal in 2 sets, Djokovic in 3.

Rome: Federer Loses To Gasquet; Nadal, Murray Reach Semis

Roger Federer lost a tight 4-6 7-6(2) 7-6(4) clay court match to Richard Gasquet at the Rome Masters despite being up a set and a break. Gasquet followed up his best win in over two years with by defeating 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych 4-6 6-2 6-4 to reach the semifinals.

Joining him in the semifinals of the Rome Masters 1000 tournament is World #1 Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, who will face each other on one side of the draw. Murray will likely face red-hot Novak Djokovic (who has now won 34 consecutive matches in 2011) in the other semifinal, if Djokovic gets past Robin Soderling in the last quarterfinal. Gasquet will face Nadal.

Nadal will retain his #1 ranking going into Roland Garros, where he will be the favorite to win a 6th French Open title. If Nadal had not reached the semifinal and Djokovic won the tournament, the Serb would have reached the #1 ranking. The Spaniard is defending a huge number of ranking points for the next several months, since he won the last three major tournaments of the year.

UPDATE 05/12/2011 16:10PM PDT
Djokovic dismissed Soderling 6-3 6-3 to win his 35th match of the year and will face Murray, not Gasquet. I expect a fourth consecutive Djokovic-Nadal Masters 1000 final. This time, one would have to give the edge to Djokovic to go all the way and claim the title, since he showed last week he doesn't need to fear Nadal on clay.