Roland Garros 2010 Day 10 Order Of Play

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Spain's Nicolas Almagro eyes the ball after hitting a forehand to Spain's Fernando Verdasco during their men's fourth round match in the French Open tennis championship at the Roland Garros stadium, on May 31, 2010, in Paris.

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We have arrived at the final eight. MadProfessah has posted his predictions and we'll talk about them here as the action unfolds.

Conventional wisdom states that Elena Dementieva is the best active player on the WTA never to have won a slam. I reject that. That honor goes to Miss Nadia Petrova. No, she's never been to a Slam final, never won an Olympic Gold, but she has the most talent and most complete game of the non-Slam winners in the women's field. And she can serve. We know what her deadliest weakness is and I, for one, am hoping she can smother it this week and make her first Slam final.

I'm also rooting for Francesca Schiavone, one of the most imaginative players on the tour who fights to the bigger end. She'll have her work cut out for her against the backboard that his Caroline Wozniacki, but if the veteran can frustrate the youngster enough, she'll advance to her first Slam semifinal in the latter days of her career. What a story that would be.

As for the men, it probably goes without saying but I'll say it anyway: I wanna see Robin Söderling play Tomas Berdych in the semifinals. Let it be, let it be.

Schedule for Day 10: Tuesday, 1 June 2010

Court Philippe Chatrier 14:00 Start Time
1. Women's Singles - Quarterfinals
Francesca Schiavone (ITA)[17] v. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)[3]
2. Men's Singles - Quarterfinals
Roger Federer (SUI)[1] v. Robin Soderling (SWE)[5]
3. Men's Doubles - Fourth Round
Marc Lopez (ESP)/Pere Riba (ESP) v. Wesley Moodie (RSA)/Dick Norman (BEL)[4]

Court Suzanne Lenglen 14:00 Start Time
1. Women's Singles - Quarterfinals
Elena Dementieva (RUS)[5] v. Nadia Petrova (RUS)[19]
2. Men's Singles - Quarterfinals
Tomas Berdych (CZE)[15] v. Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)[11]
3. Men's Doubles - Fourth Round
Lukasz Kubot (POL)/Oliver Marach (AUT)[6] v. Daniel Nestor (CAN)/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)[2]

Court 1 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - Fourth Round
Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/Leander Paes (IND)[3] v. Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/Marcin Matkowski (POL)[8]
2. Women's Doubles - Fourth Round
Monica Niculescu (ROU)/Shahar Peer (ISR) v. Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)/Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP)[2]
3. Mixed Doubles - Third Round
Vania King (USA)/Christopher Kas (GER) v. Tathiana Garbin (ITA)/Marcin Matkowski (POL)
4. Women's Doubles - Fourth Round
Kveta Peschke (CZE)/Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)[12] v. Alona Bondarenko (UKR)/Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR)

Court 2 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - Fourth Round
Marcelo Melo (BRA)/Bruno Soares (BRA) v. Julian Knowle (AUT)/Andy Ram (ISR)[10]
2. Girls' Singles - Second Round
Nastja Kolar (SLO)[4] v. Charlene Seateun (FRA)
3. Mixed Doubles - Third Round
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)/Julian Knowle (AUT) v. Cara Black (ZIM)/Leander Paes (IND)[2]

Roland Garros 2010 Women's Quarterfinals

By MadProfessah

Here are my predictions for the women's quarterfinals at Roland Garros this year.

Serena Williams USA (1) vs. Samantha Stosur AUS (7) Justine Henin BEL (22). For the second year in a row, the winner of the tournament will be decided in the quarterfinal in which Serena Williams competes. Last year, Serena lost a nervy, tension-filled (frankly, ugly) quarterfinal match to eventual champion, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. This year instead of playing the 4-time Roland Garros champion Henin (who had a 24-match winning streak since Tathiana Garbin beat the 2003 defending champion in the second round at this tournament in 2004) Serena will face last year's semifinalist Samantha Stosur. The Serena-Justine showdown had been the most anticipated match on either side of the draw, even in a section of the draw called the "quarter of death" by Brad Gilbert. However, thanks to the hard-hitting, brilliant-serving Sam Stosur, that storyline is now dismissed from the tournament. Serena and Sam have only played four times (all on hard courts) with Stosur winning once, in Stanford last year. Serena is a woman on a mission, and will not be denied her chance to reach another Roland Garros final. PREDICTION: Serena in 3 sets.

Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ vs. Jelena Jankovic SRB (4). Surely Jelena Jankovic is too strong a defensive player to go through her entire career without winning a major? She made it to the 2008 U.S. Open final (losing to Serena in two close sets) but I believe that it is clay where her particular skills should be rewarded the most. Following that first major final Jankovic fell into a major downward spiral (although not as precipitous a decline as her Serbian countrywoman Ana Ivanovic, who although she possesses the 2008 French Open title still does not own a reliable second (or first) serve.) Jankovic has played well on clay this year, having beaten both Williams sisters on her way to the Rome final (which she lost). She should seize on the good fortune of not being in the "quarter of death" and sneak into her second major final. PREDICTION: Jankovic in 2 sets.

Francesca Schiavone ITA (17) vs. Caroline Wozniacki DEN (3). Wozniacki can regain the World #2 ranking by getting to the final, although I suspect her current Italian opponent and future Russian opponent will do their best to help maintain Venus Williams' hold on that position. This is the veteran Schiavone's 4th career quarterfinal, her second in Paris since reaching that lofty height in her debut at the tournament in 2001. The young Dane had never been past the 4th round of a major despite being on the tour for 3 years until her major breakthrough in New York (over Svetlana Kuznetsova in one of the very best matches of 2009) last year, where she lost the final to Kim Clijsters. In these clashes between wily veteran and talented youngster it is often the older player who comes out the loser because they more viscerally understand the significance (and rarity) of the moment and I expect this case to be no different. Youth will be served, again. PREDICTION:Wozniacki in 2 sets.

Elena Dementieva RUS (5) vs. Nadia Petrova RUS (19) Venus Williams USA (2). Oh, Venus! After getting past her 3rd Round Roland Garros jinx easily she meekly went out to the hard-hitting, mentally fragile Petrova on a cold wet day in straight sets, losing to someone she had never lost to on any surface. Sigh. Soon to turn 30 years-old, and for once blessed with a draw that had all the deadliest players in the other half for once, Venus couldn't keep it together long enough to make another deep run at the clay major, despite having amassed a very good record on clay this year. Petrova has always done well in Paris, first breaking through here at age 17 into the semifinals in 2003. Her opponent, Elena Dementieva, has quietly snuck through the draw, losing only one set in a tiebreak to Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, with almost no one discussing her chances despite being a finalist here in 2004 and having played the best women's match on tour last year. Matches between the Russians are very often hideous, tight affairs with one player losing worse than the other instead of one player winning decisively. That's what I expect to see in this match. Head-to-head there's not much between these two, they are tied 7-7 in career matches, 2-2 in clay court matches and 1-1 in grand slam matches. Petrova has won exactly 2 major quarterfinal matches before, here in Paris, while the 6-month-older Dementieva has won 8 major quarterfinals, although only one in Paris. PREDICTION: Dementieva in 3 sets.