Dream a Little Quarterfinal Dream Today

If there’s a winning ticket at a tennis tournament then today could be that day – it would be tough to think of two better women’s quarterfinal match-ups than what we have on the play card.

Incredibly, this afternoon we’re going to see a thrilling battle between world No. 1 Justine Henin and defending champion Serena Williams – what could be better than that pairing.

Then this evening we’re going to see Serena’s older sister, world No. 7 Venus Williams, come up against world No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova.

WOW!

Let’s chat about Henin and Serena Williams first as they will play first in the second match of the day on Stadium Court.

These two have history and they refer to that past as their “rivalry.” These top 10 artisans of the court have played 12 times in the past, and they are dead even at six matches apiece.

Now where it gets interesting is that the last time Serena captured a victory over Henin was right here in a three-set final last year. If that fact doesn’t make Serena feel in charge, maybe the fact that she’s already won the Sony Ericsson Open four times in the past might help – in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2007.

Adding to Serena’s feeling that she owns the Sony Ericsson Open is that it happens to be her home base tournament since she lives up the road in Palm Beach Gardens while Henin has never hoisted the trophy.

But it is not all a sunny picture for Serena as Henin has some definite positives to speak for her in this sensational quarterfinal.

Henin it turns out has beaten Serena the last three times they played – the matches all took place last year and were all quarterfinal outings at the biggest stages in the tennis world – the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

Both of these women had thoughts on today’s exciting quarterfinal after they won their fourth round matches on Monday.

Serena Williams said, “I couldn’t be happier. I feel like we haven’t played in a while. It’s a shame it can’t be in the finals, but I definitely look forward to playing her, for sure.

“I think we have a great rivalry. I mean, we definitely bring out some of the best tennis in each other, and she tends to play really well against me.”

Justine Henin said, “Actually it’s a very good memory from (our match here) last year even if I had match points and I lost the match. It was a day that I understood that I could win against Serena and that I could do it in Grand Slams three times in the same year. So it doesn’t mean that I’m going to win tomorrow, but I think that that gave me a lot of confidence last year to beat her three time in a row in the Grand Slams.”

“It’s very good to have this kind of rivalry, because she’s a champion and I think there was a lot of respect in our matches last year. Everyone was really excited about our meetings.”

This is a really difficult decision – pick the current best in the world over a former best in the world. However, it should be noted that while Henin has won all three of her matches in straightforward straight-set matches, Serena Williams had a tough three-setter on Sunday against Flavia Penetta.

Tough to call, but at the end of the day, Henin will head into the semifinals.

Interestingly enough in the other women’s quarterfinal, Venus Williams and Kuznetsova are also tied at 3-3 in matches played against each other. Venus captured their last outing – in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon—en route to winning her fourth career Wimbledon title. Kuznetsova has only had success against Venus on hard courts once in the past, winning their meeting in the 2004 Dubai quarterfinals.

Taking a page from Henin instead of her sister, Venus has had an easy time in her three previous matches this tournament, and has yet to drop a set.

Unfortunately for Kuznetsova, she cannot say the same about her road to the quarterfinals. Coming off of a final showing at the Pacific Life Open, Kuznetsova has struggled through two three-set matches and one tough two-set match in the fourth round. And against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the third round, Kuznetsova escaped a match point.

Venus Williams has won this trophy three times to just once for Kuznetsova.  Venus won her first big title here 10 years ago, then won again in 1999 and in 2001, while “Kuzy” was successful in 2006.

Venus took a break while Kuznetsova was working her way to the Pacific Life Open final, so the local South Florida lady should be feeling fresher. Williams will keep Kuznetsova at bay.

In men’s fourth round action, world No. 2 Rafael Nadal will head to the court against No. 16 Paul-Henri Mathieu.

In terms of their history in Miami, Nadal was a finalist in 2005 and Mathieu’s best showing was a fourth round berth here last year.

While there’s no doubt that Mathieu has improved his game to reach the top 20 in the world and has captured four career titles, that really doesn’t compare that well to Nadal’s three French Open trophies, and 20 other titles.

However, Nadal has not won a title since Stuttgart last July, and he has had trouble with a knee injury. Mathieu is capable of creating the upset, so Nadal needs to be careful. Nadal is looking fit and strong here in Miami though, so he gets the nod.