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The Australian Open: Day 11 Recap
by Nadya Vlassoff
Day 11 of the Australian Open began with the first half of the semi-final matches in the singles and doubles events. Nathalie Dechy and Andy Ram continued to surprise as they took on Tommy Robredo and Anabel Medina Garrigues from Spain who were seeded 7th. It was a close second set but it ended as Robredo dumped a return into the net handing the match over to the unseeded duo. This is the first time Dechy has made it to the final in Melbourne and the second for Ram who won last year’s men’s doubles title with fellow Israeli Jonathon Elrich. The duo won the French Open in 2007 and look to continue their winning ways in the final. In the first of the two women’s semi-final matchups, Serena Williams was taking on Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina was set to take on fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva. In the last match of the night, Roger Federer looked to continue his imposing win margin against a new and improved Andy Roddick. Here is a look at the highlights.
The Roger Federer Show
 The player in the world who can be ranked number 2 but play like he’s number 1 is Roger Federer. Even though Andy Roddick was looking incredibly solid throughout this tournament having only dropped one set it was Federer who had elevated his level of play in his last match against Juan Martin del Potro. Once the two took to the court there seemed to be little competition as the great Federer took control early by breaking the Roddick serve twice to take the set 6-2. Roddick had no answers and seemed petulant as he argued a line call from the chair umpire over an ace that Federer hit which was initially called out but was then overruled. From there, Roddick seemed to regain some rhythm in the second set as he held serve until the 11th game when Federer broke through and then served for the set winning 7-5. Roddick continued in similar fashion, drawing laughter from the crowd as he continued to make pointed jabs at the chair umpire and Federer continued, unfazed as he raced through his service games and waited for Roddick to make a mistake. And Roddick did not disappoint as he again faltered in the 11th game of the 3rd set and was broken. Federer closed out the match with a winner as Roddick could not delay the inevitable any longer. So it is Roger Federer back in the final and in brilliant form. Will it be Nadal or Verdasco who waits for him on the other side of the court? Whoever it is, neither will be expecting an easy match against the newly rejuvenated Federer.
Serena Williams: 2 for 1
 It was all Serena Williams on Day 11 as she crushed the dreams of Elena Dementieva underneath the weight of her ferocious ground game. Dementieva, who until yesterday, was on the hottest win streak of any women on the tour, played some brilliant tennis in the first set but was no match for Serena who broke to take a lead and did not look back from there as she took the first set 6-3. It was a rematch between the two who had recently played at the Medibank International in Sydney where Dementieva was victorious. But this is a grand slam. This is what Serena Williams does. And she did not disappoint. In the second set Dementieva looked like she was ready to post a comeback as she made it 4 all but had those thoughts decisively destroyed as Serena smacked a forehand winner that nearly knocked the fluff off of the ball as well as Dementieva’s hopes and dreams. Serena made quick work of the set from there and took the match 6-3, 6-4. For Dementieva, this has to be slightly disappointing. She is an extremely well-rounded player and perhaps the best to have never won a grand slam so far in the women’s top ten but once again Serena Williams dominated to show why 10 is such a perfectly round number.
In her second match of the day, Serena partnered up with sister Venus as they took on Casey Dellaqua and Francesca Schiavone in the first women’s semi-final. Serena, having played 3 matches in 24 hours looked unfazed as she and Venus continued to dominate and looked ready to retake the title they won in 2001 and 2003.
Tonight, the headlining match will be between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco. The all Spanish semi-final pits the two Fed cup teammates against each other in the biggest matchup of Verdasco’s career. With Dinara Safina winning her semi-final match against Vera Zvonareva, the women’s final is set for Saturday night. Let’s see if Day 12 can be kind to the favorites or we might just have one of the biggest upsets of the tournaments on our hands in the men’s singles semi-final.
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