The Final Four at the French.\u00a0 He who\u00a0protests to have predicted these four is he who lies.<\/p>\n
The Top Half:<\/strong> Robin Soderling, the giant killer who slayed Nadal, went into the quarters as the underdog again, but he sure didn’t look like it.\u00a0 He absolutely smoked 10th-seeded Nikolai Davydenko, winning the first set in 23 minutes and only losing 5 games in three dominant sets.\u00a0 Soderling is hitting right through the clay (which is playing VERY fast this year) with a powerful, hardcourt-like game.\u00a0 His court coverage is good, but it is his baseline groundstrokes that have carried him to the semifinals.<\/p>\n 12th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez has also pounded his way to the semifinals.\u00a0 He did finally drop a set–the second set–against 3rd-seeded Andy Murray, but pounced back with\u00a0a bagel in the third and a 6-4 win in the fourth to get him to the semis.\u00a0 Though his game seems best suited for the hardcourts (and it probably is), he did grow up in Chile playing on clay courts, so he is very comfortable on the dirt.\u00a0 He looks incredibly good and is playing with immense confidence.\u00a0 He looked like the top-3 player and Murray looked like the guy trying to pull off an upset (complaining about his racket and such) on Tuesday.\u00a0 Gonzalez is going to be a very, VERY tough out.<\/p>\n BSB’s PICK:\u00a0 Gonzalez in 4.\u00a0 Yes, it is very difficult to pick against Soderling right now, but it seems viable.\u00a0 They both have very similar games, which means that Soderling will not be able to take advantage of matchup issues, like he did in his past two upsets.\u00a0 Gonzalez is more than happy to sit at the baseline and exchange forehands.\u00a0 Gonzalez is just better on the ground.\u00a0 Soderling’s one big advantage might be his service game, but we think that Gonzalez’s ground game will be enough to get him to the finals…at least.<\/p>\n The Bottom Half:<\/strong> Juan-Martin Del Potro–the BSB-proclaimed favorite to win this tournament–has rolled through pretty much every match so far.\u00a0 The only set he lost was a tiebreak to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and he came right back and won the following set 6-1.\u00a0 He made short work of experienced, solid clay courter, Tommy Robredo in the semis, in straight sets and just over two hours.\u00a0 He is probably the best player in the world that no one has ever heard of and this is his best surface.<\/p>\n Roger Federer, as we expected here at BSB, put it all together and is seeming to grasp the moment now that Nadal is out.\u00a0 He has said himself, “I don’t have a clay court problem; I have a Rafael Nadal problem.”\u00a0 Now, that that “problem” has been solved, he is a man on a mission to tie Pete Sampras in all-time Grand Slams and end all arguments as to who is the G.O.A.T.\u00a0 Federer knocked off Gael Monfils, who pushed him to the brink in last year’s semis, with complete ease on Wednesday, with a straight set quarterfinal victory.\u00a0 Federer now has an absolutely AMAZING streak of TWENTY consecutive semifinal appearances in Grand Slam events.\u00a0 That means every Grand Slam for 5 consecutive years has included Roger Federer.\u00a0 To put that into some perspective, the second longest such streak is 10.\u00a0 He has DOUBLED the longest Grand Slam semi streak…DOUBLED!<\/p>\n BSB’s PICK:\u00a0 Del Potro in 4.\u00a0 It may be blasphemy, but we here at BSB are consistent.\u00a0 Nothing has changed our mind about thinking that Juan-Martin Del Potro is going to win this tournament, so we are going to have to go with him again.\u00a0 And, we have to do it in 4 not because we think it won’t be a close, hard-fought match, but just because if it goes five, Federer will probably find a way to pull it out.\u00a0 Del Potro must <\/em>win the first set.\u00a0 Federer is most vulnerable at the beginning of matches and is the easily the best front-runner that has ever played.\u00a0 Don’t believe me?\u00a0 Ask Monfils what happened after he dropped the first set in a tough tiebreak.\u00a0 But, if Del Potro can win the first set (and I think he will), I believe he can win two of the next three and avoid that pressure-cooker of a fifth set.\u00a0 Either way, BSB has a “vested interest” in both Del Potro (+450) and Gonzalez (+450) to win this tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Final Four at the French.\u00a0 He who\u00a0protests to have predicted these four is he who lies. The Top Half: SEMIFINAL FRIDAY – #12 Gonzalez vs. #23 Soderling Robin Soderling, the giant killer who slayed Nadal, went into the quarters … Continue reading
\nSEMIFINAL FRIDAY – #12 Gonzalez vs. #23 Soderling<\/p>\n
\nSEMIFINAL FRIDAY – #2 Federer vs. #5 Del Potro<\/p>\n