Well, I promised I would be back in a couple of weeks to review my Australian Open predictions. Despite picking neither of the winners, I do not think I did all that bad. Here are my predictions with corrections.
Men
Semis: Federer vs. Safin, Hewitt vs. RoddickFederer Safin defeats Hewitt
Women
Semis: Davenport vs. Dementieva Dechy, Sharapova vs. Serena WilliamsSharapova Williams defeats Davenport
So I got all four men's semifinalists corrected... granted they were the Top 4 seeds in the tournament, but it is quite rare that that ever happens these days with the depth of the men's field. There was talk of Roger Federer winning the Grand Slam this season (all four Slams in one year), so Russian Marat Safin pulled quite the upset. The Federer-Safin semi went the distance 9-7 in the 5th set... so it was a close one.
On the women's side, 3 out of 4 right... with the French player Nathalie Dechy being a huge surprise, having never advanced that far in a major... and at age 25 (pretty darn old in tennis years) that was quite the accomplishment. Again, I messed up one semi with Serena Williams downing the up-and-coming Russian Sharapova. Again, that match went the distance, 8-6 in the final set... with Sharapova having 3 match points.
Given these results it should be an interesting year of tennis. Safin is talented, but didn't seem to the have the head to win - so perhaps this Slam will turn things around. Likewise, many felt that the best days for Serena Williams (along with sister Venus) were over - so this again puts Serena back into the mix after a year of injury and other off-court crises.
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