Another of the media favorites bit the dust at Wimbledon today as Ana Ivanovic (1) suffered a shocking straight-set defeat at the hands of unseeded Jie Zheng.
It was another day of seed planting as Mario Ancic also upset David Ferrer (5) in a high quality fracas. As projected, Bethanie Mattek’s game was too bothersome for Marion Bartoli to overcome, and the No.10 seed in the ladies’ draw was upended in straight sets. Serena Williams continues to march onward, and the prospect of a Williams-sisters final remains alive.
The bottom half of the ladies’ draw is loaded, however, and Venus will have to get past high hurdles in the persons of Jelena Jankovic (2), Dinara Safina (9), and Elena Dementieva (5) to get to baby sis in the final. Big names aside, as Ivanovic can attest, anyone left in the draw is a threat.
Roger Federer upheld his end of the bargain for all those hoping for another Federer-Nadal final, but Federer’s half of the draw appears to be a minefield fraught with danger. Should he get past Lleyton Hewitt, who is playing as well as he has in years, Federer will likely face Mario Ancic, the last player to beat him at Wimbledon.
Should he avenge his last Wimbledon loss, Federer still has the mercurial Marat Safin, who is playing as well as he has played since he won the Australian Open in 2005, in his half of the draw.
Nadal, on the other hand, appears to have a smoother ride to the final. He has never lost to Nicolas Kiefer, his next opponent, and only one other player remaining in his half of the draw, Mikhail Youzhny, has beaten him in the past two years.
We won’t know until the fuzz flies, so game, set, match, I’m out.
