on to the [semi]finals

Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Lindsay Davenport 6-4 6-4 in the US Open quarterfinals. Justine will face 19^th seed Jankovic in the semis tomorrow, Friday.

Yay, Justine! Damn, she’s so good.

I did find the channel covering the US Open. Good news: they broadcast the matches live, then replay it several hours later. The catch: the live broadcast is on 11 pm, and the replay 7 am (usually) the next day. Haha. The matches start at 11 am in Flushing Meadows, NY kasi, so there’s (more or less) a 12-hour time difference.

I was so frustrated because I wasn’t able to catch any of Justine’s first four matches. I did see her third round match against Ai Sugiyama but it was a replay in this Japanese channel, so obviously they showed most of the first set (coz Sugiyama won it) and only bits of the second and third sets. I actually got out of bed early yesterday (like 7 am) because Justine and Lindsay’s quarterfinal round was originally scheduled in the night session (7pm in NY). But it rained and rained in NY so all matches were suspended. Their match was moved to the afternoon the next day. So I stayed up until around 4:00 am this morning watching Justine play.

It was worth the wait, of course. Actually, people weren’t expecting Justine to win in straight sets, thinking that Lindsay, who won the US Open in 1998, would at least take a set. But I guess Justine has the advantage of relative “youth” (she’s 6 years younger than Lindsay) and more time on court this year (she’s been to the finals of the three Grand Slams this year plus several lower-tiered tournaments, while Lindsay hasn’t played in months). I’m not saying that Justine shouldn’t have won. It’s just that Lindsay is taller and more powerful than Justine so she could’ve had put up a stiffer resistance.

Anyway, she’s facing Jelena Jankovic (pronounced as ye-LE-na yan-ko-vich) in the semis. To tell you the truth, I’m more scared of Jankovic than Davenport. Jankovic is younger (and taller) than Justine, and went to the famed Nick Bollettieri tennis school (Sharapova was one of her “batchmates”). Jankovic already disposed three top seeds to reach the semifinals: Vaidisova, Kuznetsova and Dementieva. I was able to watch her matches with Kuznetsova and Dementieva, and I was struck by how cool and calm she was. In contrast, her opponents were obviously becoming more nervous and frazzled as the match progressed, racking up lots of unforced errors. Jankovic is really on a roll in this tournament. But of course, as a dedicated JHH fan, I know that Jankovic’s luck (how else will you explain her streak?) will run out when she meets Justine in the semifinals tomorrow. For sure. :D

Allez, Justine!