Btw, is it just me or is anyone else finding the Beeb's lack of coverage of the women's event a little irritating.
Part of the problem is the Aussie Open schedulers who have been putting doubles matches as the 2nd match in the Rod Laver night session instead of women's matches, since day 4. However, given that the BBC have coverage on interactive till 3pm each day, surely they could show some highlights of the earlier matches. There have been some amazing matches: Williams-Petrova, Williams-Peer, Peer-Kuznetsova, Cljisters-Hingis etc.
I'd love to see the Sharapova-Cljisters semi-final match, was hoping it would be in the night session but sadly not.
That one should be fascinating, the winner will probably take the title. Cljisters leads 4-2 on the head-to-heads but Sharapova won both their matches in 2006 in straight sets, on hard courts. Kim had been in great form up until the quarters but was dreadful against Hingis, making 62 unforced errors and only just scraping through that one. Sharapova's form has been more up and down, she struggled a lot in the early rounds and didn't play particularly well against Zvonereva in the quarters, winning a close one 6-4, 7-5. This is Sharapova's 3rd AO semi, she's lost 2 very close matches in the past couple of years (in 2005 she missed 3 mps against Serena Williams). I wonder whether that could be a factor if the match is really close and goes down to the wire. Sharapova is probably the favourite but I'd love Kim to win as this is her last AO and possibly her best chance of winning a slam this year.
Serena has never played Vaidisova before. Vaidisova has progressed through to the semis relatively unnoticed, she is yet to drop a set. She beat Dementieva 3 and 3 in rd4 and hammered Safarova (Mauresmo's conqueror) in the quarters. Serena's form has oscillated up and down, she played fantastically to beat Jankovic but then was very patchy against Peer and was lucky to come through that one. This will be Vaidisova's 2nd slam semi after Roland Garros last year, should really have made the final there. I think that Serena's extra experience will probably com through and she'll win in 3.
I watched Williams v Peer highlights on eurosport yesterday, and Williams came through experience. however, she does get tense when facing BPs and deuces like she wants to get the match over and done with! And she relied heavily on her backhand, if she going to do that against Vaidisova then her game will backfire. i really want williams to win and play Sharapova in the final, just to see the fierce rivalry played out once more on the Rebound Ace!
However, if Clijsters does come through against Sharapova (i doubt it) then she will hungry to win another Slam, if she then she going to be relaxed and aim to win at least one more Slam before retiring. I dont like Vaidisova, she pretty and all that, but she's still learning the game so Williams will win that, its like she likes playing against in-form players i.e. Jankovic as well Nicole. All i can say i wish i could stay and watch the final but unfortunately i got a bloody interview first thing in the morning! considering it could be a Sharapova v Williams in the final, what a CLASSIC!
