Surprise Semifinalists Heat Up Australian Open

Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova turned one half of the 2008 Australian Open into a Nick Bollettieri alum event Down Under, upending favorites Serena Williams and Justine Henin respectively.
But not so respectfully.
Neither player had a lot of respect from the popular press going into the match. Common wisdom was that Henin would continue her recent Grand Slam domination and that Serena was well on her way to the finals to defend her Australian Open championship last year.
After all, Jankovic hardly looked like she was in top form in her first round thriller against Pazcek, a match that the tennis gods somehow handed to Jankovic despite her appalling serving. Apparently though, Jankovic doesn't like to practice and plays in tournaments in order to sharpen her game. Real professional, right?!
And her game indeed was looking much more finely honed by the time she reached the quarterfinals against Serena, whose movement seemed iffy right from the very start. It was the first thing that I noticed about her: Serena was not bouncing up and down and was flat-footed on the court from the very first ball.
Jankovic has been riddled with injuries too and called for an injury time-out late in the second set. Despite the match threatening to look like a limp to the finish, both players periodically were hitting the fool out of the ball and Jankovic's legendary defense prevailed. It was, in some ways, the match of Jankovic's life and suggests just how good she might be if she ever got really serious about the sport and, apart from tournaments, really practiced.
Sharapova's will to win has never been in question. She has more fight in her than just about half the rest of the field. But a 6-0 win in the second set against Henin?! As Sharapova so frequently would put it, "Come on!"
Both Sharapova and Jankovic may not be able to keep themselves from takig at least some note of a certain player in the other half of the draw who often plays some of her best tennis when her baby sister gets defeated. Venus may be seeded eighth and never finished better than a finalist here, but in a significantly weakened bottom half of the draw and with two of the opponents with the best records against her out of the tournament, Venus' chances of picking up her first Australian Championship have brightened considerably.
Of course Ana Ivanovic can't be counted out. She's already been in Grand Slam quarters three times before in her fledgling career, so the occasion shouldn't overwhelm her. And her laidback personality may really shine before the Aussie tennis crowd.
Daniela Hantuchova was every bit as promising a looking player five years ago when she first reached the Australian quarterfinals as Ivanovic is right now. One of the nicest story's from this year's Australian Open has been Hantuchova's return to a Grand Slam quarterfinal match for the first time in five years. She's quietly gotten her game back together and back in Top 10 form. The Australian Open isn't likely to turn out to be the charmed venue for Hantuchova the way Indian Wells has turned out to be, but then again, who would have predicted Sharapova and Jankovic would make there way through to play each other in the semi-finals? Certainly not me.
Hantuchova has what may seem, at least by the seedings and rankings, to be a golden opportunity to make it to her first Grand Slam singles semifinal ever, which would be an even nicer comeback story for her indeed! But then, rankings and seedings often don't tell the whole story. The main strength of young Agnieszka Radwanska, Hantuchova's quarterfinal opponent, has always been Hantchova's Achilles' heel: mental toughness. Plus, Hantuchova's movement has always been suspect, along with her fight.
Not so with Radwanska, who beat the #2 seed Sharapova at last year's U.S. Open and also knocked the #2 seed, Svetlana Kutznetsova, out of this year's Australian draw before marching past the enormously talented Nadia Petrova, not at present likely to be anyone's role model when it comes to mental toughness. Add to that the fact that Radwanska beat Hantuchova the last time the two played, as Hantuchova was quick to point out in her interview after advancing to the quarters, and this may be another instance where the lower seed looks like the favorite to me.
Radwanska looks like she expects to win and utterly composed on the court. That expectation and composure may be enough, if Hantuchova can't keep her nerves in check and starts spraying balls the way she so often does.
But who knows? Serena was the lower seed against Jankovic and I thought Jankovic had little chance of beating her. One of the pleasures of tennis is that each time you step out on the court the history books may be completely rewritten. It offers second, third, fourth and quarterfinal round chances. And as I write this, Hantuchova is up 3-1 in the first set.
Soon we'll know whether it is, in fact, the year for even more Australian Open upsets.