Well, the finals are set on the women’s side and it should be a great match. The action began with #3 Jelena Jankovic taking on fellow Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy alumni #5 Maria Sharapova. Neither player played exceptionally well, but it was Sharapova that prevailed 6-3, 6-1. She only served 55% and had five double faults. Meanwhile, Jankovic struggled with injuries (needing a full-blown timeout). Sharapova simply overpowered Jankovic, moving her around the court with her groundstrokes and keeping her off-balance. She came into the net 17 times, and won 16 of those points which was incredible. Sharapova also had 10 more winners than errors, while Jankovic had 16 more errors than winners.

Congratulations to Maria for reaching her fourth career Grand Slam final!! Good luck, we are all rooting for you!!

The second women’s semifinal match featured another Academy alumnus in Daniela Hantuchova. The ninth-seeded Slovakian was taking on #4 Ana Ivanovic. Hantuchova won the first set 6-0, and was up 2-0 in the second set when things started to go wrong. She let Ivanovic back into the match with a couple key forehand errors, and Ivanovic took the second set 6-3. The third set took 59 minutes, and at 4-all Ivanovic broke Hantuchova and held her serve to win the match. Ivanovic has now reached the finals of two Grand Slams in the last year (2007 French Open), and will be looking for her first career Grand Slam title.

The match between Sharapova and Ivanovic should be a good one. They are 2-2 against each other, but Sharapova will most likely be the favorite. She has yet to drop a set, and has looked like the best player in the draw. They met three times in 2007, with Ivanovic winning two of those matches. Their latest meeting took place in the year-ending championships with Sharapova winning 6-1, 6-2.

On the men’s side, half of the finals are set. Second-seeded Rafael Nadal took on unseeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France. It was Tsonga though that looked like the world’s second ranked player as he dominated Nadal winning 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. His Marcos Baghdatis-like run to the finals has included wins over Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet, Mikhail Youzhny, and now Nadal.

Nadal did not play that bad in the match. He served a higher percentage than Tsonga (69% to 64%) and only had 12 unforced errors. The difference was that Tsonga played unbelievable tennis. He had 49 winners, capitalized on five of seven break chances, and won points on 30 of his 40 net approaches. Tsonga returned exceptionally well and maybe the biggest thing was that he kept his composure on the biggest of stages. I want to congratulate him for an incredible tournament; he continues to prove everyone wrong!

Tsonga will face either #1 Roger Federer or #3 Novak Djokovic in the finals. He will almost certainly be the underdog, but he clearly relishes that role!