!Blake2By Rosangel Valenti, TW Contributing Editor
Good morning. This is today's thread for discussing the tennis taking place in Rome, or at the WTA event in Berlin.
Along with a friend, I hope to make it to the tennis in person at some point today, at least for the later sessions under the lights. I'll also definitely be watching live tomorrow - it's a while back that my friends in Rome managed to secure tickets for the semifinals. It's quite chilly during the evenings in Rome as yet, which probably explains the poor attendance at the evening sessions under the lights so far, so I'll make sure to wrap up warmly.
Today's quarterfinal line-up includes two Americans, two Swiss, two Spaniards, a Czech and a Serb. James Blake takes on an in-form Stanislas Wawrinka first, followed by That Other Swiss Guy versus Radek Stepanek. Next, Andy Roddick faces Tommy Robredo, and in the evening, Novak Djokovic will meet Nicolas Almagro.
Blake's head-to-head with Wawrinka stands at 0-1. Interestingly, their only career meeting so far took place at Roland Garros three years ago, when Wawrinka prevailed over five sets. Federer's career head-to-head with Stepanek stands at 4-1 - the only encounter won by Stepanek took place on clay, over three sets, and it was back in 2002. Roddick's career head-to-head with Tommy Robreo stands at 7-0, including a win on clay, in the Rome quarterfinals, again in 2002. Djokovic and Almagro have never played before on the ATP tour, and I'm particularly looking forward to this one. The two met in a clay Challenger event back in 2004, when Allmagro won in straight sets. But, overall, there's not much, historically speaking, to tell us what might happen tonight.
As always, enjoy today's tennis.