Key events
Talking of tennis docs, has anyone seen the Becker series? I’ve not got to it yet but I will – him winning Wimbledon at 17, then doing it again the next year, is up there with the greatest sporting achievements of my lifetime. Anyhow, Haddad Maia holds for 2-4.
Haddad Maia makes 15-40 but stepping into a second serve – the correct play – she nets, then swipes a forehand down the line just wide with a lot of court at which to aim. Jabeur then unfurls forehands of her own, closing out for 4-1, and though this has been a tight set (of tennis), it looks to be heading to the favourite.
It’s ridiculous how empty Chatrier is; you don’t pay for the theatre and turn up at the interval, or buy a car then lob off its back wheels. And those with better things to do are missing a fun exchange of drops, Jabeiur hitting one on deuce that earns her another break point. Haddad Maia, though, bangs a serve out wide before sticking a forehand into the opposite corner – very nice. Not, though, anywhere near as very nice as Jabeur chasing one over the forehand side, stretching, and curling a majestic, oblique winner cross-court that dips over the net. She didn’t find that angle, she invented it, and this time she converts the advantage so thats three breaks in a row and a 3-1 lead.
Yesterday I was talking about BBC’s God of Tennis series, which is not always slick but totally worth your time – the archive footage, in particular, is wondrous. Exhibit A:
A lovely chop floats over the next and dies; Jabeur has such eye and feel, just an absolutely beautiful tenniser. But again, Haddad Maia works her way to deuce, then a double hands her an opportunity to break back immediately … and she attacks the second serve, sending a forehand into the backhand corner before cleaning up into the forehand! Well played her, and she’s into the match. Haddad Maia 1-2 Jabeur
Jabeur spanks a brace of forehands that earn her 0-30, and already it’s a test for Haddad Maia … and when a return loops onto the sideline, she’s facing three break points in her first-ever service-game in her first-ever major quarter. And though she saves one when a return drops out, when she tries a big forehand, it’s a little long and that’s 2-0 Jabeur.
On 15-0, Jabeur plays a luscious backhand slice drop cross-court – try putting the hyphens in that – which shows just how well she’s feeling things. But Haddad Maia is there too, slamming a forehand pass that earns her her first point of the match and we wind up at deuce as Jo Durie praises Jabeur’s candour in discussing how hard it is to play when she’s on her period, noting that your timing goes a little. Anyhow, after missing an easy ball on advantage she seals the hold for 1-0 and she’s in the match.
And play, Jabeur to serve.
Jabeur beat Haddad Maia in Stuttgart a couple of months ago, saying her plan is to move the Brazilian around. Haddad Maia, meanwhile, played the longest women’s match of the year in the previous round, an absolute belter against Sorribes Tormo. She’s got a really nice touch backed up with some serious power, but I wonder if she’s just a less good version of the same.
“I’m following your French Open updates, tweets Kate Warne, “and all the YouTube links yesterday made me want to share that RG used to have a karaoke booth for the players, circa 2007-2010, all on YT – for example:
Sensational.
And here come our players!
Preamble
Salut! And welcome to Roland-Garros 2023 – day 11! Who will join Karolína Muchová and Aryna Sabalenka; Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in the last four?
As yesterday, we begin with two women’s quarter-finals, and both look tasty in the extreme. This may be the first time Beatriz Haddad Maia has reached this stage of a major, but she’s playing like someone whose penny has dropped. Her patient, powerful, adroit, lefty game game looks in terrific order, and if she hits the level she produced in the second set of her last-16 match against Sara Sorribes Tormo, she has a chance of causing an upset. However Ons Jabeur has already passed the stage she’s currently at, now a fixture at the business end of things, and her combination of guile, hands and hitting looks a potent antidote to what the Brazilian brings.
Second on we’ve a potential classic. Iga Swiatek is the defending French Open champion, the US Open champion and the best player in the world … and Coco Gauff is surging, poised to finally fulfil her potential. If her backhand is working and her forehand is working well enough, she has the game to cause plenty of problems but most importantly of all, the way she’s carrying herself tells you she believes her time is now.
And finally this afternoon we’ve Alexander Zverev, still working his way back after injury, against Tomás Martín Etcheverry. If we’re being real, neither looks a potential winner, but both are hitting it nicely … and obscenely hard. The former has dropped just one set so far this competition and beaten both Francis Tiafoe and Griggzy Dimitrov, while the latter, a clay-court specialist, has yet to concede at all, having seen off Alex De Minaur, Borna Coric and Yoshihito Nishioka.
Or, put another way, we’ve got another terrific day in store. On y va!