Women's quarters

Friends, I'm old.

At least that's how I felt last night when I fell asleep from sheer tennis-induced exhaustion during the last, rain-delayed women's quarterfinal match.

But here's what I took away from the action:

My two women pulled through!

• Sharapova looked commanding in her defeat of teeny, tiny, little Cibulkova (wow, she looked short out there.) Given the difficult time Cibulkova had given Wozniacki, I expected more from her, but she was outplayed from start to finish. Also, Sharapova looked fantastic--great serving and clean hitting. Go, Maria!


• And though I fell asleep during the match, Azarenka reportedly played really well in her win over Paszek.

Azarenka and Sharapova are my two picks for the final, and they're the favorites in their respective semi-finals. Let's all prepare now for the incessant talking about how it will be the loudest final in history. And on that note, woe are we if the roof is closed. ;-)

In the other two quarterfinal matches, Kvitova beat Pironkova. And Lisicki defeated a dimished Bartoli. I missed the last set of the Lisicki/Bartoli match. And while I'm glad Bartoli extended it to three sets., from what I saw she just couldn't maintain the level at which she played against Serena. A pity.

So it's on for tomorrow: Sharapova v. Lisicki and Azarenka v. Kvitova. No surprises, please, ladies. (I'm looking at you, Maria.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As for the men's quarterfinals... I saw some of the early morning action today, but have been cut off ever since. Fingers crossed the events are unfolding in a favorable (for me) kind of way.

More on that later...