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In other news, what do you guys think about Soderling? I mean he's made the final at Roland Garros for the past two years, but so far he has yet to show good form on clay. He hasn't won a tournament, nor reached a final, on clay at all. This is making me wonder how the French Open is going to play out.

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I think Almagro has an excellent chance of going far at this Open, and I'd say the same for Melzer if not for the Spaniard in his path tongue
I also believe that Dolgopolov can do well, if he keeps his head on straight!
As for Soderling...at best, I'd say he's a solid quarterfinalist. There will be no beaing Nadal. He'll be like a man on a mission, much like he has been for each of the other 5 French Opens he's won.

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*beating

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People thought hte same way you are in 2009, but Soderling still defide the odds and dethroned the clay court maestro. I wouldn't count Soderling out just yet.
Almagro has a very good shot at doing well this year. He's won three titles on clay this year, so he has a lot of momentum going into this tournament

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Soderling had crap results on clay last year before the French as well, and he still made the final and history by beating Fed in the quarters.  Let's see how he looks in his first few matches.  If he drops a set, I'd say he has no chance to beat Nadal.  But we'll see.

Incidentally, Berdych is in real danger of going out in the 1st round to Stephane Robert.  That would suck for all the people who put HIM on their Fantasy team.

-Arvis

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Ur right dear Arvis,Berdych was in my picks,he seems uncomfortable at clay,he might be good contender in Wimbledon.

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You guys are kidding yourselves. Nadal had tendinitis in BOTH knees, and Soderling played the best match of his life that day. He'll never be able to replicate that form against a healthy Rafa on clay. Trust me, if he makes it that far, he will get steamrolled.
As for Berdych, I know he's not the king of clay or anything, but OH MY GOODNESS. Did NOT see that one coming...I'm fairly disappointed. It makes the draw for one of my picks a helluva lot easier, but I'm still very sad that he's lost so early; he's a great player and fun to watch.

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I put Berdych on my team for a number of reasons. He made the semis of the French last year, he really didn't have any bad losses on clay this year (until today obviously) and he had one of the easiest draws of any top 10 player.

Last edited by Aiur (May. 23, 2011 2:39pm)

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We'll just have to wait and see about Nadal.  If he plays Le Sod on a damp day, Soderling can do some damage.  Nadal has looked vulnerable this year.  Mostly just to Djokovic, but still.  He was injured in the AO and got dehydrated and winded in one of his finals against Nole.  He's not immune to a bad day.  We'll wait and see.  I still need to see both of them play before I can really decide on a realistic expectation.

Aiur.... I am so sorry. sad
You're right about that draw, though.  Especially now with both Cilic and Berdych out, anybody could end up playing Novak in the quarterfinals.  It's all wide open for Youzhny to collect the free points, but somehow I think he'll blow it early.

-Arvis

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That's got to stink...sorry.

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After the fact (of course) I now have a feeling about Montanes...I bet he can get Youzhny if they both make the 3rd round. Then it's just a matter of beating the strongest competitor up to that point (I'm betting on Guillermo Garcia-Lopez). Bet everyone in that quarter is thrilled right now: both Berdych and Cilic are already out.
Since Nadal got over that hamstring injury earlier in the year, I think he's played strongly. Not strong enough to stop Novak, obviously, but he always plays best at the Grand Slams, particularly Roland Garros. I think this time he's got it. But you're right, it's better to see him play before making assumptions.

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@Adrian:

Holy crap, you're so right about Montanes!  I could see him really cleaning up in that section of the draw!  Dang, now I wish I drew him as my unseeded player, but I figured he'd lose to Hewitt in the 1st round!  Then Hewitt withdrew, and now Cilic and Berdych are out, and.... wow, he would have been an amazing choice for unseeded player.  Let's see if he can take advantage of all this luck that's falling his way.

-Arvis

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With Berdych out, it really opens up the draw for everybody else

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Yep definitely that part of the draw has really opened up, Youzhny and Montanes have a great shot at the quarters now, maybe Garcia-Lopez and Fognini also have a good chance, im barracking for Montanes bcoz I picked him on my team smile its also made Novak's path a bit easier too but he has to get past Del Po and Gasquet or Bellucci first.
Didn't see the Berdych upset coming, I was contemplating picking him on my team, glad I didn't now, where is that boy's head at? A 2 set lead and he blows it, he must be enjoying Lucie Safarova too much I think wink

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It truly is the biggest upset of the year so far, and nobody expected it to happen at all. This makes me wonder how he's gonna do at Wimbledon, but thats for another story.

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Tono100, you're in a great position with Montanes as your unseeded player.  You'll gain a LOT of points from him that most other people won't get from their unseeded player.  Example: I picked Ryan Sweeting as my unseeded player.  I LOST 16 points on him!

-Arvis

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Hope you are right Arvis but he has Youzhny in his way though, I was tossing up between Montanes and Chela for my unseeded pick, glad I went with monyanes but i see Chela won also.
Looking good so far in the mens section smile unfortunately i can't say the same for my women's team sad Ivanovic and Cibulkova both 1st round losers, I should have tossed that coin 1 more time I think.....haha! Only chance in the womens section now is for my unseeded player to get to the quarters,,,yeah right!
Almagro out....WOW, that is probably a bigger upset than Berdych because Almagro loves the red dirt!
And Rafa taking to 5 sets by Isner, I get the feeling there are more upsets still to come

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Who is your women's unseeded, Tono?  Mine is the lovely Zheng Jie.  She did me proud by winning her 1st round match, which is all I wanted.  She's got Kvitova next, so... yeah, my beloved Zheng will be gone tomorrow.

Yeah, the Almagro match was ridiculous.  I can't believe he managed to lose it.  It's like he didn't WANT to win.

-Arvis

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It truly was a huge upset, which is what almost happened with nadal today.

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I had Rezai as my unseeded...and Ivanovic. I forgot that she's almost as big a head case as Safina. There goes my women's draw. Got a feeling about Kvitova though! I think she can go the distance and win this thing; that is, if Schiavone or Clijsters or Azarenka doesn't.
How do we feel about Ljubicic? I feel like he can beat Querrey AND Verdasco; he's a fairly solid player with a good record against Rafa and Fed.

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Arvis....My unseeded woman is Martinez Sanchez so I have a chance for her to win in round 2 but then she will probably run into Kuznetsova, if im lucky she could make the 4th round, i'll need some luck though after Ivanovic and Cibulkova got dumped out in the 1st round sad
Ouch that hurts too Adrian, I had the head case also, was tossing up between her and Goerges, guess i should have flipped that coin one more time huh....haha!
I think Kvitova will be the one to watch at Wimbledon this year, not so sure about the French at this stage.
Ljubicic has to serve well and he has a good chance, if he doesn't then he won't go much further IMO

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Kvitova has a pretty good draw leading up to the quarters...she's done extremely well on clay this year too. I think she can make it; the women expected to win never do anyway! :3
Why didn't you just pick Goerges outright? She's been playing brilliantly this year.
And I hope Ljubicic keeps up that serve! After the huge blow that was Almagro's first round upset, I need some extra points.

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Not Montanes, I presume tongue

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Either Spaniard would have been better.

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*pats Wolmas*  There there, friend... Hardly anyone picked Montanes, I'm sure... sad

@Adrian: I have NO IDEA why I picked Ivanovic and not Goerges.  Looking at my draw, I figured Ivanovic had many winnable matches. Larsson, then Oprandi, then Kanepi, and then I even thought she had a chance to upset Azarenka.  Goerges, however, I have going out to Stosur one round earlier.

I really don't know what I was thinking.

As for Ljubicic, by all accounts he ABSOLUTELY should beat Querrey in straight sets.  Because of that, I can guarantee that Querrey will beat him.  That's just the kind of guy Ljubicic is.

-Arvis