Simplement Stupéfiant !!!

As the more learned among my readers might have already deciphered, the above two words mean "Simply Amazing!" in French. (Yes, I concede that it's a blatant product of Google's language tools, but ... what the heck!) Today has to be one of the golden-lettered days in French tennis history. Two astonishing upsets pulled off by two relatively unheard of (by me) but enormously talented French players made my day, and probably that of many other tennis enthusiasts too !

The first one was Marion Bartoli's astounding win over Justin Henin-Hardenne, the number 1 player in the world !!! It should have been a walk in the Centre Court park for Henin, but it was not to be. Little did she know that the 18th seed would hand her a shocking defeat, with the ignominy of losing 1-6 in the final set. As seems to be her trademark, Bartoli conceded the first set yet again, and quite tamely at that, in just 22 minutes. But there was a proverbial twist in the tale, sufficient to give Henin the cramps for a long time to come. While everyone expected that the world number one would dictate terms to the Frenchwoman, it became a case of the hunted chasing the hunter, as Bartoli hit one thrilling shot after another to alternate sides of the court, never allowing Henin to take matters into her own hand. Her placement was accurate, and her shots oozed with confidence! Henin's one-handed backhand was no match for the double-handed boomers coming from the other side. And even though the final set didn't finish with my "dream score" of 6-0, it was tantalizingly close, and as I danced the victory jig in gay abandon, Henin made a swift exit from the court, failing yet again to have a shot at winning the only Grand Slam missing from her kitty.

I hadn't even heard of Miss Bartoli until her fourth round match in this year's Wimbledon against Jelena Jankovic, another strong contender (at rank 3, I think that's an understatement!) At first glance, and most will concur with me here, she appears to be slightly overweight, a typical slow-mover who would huff and puff her way through her matches, battling for points and breath simultaneously. But regardless of her appearance, I assure you she's not overly overtipping the scales - Martina Hingis at the same height is heavier than the lady in question! And she's definitely not a slowpoke either, for she runs across the court with the same fervour and energy as any of the leading ladies of women's tennis today! What immediately grabbed my attention was the fact that she's so different, so unique - from the way she carefully builds her grip at the very end of her racquet before each serve, to the two-fisted tennis she plays from both sides; from the short hop-skip and shot-practice routine prior to each serve, to the way she stands for receiving the opponent's serve as if she were goalkeeping for Real Madrid; from her almost soundless gasps as she hits each shot, in stark contrast to the screeching likes of Sharapova and the Williams sisters, to the expression on her face as she's about to launch her service, showing that she's putting her everything into it. Yes, I just love her style. And I won't stop short of saying that she has the most personality on-court today, probably second only to Nadal the Barbarian.

It seems Bartoli loves to come from behind and give her opponent the shock of her life, for in each of the last three matches in the line-up to the finals, she has always lost the first set. The joke doing the rounds is that she has a really strong neural network which she puts into action in the first set, learning the playing style of her opponents, and at the same time, lulling the latter into a false sense of complacency, rendering them unprepared for the onslaught that awaits them.

The other big upset of the day was in the men's quarter-finals, where 3rd seed Andy Roddick was defeated by Frenchman Richard Gasquet, ranked 12th. Once again, it was a treat for the eyes, as a marathon five-setter ensued in what seemed to be a possibly unending decider. While Roddick blasted through the radar guns with his aces, he fell appallingly short of Gasquet's mesmerizing play on court, powered by the latter's one-handed backhand which it seems could give Federer a run for his money, sooner or later. Add to that Roddick's inexplicable lethargy at reaching out for innumerable "hittable" shots, and Gasquet had a match-winner on his hands. In case you didn't know, Gasquet finished 2002 as the no. 1 junior in the world and was named World Junior Champion. Tomorrow's semifinal against FedEx should be a "don't-miss-it-for-anything" match. Slurrrrrp!

Meanwhile, Bartoli will be pitted against resurging American powerhouse Venus Williams tomorrow. Even though Venus is ranked 23, rankings are of no consequence any more, and Bartoli herself is the most shining example of that! No matter which way the match goes, she's going to have one more die-hard fan rooting for her from the sidelines, ready to do the victory jig once more if she wins! Encore!!!

Yenjoy.