In 2004, the Roland Garros women's draw was decimated. Defending Champion Justine Henin lost in the second round. Serena Williams drew Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals, as she seemed to do for every Slam till Henin took Capriati's place. The winner would surely be the favorite to win the title.
Serena choked.
Now, Jennifer certainly had the game on any surface to cause Serena all sorts of trouble. But she seemed to struggle notching victories over Serena in Slams. But this time, when Serena couldn't pull herself together on the biggest points, Jennifer made her pay in the best match of the tournament.
Surely Jennifer would win her semifinal with the Anastasia Myskina, who had quietly moved into the final four out of nowhere with no fanfare.
Jennifer choked.
All she had to do was make the final and she'd probably have her way with whomever was on the other side of the net. After all, she was the only Slam champion left in the draw.
Myskina won the title. Her only Slam singles title.
Fast forward five years. Replace Jennifer with Svetlana Kuznetsova and Myskina with Samantha Stosur and history is on the precipice of repeat.
I believe Serena's going to have to be satisfied with her single Roland Garros singles title.
::
Speaking of history, Roger Federer advanced to his 20th consecutive Slam semifinal.
His fans fretted he was all washed up when he hasn't even gone anywhere.
He just stopped winning everything.
Are the stars aligned?
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