QF match between Serena and Justine could be the real final

...or to quote Jon Werthein "Serena's quarterfinal showdown against Justine Henin may be the de facto final".

These two ladies are playing the best clay court tennis of this season, and it's a pity they will have to square off so early in the draw...As much as I'd love to see Justine to lift the trophy, I think Serena has a slight edge here, as she always puts so much pressure on her opponents through her speed and power...

Justine will have to stay focused, change the pace and style of her shots constantly and attack the net at every good opportunity in order to throw Serena off her power and comfortable zone. And if Serena is having an off-serve day, that would help Justine tremendously...

We'll see. They both have to get there first-and even then...

The Coetzer-Majoli semi was ignored in 1997 because the "real" final was between Hingis and Seles. Guess who won it all:p

Oh yeah, and Capriati-Hingis was LAST year's "real" final. Little Kimmie sure did surprise a few people by taking at least a "few" games off Jen Cap;)

you're right, Rollo, assuming they get there first... but Patty Schnyder latest aside, Serena doesn't have a history of losing to lesser ranked players or early on...Justine has always a little bit of a struggle in the first round, but once she gets over her nervous jingles, she starts playing more fluidly...

and in 98 Venus-Martina was called the real final too and then Monica and Martina was and at the end ASV won the trophy!

well, the winner of this match is not assured of the championship, as there will be another two matches against tough opponents where anything can happen...Tennis, like all other sports, is not an exact science, not always the best player/team wins nor always the player/team who is supposed to be the best really is or performs well...Justine and Serena have both had the best results in the clay events leading to RG and are sure among the favorites to win it all, but anything can happen in between... that's part of the beauty of the game.

I hope the real final will be Kimmy-Serena
then Kimmy winning 14:12 in the third:D

Oh Good! I've been waiting for another de facto Final.

Nah, the REAL final will be the match last played on Sunday.

Actually the real final is the match between Emile Loit and Alicia Molik.

The rest is irrelevant.;)