By: Matt DeCorso

Hey guys! I love Fridays on the Tour. Some of the best match ups occur and also major upsets. Stanford has produced some astounding matches, including a 7-6 in the third win for Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi over Jamea Jackson a few days ago, and Schiavone's 7-6 in the third win over Kostanic yesterday. On the men's side I have to give kudos to a few guys. Rafael Nadal, who was out for 8 weeks with injury, has made a stunning comeback in reaching the quarters in Stuttgart. He is a sure pick for the semis over Ferrer and should meet Gaudio. Speaking of the '04 French Open champ, Gaston beat Armando in a tiebreak today after they split sets yesterday. Gaudio then came back and won an easy straight setter over promising Czech, Berdych. Good job Gaston and Raffi. Enjoy the preview!

Venus Williams versus Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi

Welcome home Venus! Venus displayed amazing power and accuracy to crush Lee-Waters 2 days ago, 6-1 6-1! In the 51 minute battle, Venus proved to America and the world that she is at home on American hard courts. One thing I've noticed about Venus this year is, she loses to relatively powerful players. In her loss to Raymond in Melbourne, she was simply outdone from the baseline and at the net. In Dubai, the young Russian Kuznetsova powered her way through. Elena Dementieva shouldn't have beaten Venus in Miami but she hit through her problems and rattled Williams. Venus then ran into a sizzling Myskina in Paris and was thwarted with the aggressive baseline play from the Russian. Finally, who could forget her second round loss to Sprem at Wimbledon. Karolina was bombing groundie winners from all over the place. This tells me that if you want to to beat Venus, you have to be able to match her stroke for stroke. Not many people can do that but those 5 women did. In this match look for Venus to direct more balls to the Smashnova forehand as it has less "junk" and more top spin. She will be all over the Israeli's serve as well!

Weakness: Venus may be impatient with Anna's constant running.

Anna Smahsnova-Pistolesi has made her living as a road-runner and someone who retires a lot in matches. She runs down so many balls in the heat, it takes its toll on her health. She has also had two excruciating matches over Jamea Jackson and Arantxa Parra. Her less than satisfactory year has included 2 losses to the Frussian Pastry Golovin, and 2 losses to Vera Zvonareva. She also was whipped 3 and 1 by Venus in the third round of Berlin. In this match against Venus, look for Anna to hit lots of loopy balls to Venus' backhand and throw in some drop shots.

Weakness: She doesn't have the physical prowess to hurt Venus.

Who has the Edge?

Serve- Venus

Groundies- Venus

Movement- Anna

Intangibles- Venus

Volley- Venus

This is the pair's second meeting, and Venus crusied past the Irsraeli on clay in Berlin. For Venus, take control early in the rally and move in. For Anna, try and vary your shots to confuse Venus.

Matt's Pick: Venus moves comfortably into the semis 6-3 6-0.

Thanks