Maria fought her way to a first-round 6-1, 3-6, 8-6 victory today over Evgeniya Rodina, a Russian teen making her Grand Slam debut. We were scared for a bit because it would have meant an early exit for Maria and that just isn’t right. This is the French Open at Roland Garros and Maria just has to be in the mix.

The tennis major of Roland-Garros kicked off today and that can mean only two things. Rafael Nadal will win the men’s side of things, but more importantly it means close to two weeks of Maria Sharapova. Woohoo! She almost looks as excited as we are here at SportsUnderground.

Roger Federer won the 2007 Hamburg Open yesterday and more importantly ended Nadal’s 81 match winning streak on clay. Federer beat Nadal 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 to prove why he is the world’s number one player even with the stellar play Nadal has displayed over the last two years. This win by Federer is even more interesting with the French Open just around the corner where there is no doubt Nadal will be a contender for the title at Roland-Garros.

Rafael Nadal broke the single surface wins in a row mark today with his 76th win in a row on clay. Nadal broke the record that John McEnroe held with 75 wins in a row on indoor carpet from the years of 1983-85. The win pushed Nadal into the finals of the Rome Open to face Fernando Gonzalez. Calle me whacky, but I think Nadal takes the championship tomorrow.

Lets not forget we are three weeks away from the French Open at Roland-Garros and Nadal will be the heavy favorite going into the big event since the surface is nothing other than clay.

As referenced earlier this week, Rafael Nadal loves him some clay surface.  Nadal has now won 60 games in a row on clay after defeating Roger Federer in the finals of the French Open yesterday.  This is two in a row now as a French Open champion and he is quickly becoming as big of a star as Federer.  Oddly enough, Federer actually extended his lead as the number one player of the WTA due to the fact he performed better at Roladn Garros this year then last.  I swear the rankings in golf and tennis are so screwy it’s not even funny!

Nadal extended his winning streak to 57 games in a row on clay at Roland Garros today. Rafael is now in the quarterfinals of the French Open after beating Lleyton Hewitt in four sets. Nadal’s overall record at the French Open is 11-0 and he appears to be headed for a showdown with superstar Roger Federer in the finals. Professional tennis needs a clash of titans sort of match and this would certainly be one. Federer has definitely dominated for quite some time, but Nadal is just the man to knock him of the summit especially on clay.