Grand Slam Professional Tennis Predictions and Picks by Nick Bollettieri. US Open, French Open, Wimbledon, Australian Open

Two days after three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal lost in the second round in Rome, top-seeded Roger Federer went down today. He was beaten by Radek Stepanek 7-6(4), 7-6(7) in the quarterfinals. This was Stepanek’s second win over Federer in six career tries, and coming into this match he had lost four straight to the world #1.

Coming into this match, things looked like they had turned around for Federer. He reached the finals at Monte Carlo two weeks ago (lost to Nadal) and had won Estoril the week before. After Nadal lost, Federer was certainly the favorite but now that he is out the field is wide open.

Already this morning, American James Blake was beaten by Stanislas Wawrinka 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-1 (there goes my big prediction about the American semifinal). Wawrinka will meet either Andy Roddick or Tommy Robredo in the semis. That match is being played right now, and Roddick won the first set 6-3 and lost the second 6-4. If Roddick can win his match, this would be a great opportunity for him to win a clay-court title (something he hasn’t done since April of 2005 at Houston).

The last quarterfinal to be played today will be between Novak Djokovic and Nicolas Almagro. Djokovic has to be the favorite with Federer and Nadal now out. Djokovic is looking for his first clay-court title since he won Estoril last year.

A day after she beat top-seeded Justine Henin, Dinara Safina beat arguably the player playing the best on tour right now. Safina defeated Serena Williams 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(5) in the quarterfinals at Berlin this morning. Coming into this match, Williams was sporting a 21-1 record and hadn’t lost a match since the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. For Safina, this was not only her first win over Serena in her career, but it is the first time she has reached a semifinal of a tournament in 2008.

Safina’s opponent in the semis will be Victoria Azarenaka, someone she has never faced. The unseeded Azarenka upset #15 Alona Bondarenko 7-6(2), 6-2. This is Azarenka’s first career Tier I semifinal appearance, and the third time she has reached at least the semis of a tournament this year. Last week, she lost in the finals at Prague to Vera Zvonareva in straight sets.

With Henin and Serena now out, the new favorite has to be second-seeded Ana Ivanovic. Last year’s French Open runner-up will play #10 Agnes Szavay later today. The two have never faced each other before.

As the quarterfinals are now set in Rome, the question this morning has to be whether or not we will get an All-American semifinal? It could/would be between Andy Roddick and James Blake if they can both win their quarterfinal matches today. Blake is playing right now against Stanislas Wawrinka and has won the first set in a tie-break. Roddick will play a little later today against #14 Tommy Robredo. Robredo is an excellent player, but Roddick may have caught a bit of a break as Robredo was able to upset #4 Nikolay Davydenko in three sets. This is mainly because Roddick is 7-0 against Robredo, with a win over him on clay in Rome in 2002.

After all the talk about Americans suffering on clay, I don’t think this potential match could be overstated. I know that Blake definitely got a big break with JCF ousting Rafael Nadal (who would have been his opponent in the quarters) in the second round, but those are the kind of things that happen in tennis. To have an American semi, which would ultimately lead to an American in the final, would be great for tennis in the States. It would also, hopefully, lead to both players gaining confidence heading into the French Open. If you remember, last year’s French Open was a disaster for American men. Roddick, Blake and every other American male lost their first round match, giving the Americans an 0-9 record last year. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again.

If they were to play, Roddick holds a 6-2 lead versus Blake in his career. But, Blake’s two wins have come the last two times they have played. On clay, they have only met once, which was in 2002 at Houston with Roddick winning.

Top-seed Justine Henin lost this morning to Dinara Safina 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 in the third round of the German Open in Berlin. This was Henin’s first loss to Safina in six tries and the first time she has failed to reach the quarterfinals of an event this year. This cannot be a good sign for Henin. The last tournament she played in (Miami) she got thrashed by Serena Williams in the quarters, and after taking just about a month off she now loses in the third round. While she will still be the favorite at Roland Garros, her confidence cannot be as high as it has been in the past.

For Safina, this has is probably her biggest victory of the year. Her results have been a mixed bag so far in 2008, and with that being said she once again demonstrated that she is capable of beating the top girls. She is now going to get another chance to face a top girl, as she will now face Serena Williams in the quarterfinals.

Williams beat eleventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 6-1 in her third round match to advance. Serena is 3-0 all-time against Safina, including a fourth round victory over her at last year’s French Open.

Now here is one loss I didn’t see coming. Three-time defending champion and clay-master Rafael Nadal lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero today in the second round at Rome. Ferrero won the match 7-5, 6-1 and didn’t let Nadal convert a single break chance against him. Nadal had been 6-1 versus Ferrero in his career, with four of those victories coming on clay (including at Monte Carlo two weeks ago). Nadal’s last loss on clay came to Roger Federer in the finals at Hamburg in 2007, and that was a stunner!

Heading into this tournament, Nadal had won the title in Monte Carlo and Barcelona (both for the fourth straight time), and had a 17 match winning streak at Rome. As you know, he doesn’t lose on clay very often. He now has a 117-4 record on the surface since 2005, and this is his first loss to a Spaniard on clay since he fell to David Ferrer in the quarterfinals in 2004 at Stuttgart.

This loss will definitely give Roger Federer (and others) some hope as we progress towards the French Open.

NBTA student Sabine Lisicki fell to Sybille Bammer 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(5) in the second round at Berlin earlier today. Lisicki had upset #14 Shahar Peer in the first round and had she beaten Bammer she would have gotten to play #2 Ana Ivanovic. Lisicki saved 14 of 20 break points and converted on 7 of her 11 break opportunities, but it wasn’t enough to get by Bammer. This is another solid result for the 18-year old Lisicki, as she heads into her first career French Open.

Top-seeded Justine Henin won her first match since she lost in the quarterfinals to Serena Williams at Miami earlier today. Henin beat Yung-Jan Chan 6-0, 6-2 and will play #13 Dinara Safina in the third round. Henin is 5-0 against Safina in her career, including two wins over her on clay.

Also winning were #2 Ana Ivanovic and #4 Jelena Jankovic. Ivanovic beat Akgul Amanmuradova 7-6(0), and 6-2 and Jankovic downed Shuai Peng 7-5, 6-0. As I mentioned before, Ivanovic will face Sybille Bammer while Jankovic will take on Maria Kirilenko.

The world’s fifth-ranked player, David Ferrer, became the first big causality at Rome, losing to Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. This can’t be considered a bad loss for Ferrer, because Stepanek is an excellent player and ranked in the top 30 (#27). He has the ability to beat anyone when he is playing well, and is always a threat to go deep into tournaments. Stepanek will now face qualifier Luis Horna in the third round. Stepanek and Horna are 1-1 against each other, but the two haven’t faced since 2005.

The other top 10 seed to lose was #7 David Nalbandian. He was beaten by Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 7-5. This is the second time in 2008 that Almagro has beaten Nalbandian on clay. He did it at Acapulco earlier this year in straight sets as well. Almagro will play #12 Fernando Gonzalez in the third round.

Three other top 10 seeds, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, and James Blake all advanced to the third round on Wednesday. Djokovic beat Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-0 and will now face either Igor Andreev or Juan Monaco in the next round. Davydenko got a big win over Mario Ancic 6-2, 6-2 and Blake needed three sets to beat Andreas Seppi 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1. Davydenko will play either Tommy Robredo or Nicolas Mahut, while Blake will get either Nicolas Lapentti or Fernando Verdasco.

For the first time since she reached the finals in 2002, Serena Williams played on the clay courts in Berlin at the German Open. Williams won her second round match over Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-3 and will face either #11 Agnieszka Radwanska or Angelika Bachmann in the third round. As I mentioned earlier, Williams is a former finalist here. She lost that match to Justine Henin in three sets, and she may get another chance at Henin in the quarterfinals this year.

While Henin has to be the favorite, Ravi Ubha of ESPN likes Serena Williams’ chances. I can’t really disagree with him, but picking against Henin on clay is dangerous. I know she hasn’t been totally healthy this season, but she is still the best player in the world. She has proven that on clay she is Nadal-like, winning four out of the last five French Opens (including the last three).

Despite reports that he may have injured himself moving furniture, Andy Roddick advanced to the third round at Rome. Roddick showed no ill side effects of the injury with a 6-1, 6-4 dismantling of fellow American Mardy Fish. The match took just over an hour and six minutes, and Roddick didn’t have a single double fault in the match. He will now have to await a couple of matches to see who he will face in the third round. This was Roddick’s first clay-court match of the year, and he has had success in Rome in the past. He reached the quarters in 2006 and the semis in 2002. I am sure Roddick would like to head into the French Open with some confidence, because he has never fared to well there. In seven career appearances there, he has lost in the first or second round six times.

The only other player to advance to the third round this morning was top-seeded Roger Federer. The Fed defeated one of the guys that has given him trouble in the past, Guillermo Canas, 6-3, 6-3. Canas had beaten Federer three out of the five times they had played previous, but was no match for him this time. Federer had eight aces and converted three of his seven break chances in the match. Like Roddick, Federer will now have to wait to see who he will face.

Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal will face Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round, after Ferrero beat Nicolas Kiefer in three sets earlier today. Nadal is 6-1 against Ferrero, including a win over him two weeks ago at Monte Carlo.

Many of the top ladies are playing this week at the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin. The top-seed is Justine Henin, who is playing for the first time since her quarterfinal loss to Serena Williams in Miami. Henin will face qualifier Yung-Jan Chan in the second round.

Also playing this week is the aforementioned Serena Williams, who just happens to be in the same quarter as Henin. That would be a very interesting quarterfinal match, because Henin has dominated Williams on clay, winning four of their five matches. Williams will face Italian Francesca Schiavone in the second round.

Joining Henin and Williams this week are Ana Ivanovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Jankovic, Anna Chakvetadze, Elena Dementieva, Marion Bartoli, and more.

The ladies are already in action this morning, and Academy student Sabine Lisicki won her opening round match over 14th-seeded Shahar Peer. Lisicki, who is now ranked #102 in the world, upset the 18th ranked player in the world 7-5, 6-1 and will now face either Sybille Bammer or Michaella Krajicek in the second round. Lisicki made a big splash earlier this year when she reached the fourth round at Miami, beating Anna Chakvetadze in the process.

Other winners this morning include: Nadia Petrova, Kaia Kanepi, Alona Bondarenko, Caroline Wozniacki, Lucie Safarova, and Agnes Szavay.