FanHouse FernandoVerdasco

Andy Roddick should look at the bright side. He didn't lose to Roger Federer as badly as he usually does. Still, in the Australian Open semifinals on Thursday, Federer beat Roddick in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5, 7-5.

The two 7-5 sets are the hopeful part for Roddick. Maybe he can catch the Federbot one of these days. Roddick actually beat him the last time they played, almost a year ago in Miami. Prior to that, Roddick hadn't even won a set against Federer since late in 2006. That's how dominant Federer is. He is not the Tiger Woods of tennis. Tiger Woods is the Roger Federer of golf.

Tennis is a funny game. One minute you're up against match point, with your tournament hopes hanging by a thread, and then a few points later you're suddenly running away the momentum.

This was the case for two of the ladies in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. After winning the first set, Svetlana Kuznetsova was serving for the match against Serena Williams, but Serena broke the Russian at 4-5 to even the second set, and basically stole all of Kuznetsova's mojo. Then, despite some hot Aussie weather, Serena stayed focused and sweated her way to a second-set win and an absolute clobbering in the third set to win the match, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1.

Andy Murray will have time to contemplate the pie floater this week. The No. 4-seeded Brit lost a five-set match to Spain's Fernando Verdasco (right) on Monday at the Australian Open, becoming the latest seeded player to get beat at a tournament that hasn't been kind to the "over-dogs."