So onto day 2 for the Cincinnati Western and Southern Open from the ATP/WTA tour, which saw another mixture of interesting matches.
The main one of the day being an epic battle between the two Spaniards former World No.1 Rafa Nadal and Fernando Verdasco. They both had an amazing epic match two years ago at the Australian Open semi final and this match closely resembled that one, although perhaps not quite as high in quality. But what it lacked in consistent quality it made up for with intruige as it was a match that kept you guessing who might win. Rafa right from the get go wasn't playing his best tennis allowing Verdasco at certain moments to break his serve, but Rafa somehow stuck in there and broke back when he needed to. Rafa sealed the first set in a tight tiebreaker 7-6(5), but in the second he lost his chance for a break in the breaker and allowed Verdasco to take it in 6(4)-7(7). However after sharing breaks yet again in the 3rd and final set, Rafa and Verdasco slogged it out again in a gripping yet loose tiebreak which finally saw Rafa prevail in 7-6(9), the final score being 7-6(5), 6(4)-7(7), 7-6(9). It was quite an encounter and I felt bad in a way for Verdasco as this was his best chance of beating Nadal for the first time in their 12 meetings, and God knows he had plenty of chances, but in the end he couldn't take them. It just shows you that difference between one point here and there, and in the end its always Rafa who can get the crucial points when it matters, just like he did against Andy Murray last year in their amazing battle at the ATP Tour World Finals semi final in London.
In other matches Andy Murray was also successful in securing his revenge against Alex Bogomolov who defeated him earlier this year in Miami. This time Andy had no trouble stamping his authority early on in the match as he blew the American off the court to close the set in 6-2, but the second set saw Andy's level dip which let Boglymov back into the match to make it 5-5, squandering his earlier break at 2-0. But Andy managed to seize his chance to break the American once more at 6-5 and sealed it oot to win 6-2, 7-5. This was far more like it, clearly Andy wanted revenge for his loss and he sure got it, it also shows his vast improvement in his performance from his match with David Nalbandian the day before. Next up for the Muzza though is the talented Frenchman Gilles Simon, they have already met two times this year, so it should be an interesting match, and most likely a tough one, but hopefully Andy will win.
In other matches, Mardy Fish continued his fine form against Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who he defeated in two tight sets in 7-5, 7-5. Fish will tomorrow go on to meet Rafa, Fish is yet to win against the Spaniard, so it will be very interesting to see if Rafa after his 3 and a half hour epic match today has still enough left in the tank for tomorrow. If Fish does beat him we could well be looking at a Muzza semi final encounter, and for once I would have to put my money on Fish winning that one, also Fish won against Andy last year in the quarter finals in Cincinnati too. But perhaps Andy might have a chance for revenge there too, but inevitably he will face either Djokovic or Federer in the final if he gets that far.
Which brings me onto Djokovic's match against Radek Stepanek, whom has been a player that has shown good form of late, but unfortunately he wasn't able to bring any of that to their match as the Serb defeated him 6-3 6-3 in a very topsy turvey match. Djokovic however wasn't performing that well either, his 1st serve percentage was terrible enough to put Andy Murray's to shame, as he had about 47% 1st serves in. Djokovic certainly isn't playing the invincible tennis he was earlier in the year, where he crushed just about every player in his path, don't get me wrong he is still playing a very high standard, but its not up there like it was. But I guess that is impossible to keep up the level all the time, but Djokovic is still winning his matches without too much trouble, especially in the early stages. So Djokovic could well meet Gael Monfils like he did last week again, perhaps maybe it will give him a chance to shine again, but Djoko is struggling with the fast speed of the courts in Cincinnati so maybe it might give Monfils a chance to play better, probably not but we'll see. Federer has also soundly whipped yank James Blake in straight sets 6-4, 6-1, which sees Federer on fine form once again. Next up for Federer is Tomas Berdych, so I'm hoping he can beat him to set up another encounter with Djokovic, and this time I would still favour Federer to win. I say that because if Federer can maintain his form like he did then he's in with a strong shout, he also loves playing on fast courts, like he did in the French Open playing with faster balls, so we could be looking at Novak's second loss of the season, as Djokovic has been struggling a bit with the courts in Cincinnati. But then again probably not, we will soon find out, one way or another can't wait for that one.
On the WTA tour, Maria Sharapova is through to the quarter finals as she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova quite convincingly in 6-2, 6-3. Sam Stosur also beat Li Na in a tough 3 set match in 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, it was first time in their 6 meetings that Li Na managed to even take a set off Stosur. So Stosur will go on to face Sharapova, who Stosur has never beaten neither, so I would expect Maria to win that one. Andrea Petkovic once again defeated a sub-par Petra Kvitova in 6-3, 6-3, which makes you just wonder what goes in these Grand Slam champion woman players minds???? Li Na and Petra have both struggled to win matches after their respective major title wins, it seems winning one doesn't do you any favours, unless your are Novak Djokovic!
Anyway that's it for now, more to follow soon....
No comments:
Post a Comment