So that's us into the semi finals now for the ATP/WTA Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati and things are to forgive the pun starting to really heat up (I say because its been 30C degrees plus out there!) with the remaining top seeds still in play.
Starting with the woman's tour, the quarter finals saw some intruiging line ups first off with Maria Sharapova who played against Sam Stosur. This match as I expected was a pushover for Sharapova as she has won all of their previous matches and this one was no exception, with the Russian putting in an almost clinical performance, blowing Stosur off the court in 6-3, 6-2. Stosur didn't help matters by simply playing really poor tennis, committing too many unforced errors, she looked beaten from the word go. However there are times where Sharapova can hand her opponents a gift horse through her poor serve record, as she can double fault badly through her matches, and toward the end of the match Stosur broke Sharapova's serve effectively to make it 5-2, but it was just too little too late. Following up from that match was a better somewhat tighter setup between Vera Zvonareva and Daniella Hantuchova, after a 6-3 first set to Vera, the second set proved much tighter as it went to a tiebreak, with Vera winning in 6-3, 7-6(6). The third woman's semi final was between Nadia Petrova and the current top 11 player, Andrea Petkovic who after a tough first set blasted Petrova off the court, winning in 7-5, 6-1. Jelena Jankovic was supposed to play Peng Shuai in her quarter final match, but Peng had to pull out an hour before play due to injury.
So that's the woman's semi final setup, its the battle o the Russians, Sharapova vs Zvonareva, I would favour Maria to win that one as she leads the head to head record against Vera, in fact I would favour Maria to win this title, but we will see. And in the other semi final setup we have Jelena Jankovic and Andrea Petkovic, Petko has the advantage of their last two meetings where she beat Jelena in two tight 3 set matches, so maybe (and here's the first reference to the title post of this blog entry!) its third time lucky for Jelena, I hope she wins as its good to see her playing well again, but I'd favour Petko to win really. Jelena I think has really struggled this year, so if she manages to get to the final it will definitely give her a boost in confidence which she badly needs, if she doesn't get there I hope she does well for the US Open.
So onto the men's tour, we saw a couple of upsets as the former World No.1s Rafa and Roger went out in their matches. First off Rafa played a very sub-par match against a very much in form Mardy Fish, who is now the World No.7. Rafa probably also after the fatigue of his lengthy battle against Verdasco the other day, had no answer to Mardy's incredible form and accurate serve, and went down in 6-3 6-4 to secure Fish's first win over Rafa in their 7 meetings. Rafa really has been struggling with his form of late, he appears to be having a similar year to what Federer had last year, winning only one slam and losing out so many matches, I think that's 9 losses he's had already this season. I also think his 5 defeats at the hands of Djokovic play a big part in that, as the Serb really has knocked Nadal off his perch. After winning the French Open it did give Nadal a boost, but when he lost again at Wimbledon I think it knocked him back down again. So Rafa will seriously have to regroup for the US Open, but if he faces the current No.1 I think we know who will win that one before it starts.
Onto other matches, Andy Murray who's had a fairly comfortable tournament so far, beat Frenchman Gilles Simon quite easily in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. Simon couldn't answer or respond to Andy's attack on his serve, and repeatedly drop shotted against him, even so much so that's how he won the match! After that Roger Federer took on one of his nemesis Tomas Berdych, who once again defeated him in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(3). Berdych appears to be in great form once again and he said he's been working on his serve so we will have to see how far he can go next. The next and final match was between Djokovic and the current French No.1 Gael Monfils, after last week's pummelling I think we all expected this to be a scoosh for Djoko, but it was anything but. Monfils appeared to have learned a thing or two from his previous defeat, and broke Djokovic straight away and then a second time to take the first set. Inevitably though after a tight contest at 4-4 in the 2nd, Djokovic broke and took the second set, and in the third Djoko managed to find the break and closed out another win in 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. I do think though Djokovic has been struggling with the fast conditions of the court in Cincinnati, and as I said he is no longer playing absolutely imperious tennis he was before, I guess the fatigue of playing so many matches is setting in somewhat, but it doesn't stop him winning though!!
And that is the semi finals setup for the men, it looks like a pretty good match up, with Andy vs Mardy and Novak vs Tomas. Andy will have a real battle on his hands though if he wants to win against Fish, as he is in real form just now, and I have to say I would favour Fish to win this one. But I would rather see Andy win any day. But having said that if Mardy does beat Andy (and it seems more likely) I think he could stand a pretty good chance of beating Djokovic in the final should they meet (again they most likely will!). As for Djokovic and Berdych, well no points for guessing who will win that one! But I think it could be a really tight match and Berdy is serving very well, it could also be a chance to avenge his loss at the Aussie Open, however the Serb knows a thing or two about winning (more so than anyone else!!).
OK so that's the setup for today, both the mens and ladies setups sound great, whether or not they are remains to be seen, but time will tell.
The end (for now).
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