Day5 of the WTA/ATP tour Rogers Cup saw some more interesting developments, no big upsets as such but plenty of good stuff to watch.
Once again starting with the men, the quarter finals first up saw Stan Wawrinka take on US No.1 Mardy Fish, whom the Swiss battled against for the first two sets, winning the 2nd before caving in when they reached the 3rd, which saw the yank go through to his first Rogers Cup semi final, in 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-0. Next up was Tomas Berdych who was playing against Mr Shades, Janko Tipsaveric, who surprisingly enough defeated big Czeck in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to make it to his first Masters 1000 semi final. After that was the match up between the formidable Frenchman and giant killer Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who took on and defeated Nicholas Almagro in straight sets, again in 6-4, 6-4. And finally in what was a fairly anticipated match, French No.1 Gael Monfils took on the mighty Novak Djokovic, but unfortunately he wasn't up to the task at all, as the Serb gubbed Monfils easily in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, his easiest win of the tournament so far.
However now that Monfils is out of the picture, this sets up the semi final we all wanted to see, the clash between Tsonga and Djokovic. In my opinion, despite not being the top French player, I think Tsonga is a much better player than Monfils is. He's reached a grand slam final in Australia, won the Paris masters title, to top that off he's also beaten Roger twice this season and Rafa once (OK Rafa was fatigued from his French Open campaign) and he leads the head to head record surprisingly against Djoko, 5-3 in Tsonga's favour! But I really don't think tonight it will be 6-3, more likely it will be 5-4 as Tsonga was defeated by Djokovic in their previous meeting at Wimbledon, albeit in a very tough match. So tonight's match will be very anticipated and should be a belter, as Tsonga is playing really well just now, and so far Djokovic has yet to drop a set in Montreal but I think he will tonight. I could be wrong, but I think its going to be a real tough one and hopefully the match of the tournament. I also think if Tsonga has the type of match he had against Federer both in Wimbledon and Montreal, then the Serb hasn't got a prayer, cos if Tsonga serves that well and everything goes in, Djoko will be facing down the barrell of the gun on this one. I almost hope that is the case as it would be wonderful to see Tsonga make it through and have a shot at a second Masters title, but most likely not.
Now onto the wummin's tennis on the WTA (sorry I meant ladies!) in Toronto as the quarters final again saw some good stuff on display. Sam Stosur who has been on fine form at the Rogers Cup put in an assertive performance against the wildcard Roberta Vinci as she soundly beat her in 6-4, 6-0 to secure her place in the semis. After that Victoria Azarenka also breezed her way past the other wildcard Galina Voskoboeva (who took out Sharapova) defeating her in 6-1, 6-2. Next up was recently Top 10 player Andrea Petkovic who faced off a very much on form Agnieszka Radwanska who surprised everyone by defeating the German in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, which was a really good match with some lengthy lung bursting rallies. Radwanska afterwards joked when she commented on her current 9 match winning streak saying she would love to keep it going as long as Djokovic's streak went on! And finally Serena Williams who is very much on the comeback battled past the tricky Czeck Lucie Safarova to make into the semis in 3 sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
So that sets up a very intruiging and potentially very exciting semi final draw on both the mens and ladies tour. Fish vs Tipsy, Djokovic vs Tsonga on the men and Williams vs Azarenka and Stosur vs Radwanska, so it should be a really good one. My predictions for the finals: Djokovic and Fish in the mens, and maybe Williams and Radwanska in the ladies.
And that'll be on later, can't wait! Blog more soon.
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