So Day 12 of the US Open is pretty much stitched up which featured two very much anticipated quarter finals matches between Andy Murray and John Isner, and Rafa Nadal vs Andy Roddick, so its the remaining yanks against the Scot and the Spaniard. So who came out on top????
Well in the first QF match, the Muzza had to take on the giant serving giant John Isner, who made his first grand slam quarter final debut in this match. Isner had only played Andy once before this match at the Australian Open last year and the giant American got beat in straight sets, but this encounter was somewhat tougher. Andy early on in the match took a two set lead as he came out very strong and secured a break on Isner's serve at 5-5, and in the 2nd set Andy broke early to take it, however in the 3rd set Andy dropped his serve and then Isner rose his level and before we knew it, we were into a 4th set. The 4th set was a far more tense even pegged affair as the two men fought it out, with Andy surviving a scare at break point on his own serve at 4-4, they eventually went to a tiebreak. In the tiebreak I must confess I thought Isner would be the hot favourite to win it, but Andy served superbly in the breaker and quickly took a double mini break lead and the match in 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2). Overall it was a very good match with plenty of tense close points and I think John Isner definitely deserves credit for his excellent performance not only in this match but throughout the tournament.
So that's Andy through to his fourth consecutive grand slam semi final this year, the first time in his career he has managed to achieve that, which in itself is no mean feat. But can he take it those two steps further, get to the final and win???????? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, time will need to answer that one. So I will leave that down to the man upstairs and the four guys on court tomorrow and the two guys on court come Monday night. But so far despite a few wobbles I have to say Andy has had a very impressive US Open tournament, and he has definitely worked on improving his serve which is really good, but he still has struggled to keep it consistently high. However his 1st serve percentages in his Lopez match were 76% and his match with John Isner was 68%, which is pretty impressive, he also managed to keep his unforced errors down in those matches. But can he keep it up over the next two matches, that is the question.
One thing I do know for sure is that Andy will face Rafa in the semi final. And I have to say I do fear for Andy a bit, because so far Rafa has been formidable in this tournament, as he has just ruthlessly dismissed Andy Roddick in their match in straight sets, with a comprehensive win in 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 (of course Muzza did same to Roddick at Queens). Rafa hasn't dropped a set yet and looks superb, Andy has dropped three. Regardless of that though I don't necessarily think tomorrow will be a cakewalk for Rafa, in fact it could be quite the opposite, but I am not entirely convinced that Andy can beat him. However rather than make any assumptions (and make an ass of umption!) time will tell on this one, as I've watched too many matches this year to unrealistically get my hopes up. I just hope Andy can raise his game that bit higher than he did at Wimbledon, and if he does make a mistake then not to dwell on it and just get on with playing the next point. Another factor in Rafa's favour tomorrow could also be that he spent about only 2 hours on court, so he could be that bit more refreshed for the semis match tomorrow, than Andy is.
Achh well you never know, Andy has beaten Rafa in the semis at the US Open three years ago, but Rafa has moved on as a player on hard courts since then. But I do get frustrated for Andy when Rafa beats him in the slams, as I really do think he deserves to win a major as he trains and works so hard for them, and to be quite frank the other three have won quite enough between them. As an anology the situation with the top 3 and Andy is its like a few big boys who are all taking a big slice of the pie, while Andy is trying to desparately get a piece but they keep pushing him away, as in a way that's what tennis is like, its all about who's the hungriest.
So all we can hope for tomorrow is that Andy and Rafa give us the match of the tournament, or at least something close, and if they don't I'm positive Djokovic and Federer will. But its great to see the top four make it into the final four again, like they did at the French Open, its the dream semi final setup we all want to see, even if we suspect who might already be in that final!!
So with potential baited breath that's eeeeeeeetttttt!
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