Ok so now onto the second of my posts about the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open, which is reaching the latter stages today, as the ladies and mens quarter finals are set to take place. So here is a bit more about the 3rd round matches which happened yesterday.
OK so as usual, in what might appear chauvanistic (but really isn't at all!) by starting with men's tennis, which saw one of the biggest upsets in recent memory when Rafa took on his fellow Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco in a pitch battle on the blue clay. Right from the start, Rafa looked far from comfortable on the blue clay, as he slipped and slided everywhere, meanwhile Verdasco managed to take advantage of Rafa's poor play, and ended up taking his first set on clay off him in the opener. In the 2nd set, Rafa fought back and secured a crucial break, which soon saw him take the 2nd set, which took us into the decider. And in the decider, the mother of all upsets took place, and even with Rafa being 5-2 up at one point, he missed what was a basic smash at the net, which somehow took its toll on his game, as he let Verdasco right back in, even when serving for the match at 5-4, Rafa still couldn't close it out. And before we knew it, not only had Verdasco drawn even, he also at 6-5, pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory, by breaking Rafa for the final time, and taking his first victory in 14 meetings over the king of clay, to claim a memorable victory in 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.
There is no doubt about that this match was a real shocker, especially as Rafa played so well on the blue clay just the day before, breezing past Davydenko in 6-2, 6-2, he looked on course to be the winner of the title. But somehow Rafa yesterday just went out and played the worst match he has played on clay in recent memory, and you felt despite it all, he should never have lost. Not to take away from Verdasco's victory, as he played very well and he deserved to win, and he was clearly quite emotional afterwards. Rafa however after the match had no trouble showing his contempt for the newly coloured surface as he said if the organisers continue to keep the blue clay next year, he will not be playing at the event. Djokovic also, despite managing to secure a win over Stan Wawrinka in 7-6, 6-4, also backed Rafa in his decision to boycott the event next year if they carry on with using the blue clay as well. Federer however had the least amount of trouble in getting past his opponent, Richard Gasquet, in just under an hour, winning in 6-3, 6-2, also was sympathetic to the problematic surface, although he wasn't as outright vocal in his dislike for the surface. But you would think that being the king of clay that Rafa would be the best one to adapt to the surface, and it was utterly ironic he was the least best person that adapted to the blue clay. Somehow psychologically the surface must have gotten in Rafa's head, as he seemed to bring those troubles onto the court with him, but most of the other players have just done their best to get on with it.
And this is where I am somewhat torn in my opinion on the blue surface, on one hand I do agree that it is a difficult surface for the players to play on, and despite the fact it makes the ball easier to follow on TV, it is the players who are going out there to risk their necks. However, on the ladies side, most of the players, while they may have said something about it, have mostly just gotten on with it, and even Serena Williams, usually is quicker to complain that most players, hasn't even said anything about it. So it makes you think, it comes down to the top 3 mens players in the world, once again using their power in the sport to make things happen, and no doubt they probably will. But ultimately it does come down to the players and if the surface causes problems then its something they really have to address, as the response to it has been overwhelmingly negative.
Anyway onto the ladies and the first match was a much anticipated one between former World No.1's, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki. Serena was naturally the favourite to win this one, however she got off to a terrible start, as she struggled against Caroline's superb consistency, and Caroline played some of the best tennis she has played all year, breaking Serena twice to take the opener. But things change, and Serena being Serena, suddenly found her form and from then on, there was no looking back, as she broke Caroline to take the 2nd set. And in the 3rd it was the same story as Serena proved to be just too good for the Dane, and broke her twice, to seal her place in the quarter finals, winning in 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
This match for me had the same kind of feel to as Andy Murray's match with Rafa last year at the Wimbledon semi finals, when Andy started off brilliantly in the first set, but after that set, he came apart at the seams, and from then on it was all Rafa, and it was same here. And while the match was far from a bad one, and wasn't as big a car wreck or as much of a drubbing as I thought, you knew from the start there would only be one winner. Still Caroline should take some positives from it, as for one set we saw some real potential that she can try and build on, but she still has a long way to go before she can power her way past the big hitters. However Serena's next match up is very exciting one as she will be set to take on Maria Sharapova, which promises to be a real barnburner, although you never know which way these things will go. It could prove to be a real battle or it could be just a straight set drubbing, however it remains a very intruiging match, so look forward it.
So quickly in other matches, the qualifier and doubles specialist, Lucia Hdrecka, who upset the defending champion Petra Kvitova, continued her fine run of form in getting past the Russian player, Ekerena Makarova, in 6-2, 7-6, to set up her place in the quarter finals, who will face the No.5 seed, Sam Stosur. And Agnieszka Radwanska faced her first test of the event against Robert Vinci, but managing to overcome her in 7-6(1), 6-4. Also another qualifier Varvara Lepchenko (great names these players have!) put in a fine performance and battled past Anabel Medina Garrigues to win 6-1, 6-7, 6-3. So it sets some very promising quarter final matches for the ladies.
As for the guys well we also have some potentially great quarter finals coming up, with Roger taking on David Ferrer (that should be good!), Djokovic taking on his fellow Serb, Janko Tipsarevic (yep should be good!), and Del Potro takes on the Dog, or Alexandr Dolgopolov (another promising one) and finally Tomas Berdych will face Rafa's conqueror, Fernando Verdasco. So its all good.
Right that's it for now, more soon to come.
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