OK so now onto part 4 of my coverage of the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open for thet mens and ladies tour, and today we saw the mens and ladies semi final matches take place, to sort out who will be in the finals tomorrow, so here's more on that.
Starting with the ladies, first up we had another match between No.1 Victoria Azarenka and the new World No.3, Agnieszka Radwanska. Aga (short Agnieszka of course) has only lost to one player all year so far, and that is Vika (Victoria's nickname) and she came into this match having lost to her five times in a row. So was it to be number six????? Unfortunately yes, as once again Aga struggled to find any form or consistency against her nemesis, and right from the start she looked defeatist, while Vika strutted round the court with aggressive brashness and confidence. The first set was easy street for Vika as she broke Aga twice, but in the 2nd things got a little more competitive, as Vika dropped her serve once to let Aga back in to square it at 4-4, but once again Aga capitulated in trying to get anything going and handed the break back to Vika, and well the rest is history, with Vika now into her 2nd Madrid final winning in 6-2, 6-4.
There was no doubt who was going to win this one before it even started as Azarenka mentally has just not been present the last few times they have played, and they haven't been the best of friends ever since Victoria sprained her ankle in their match in Doha, as Aga thought she was putting it on at the time. And I think that has really gotten into Agnieszka's head since then as she has simply not found any way to get past her, and until she sorts out her mental block she never will. You could almost say its like the Nadal, Djokovic rivalry, except this isn't a rivalry, its one player continually handing the other a drubbing, but it remains like the riddle that it was for Nadal, and Aga needs to try and find a solution to it in the future.
Anyway onto the second ladies semi final, which was between Serena Williams and the impressive qualifier, Lucie Hadrecka, who enroute to this point had already beaten two grand slam champions, Petra Kvitova and Sam Stosur. But could she beat the greatest ladies singles player of all time???? Well once again no, although the first set was very tight and competitve, as Hadrecka served really well, pushing it to a tiebreak, which was close, but Hadrecka threw it away with one unforced error, for Serena to take. In the 2nd set, Hadrecka had already taken a medical timeout for an abdominal muscle strain, which worsened throughout the set, as she could no longer find her serve, which allowed Serena to stamp her authority over the match, breaking her opponent 3 times, to take her place in the final, 7-6, 6-0.
This was a big letdown for Lucie she fought and played so well to get to the semis, but having to qualify and come through and play nearly 10 hours of tennis to get there, is quite a lot, and for her it was really just one match too many. But next up will be what promises to be a really good final between arguably the two best players in the world just now, Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams, as the two of them will hammer it out for the trophy. Who's going to win???? Well for me it has to be Serena, but I think it will be a close match, at least hopefully it will be, but Victoria really has to be on top of her game to have any chance, and if she isn't then its all over. But being the World No.1, Victoria will be playing with more confidence then she did in their last match at the US Open last year. However regardless of the result I think it will be a good final.
So onto the mens, starting off with the battle o the giants, the big Argentine, Juan Martin Del Potro, who faced off against the Czeck No.1, Tomas Berdych. Both men had a pretty easy time in getting to this stage, but their match was far from easy as there was nothing much to separate the two men's games, although there was one or two breaks of serve, especially in the 1st set, where Delpo went a break up, but Berdych broke back, and went to take the first set tiebreak. In the 2nd, it was Berdych's turn to go a break up, but then Delpo fought back to level the score, and again it went to a tiebreak, however it was Berdych that made the final push and sealed his place in the final with a score of 7-6(7-5), 7-6(8-6). This was a very good match and plenty of impressive flat hard hitting from both players, and the two men also have very similar playing styles, so it made for an interesting match up between two big hitters, there was not much in it.
And quickly the next semi final was between Roger Federer and Janko Tipsarevic, who had never beaten Roger before this, and unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to here either. From the start, Roger was by far the more superior player, as he breezed his way through the opening set, breaking Tipsarevic twice, and rocking him off his feet with his zingy returns and wide out serves. In the 2nd it was very much the same, as Federer took the crucial break early on, and never let go, despite one little wobble at 4-2, with a break point chance for Tipsy, but was quickly denied, and Fed went on to close out a very straight forward, straight set victory, 6-2, 6-3.
Well this brings me onto the men's final, which is set up between Federer and Berdych, which actually sounds very promising. Berdych in the past has garnered some impressive wins against Federer, particularly at Wimbledon in 2010 in the quarter finals. However Federer is playing much better now than he was then, so I still have to say that Roger is very much the favourite here. But Berdych definitely has the game to give him plenty of trouble, and if he serves well and stays on top of his game, then he has got a chance, but if drops his serve at any point, its game over, so he needs to play a really solid and consistent match to have any chance.
Right that's it for now, there are two very promising finals for tomorrow at Madrid, which I will comment on afterwards. I just hope they are both good ones, but we will soon find oot.
Till then that's it.
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