Wow well its not often I start a post with some incredible news but this is one of them, as Day 4 of Wimbledon 2012 is now over and there has been quite a few dramatic matches on the go today, so let's have a look at em.
Starting with the ladies, the biggest upset on the ladies today was the exit of the No.9 seed, Marion Bartoli, who was beaten by the unseeded Mirjana Lucic from Croatia, who stunned the Wimbledon 2007 finalist with a straight set victory in 6-4, 6-3. And sadly for the two of the remaining brits in the draw there were some early exits ahead, starting with Anne Keothavong, who went out against the French Open finalist, Sara Errani. From the start Errani was simply too solid for the Anne who only scraped a game per set, as she suffered a drubbing in 6-1, 6-1. Elena Baltacha also exited against the defending champion Petra Kvitova, who overpowered her and raced to an emphatic straight set win in 6-0, 6-4. But on the brighter side of things, the Austrian Tamira Paszek, who conquered Eastbourne and defeat Caroline Wozniacki in the first round, is now into the 3rd round having dispatched Alize Cornet in 6-2, 6-1, which is great to see. Tamira got to the quarter finals at Wimbledon last year, and it looks like she is on course to put in another great performance, and who knows maybe it could be her in the final.
Anyway now onto the men's and there was some real drama on court today, starting with Andy Murray's much against the giant Ivo Karlovich (also from Croatia) which promised to be a real tough test for Andy. And it proved to be just that as big Ivo rained down serves well over 140 mph and for the most part his serve was unpenetrable However Andy got some luck when Karlovic double faulted to give the 1st set to Andy, however the 2nd went by serve and it went to Ivo on a tiebreak. But in the 3rd Andy got an immediate break and consolidated with a double break, to win the 3rd, however it was back to even stevens in the 4th, which went to another tiebreak. This time however, fortune favoured Andy as Ivo double faulted at 4-4 to let Andy get the crucial point, that saw his next two serves seal the match for him, after a very tough 3 hour plus match and the final score reading 7-5, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6.
This match it has to be said sparked a bit of controversy after from big Ivo who complained that the Wimbledon line judges kept calling out that he foot faulted on 11 separate occassions. Ivo was not happy with this as he felt that the line judges were biased as the home favourite player was playing, but if he foot faulted then he did it, and there's not much he can do about it. But for Andy this was another impressive performance, and despite dropping his serve on the 1st game, after that he broke back and never dropped serve again, and he returned really well against the giant Karlovic serve. Andy also kept his compsure in the crucial moments and he did very well to negotiate such a tough opponent, which sees him safely into the 3rd round and I'm sure there were collective gasps from the crowd after that match finished. Next up for Andy is Marcos Baghdatis, who will be another dangerous opponent, but given his form I'm sure Andy will be able to come through.
Also quickly onto the other British match of the day which was between the Brit No.2, James Ward and the American No.2, Mardy Fish, who has returned to the sport after heart problems. And despite the gap in rankings, Ward put on a very gutsy effort against the much higher ranked Fish, and he battled against the Yank, pushing him to a deciding 5th set before Fish triumphed in 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. It was a real pity to see James Ward go out in the 2nd round, as it was the best he had played at Wimbledon so far, and he put in a terrific effort against Mardy Fish, and the crowd were really behind him all the way, but it was by far the best perforamance out of the three losing British players today, so big well done to James Ward for his terrific effort.
Now onto the most dramatic match of the day as Rafael Nadal played the unseeded Czeck player, Lukas Rosol, who was ranked 100 in the world, and on paper it sounded like a straight forward victory for the former two time Wimbledon champion. However it proved to be anything but as Rafa seriously met his match with Rosol, who played with great power and precision, as he hit winner after winner against the mighty Raf. Despite dropping the first set on a tiebreak, Rosol battled back to take the next two sets, and Rafa went on to level the match to take it to a decider. In the decider however, Rosol made his move and got a break straight off on Rafa's serve, and from there he never looked back. And despite fears that at 5-4 serving for the match that Rosol would choke, they were quickly dispelled as Rosol pulled off the seemingly impossible in defeating Rafael Nadal in the 2nd round of Wimbledon with an unbelievable 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 scoreline.
This was the mother and father of all upsets, and this year alone we have already seen Serena Williams go out in the first round of the French Open, but I think this even tops that! Rafa clearly wasn't playing his best in Halle on grass as lost to Philipp Kolschreiber, and he played a ropey match against Thomaz Bellucci in the opening round at Wimbledon. So in a way while he wasn't playing his best, you would still expect him to win through, but this really was a major deal and its something I think no one could have expected. But for Rosol this was nothing short of a miraculous achievevment as he had only won 18 matches in his ATP tour career up until this, and there is no doubt his performance was spectacular and he totally deserved the win.
So this all of a sudden makes the Wimbledon men's draw far more interesting, well on Rafa's side, which also features Andy Murray. Andy still has a tough draw ahead of him with Baghdatis next, and possibly Querry, Cilic or even Raonic awaiting in the 4th, but if he manages to make it into the second week and into the semis, then for the first time he won't be facing Rafa. It also means that Andy is now the highest ranked player left in his side of the draw, so if he can keep up his performance level then he's in with a strong shout of reaching his first Wimbledon final. Can he do it????? I sincerely hope so. And Andy made it to the final last time when Rafa went out in the Australian Open, so this is a big chance for him, and if he continues to play to his strengths it could be him lifting that trophy next Sunday. But that also depends on the fates of the remaining two guys ahead of him.
Soooooooooo exciting times ahead at Wimbledon, and there is still one other Brit left in the draw, Heather Watson who plays Agnieszka Radwanska. However I have to say Radwanska is the firm favourite to win, so its going to be a really big ask to expect Heather to come through, but nothing is impossible, so we will just wait and see, and if she goes down, I hope she goes down fighting.
Righhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhtt after that very interesting and intruiging post I will leave it there.
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