Jeeeeeeezz well that's day 9 over with for the Wimbledon championships as the four men's quarter finals matches got underway and it sees the final four set up for the Friday so here's more about that.
OK so starting with Roger Federer who took on Mikhail Youzhny, the Russian player, who was right from the start, no match for the mighty Fed whatsoever. In each set Federer displayed quite a few reasons just why is the greatest player of all time as he dazzled the crowd with some amazing shots, and not letting Youzhny into the match at all. And the match itself was no longer than 1 hour and 30 minutes as Federer raced to victory with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 win. This match was in my opinion just a bit too easy for my liking for Federer as he has been quite lucky with his side of the draw, and the only top 10 players in his side of the draw have been himself, Djokovic and Tipsarevic. So it really wasn't much of a test for Federer, and while his display was impressive, there really wasn't a great deal that Youhzny could do.
Djokovic however had a slightly more testing match as he took on the flashy and very talented Florian Mayer, who gave Djoko a bit of a headache in the opening set, and he also had to save three break points at 4-4, however he saved the break points with great aplomb and went on to break Mayer to take the opening set. In the 2nd set, Djokovic stepped up and blasted past the German player, breaking twice to take a 2 set lead. In the 3rd things were even pegged until Djokovic broke, and he went to close out a fairly comfortable win in 6-4, 6-1, 6-4. This was actually quite an entertaining match as Mayer entertained the crowd with his unorthodox style of play (his forehand looks weird!) and Djokovic once again looked superb out on court, and despite one or two micro wobbles, he never looked under threat, which sees him set up a very tough semi final encounter with a certain Roger Federer, but more on that later.
Next up we had Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who faced another German player, Philipp Kolschreiber, who proved to be quite a testing encounter for the Frenchman. And it took four sets for Tsonga to see off Kolschreiber as the two of them battled it out on Court 1 for nearly 3 hours, with Tsonga eventually prevailing after a 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 win.
And the winner of that match will play the last match of the day, which was between Andy Murray and the very much in form David Ferrer, the World No.5. In terms of rankings there were very little in this, but Ferrer actually looked to be the more likely as he got off to a superb start, breaking Andy to go 5-2 up, however when he served for the set, Andy broke back and soon levelled the score to make it 5-5, and soon the set went to a tiebreak, which Ferrer won to close out the 1st set. Andy's ropey form continued into the 2nd set as he was broken at 4-4, but again he was able to break back to level and the match went to another tiebreak, which was quite a tense one, with Andy being 3-0 down at one point, but he managed to fight on and level the match by winning the breaker. In the 3rd set Andy got the decisive break to go 2 sets to one up, but in the 4th it went by serve again, despite Andy having a scare at 15-40 on his serve at 3-4, he saved it. Pretty soon the match went into another nailbiting tiebreak, but this time Andy took charge and bolted the barn door shut to ensure his place in his fourth consecutive Wimbledon semi final with a winning score of 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 7-6.
I expected this to be a really tough match and it proved to be just that, and the fact that Ferrer was playing so well throughout, and at times was the better player, yet Andy still came through which made it all the more remarkable. The match itself was one of the highlights of the tournament so far, as both men traded some amazing rallies from the baseline, coming into the net, displaying a variety of shots. Andy himself played pretty much some of the finest tennis of his career to battle past Ferrer, who was in such great form, and while his serving started off poorly at just over 50%, it got alot better as it went on, and ended up at 61% which is not bad at all. And more importantly throughout the match, Andy kept his cool and composure as he played on centre court under the most extreme pressure, and I think that is in part due to the work that Andy has done with Ivan Lendl, and just maybe their relationship is starting to pay off. But I can't leave out David Ferrer's incredible contribution to the match as well, and he has drastically raised his level this year, playing the best tennis of his career, and his form throughout Wimbledon was superb. Its a pity for Ferrer that he lost but he is a consumate professional and as Andy rightly says, Ferrer doesn't get enough credit, which he more than deserves, and he's been a top 10 player for several years with good reason.
Soooo anyway that's the men's semi finals complete, with Djokovic and Federer, and Murray and Tsonga. Whio's my pick out of those two?????? Well for me I have to go with Djokovic for the Federer match, although this is the first time they have played each other in the semi finals strangely enough, so it will make for quite an exciting encounter no doubt. Federer has shown some great form at the tournament, but there have been issues with his back this week, so it makes you question if he can live with Novak out there on Friday, but I guess we will soon find out.
As for the Murray vs Tsonga match I'm going to go with Andy Murray as he looks ready to me, and I think the work he has been doing with Ivan Lendl is starting to show out on court. Some of the tennis he has played at Wimbledon is up there with the standard that he played at Melbourne, and there have been times where he has served the best I have ever seen him in any tournament. However he still has his moments of inconsistency, but thankfully for Andy so will Tsonga, and Tsonga also doesn't have a coach and may have a few more moments of mental fragility than Andy will on court. Plus Andy leads their head to head 5-1, which already makes him the favourite to win the match, but you can't go by head to heads alone, its still going to be a really tough one.
However for me I really am starting to believe that Andy will make the final, and there were times for sure throughout the tournament so far that I have had my doubts, especially given how tough his draw has been that he would have made this far. But in doing so Andy has shown great tenacity and guts, and I do believe that one way or another he will reach that final on Sunday. But make no mistake his Tsonga match will be very very tough indeed, but I do believe he has a good chance of winning, and I sincerely hope he does.
And after winning against Ferrer it has shown that Andy has been able to deal with adversity so much better than he did last year. And throughout the tournament, Andy has been building on his performance and with each match he is getting better and better, despite one or two erratic moments, and you feel at last that he is peaking just at the right time, and what a better time to do then at his home grand slam. But there is always the danger he could fold under the pressue of expectations of the nation in trying to reach the final, but so far in this tournament he has dealt with the pressure so much better than before. And let's not forget that he already has reached 3 grand slam finals so he is no stranger in knowing how to play to reach a major final. And I have said already I just think there is an inevitability about Andy this year at Wimbledon that he is going to reach the final, he might not win it of course, but he's definitely got a chance.
Rrrrrright well so exciting times are ahead and the ladies semi finals take place tomorrow as Serena Williams will face Victoria Azarenka, and Agnieszka Radwanska will take on Angelique Kerber. Both matches promise to be absolutely belters, so here's hoping they live up to their expectations.
And on that rather exciting note I shall leave it there!
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