Welll here we are getting to last four of the Olympics tennis from Wimbledon for the men's and ladies events, so here is more on that as I dissect the quarter finals matches.
Starting as usual with the ladies, first up we had last year's Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova take on the Russian No.3, Maria Kirilenko, however it was Kirilenko that emerged victorious, by upsetting the World No.6 in straight sets 7-6, 6-3. This was another surprise upset for Petra and after such a great year last year, Petra has struggled her consistency this year in winning the majors or any other titles, so this shows that maybe she is starting to go on a bit of a downward turn, which is a pity as it would be great to see her rise up the rankings again. Next up Serena Williams played the former World. No.1, Caroline Wozniacki for a place in the semi finals, but she had trouble getting past the Dane, as she thrashed her opponent in emphatic fashion with a 6-0, 6-3 win. So far Serena has proved to be the hot favourite to win the gold medal and her form at the Olympics has been frighteningly good so far, as she has barely conceded more than 5 games in a match, which is a scary stat. After this we had Victoria Azarenka play Angelique Kerber, which promised to be quite a tough match and it proved to be just that, as Kerber put in a gutsy performance, breaking back several times throughout the match, but in the end Victoria had just about too much for her, and emerged the winner after a 6-4, 7-5 win. And finally in what promised to be the match of the day, we had Maria Sharapova take on Kim Clijsters, however for the fist set Maria made short work of Kim, breaking twice to win the first set. The second set however was more competitive as Kim after going a break down, broke back, and at 5-5, with Kim serving, Maria broke and went on to close out he match with a 6-2, 7-5 win to secure her place in the semi finals.
So this sees a showdown between Maria's Sharapova and Kirilenko, which let's face it is going to be a really noisy one, and Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. My pick of those two matches natually will be Sharapova and Serena as the winners, but hopefully both matches will be really good ones, but I'd imagine the best one might be Sharapova vs Kirilenko, hopefully Victoria can given Serena a match as well, but the odds are firmly stacked in Serena's favour on that one. And here's hoping it will be a Serena and Maria showdown for the gold medal, but I think Serena will win, and if Vika plays Kirilenko then Vika will win, so I predict Serena for gold, Maria for silver and Vika for bronze. But we shall see, whatever it goes, it promises to be an interesting day today.
Right now onto the men, which first up we had Andy Murray take on the Spanish No.3, Nicolas Almagro, who as it turned out was no match for the British No.1. Almagro was also hampered by a shoulder injury, and despite putting in good in the first set, but losing by a break, Andy proceeded to wipe out Almagro in the 2nd set, and put him out of his misery to seal his place in the semis witha 6-4, 6-1 win. Next up we had Novak Djokovic play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, this match promised to be a real cracker, however probably due to fatigue after his lengthy match with Raonic, Tsonga looked under cooked as he was broken twice in the 1st set by Djoko, however in the 2nd things got tighter, as Tsonga broke Djoko. But Djokovic being the player he is, held his nerve and dug deep to level the scores and broke Tsonga to make it 6-5, and serve it out with ease for a place in the semis with Andy Murray. After that we had Juan Martin Del Potro who was up against one of his Wimbledon opponents, Kei Nishikori, and once again he emerged victorious with a straight sets win in 6-4, 7-6. And finally in what proved to be the match of the day on the men's we had Roger Federer take on John Isner, with the Fed being put under pressure by the big yin constantly on serve. But Roger held his iron nerves to break in the opening set, however in the 2nd, things were even pegged until the tie break, and by a cruelt twist of fate, Roger at match point returned Isner's serve, with a net cord, to secure a place in the semis against Del Potro, with a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory.
So that sets up a mouth watering semi final showdown between four of the world's best players, Federer vs Del Potro, and Djokovic vs Murray. My pick out of those two matches??? Well for the first match, I'd really have to go with Roger, as Delpo hasn't been able to beat Roger all year, or since their 2009 US Open final, plus he is the World No.1, and is back to playing his best tennis, so for me his place in the final is already booked. As for the other match, well its difficult to say, especially considering Andy's form on grass, and he has a strong chance here, but I think that Djokovic just might edge it, given his slam experience, however it could go either way, so its 50/50 on this one.
But in regards to Andy there are a few scenarios here, the best scenario of all is that Del Potro beats Roger, and he beats Djokovic for a place in the final, and if that happens then Andy is sure to win a gold medal. Or Djokovic could beat Andy to leave him with a chance to win the bronze medal, either against Federer or Del Potro, and out of those two I'd much rather see Andy play Del Potro, as he will have a stronger chance of winning the medal. And personally I would be quite happy to see Andy win the bronze medal if he was to lose today, and if he plays Del Potro, I think it could be a great match, especially as they haven't played each other for quite a while. But the worst case scenario would be that if Andy and Federer both lose today then I would be almost certain that Andy would be guaranteed to lose the bronze medal match, and he would leave empty handed, which is the last thing I want to see. There is also the possibility we could have another Andy and Roger final like we did four weeks ago, and there Andy will have his chances, but there is a strong chance he could end up losing again, to garner a silver medal. But on a personal level I'd much rather see Andy win the gold or the bronze, because either way he has won the match, rather than lost it.
Sooooooo it promises to be a very exciting day in the mens and ladies semi finals matches, which way it goes we will soon find out.
And on that note I will leave it there!
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