Well well well its been an interesting weekend's tennis as the 2012 ATP World Tour Finals is almost at an end, and now we are finally down to the last two men, but more on that in the minute, as first here is an update on the matches from yesterday and today.
OK so to start off with we had on the Saturday, Roger Federer take on Juan Martin Del Potro, who has become something of a nemesis for the Swiss fella over the last short while, as the big man defeated Roger also back in Basel last month. And in this match it promised to be quite a stern test for the former World No.1, and it turned out to be just that as Roger battled with the Argentine, who took the first set on a tiebreak. Roger however came bounding back in the 2nd set as he broke to level the match, but in the decider it was Delpo who made the killer blow and went on to break the mighty Fedster, and serve it out to defeat him for the first time at the ATP WTF in two years, with 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 win. This was quite a surprising defeat for Roger although in a way we knew that Delpo already had the chops to beat Roger anywhere as he proved in Basel and also at the 2009 US Open final where he dethroned Rog of his major crown at that time. Anyway so this match let Delpo make his way into the semis, and it saw the door shut on David Ferrer's chances to make it to that stage.
Which brings me onto David Ferrer and Janko Tipsarevic's match, which was basically a dead rubber as neither of them were guaranteed a place in the semis. And with nothing to lose Tipsarevic went out and got off to the better start as he broke Ferrer twice, before Ferrer broke back once, but Tipsy went on to take the 1st set. In the second set however, Ferrer found his range and broke the Serb and closed it out, and in the decider it was all about Ferrer who played with ruthless efficiency, breaking Tipsy in half (or twice should I say!) before serving it out to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. It may have been a dead rubber, but the match did have an impact on the results of who would play who in the semi finals, and as a result with Ferrer winning, Andy would play Roger, and Novak would play Delpo on Sunday.
So now we go onto Sunday, which first up saw Novak Djokovic play against Del Potro, and it promised to be quite a tough affair, and it certainly proved to be just that. Delpo however got off to the stronger start as he broke Nole to take opening set, but in the 2nd set despite Delpo going a break up, he was unable to consolidate the break, and before we knew it Nole broke straight back to level proceedings, and soon manufactured a break of his own to take 2nd. In the decider, Delpo started to show signs of wavering as Djokovic displayed his athleticism around the court, and before we knew Djokovic broke twice and went on to seal his place in the final with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Which leads me onto the second and most anticipated semi final of the night between Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Going into the match, the two men had met each other four times already this year, with both of them 2 wins each. And with Andy in the form of his life just now it looked likely that he could pulled off an upset victory to take his place in the final. However despite a very tight and entertaining first set, once the match got into the tiebreak, Andy made an unforced error in the tiebreak, which handed the initiative to Roger and quick as a flash the set was Rog's. In the 2nd set, Andy appeared to be frustrated with himself and it wasn't long before the old ugly mistakes started to creep in, with bad service games, and not getting his first serves in once again. And by this time Roger had upped his level and put on a stellar display to overpower Andy, breaking him twice with effortless ease, and he went on to serve it out for a place in his 8th ATP world tour finals final with a 7-6(5), 6-2 score.
This was a match of two halves really, well actually the first half was longer than the second, but the first set had some terrific tennis in it from both players. Andy looked to start off as the stronger of the two as he broke Federer straight away, but you just knew it wouldn't be long before Federer did his magic and got back into the match, and once it went to the tiebreak, I just knew Roger would win it. And in the 2nd set I just felt Andy had almost given up after playing that sloppy service game at 1-1, to hand over the break to Federer. The crowd however also played a small part in maybe distracting Andy in the tiebreak when they booed him for changing his racquet after he angrily swiped the ground with it when he missed a key shot to give the minibreak to Federer. Whether or not this affected him in the 2nd set, who knows, but I do think the crowd were a bit out of order when they booed him for showing frustration and getting a new racquet. But there you go. But from the 2nd set onward Federer was the better player and his extensive indoor hard court record spoke volumes in this match, so in the end there was really only one winner.
So that's the final set for tomorrow night, as we will have a showdown between Roger Federer, the 6 time year end champion, and Novak Djokovic, who has won it once back in 2008. It promises to be a real cracker, but who will win it??????? Well if I'm being honest I have to go with Federer, as I think his record at this event speaks for itself, and while I think Nole has a good chance of winning, Federer will always find that edge just when he needs it, and that quite often is what sets him apart from everyone else in the game. But whichever way it goes, I'm sure it will be a great final.
And as for Andy Murray, well that's his 2012 season drawn to a close, which has easily been the best season of his career, having won the Olmypic gold medal, by dismantling Federer in the final, and his first grand slam at the US Open by beating Djokovic in an epic 5 set match, as well as reaching the Wimbledon final. Its a bit disappointing that he lost the match tonight, but despite all that, Andy has shown great progress in producing consistent results since winning at the US Open, where he has only had one early exit at the Paris Masters, other than that he has made the latter stages of all the tournaments he has played. And to make the semi finals again at the world tour finals this year isn't too shabby a result, and it shows that he has played to his world ranking of No.3, which is another great effort in that he has finished up in the position he aimed to last year, even if Rafa is missing from the tour just now. Andy has also more importantly become a much more focused and aggressive player this year as well, going for his shots more, and not holding back, and win or lose that attitude has helped him immensely this year. By his own admission Andy however did say that he felt he still needs to reign in when to go for the shots and when not to, as well as work on his consistency throughout the year on the tour, which no doubt he will.
And I'm sure in 2013 that Andy will win at least one grand slam, and hopefully if its just the one I think it will be Wimbledon, and if he wins that, well he really will start the building blocks towards becoming one of the greats in the game. But if there is one man that deserves credit for getting Andy to this point then its Ivan Lendl, and after the doubts over their partnership working earlier this year, they have both totally turned that on its head, as Andy's decision to appoint Lendl as his coach has payed off brilliantly for him so far. And come 2013 Andy can continue to improve his game and his consistency, and if he does then he is sure to become the world no.1 at some point. In the meantime I'm sure he will be ready for a well earned break, and next up for Andy will be the exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, the Mubadala world tennis championships, at the end of December, but that's a good bit off yet.
But anyway that's it for now, more to follow once the result is in for tomorrow's ATP WTF final.
Till then bye now!
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