So now I'm getting near to the end of my posts on the BNP Paribas Open from Indian Wells, and I will cover the two men's semi finals matches to see who will make it to Sunday's final.
OK so to start the first semi final was between Rafa Nadal and Tomas Berdych, who have played each other quite a bit over the last few years or so, and Rafa has won all of their last 12 meetings, so the prospect of Berdy pulling off a win here was quite daunting. And right enough it was a big big ask, as Rafa was looking mightier than ever, as he seemed even more determined than ever to prove that his knee is no longer a problem, as he moved impeccably round the court with ruthlessly efficiency, breaking Berdych in the opening set to clinch it. In the 2nd set however Berdych fought back to break Rafa's serve and go up 5-3, but he unfortunately was not able to close out the set as he played a sloppy smash, allowing Rafa to get back on serve. And then at 5-5 with Berdych serving to go 6-5, Rafa made his move and broke the Czeck one more time, and despite a tense last game, with Berdy forcing two break points, Rafa managed to come through to reach his fourth final at Indian Wells with a 6-4, 7-5 win.
Any match with Rafa in it is not going to be an easy one, and Berdych made a decent stab at taking him on, but in the end Rafa was just too strong for the big Czeck. Rafa himself is now on a 13 match winning streak, and having only lost one match in Brazil earlier this year, and picked up two clay court titles already, he is looking close back to his very best. And I think its safe to say that in the final he will be hot favourite to win the title, which I would quite like to see him win as he has not won a title on any surface other than clay for nearly three years. And Rafa has spent less time on court in his previous two matches which will give him a big advantage in the final as he will be fresher, having only dropped one set in the tournament in the 4th round, he has since gone strength to strength and looked near unstoppable. In fact Rafa could possibly even put together a winning streak of his own this year, and I shudder to think how he will be at Roland Garros this year based on his performances so far.
Anyway moving onto the second semi final, which was a potentially very exciting encounter on paper, between Novak Djokovic, unbeaten in 2013, and Juan Martin Del Potro, the 7th seed, who has been in great form this week. And the match itself turned out to be just that as it was a real cracker right from the start as both men went at it in the baking sun, with Djokovic's amazing speed and agility early on in the 1st set ensuring he broke Del Potro to win the set. In the 2nd set however, both traded breaks, with Delpo breaking straight away, only to be broken straight back by Nole, and after this Delpo broke again to go 3-1, and he confidently maintained his serve after to level the match at a set apiece. And in the 3rd there were yet more breaks of serve, and despite Novak breaking Delpo to secure a 3-0 lead, the Argentine battled his way back into the match by taking the next three games to level again. After this big Delpo rasied his game as he made his trademark brutal forehand count, by firing winners at Djokovic, who just couldn't keep with the pace of big Argentine, who went to secure the win by breaking Nole and serving it out with an ace, to hand Djokovic his first defeat of the season with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 triumphant victory.
Well it promised to be quite a match and it certainly lived up to expectations, as both Nole and Delpo put on a superb display for the capacity crowd at Indian Wells on the main stadium (named stadium 1 if you want to know). Djokovic naturally came into the match being the favourite to win as he was unbeaten in 2013 up to this point, and on a 22 match winning streak (17 from this year and 5 from the end of 2012) so no matter how tough it was, it looked inevitable that he would come out on top. But Del Potro deserves nothing but credit for his terrific performance in defeating the Serb, as he showed great determination in doing so, as he raised his game like he did against Andy Murray to get the win. It was also a remarkable victory for Del Potro that he was able to end Djokovic's unbeaten winning streak this year as well, which if Djoko had won might have gone on for God knows how long! ;-) But I could see on the surface of it that Djokovic wasn't playing quite as well at Indian Wells this year as he has in the past, certainly not as well as he did in 2011, and there was some room for doubt that he would be able to repeat his efforts from two years ago. But I'm sure that Nole will waste little time in bouncing back and he will have his chances to defend his title at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami coming up in a week's time.
So this sets up a terrific final between Rafa and Del Potro, which should be an absolute belter of a match, as both men are on great form, and they have both had their share of tough matches in the past. So who will win it???? Well to be honest its hard to bet against Rafa, and given his currrent great form it will be hard to look past him. However Delpo will have his chances as well and if he plays anything like he did in his last two matches, then he might just be able to pull it off, and in doing so win his first ever 1000 Masters series title. So whoever wins, I'm sure it will be a great one.
And that's it for now, I'll report back once the men's and ladies singles finals are done.
Bye for now.
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