OK so now onto a quick update for the men's tennis from the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, the 3rd 1000 Masters series title of the ATP tour season. So I will cover the men's quarter and semi final matches that lead up to the final which I will quickly mention at the end.
So start with the quarter finals, first up we had Rafa take on the talented and fast rising Bulgarian player, Grigor Dimitrov, who has been in impressive form this week in the principality, which promised to be quite a tough encounter. And it certainly was that, and Rafa had to work very hard against the in form Bulgarian, who after dropping the opening set, went on to break Rafa twice in the 2nd to level the match. And in the 3rd set it was a tense battle as play went by serve until 4-4 when Rafa got the crucial break, but at 5-4 Dimitrov continued to put pressure on Rafa's serve, but in the end the 8 time champion finally managed to graft past Dimitrov and seal his place in the semis with a hard fought 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win.
This was quite a match and showed just how dangerous a player Dimitrov is and how he will continue to threaten the top four and all the other players on the tour. It was also the first time in a while that Rafa had been given such a scare at Monte Carlo, where he has shown great dominance and has rarely then threatened. But it was full credit to Rafa's champion qualities that saw him come through this match. However this match really has shown that Grigor Dimitrov is a name to watch out for in the future as no doubt he will continue to get better as time goes on.
Next up we had Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who took on another in form player just now, Stan Wawrinka, who defeated Andy Murray with ruthless efficiency in the 3rd round. However Jo and Stan have had their fare share of spats in recent times and their latest was on the clay last year at the French Open, where Jo narrowly avoided defeat in a very tough 5 set battle. And this match proved to be quite a tough encounter as well with Stan getting off to the better start as he broke Tsonga twice to take the 1st set. In the 2nd set that was where Tsonga mounted his fightback and broke Wawrinka to level the match at a set all, and in the 3rd Tsonga got the break but he had to work hard to close it out, which he eventually did with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.
After this we had Richard Gasquet, the French No.2 take on the Italian player Fabio Fognini and despite an even first set with Fabio edging it, in the 2nd set it was the Italian who defeated Gasquet, breaking him twice to close out the win in 7-6, 6-2. And finally Novak Djokovic showed more encouraging signs that his ankle is getting better, as he faced Jarko Nieminen, who despite going a break down against, soon broke back and after this he never really back as he swept aside his Finnish opponent in just 6-4, 6-3. This shows that Nole has made an impressive recovery as the matches have progressed he is hitting his stride on the red dirt.
Which brings me onto the semi finals, starting with Rafa who faced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and they have had their share of battles in the past. But Rafa got off to the stronger start as he broke Tsonga, who made a rash of unforced errors which saw him come undone as Rafa took the opening set. In the 2nd set it was more of the same as Tsonga made more errors, and Rafa went 5-1 up! However at that point, Tsonga started an incredible fight back as he even saved three match points on his own serve and he went on to break Rafa's serve, and levelled the scores till it was 5-5! And from here both men pushed the match into a tiebreak, but it was there that Rafa got the crucial minibreak and went onto to hit a blazing forehand winner to seal his place in a record 9th final.
As semi finals go this was quite an entertaining match, and it was an impressive fightback from Tsonga as he came from 5-1 down in the 2nd set to level the scores. In the tiebreak however Rafa was always the favourite given his excellent record in breakers and there was no real doubt in the end that he could come through it. And despite Tsonga's loss it showed that he is getting back on form and he should remain a strong threat when the French Open comes around.
Which brings me onto the second semi final which was between Novak Djokovic and Fabio Fognini and again they have had some pretty competitive matches in the past, with Fognini being an excellent clay court player. But in the end the match turned out to be child's play for Nole who swept past the Italian with great ease, snapping Fognini's serve in two and breaking twice in both sets to set up his final with his arch nemesis, Rafa, in the final, after an easy 6-1, 6-2.
So Nole's impressive form has grown ever more in his match with Fognini, and this sets up a potentially great final between the Spaniard and the Serb. So who will win it???? Well its tough to say, but I think its going to be pretty close and Rafa has been a bit tight this week and not quite at his best on the clay, but he is very comfortable on the red dirt and is one of the all time great clay court players, so it would hard to bet against him. And on the other hand Djokovic has come into this as the underdog, but he knows how to beat Rafa on any surface and has done so twice in Rome and Madrid on the clay two years ago. But Djokovic has had lower ranked players in his draw so it will be mighty tough to dislodge the king of clay on one of his best and single most successful tournament. So it will be interesting, but I think Djokovic has a fair chance to win, and I might just pick him to be the slight favourite, but it wouldn't surprise me if Rafa digs out another title defence here.
And on that note I shall leave it there and report back once its over.
Bye for noww!
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