Right so now we get onto the men's matches from Days 8 and 9 from the Australian open and what a couple of days they were of which day 9 featured the father of all upsets, but we'll get to that in a bit, so in the meantime let's get started...
OK starting with Day 8 we had Rafa take on the Japanese player, Kei Nishikori in what turned out to be a really tough and tense affair. Nishikori who on paper seemed like toast for Rafa actually proved to be the sternest test of Rafa's tournament so far as the Japenese player really took it to Rafa as both men traded breaks of serve throughout. And despite Nishikori's chances to serve for the 2nd set Rafa soon snuffed them out, and he even battled against blisters on his hands and survived that too as Rafa in the 3rd sent went on to close it out in a tense tiebreak which saw Rafa leap in delight after a hard fought 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 win. This was a really good match and Nishikori actually put up some great resistance with Rafa over three sets but Rafa proved yet again why is the best player in the world just now and still remains on course for a possible 2nd Melbourne title. And next up Rafa will face the Bulgarian player, Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter finals, who has reached his first grand slam quarter final by beating the Spanish player who upset Del Potro, Roberto Bautista-Agut in 4 sets.
Next we had Roger Federer who was up against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in what promised to be a real tough encounter like their great match last year when Jo pushed Roger to five sets before losing to the Swiss player. However Roger went on court and stunned everyone and rolled back the years by putting in a stunning performance as he blasted Tsonga off the court with his power and sharp net game and with that Rog put out the 10th seed in a convincing manner with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win. This is a match that showed that you can never ever write off Roger Federer in any circumstances and with Stefan Edberg in his corner and a large racquet to give him that extra power, Roger is looking more formidable than he has for a quite while and if he continues this form in the next round then I think it will be very tough for him to be stopped.
Which brings me onto the next match which was between Andy Murray and the French qualifier Stephane Robert, a lucky loser who has enjoyed a good run of luck so far in Melbourne. And in this fourth round clash, Andy was the hot favourite to win and for the first two sets and a half, Andy looked to be coasting. But as Andy secured an early break and was set to serve for the match at 5-4, he suddenly suffered his first real wobble of the tournament after the Frenchman broke him back to go 5-5. And play went to a tiebreak in the 3rd set which saw momentum swing to and fro and at one point Andy even had two match points in the breaker at 6-4 only to hit a couple of wayward shots to let Robert back in who went on to grab the breaker and the 3rd set, which saw Andy smash his racquet out of frustration of losing the set. In the 4th set however Andy regrouped and managed to get the job done as he broke the Frenchman twice and after six match points he eventually secured his place in the quarter finals with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 win.
Well this certainly wasn't in the script that Andy would drop his first set of the tournament as he looked comfortably in the lead and to serve for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd. However as time and time again has shown Andy's main weakness remains his 2nd serve, which is far too slow in itself as it can clock as low as 70mph, which leaves him wide open for it to be attacked and this certainly was the case against Robert in the 3rd seet. So this match did leave a bit of a question mark about his form and how will he stack up against the greatest player to have played the game in Roger Federer. Well that is one question that will be answered soon enough but given Roger's current form and Andy's questionable match sharpness its difficult to reallty answer just now until the match get's started. What we do know is that Andy has put in the hard work and for the most part he has played well down under so far but in order to go further he really will still need to up his game against Roger to give himself any chance of getting through to the semis.
So in my opinion who will win????? Well I hate to not sound supportive of Andy but my gut instinct tells me that Federer will win this one in maybe four or five sets, as I feel Roger is far more match sharp and given his dismissal of Tsonga in such an effective fashion it seems likely if Andy is even slightly off his game then that is all Roger needs to beat him. But on the other hand Andy is now a veteran big match player and with two majors under his belt, he now knows how to win the big important matches and if he serves well and plays aggressive then he's got a good chance. But whatever happens I just hope it turns out to be a real cracker of a match like their semi final in Melbourne last year and if it is, win or lose, it will continue to show the exciting rivalry that these players can hopefully develop together if they continue to meet this year in the grand slams.
Right so now we go onto day 9 of the men's which started with Tomas Berdych who faced off against David Ferrer for a place in the last four and we knew this was never going to be an easy ask for either player. Berdy was in the better form of the two players as he hadn't dropped a single set going into the last eight, but that all changed against Ferrer who fought back to grab the 3rd set to threaten to take the match to a 5th. However Ferrer soon dropped his serve at 2-2 in the 4th and from there Berdy ran with it and served out the match to reach his first ever semi final in Melbourne with a 6-1, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory. This is mighty impressive stuff from Berdych who has overcome some quality opponents such as Ferrer and Anderson in his draw and done so quite effectively to reach the last four, which sees him with an opportunity to reach his second grand slam final.
And nowwwwww for the match of the day which was a rematch of last year's 4th round between Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka, which was pretty much the match of 2013. So this match had much to live up to in trying to reach the same heights in quality, but would it????? As it turned out it sure did and any fears that Stan wouldn't be able to live with Nole like he did last year were quickly abated after Stan dropped the opening set he fought back to level in the 2nd and he also nabbed to the 3rd set to put extra pressure on Novak. In the 4th set however Stan was on the receiving end of the defending champion's wrath who ensured the match would go the distance and he levelled proceedings at two sets all. And despite Novak taking an early break in the 5th set, it was short lived as the defending champ made some careless shot selections to hand the break back to Stan. And from here we were treated to some thrilling rallies and Stan showing tremendous mental resiliance against Novak's barrage of break points. And play went by serve until 7-7 when at 8-7 with Nole serving to go 8-8 the defending champion, the four time Australian open champion, made two sloppy unforced errors at the net which handed Stan the game, set and match, which ended Novak's dominance in Melbourne with a remarkable 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 triumph.
Well.... of all the results you could expect, we could never have expected this one especially given Novak's confident and remarkable record in Melbourne having won 25 straight matches there before his run came to an end. It also makes you question Novak's decision to bring Boris Becker on board to his team and was it a wise decision??? Well that is the question, however what is certain is that Boris was brought onboard to help Novak sharpen his net game, and that certainly played its part in his downfall here as his net game has always been his main weakness. And given that both Novak and Stan are baseliners its funny how Novak would try to make the decision to try and come in more and disrupt the winning formulae which has worked so well for him in baseline and defensive game. What is for sure is that Novak certainly doesn't need Boris Becker to help him win a major as that is something he is already capable of. But of course if Boris is to improve Djokovic's game, just like with Andy and Ivan Lendl, those adjustments will take time I'm sure and it remains to be seen how their partnership will continue. And regardless of such a heavy loss, there is little doubt that Novak will bounce back soon enough.
But getting back to the match itself and while it wasn't quite as high in quality as last year's Stan/Nole clash it still featured some truly remarkable tennis from both men at times and above all its Stan Wawrinka that deserves all that credit for winning this match. And its a testament to just how good a player Stan is that rather than never recover from his "so near yet so far" defeat just a year ago, instead he used it as a springboard to produce the best tennis of his career and his best season to date in 2013, which is just incredible in itself. And with that Stan has reached his second grand slam semi final and with Tomas Berdych next up in the semis, Stan has a seriously good chance of reaching the final and let's hope he does as he sure deserves it. Although it has to be said that Berdych will be the fresher of the two men going into that match as he has spent much less time on court, however it as they say or as Jimmy Connors once said "95% mental and 5% physical out there" (well I'm sure its a bit more physical than that! ;-)). So in the meantime I will wish Stan all the best and let's hope it works out for him on Thursday.
Rrrrrrrrright so that's it for now, day 10 and 11 will follow and Day 10 will see a potentially very exciting rematch between Roger Federer and Andy Murray, will it be another classic or will it fall flat on its face???? We will soon find out.
Till then bye for now. :-)
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