Right so now its time for my look at the men's matches from Days 11 and 12 at the French open which will cover the quarter finals matches. So let's have a look.....
So the first match of the day was the most anticipated match of the tournament between two of the game's greatest modern rivals, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. And we all know the story with these two as Novak has been desparate to win the French open to complete his career grand slam and has been on losing end of Rafa's might at Roland Garros over their last six matches. So was this all about to change???? Well.....yes. The match itself however was billed to be an epic but in the end it didn't quite turn out that way as it was clear in this match that the usual high quality of their rivalry had now suffered a bit of a gulf. In the first set however we were treated to some classic Nole vs Rafa action as Rafa battled back from 4-0 down to level the scores and the first continued on serve until Rafa was broken at 5-6 and Nole took the 1st set. In the 2nd set Rafa continued to try and live with Novak who had become more comfortable on serve and he went on to break Rafa to grab a two set lead, which saw for the first time in quite some time Rafa's title defence really come under threat. And in the 3rd set any hope of a great fightback was squashed as Rafa simply could not contend with Djokovic's unrelenting brilliance on the court and Rafa dropped serve twice to go down the double break. And as Rafa tried to make Novak serve it out he failed to do it and instead in the cruellest of ironic fates, did what Novak did in their previous two finals: double fault on match point down to end his reign at Roland Garros as his old rival Novak beat him for the first time with a stunning 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 win.
Well there was not much doubt that Djokovic could have won this match but I admit I was rather surprised by the way in which he won it in such an emphatic manner. However as I said before the alarm bells did start to ring when I saw Rafa's blip against Jack Sock as he failed to serve out the match in the 3rd set, which made me think if he makes mistakes like that against Novak he will get punished. So the result was surprising in one way but also not in another and it really does show that Novak is the undisputed World No.1 now as he has even evicted and dethroned the king of clay in his own backyard he must surely be the favourite to go and win this title now and at this rate I think it will be incredibly hard for anyone to stop him.
As for Rafa well let's just hope he bounces back (no pun intended!) and picks up his game for the grass court season as he will be determined to try and get his confidence back. There is also the question mark however not just his confidence but if there has been still any physical issues with him after his apendectomy, which might also have impact on their performances in matches. And its clear that Rafa has shown some struggles but may have been trying to hide them from the public eye and so far its also clear that he is having the same kind of struggles that Andy had last year in terms of his results. But ultimately Rafa is too good a player to struggle indefinitely and while he lags way behind his old rival Novak in form just now I'm sure he can work his way back up again and hopefully as he has said himself will be back to fight for the French open title again next year.
Now we get to the next match which was between Andy Murray and David Ferrer which promised to be a highly entertaining encounter. Andy had never previously beaten Ferrer on clay in any of their meetings on that surface so this no doubt was going to be quite a challenging match for him. And right enough it was just that as from the first set both men engaged in some intense rallies and both exchanged breaks of serve which eventually saw them head to a tiebreak which Andy won. In the 2nd set Andy fired on a cylinders and secured a double break over the Spaniard to grab a two set lead. However in the 3rd depsite going a break up, Andy was broken back by Ferrer and play went by serve until 5-4 where Andy had a match point but with the crowd fully supporting Ferrer, he saved it and went on to hold serve and break Andy himself and he took the 3rd set to keep himself alive. But in the 4th set Andy regrouped and found his best form and steamrolled over Ferrer as he raced to a double break lead and in the end served out the match to reach his 3rd RG semi final and secured his first ever win over Ferrer with a gruelling 7-6, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 scoreline.
There wasn't much doubt this was a very entertaining and tense match between two great players who just went at it full pelt for most of the match and it showed once again Andy's incredible form on clay this season. And the fact that Andy has now beaten both Rafa and Ferrer on clay in the one season is quite remarkable and impressive in itself and if he maintains his form he could very well give himself a chance for the mighty challenge that lies ahead of him (more on that in a minute!). The only concern for Andy in this match however was how he surrendered his break in the 3rd set as it inevitably lead to his downfall in losing that set he was forced to expend more energy and time on court that he would have liked to have. But in the end Andy showed his remarkable ability to regroup after losing a set and play great tennis to finish off a match which has always been a great strength of his against the top players. As for Ferrer well he put up a great fight as you would expect but ultimately he beat himself in a way by being too distracted by the photographers at the side of the court and also he double faulted over 10 times clearly feeling the pressure from Andy it cost him but despite he has still had a good run at RG.
So..... this now sets up another epic showdown between another two rivals in the men's game as Andy and Nole will face each other in the semi finals for a place in the final. And this begs one question: who is going to win????? Well............... this one doesn't require too much imagination as I think Novak will win it simply because the guy has looked unstoppable throughout this tournament and he is yet to drop a set. And this will also prove key for Novak as he has spent much less time on court than Andy has and has also served more consistently as well as he regularly has kept his 1st serve in the 70s. Not only that Novak is no stranger to winning streaks himself and while Andy sits on a very impressive unbeaten 15 match winning streak on clay just now, Novak also has one as well and overall he has a 27 match winning streak this year so far and its hard to see past him for that alone. Not only that Novak has won all of their last previous seven matches.
However having said that Andy will still have his own chances and he also knows how to take the game to Novak and unlike just about every other player knows how to attack and break Novak's serve. The problem for Andy here will be twofold, first he has dropped three sets so far in the tournament and just played a pretty gruelling match against Ferrer so he is bound to be physically less fresh than Novak is. And second is Andy's serve, which has never been reliable at the best of times and if he is to have any chance against Novak he will need to serve as well as he possibly can and this is something he has struggled to do in their previous seven matches. Another factor also comes from the fact that the temperatures for tomorrow's matches are to be very hot as Paris will hit around the mid-30 degrees mark. And in that intense heat there is a chance that given the time Andy has spent on court already could impact on his performance out there as well. Also added to that in their past matches Novak has always been able to physically (and mentally) outlast Andy and while Andy can undoubtedly test and challenge Novak, he ultimately has always ended up being worn down by him. Andy will also need to be wary of Djokovic's body language and behaviour on court because if its a physical match (which it doubtless will be) and he tries to bluff Andy into thinking he's injured like he appeared to do before in Melbourne, then Andy better not fall for it. However Novak should and will think twice of doing that in front of the French open crowd who are notoriously unforgiving of any foul play so I don't imagine we will see that from him.
But despite those concerns Andy still has the ability to test Novak like few other players can with the exception of Federer and Wawrinka who also can push the World No.1. And where Andy can also succeed is in frustrating Novak on the court and he can push his buttons when he competes at his best with him. And a case in point was when Andy broke Djokovic's serve at the Miami open final this year to level a set all and afterwards Djokovic was fuming and snapped angry words back at his camp and alarmed a ball boy in the process by snatching the towel from him (for which Djokovic later publicly apologised for). And the one area of weakness that Andy could exploit is Djokovic's second serve and his ability to step in and punish it, which could also prove to be crucial to his success in the match. So while Andy is the underdog in this match he will still have his opportunities but he will need to be fully prepared to take them when they come along and given Novak's form throughout the tournament so far they won't come that often.
Soooooo as for my prediction I think Novak will win this one in four sets but hopefully it will be a high quality match and if Novak does win it in four let's just hope he doesn't bagel Andy this time!
Anyway so that's it for now and I will be back soon with the results of the ladies final (permitting it happens considering Serena's illness) and the men's semis.
Until then bye for now!
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