Right so this post will cover my look at the men's semi final matches at the French open and it will see who reached the final two to fight it out with a chance for a first time winner at RG. So let's give them a look.....
So the first match was between the two time semi finalist, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and home favourite against Stan Wawrinka, the 9th seed who took out his pal Roger Federer in the previous round. And the match itself was quite an up and down yet competitive affair as both men played in brutally humid conditions with high winds swirling about making play difficult. However it was Stan who got off to the stronger start as he broke Tsonga and went on to close out the 1st set as the Frenchman already appeared to be showing nerves. The 2nd set however was far more closer as both men pushed each other into a tiebreak which saw Tsonga raise his game as Stan went off his and the Frenchman levelled the match at a set all. In the 3rd set there was nothing to separate the two again as play went to another tiebreak but Stan took the initiative this time and won the breaker to take the two sets to one lead. And in the 4th set Jo blinked first as he dropped his serve it was ultimately his undoing as Stan held firm who pressed for a double break but couldn't quite get it but went on to serve it out to secure his 2nd grand slam final and first at the French open after a hard fought 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 win.
Well in one way its quite surprising to see Stan do so well at the French open this year given the up and down year he has had so far but in a way it is also not so surprising as he is an excellent clay court player who's game is tailor made for the surface. And it showed also that while Stan can be inconsistent in his form at times that he is also no one trick pony as any player that can reach more than one slam final and already have one under the belt is more than capable of grabbing another one. However its going to be a very tough ask for Stan to win his second major with whoever awaits him in the other side of the draw, which I will get to it in a tic. As for Tsonga well he did really well for the most part in this match and at least this time he showed up and fought hard in this semi final unlike his previous one with David Ferrer where he choked. So no doubt this result showed put Tsonga back in the top 10 after next week given he reached the semi finals.
Now we get onto what was perhaps next to the Rafa vs Nole encounter the most anticipated match of the tournament so far which was the clash between Novak Djokovic and his old rival Andy Murray. On paper this had all the makings of a classic even though Andy was on the losing end to Djokovic the last seven times they had met and given Djokovic's determination and brilliance so far in the tournament it was a big ask for Andy to make an impact on Nole's game. And as for the match itself it certainly seemed to be the case at the start as Andy struggled to deal with not only the windy conditions on court but also Djokovic's exceptional form as he appeared to have just about all the answers to every shot Andy made. And in the 1st set Andy at 4-3 got sloppy and dropped his serve to hand the break to Novak who served out the set confidently. In the 2nd set Andy continued to struggle with Novak who kept up his domination over him and Andy dropped serve again and as he looked to try and prevent going down a double break he played a shocker of an overhead which went long to meekly hand Novak the two sets to love lead. In the 3rd set Andy had to really battle to hold onto his serve as the wind picked up to such extremes and he had to stave off two break points on his serve at 2-3 which would surely have spelled the end of the match had he lost them. However from here Andy picked up his level and held serve to go 5-5 and then things turned in his favour as he whipped a stunning forehand pass over Novak and went on to break the imperious No.1 for the first time and also went on to serve out the 3rd set to keep himself a live in the match.
In the 4th set Andy kept his momentum with an early break however he squandered it and let Nole back in to the set but by this time the level of play had risen and the rallies had become higher in quality. Andy however again found himself in a hole as struggle on serve and staved off three more break points at 2-3 which he saved to go 3-3. After this however match play was suspended due to an incoming storm so the players left the court for the night. Play then continued the next day with both men coming out sharp particularly Andy who then went on and sealed another break on the Djokovic serve and did the almost unthinkable as he served out the set to level the match at two sets all. However in the 5th set Djokovic seized the initiative as Andy finally blinked on serve and he went up a break and unfortunately from here Novak put down the hammer and raced to a double break and quickly served out the match with an ace to reach his 3rd final at the French open after an epic battle winning in 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 6-1 in 4 hours and 9 minutes.
Well its slow start and rather disappointing end aside this match was undoubtedly one of the real highlights of the French open so far as both players at times played some terrific points and incredible rallies which had the French crowd up on their feet and even cheering for Andy who was the clear underdog. Novak started off the match in such imperious form and had looked so solid throughout the tournament up to this point, probably did not expect after goings two sets up such an incredible fightback from Andy but he sure got one. And for this alone it is sheer testament as to just how good a player Andy is as he went toe to toe with the world's best player for over 4 hours whereas every other player so far has struggled to even keep with the Serb's incredible form and walking into this match he had not even dropped a set. This is especially surprising given that Djokovic demolished Rafa so convincingly in their quarter final clash. However in the end Novak knows a thing or two about winning himself and as soon he started the 5th set he hit the reset switch and went on to play like he did in the first two sets and proved yet again that he is the world's best player and just too damn good for everyone else. But at least in the end Andy did avoid the dreaded bagel as he has suffered a 6-0 loss in two of their previous big matches in Melbourne and Miami so the breadstick (1 in tennis) is better than the bagel (0 in tennis) any day!
So that is the end of the French open for Andy but it has easily been his best ever clay court season to date having only sustained one loss in the whole season with a mighty impressive 15-1 record on the red dirt he couldn't really have done much better if he tried. And not only that he really showed in this event and right now that he is the world's second best player like he was two years ago even if Federer currently has the No.2 spot I can see Andy in the near future reclaim it. It also showed that his rivalry with Djokovic really is starting to ignite again despite having lost eight straight matches to the guy he is starting to compete as well as he possibly could against him and he should take huge encouragement from this match alone. And with the grass court season just round the corner I think Andy has an excellent chance of winning his 2nd Wimbledon title and he might just get revenge over Novak there as given his confidence and form and with a British crowd fully behind him that could make all the difference so we will see how things go from here.
So that is the French open final now set between Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka, its the Djoker versus Stan the man. So the question has to be asked: who will win it????? Wellll again I have to go with Djokovic as the guy is the world's best player, he hasn't lost a match in over three months and right now he's never played better. However Stan is a very dangerous player and he has alot of firepower and he has the game to beat Novak as well and their previous four slam matches have all gone to five sets so you can expect it to be another very tough match tomorrow. Stan also has a better 2nd serve than Andy and as such it can make it that bit easier for him to hold serve and that could prove also to be key as there is no question that Stan will need to serve well to win the match and the title. Stan also can take confidence from his sole grand slam match win over Djokovic last year in Melbourne where he pushed Novak hard and ultimately beat him 9-7 in the 5th set, so a win in the final is not impossible. But in the end I think Novak will just have that bit extra over Stan and he will have more than enough belief and desire in himself to ensure that he get's that much eluded final grand slam title to complete the career slam that he so badly wants.
So my prediction for the match is that Novak will win it in four or five sets and while I think Stan can definitely make a match of it ultimately I think he will come up short against the World No.1 who is on an unstoppable mission to put himself right up among the greats in the game by winning all four majors as he knows full well this is his best shot at it.
Right so that's it for now and I will be back with my final French open post with the results for both the men's and ladies final singles matches.
Until the next one its bye for now!
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