Right well I've pretty much not managed to do my usual write-ups for the French Open this year so in order to make up for that (well sort of!) I will do a quick recap of who's still in and who has gone out in the men's event so far. Also I will do a preview of the men's semi final matches which have now been set, so without further ados let's give it a look....
RECAP SO FAR....
Ok so the first week in the men's event saw some upsets such as Marin Cilic who went out in the first round to a qualifier. And other top seeds that tumbled out in the first included Gilles Simon who was beaten by Viktor Troicki, Nick Kyrgios went out in the 3rd round to Richard Gasquet. And some of the other home favourites went out too such as Benoit Paire, Lucas Pouille and Jeremy Chardy also all in the first week.
Also further to that there has been a few withdrawals and/or retirements from the event too that started off with Roger Federer who pulled due to his back injury, which marks the first time he had withdrawn from a grand slam event since 1999. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the other hand retired from the tournament during his third round match when he sustained a groin injury, leading Ernest Gulbis 5-2 in the opening set (Gael Monfils also pulled out just before the event began due to injury).
And the most notable withdrawal of all was Rafa Nadal who despite showing great form in his first two matches made a shock announcement that he had to withdraw because of a wrist injury. This now brings up more concern over Rafa's fitness for his future in the sport as he said in his press conference how the wrist was not broken but if he carried on playing it would have broke. So this will see Rafa out of the game for maybe quite some time while he recovers from his injury and if he requires surgery then he maybe out much longer. But let's hope its not too long before we see Rafa on the court again and that things get better for him.
MEN'S QUARTER FINAL MATCHES
Right well to catch up I will start with the men's quarter final matches this week, which for starters saw Andy Murray take on the home favourite and last Frenchman standing, Richard Gasquet in what promised to be a real scrap. And for more than half the match it proved to be just that as Andy had to battle back from a set down to level the match against Gasquet aswell as recover from a 3-2 deficit in the 2nd set tiebreak. However after Andy levelled the scores he took full control of the match and dominated proceedings and beat the weary Frenchman in four sets 5-7, 7-6, 6-0, 6-2 to reach his fourth French open semi final.
After this we had the defending champ, Stan Wawrinka take on the surprise quarter finalist, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who had defeated Milos Raonic in the previous round. However the Spaniard was no match for Stan's power and despite a valiant late charge in the 3rd set which went to a tiebreak, Stan ultimately won the match in straight sets to reach his second semi final in 6-2, 6-1, 7-6.
And following the rain delays on the Monday and Tuesday, Novak Djokovic, the World No.1 took on Tomas Berdych for his spot in the semis. And the big Czeck ultimately had no answer for Novak's speed, defense and accuracy as despite another mini rain delay, which saw Berdych become very fractious with the umpire, play resumed and Novak put the match to bed and breezed into the semi finals with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 victory.
And lastly there was the match between the two maiden grand slam quarter finalists, Dominic Thiem and David Goffin, both looking to enter new territory but reaching the semis of a major. And the match promised to be pretty close and for the most part it was as it opened with Goffin taking the first with a break but Thiem then went on to level the match after winning a tense tiebreak. After this, Thiem went on to take control of the match as he nabbed a two sets to one lead and in 4th set, Goffin went off the boil completely as Thiem grabbed the set and the match by the scruff of the neck and he served it out for his biggest win with a 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-1 scoreline.
SEMI FINALS PREVIEW AND PREDICTION
So....... that's the men's semi finals set and its quite an intriguing line up that will see Andy Murray take on the defending champion, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic take on the fast rising young gun, Dominic Thiem. So let's look at these match ups and see what might happen.....
Right so starting with the Djokovic vs Thiem match, well this one is quite interesting one given that neither player has met each other on clay and that is Thiem's strongest surface so this could be quite a scrappy match.
Nole however leads Thiem in their head to head 2-0 so the odds are firmly stacked against the young Austrian coming through this one. However I think this will not be an entirely easy match for Novak as Thiem does possess some firepower and a pretty potent single handed backhand that almost has the power to match Stan Wawrinka's. But in the end I think this is a match that Novak written all over it and he is determined to have another crack at winning the French open title and it will take more than a plucky young Austrian to do that.
So my prediction for this match is that Novak will win it in maybe three or four sets, Thiem has the talent and the game to nab one set but I don't think he can push it beyond that as the World No.1 will be too good in the end.
So this brings me onto the other semi final match between Andy Murray and the defending champion, Stan Wawrinka. Now this one on paper doesn't really look that promising for Andy as he has lost his last three matches to Stan, all in straight sets and he has never beaten Stan on clay either for that matter.
However Andy has since their last meeting on clay improved his game on the dirt significantly and he does have a shot here and he has also shown great fighting qualities in this tournament even when he has looked down and out, which would make it difficult to dismiss his chances here. Stan also has looked pretty vulnerable throughout the season despite showing good form in the French so far and having won a title in Geneva just the week before, Andy has played more consistently on the tour this year than Stan has.
But....on the face of things unfortunately I can't really argue with the stats and I just feel Andy at times has made life very difficult on court for himself at Roland Garros this year, having dropped five sets already (as opposed to Stan's three) and this could lead to him being defeated. And with that being said I think that Stan will have the edge over Andy tomorrow as he is already the French open champion and on a slower clay court it gives Stan time to hit through the ball more and if Andy has a bad day on serve and Stan hits outright winners then its curtains for the British No.1.
Soooo as for my prediction I would have to go with Stan and I think depending on how Andy plays, it could either be an easy match or a very tough, drawn out one. If Andy shows up and plays a good match he has a chance but if he doesn't and he suffers some of the lapses on serve that we have already seen in the tournament then he will surely come up second best. So I think Stan will win this one in four sets to reach his 2nd French Open final (but as an Andy Murray fan I hope I'm wrong!).
Right! So that's it for now and I will be back once the semi final matches have been played and we'll find out who's in the final.
Till the next one its bye for now!
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