Right well its time for what could be my penultimate post on the 2014 Wimbledon championships which will cover the men's and ladies semi final matches and will see who came out ontop in the semis on both sides of the net. So let's give it a look...
So in the first ladies semi final we had an all Czeck affair as the former 2011 champion Petra Kvitova took on her good friend, Lucie Safarova for a place in the final. And the match itself started as being quite tight as Petra took an early break but Safarova then broke back and pushed play into a first set tiebreak, which Petra edged to win the opener. In the 2nd set however it was a different matter as Safarova started to fade badly and Petra took the lead with a double break and at that point there was no way back for Safarova and Petra went on to close out the match to reach her 2nd Wimbledon final with a 7-6, 6-1 result. So this sees Petra into her second major final and its great to see her back into the big time again as after her trumph of 2011, she was tipped to be the next big thing but she just seemed to fold under the pressure and went off the boil. However tomorrow Petra has a real chance to prove herself again that she can be a multiple major champion and that 2011 was no fluke, but it will all depend on her opponent in the final with her.
And the other opponent of the final would be decided by the other semi final match between Eugenie Bouchard and Simona Halep, the two young guns that have fast risen up the rankings in the last year. And given that they are both aggressive players this promised to be quite a match and it certainly started off as one as both of them came out firing, however at 2-2 there was a bit of drama as Halep turned her ankle a bit and she was forced to take a medical timeout. However after the timeout Halep managed to continue playing and she pushed Bouchard into a tiebreak, which Bouchard edged 7-5 to nab the opening set. And in the 2nd set, Halep's movement was hampered by her ankle and it lead to her dropping serve and surrendering to a double break, although she made one last gutsy hold before Bouchard served it out (albeit a little nervily!) to reach her first ever grand slam final with a 7-6, 6-2 victory.
So this sets up the ladies final and Petra Kvitova and Eugenine Bouchard will battle it out to lift the famous Venus Rosewater dish and it has to be asked: who will win??? Well...... I'm going to go with Bouchard as she really is a very determined young player and she is also mentally very tough so I can see that she has the belief to win a major. Petra has already been there and done it but her problem is her consistency and she has often come off the boil in her career and she can be very erratic in her form as she is either brilliant or awful and there little in between at times (a bit like a famous British male player I could mention! ;-)). So if Petra is going to win she is going to have be consistently at her best and consistency is not a problem for Bouchard, who will of course have her nerves but she has shown she has the ability overcome adversity. So I think it will be a tigh match and I predict Bouchard in three sets, although in the past we've found at times the favourite to win is the one that loses, however time will tell all.
Right so now we get onto the men's semi finals starting with Novak Djokovic who took on the rising star, the Bulgarian, Grigor Dimitrov in a highly anticipated clash, which promised to be quite a match. And its good to say that the match more than lived up to its expectations as both guys went at it hammer and tongs on centre court on a very sunny day with tricky ground conditions as the court surface was very dry and dusty. And as expected Novak made the better start as he got an early broke over Dimitrov and the Serb exhibited some clinical serving to take the first set. In the 2nd set however Dimi started his fightback and Novak came off his sharpness a bit and Dimitrov got a break of serve from the Serb and he went on to level the match at a set all. In the 3rd set play went by serve and went into a tiebreak, which was a lop-sided affair and went all the way of Djokovic in 7-2 as he took the two sets to one lead. And in the 4th set both men battled it out as play went into another tiebreak that had some thrilling points in it and Dimitrov himself even had 3 set points to level the match, but Nole saved all of them and went on to grab the minibreak which saw him seal his place in his 3rd Wimbledon final after a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 result.
This really was a thrilling and entertaining match and its great when these clashes live up to expectations and they certainly did here and it really heralded the arrival of Grigor Dimitrov as a player who had finally entered the big time. And Dimitrov really put up a great fight and showed that he really has got the potential to become a future major champion and he never once shirked away from the challenge of the occassion or was overawed by playing Djokovic, proving that he really does belong at the top of the men's game. And Dimitrov as a result of his efforts at Wimbledon will see him break into the top 10 for the first time in his career and rightly so as this young guy it has to be said is the future of tennis in the men's game and in a few years time it will be something to think how good he will be.
As for Djokovic well he once again showed what an incredible competitor he really is as he won this match but not even playing anywhere near his best, but he produced some great tennis in the points when he really needed to. So Nole will have another shot at winning a major title in an effort to end his year and a half slam drought as he hasn't won one since the Australian open final last year and has lost his last three finals in a row, so he will have alot to prove to himself come Sunday. But how Novak does in the final will depend purely on the winner of the next match....
And that match was between Roger Federer, the seven time champion and the rising Canadian star, Milos Raonic, who has steadily rose into the top ten in the last year or so. So the match was an intruiging one and Rog and Milos have had some tight encounters on the ATP tour over the last couple of years. However that hasn't translated so far into the slams as Raonic in their previous meeting was dismissed by Roger in straight sets, so how would he fare this time???? Well not that much better in all honesty as Roger came out on court looking very sharp, moving and serving great, meanwhile Raonic's main weapon, i.e. his serve, kept going off at certain points. And to cut the story short Raonic surrendered a break in each set and he went down to the mighty Fed in straight sets as he Roger reached his 9th Wimbledon final with a very straight forward 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Well it has to be said we couldn't have been given two more contrasting semi finals today, as the first one beween Nole and Dimi was a high quality thriller, this was one unfortunately was a real yawn fest, which comprised mainly of very short service games and some rather untidy unforced errors frorm Raonic. And that for me is my main problem with Raonic as he really is a one dimensional player and there is no real variety to his game, he just has his big serve, unlike Grigor Dimitrov who has all the shots as well as a potent serve of his own. And at the end of the day I really don't see Raonic as a grand slam winner as he doesn't really have the solid mentality for it and he appears to choke at the keys moments as he did today at 4-4 in each set, Roger broke him to move ahead. So on the whole it was a disappointing match apart from Roger's class and sharp net play, there was really not much to get your teeth into, but it has to be said that Roger is looking very good indeed for the final and he played the perfect match from start to finish.
So this sets up a potentially cracking men's final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, and it begs the question: who will win it?????????????????? Well this really is a tough one to decide on, on one hand you would have to give Roger the immediate advantage as he moves so well on grass and Djokovic so far has struggled with his movement on the courts at Wimbledon this year, so much so he had to change his shoes during his Cilic match! However it will purely boil down to how well each player plays on the day but overall form wise they have both been very impressive, although if you want to go by pure overall form I would say Roger would be the favourite as he has looked very sharp throughout the tournament and has only dropped one set going into the final. But then again the only minus there is Roger really hasn't been tested in the tournament, except by his good friend, Stan Wawrinka who was the only player so far that has taken a set off him. So when Roger reaches the final he could be in for a shock in the same way Andy was in for a shock against an inspired Grigor Dimitrov. But Roger hasn't won this title seven times for nothing and he will be in top form when he goes out to play on Sunday.
Nole on the other hand has been superb in certain matches especially in his opener against Andrey Golubev and also in his 4th round clash against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, where he played masterclass tennis. But Nole has had some difficulties as well against not just Dimitrov, but also Marin Cilic where he fell behind two sets to one before he went on to win the match in five set, as well as Stepanek who pushed Novak really hard over four sets. So Novak really will need to make sure he plays the best match of the tournament on Sunday or else he will come up second best, just like he did against Fed in their previous Wimbledon meeting two years ago when Roger beat Nole in four sets in just over 2 hours and 15 minutes! But hopefully this time we will be treated to a cracking final and my prediction will be that Roger Federer will in his 8th Wimbledon trophy in four or five sets. I could be wrong but that's how I see it going, although I would quite like to see Nole win his second title at Wimbledon, so we will see what happens.
Right that's it for now and I will be back with the results of the men's and ladies finals and who was crowned the Wimbledon champions of 2014.
So with that I'll see byeee for now!
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