Right now its time to look at the men's action from days 9 and 10 at the Australian open which will cover the men's quarter final matches to see who made it into the last four. So let's give this a look....
So Day 9 started off with Rafa Nadal taking on Tomas Berdych for a place in the semis in what turned out to be a very surprising match. Going into this match Rafa was on a 17 match winning streak against Berdych so the odds were firmly against the big Czeck player. However... it was Rusty Rafa who turned up on the court in the match as he struggled to get anything going in the first set and he lost it to the Czeck with a double break. In the 2nd set Rafa struggled even more and the Czeck dished out the unthinkable in the form of a bagel set to a frustrated Rafa. The 3rd set however was more competitve and Rafa at last started to find some rythym and play was pushed to a tiebreak but again it turned out to be Berdych's day as he pulled off a big upset and took out the 3rd seed with a convincing 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 victory to reach the final four. This was quite a win for Berdych and no doubt will give him alot of confidence going ahead into the semi finals where he will face the winner of the next match I will come to just now.
And that match was perhaps the single most hotly anticipated match of the tournament, which was between Andy Murray and the home favourite and rising new star in Australian tennis, Nick Kygrios in what promised to be an epic battle. However it wasn't quite to be that as it was Andy who put the youngster in his place and he play some inspired tennis from the off to catch Kygrios off guard as he used all his variety and pace to outwit the young Aussie and this allowed Andy to nab the first set. In the 2nd set Kygrios started to find his game and make life difficult for Andy as play went by serve and Kygrios showed off some of his flair as he played outrageous shots which had the crowd whooping and hollering and it went into a tiebreak, where Kygrios went 4-2 up but Andy soon hit a great lob, which brought it back on serve and from here Andy edged the breaker to take the two set lead. And in the 3rd set Kygrios finally began to give up the ghost, despite getting a break back, it didn't last long as Andy broke again to make it 5-3 he served it out to make his 5th Australian open semi final with an impressive 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 win.
Well this had to be the best match in terms of quality Andy has played in the whole tournament so far as he took on the home favourite and a partisan crowd and dealt with them impeccably as he did just about everything well despite surrendering that one break in the 3rd set before he regained control again. And another impressive thing about the match from Andy and throughout most of the tournament is his serving which has been much improved as Andy has reverted back to his older style of serve, which has improved his 1st serve percentage drastically and even he realised that the changes he made to his serve last year were detrimental to his game and it had to be changed and this will be a big help for him in his next match in the semis and hopefully in the final should he get there. As for Nick Kygrios well he really has introduced himself as the next big thing in men's tennis and he has already reached his second grand slam quarter final (after Wimbledon last year) which shows he has got what it takes to go far and it will be really interesting to see how far he will go in the future and on this basis I think it is looking pretty bright for him.
Now we get onto day 10 which started off with the defending champion, Stan Wawrinka take on Kei Nishikori, who defeated Stan in their previous meeting at the US Open quarter final last year so Kei started off this match as being a slight favourite. However Stan proved them all wrong as he showed his confident form on Rod Laver arena, which over the last year has come like his second back yard and put in a fine display of great serving and powerful hitting that Kei couldn't handle on the day as Stan quickly took a two set lead. In the 3rd set however Kei started to show some resistance and pushed the match into a tiebreak and despite Stan being 6-1 up in the breaker, Nishikori fought back to level 6-6, but that was as far as Kei could get as Stan sealed the breaker to win 8-6 and the match to reach his 2nd semi final in Melbourne with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 result. This was quite an impressive result from Stan and so far he has played very well in Melbourne and it is also great to see how well he has coped with the expectations of being the defending champion as he could easily have faltered and lost early on in the tournament but instead he has shown his quality and confidence, which will stand him in good stead for what lies ahead as he will play the winner of the next match I will discuss.....
And the match was between the World No.1, Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic, the big serving Canadian in their quarter final clash. Raonic however had never beaten Djokovic in their previous meetings and had only won a singlet against back when they played last year in Rome so it was a big ask for the big guy to try and beat Nole on his favourite court. And right it was indeed the case as despite a tight first set going to a tiebreak, Nole edged the breaker 7-5 to take the 1st set lead. And from here Novak never really looked back as Raonic struggled to cling onto his serve and Djokovic outmanoevered him with his sublime baseline game as Raonic was broken once in the 2nd set and twice in the 3rd set, which saw Novak confidently move into the semi finals with a comfortable 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory. Well this match shows that Novak is in incredible form once again and he goes into the semi finals without even having dropped a set which is remarkable in itself! As for Raonic well this match showed that he is still very much a player who is a work in progress and whilst he is showing signs of improvement in his game it will take him time before he can really be right at the top of the game. And the problem for Raonic is trying to add an extra dimension to his game as he relies heavily on his great serve to get him out of trouble and against the elite guys that on its own isn't quite enough. But Raonic still is working on these things as he is starting to employ a bit more serve and volley and improve his return game, but in the battle against the world no.1 he would always be on the losing side if he is to trade from the baseline. Regardless no doubt we will see more of Raonic in the latter stages of the slams in the future.
Sooooo that's the men's semi final matches set and they both promise to be crackers, especially as Stan and Nole are set for a rematch and no doubt Novak will be out for revenge after Stan defeated him last year in their five set epic match. So to start with Stan and Nole's match who will win this time????? We'll.... its very tough to call but I think I will go with Novak this time as I think he will be hugely motivated to try and beat Stan and give himself the best chance to regain the title. However Stan has lived up to the task of defending his title so far and he himself has said he feels very confident going into this match that he can win it and Stan remains one of the very few players that can actually beat Novak Djokovic on a hard court in a grand slam. So it is a tough one to call but given Novak's form so far in the tournament having not dropped a set he is definitely the sharper looking of the two overall (although Stan has only dropped one so far himself) but I fully expect it will be another epic battle and so I will go with Nole winning in five sets.
As for the Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych's semi final match.... well this is an interesting one mainly because Andy has recently changed his team after his former hitting partner and assistant coach, Dani Vallverdu left, who now happens to be Berdych's new coach. And as Dani knows Andy's game inside and out, it will give Berdych a huge tactical advantage in knowing what to expect from Andy and how it can be neutralised. Another factor involved here is the fact that Berdych has a winning head to head over Andy and leads theirs 6-4 and Berdych has won the last two matches they have played back in 2013 in Madrid and Cincinnati. Berdych will also have taken much confidence from having beaten Rafa so convincingly in the quarter finals aswell. However I do think Andy will actually relish this match-up and will look forward to seeing what Berdych can do against him with Dani's input. Also if this match comes down to a battle of wits then Andy is sure to win it as Berdych has always come up a bit short in these big occassions and he has often found himself get tight in the big matches. And a perfect example of this was when Berdych reached the final in Doha at the start of the year where he had chances to push the eventual champion, David Ferrer into a final set and he couldn't take them and if he does that here he is sure to come up second best.
Andy also won their previous slam encounter at the US Open semi final three years ago when Andy went on to triumph in the final and overall when it comes to the crunch he could have the mental edge on Berdych. But it may also come down to the court conditions as Andy did have a bit of help from blustery windy conditions that day in New York against Berdych and if the conditions are nice and dry tomorrow this could favour Berdych. Not only that it will of course also come down to the serve for Andy and so far he has served impressively in this event but he has also dropped serve in each of his matches at some point and Berdych himself is yet to drop a set (with Andy only having dropped one).
So there are all these factors to consider in their match tomorrow (or this evening if you are on Melbourne time!). But it has to be said that there is no clear favourite in the match and there is no doubt that Berdych can beat Andy and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he did especially given the insider coaching Dani will have given him on Andy's game plan. Regardless of that though I predict that Andy will beat Berdych tomorrow in four or five sets and reach the final as when push comes to shove in the big matches, Andy I think will have that edge on him, however I could be wrong! So whichever way it goes it promises to be quite a match and no doubt a real nailbiter!
And that's it for now and I will be back soon with the results of the ladies and mens semi finals matches and see who made it to the final.
Until the next time its bye for now! :-)
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