OK time for my look at the men's semi finals matches at the Australian open which saw the last four guys go at it to try and get into the final. So let's have a look at them....
So the first semi final was between Andy Murray, three time finalist and Tomas Berdych, the 7th seed in what was to an intruiging clash partly because Andy's former assistant coach, Dani Vallverdu left his team to go and work with Tomas Berdych. As for the match itself it was a pretty tense affair and it started off with an edgy first set with both men unable to find their proper rhythym but Berdych broke first, however he was unable to consolidate as Andy broke back and play went into a tiebreak where momentum swung and it was Berdych that got the minibreak and the first set. In the 2nd set however Andy regrouped and used his disappointment of losing the first set to his advantage as Berdych came way off the boil and Andy ruthlessly dished out a bagel set to level the match. In the 3rd set Andy continued his dominance over Berdych as he broke again to go 5-3 up and he served out for two sets to one lead. In the 4th set things were more evenly contested but Andy started to show signs of pressure as he had stave off some break points at 3-2 to Berdych, however he himself went on to break Berdych to go 6-5. And from here Andy confidently served out the match to love and sealed it with an ace as he reached his 4th Australian open final with a convincing 6-7, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 victory.
Well it has to be said that in this match and even throughout most of the tournament that I have never seen Andy play as well as this since the Wimbledon final two years ago and also the 2012 Olympics. In the match Andy was furious at himself for losing the first set but after that he totally regrouped and channelled his anger positively and used it to get himself back into the match and after that he never really looked back. So its great to see Andy reach yet another final in Melbourne and given his current form I would have to say he has a strong chance of winning the title if he maintains the form he has shown so far particularly in his matches with Nick Kygrios and Berdych. And at the end of the match we saw a look in Andy's eyes that has been missing since winning that Wimbledon final, which was a look of real hunger and the desire to win. And because of that I really think Andy has a shot on Sunday at lifting his maiden title in Melbourne and it will be quite an achievement if he does and it will also be the perfect validation of his working relationship with his coach, Amelie Mauresmo should he do just that. Although the one thing that overshadowed the match itself was the press attention toward Andy's fiance, Kim Sear, who apparently was caught on camera swearing at Berdych, which lead to a whole lot of silly headlines and also some twitter abuse for Kim, which is undeserved, but it does highlight with the cameras on you, you need to be careful with everything you do. Anyway hopefully the incident will not ruin Andy's chances of doing well on Sunday and given the amount of rubbish he's put up with in the media over the years this will be nothing in comparison.
So now we get onto what easily had to be the most anticipated men's match of the tournament, which was between Novak Djokovic, the four time champion and the defending champion, Stan Wawrinka, who have played three epic five setters in their previous slam matches, so we were all hoping this would be another. The match itself was a five setter but it wasn't quite of the quality of their previous two Melbourne clashes and the first set went to a tiebreak where Novak dominated proceedings to take the set. In the 2nd set Stan started his fightback as he started to go for his shots and his tennis started to flow and he broke Nole to take the 2nd set, which saw Novak drop his first set of the tournament! In the 3rd set it was Nole that reasserted himself and his broke Stan but Stan later broke back and yet again there was another break when Nole broke to take the two sets to one lead. But in the 4th set Stan was not yet done as he too kept on fighting and he finally managed to fashion a break of his own and served it out to level the match and take it into a deciding 5th set. And as the match went into its 5th set it looked like we were in for yet another classic like the previous two years but... that is when the wheels came off Stan's game as he appeared to run out of steam and his unforced errors started to mount up. And Novak watched the breaks go in his favour, not one, two but three breaks of serve and Stan gave up the ghost and his title defence with it as the World No.1 got his revenge and his place in the final with a topsy turvey 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 win.
This really was a strange match as both men struggled to find their rhythm and naturally there were some momentum swings throughout the first four sets and it certainly wasn't the classic we'd hoped for. Despite that though there was still some great rallies to be found and Stan delighted the crowd with some wonderful touch especially as at one point he played lovely drop shot close to the net, which just stayed within the line. But Stan curiously came off the boil drastically in that 5th set and I can only imagine it was down to fatigue that he started to make so many mistakes and once he lost his way in that set well that was that. Despite his loss though, Stan has played very well in the tournament and the fact that he made the last four was a very impressive effort as the defending champion it would put alot of pressure on any player in that position but Stan handled it very well and he showed that he is still a contender for future slams. As for Djokovic well he showed yet again his resiliance and that he is the world's best player and when it comes to competition he is second to none. And despite not even playing anywhere near his best he is still in the final and there he will look to pick up an unprecedented 5th Australian open title, which has not been done before in the history of the game. So I'm sure come the final Djokovic will do his best to refocus and start again from zero and just play his game in the match.
Sooooo this sets up quite a final yet again between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray as they will meet for the 5th time in their careers in a grand slam final and they stand at two apiece so far. So who will win the title is the question that begs to be asked, so who will win it????? Well normally I would go with Novak but this time I have to go with Andy as he really has come into his own again in this tournament and particularly in his last two matches we have seen him go from strength to strength and if he continues like that in the final then he will win regardless of what form Novak might be in. But then again you can never count out Novak out of anything and he has won this title four times already and he is very comfortable on Rod Laver arena as its almost like his back yard. So it would not surprise me at all if Novak were to work his way into the match and find a way to win as he usually does and a perfect example of that was three years in that epic final between Novak and Rafa where Rafa went 4-2 up in the 5th set and then he lost the break and later the match 7-5 in the 5th. But yet again if there is one man that can beat him and has done so already in slam finals, then it is Andy.
So my prediction (for what its worth!) is that Andy will win the title in five sets and I could very well be wrong as Novak could take this one himself in four or five sets but this time I really sense something different about Andy and I think to use a cliche, the stars are in alignment for him to take this one and might just have his name on it. His look at the end of the Berdych match spoke volumes as he roared to the crowd, confidently pointed to his camp and then sat down gave three passionate fist pumps (which I have to say was quite funny to watch!). It showed in that moment his hunger and desire to win a major title again and as one Eurosport commentator, Chris Bradnam said "Wimbledon is well and truly out of his system" which means he is ready to move on and win more grand slams and by what we've seen some from the last two weeks he might just do it on Sunday. Whatever happens though it should this time be a cracker, as the last Aussie open finals they played were just warm ups, this time it will promise to be the real deal.
Right so that's it for now and I will be back with my last post on the ladies and men's finals soon.
Until then I shall (with baited breath) bye for now!
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