Right now we get onto the men's quarter final matches from this year's French open and let's see who managed to get through.....
QUARTER FINALS
Rafael Nadal vs Pablo Carreno Busta
First up was this match (or mis-match more like it!) between two Spaniards, the 9 time champion, Rafa Nadal and the first time quarter finalist, Pablo Carreno Busta. Rafa going into this match dropped just a mere 20 games and no sets, whereas Pablo dropped significantly more as he battled past Milos Raonic in five sets to get to this point alone.
So the match on paper was not much of a contest and in practice it was even less so as Rafa sped to a double break over Pablo in the 1st set after just 30 minutes. And in the 2nd set, Rafa broke Pablo straight off to go 2-0 and from there, Pablo was feeling the effects of an abdominal strain he picked up earlier in the tournament and was forced to retire, handing Rafa another easy victory as he reached the semis with a 6-2, 2-0 ret scoreline.
This match was obviously disappointing for the fans and the players, particularly Pablo since he was forced to retire but again it saw Rafa come through untarnished to the last four. The only problem however from here for me is that Rafa is yet to be tested in the tournament as he has frankly been handed a string of relatively easy players to dispatch. But tougher tests lie ahead for Rafa just around the corner surley as he is about to play the semis.
Novak Djokovic vs Dominic Thiem
This match however was much more highly anticipated even though Djokovic owns Thiem in their head to head going into this one he lead 5-0 with Thiem only winning a single set in all of them. However this match promised to be a more different animal and it proved to be just the case although the 1st set was a pretty close encounter, which saw both men tread breaks of serve until play went to a tiebreak, where it was Thiem that took the initiative and nabbed the breaker and the set. In the 2nd set however, Thiem started to swing more freely and he broke Novak to take a two sets to love lead, endangering the defending champion's title. And in the 3rd, the unthinkable happened as Novak just collapsed on serve and he was dumped out of the tournament by an impressive Thiem, who handed him a bagel set, which saw Thiem get his first win over Novak six attempts with a 7-6, 6-3, 6-0 result.
Well, this match certainly was a real surprise and I didn't expect to see Novak go out at this stage of the tournament, given that he had appeared to be making solid progress with his new coach, Andre Agassi throughout the event so far. However it did show an alarming capitulation from Novak on his serve, which I'm sure for him will be a big concern in how he gave up the match so tamely with much of a fight.
However as for Thiem, this was a thoroughly deserved victory as he had shown himself to be the 2nd best player and most consistent player throughout the clay court season behind Rafa, so it was not surprising that he would score a victory over Novak on clay at some point. So, this will now see Thiem take on Rafa in the semi finals but I will say more on that in a bit.
Stan Wawrinka vs Marin Cilic
This next match was between two US Open champions, the reigning champ, Stan Wawrinka and the 2014 champ, Marin Cilic although this match saw Stan with the big advantage in their head to head as leaded 11-2 going into this one, winning the last 5 in a row.
And it has to be said that the head to head very much reflected the match as Stan was pretty ruthless in his efficiency in this one as he raced broke Cilic in the first two sets to take the lead and in the 3rd set he brushed aside his opponent with a triple break and he secured the win in 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. This now sees Stan into the final four without even dropping a single set.
Well this match was definitely one-sided and rather troublingly so for Cilic as he didn't any chance at all here and this will certainly send out a strong message to the other players that are left in the tournament that Stan is looking for his 2nd title in Paris and he yet might just get it.
Andy Murray vs Kei Nishikori
And last but not least was this match between the World No.1, Andy Murray and the 8th seed, Kei Nishikori as the two of them faced off for the first in Paris. Andy however had lost their last previous slam meeting at the US Open last year where Andy lost in five sets to an in form Kei, who was two sets to one down at one point.
As for the match itself it started with a similarly dangerous looking complexion as Kei raced out the blocks in the 1st set and mercilessly broke Andy twice, playing great attacking tennis to take the opening set. The 2nd however saw Andy fight back as after a time violation warning from the umpire (Carlos Ramos) it fired him up and enabled him to break Kei and he sped to level the match with a double break. The 3rd set however was a more tense and even affair that saw Andy go up a break twice only to hand them back to Nishikori, who pushed play to a tiebreak, which Andy went on to win 7-0 to gain the lead. And in the 4th set, despite being broken straight away by Kei, Andy broke back and went on to ruthlessly dispatch Kei with a further double break to serve out the match and reach the semi finals with a lop-sided 2-6, 6-1,7-6, 6-1 win.
Well, there's little doubt that this was probably Andy's worst match of the tournament so far in terms of quality as he found himself down a big hole in the 1st set and went on to break twice, only to be broken back twice in the 3rd set and being broken again in the 4th set before he finally sped to victory. It certainly was one of Andy's least consistent performance alongside his match with Klizan this was certainly not him at his best.
However what was more important was that he was able to win this one and put himself in a position where he is getting close to winning another major, although it has to be said Andy will have his work cut out with his next opponent before he can even think of reaching the final. And depsite the season Andy has had so far, his comeback at the French open has been very impressive as I'm sure no one would have thought he would get this far.
SEMI FINAL PREDICTIONS
Now that's over let's take a look at how I think the men's semi finals might go....
Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem
This match is actually a very intriguing one and it remains something of an unknown quantity in a way, particularly as Rafa has not really been tested yet in the tournament and so late in the event that's something he might have needed by now. However this match promises to change all that as Thiem should be a far more challenging proposition for Rafa to deal with than what he's played against so far.
As for my prediction however, I still would have to go with Rafa for this one simply because of how he has played throughout the whole clay court season, having won three titles and lost only one match (albeit to the man he is about to play!). Rafa's record at Roland Garros speaks for itself and I think Thiem in the end will find it tough to get past that at this stage in his career.
So for me I think prediction wise that Rafa will come through this but it won't that easy for him and I think Thiem will nab a set before Rafa moves on to the final, so I'll go with Rafa in four sets.
Andy Murray vs Stan Wawrinka
As for this one, well its a rematch of a match that took me really by surprise last year when Andy Murray took on the defending champion, Stan Wawrinka and beat him in four sets to reach his first French open final. However that was last year and things can change quite a bit over the space of a year, although in terms of ranking very little has changed except Andy is now ranked a spot higher at the top and Stan is still ranked at No.3 (although he will rise to No.2 next week after Novak's defeat).
However what might change this year between these two is the level of tennis in this tournament so far as if we look at both men's matches, Stan has been by far the more impressive as he has got to this point without dropping a single set, whereas Andy has dropped three and at times looked great but at others looked a bit flat. This could well be bad news for Andy because if he takes on an in form Stan and Andy is off his game just a little, then there will be only one winner.
So even though Andy's win was a surprise last year, this year I don't quite see a repeat performance, even though it could still happen and Andy could dig out the win as you can never underestimate him. But this time round I think Stan will take the win and make it to the final as he has been far more consistent at this year's tournament, which could potentially see him claim a 2nd French open title should he get there.
So, for my final prediction I will go with Stan winning in four sets.
SIGN OFF
Right, so that's it for now and I will return with the results of the men's and ladies semi finals matches once they are over and done with.
Until then its au revoir for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment