Tennis: Miami Masters Round Up

Rafael Nadal had to fend of a spirited battle from Federico Gil to go through the 4^th round in yesterdays clash, he went through after a tough first set winning 7-5, and then claim the second 6-3 after some impressive tennis from his opponent.

Murray also went through in straight sets Nicholas Massu, but the score line didn’t reflect how well the Chilean played, I watched this game in full and he played aggressively, but Murray did the business and took down the sets to join Nadal in the fourth round.

Roger Federer is another top seeded player to advance into the fourth round of the Miami masters, he is on a mission this season to hold his 2^nd spot and challenge for 1^st, Murray is catching up and head to head Murray has disappointed Federer several times. The Swiss star was very convincing in his victory against Nicholas Kiefer 6-4, 6-1 to reach the 4^th to face local Taylor Dent, should be a good match up.

Former world No.1 Andy Roddick powered into the fourth round by defeating Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov 7-6 (11-9), 6-2. The fifth-seeded American, who won the title here in 2004, will face either French ninth seed Gael Monfils or Russia’s Marat Safin after coping with strong winds.

So that’s the update with some of the top names left in the tournament. I will update from every round now so keep posted. These masters are really exciting now as everyone apart from Nadal needs to win in order to hold their rank.

Tennis: US Open Final: Federer Vs Murray

Federer bt Murray

6-2, 7-5, 6-2

Andy Murray felt the full wrath of Federer yesterday as the world number 2 showed no mercy in his victory at the US Open, it was one of the most sensational one-sided finals I have ever seen, no discredit to Murray who just never had a chance to get into the match, Federer was simply awesome
 

First Set 

This set started off with Federer pushing from the off-set, making his intentions clear that he is going for the line every shot. He knew this was Murray’s biggest match-up ever so he took advantage of the fact that he may be nervous. Murray was on edge and Federer won two clean serves without dropping a point.

We got to 2-1 Federer and some good serves from Murray were not good enough for Federer’s returns, as he approached the net the whole game and broke Murray early on, 3-1. Federer went on to take the next and Murray held, 4-2, Federer held again and broke Murray in another David vs Goliath game where Murray’s shot looked extremely feeble and Federer just looked so overpowering with his forehand smashes!

This match really depended on how Murray played his first set, and you really can’t say he played bad, Federer just had too much momentum.

Second Set

Federer managed to carry his momentum into the second set to break in the very first game, Murray went down 0-40 and really now way back with the mood Federer was in. However, we all know Murray isn’t the type to just sit there and get rolled over, he went straight on the offensive, and broke back! Well done to Murray and at this point it was looking good. 

Federer never lifted his foot off the pedal, no matter how much Murray pushed he just kept going, and we got to 6-5 Federer in the second, and the game got to 40-40, one amazing rally and an unforced error by Murray led to a set point to Federer, another amazing rally, Murray came into the net and laid off a drop shot, Federer ran in and hit a forehand down the line and took down the second set.

Third Set 

At this point it looked like an ominous victory for Federer, and he was looking to pick up his 13^th title, and that’s exactly what happened, Federer won the first, broke the second, and carried on the same pattern until he got to 5-0, this really looked bad for Murray, who pushed back to win 2 games to save some pride, and Federer broke finally to win and for us to see his trademark celebration.

Overview 

Unfortunately, there really wasn’t much analysing to do in the game, the reason Murray beat Nadal is that he is the best at returning serve, and Nadal’s serve is no way good enough for Murray, and at times you saw Federer was troubled in his serves against Murray because he stands so far back but comes in really quickly. But that’s about it, a few back hand winners for Murray but Federer was simply awesome, he didn’t give Murray a chance to get into any kind of rhythm.

Tennis: US Open Semi Final Review

Murray bt Nadal

6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4

Andy Murray took down the world number 1 Rafa Nadal in an amazing performance, there was no weird explanation to how this happened but that Murray bullied Nadal’s serve throughout the whole game, rally wise both players were impressive, Murray really showed huger for it.

After Nadal took the 3^rd set to make it 2-1 to Murray, the final set kicked off with Murray taking the first game and Nadal levelling, the Spaniard kicked into gear and broke Murray. Murray though broke back brilliantly to make it 3-3, won his serve comfortably and forced a break point in Nadal’s serve but no cigar, Murray went up to 5-4 and we got to Nadal’s serve, we hit deuce and Murray played an excellent rally to get Nadal to force an error…

…match point Murray, another attack on Nadal’s serve but it sat up for Nadal who hit a powerful forehand down the line, Murray gave a weak return and Nadal returned it with a slice approach shot to the net, but made it too easy for Murray to get, which he did and hit is straight past Nadal to celebrate his first final.

Congratulations to the first Brit to get to an open final in the new millennium! The way Murray is play it will be a great game against Federer, please comment your predictions for the game and I will respond a post.

Tennis: US Open Quarter Final Update

Federer bt Muller

7-6 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (5)

and…

Djokovic bt Roddick 

6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5)

The unusually emotional Roger Federer beat Giles Muller in a straight sets victory in US Open yesterday, he looked very fluid but very forceful at the same time, playing shots that weren’t there.

Muller tried his best with his big serves and powerful ground strokes, definitely a wild card and the underdog in this game, but he played well and gave a good performance, by far it wasn’t a straight forward victory as he held is serve in the first two sets forcing Federer to play a tie break.

Federer now will go onto face Novak Djokovic in the semi finals, this will be fierce contest as both players have history, Federer beat him in the final of last years US Open final, Djokovic beat him in this years Aussie Open final, and Federer, during this years Roland Garros, politely told Djokovic’s parents to “be quiet” which didn’t go so well with Djokovic. So it will be a great match up.

Djokovic was quite convincing in his victory against 8 seed Roddick, he beat him in 4 sets and managed to break the fastest server in the world twice. Djokovic is looking in fine form so it will be a very good game.

Murray vs Nadal – preview

In the other semi-final – Murray will face the world number 1 Rafael Nadal, both players look in fine form so it will be an interesting match up, but Nadal did recently thrash Murray at Wimbledon, so Murray will be fired up, but does he have the strength to overcome Nadal?

Nadal’s road to the final has not been so convincing, but this is the furthest he has been on a hard court major so it will be interesting to see if he can go the distance. This is the ideal final four, and the best 4 in the world, Murray isn’t ranked there yet but arguably should be.

Tennis: US Open Round 4

Murray bt Warwinka

6-1, 6-3, 6-3

Andy Murray has made a huge statement on this US Open beating the highly rated Stanislas Warwinka. Murray has been considered by many as the ‘outsider’ to win this tournament, and with a performance like that he definitely has his chance to win a slam. 

The big test for Andy Murray will be against del Porto, who is only 19 years old but has had a very long winning streak, and considered to be a future number 1. The furthest Murray has gotten to in a Grand Slam is the quarter final at Wimbledon this year where he got crushed by Nadal, so he will be extra determined to win here, and I think he just has enough experience to beat the giant del Porto. I can see it being a classic, going all the way to 5 sets.

Nadal bt Querrey

6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 

An unexpected struggle for Nadal in the 4^th round match up against the American Querrey, credit to the American to pushing all the way, but I just don’t think Nadal likes hard court as much as he likes clay and grass, though in the last year he has made the effort to adapt his game to all conditions – he still has some work to do on hard if he wants to dominate on Hard.

Dropping a set isn’t so bad, right now if I was to say my top 3 contenders I would say Federer, Murray, and Nadal, in no particular order. Nadal has a habit of losing concentration against the not so rated players, and it can occasionally affect his confidence. But, when he plays against the big players he has a habit of not letting them breath! He’s is still the only player ever to make Federer look like he has no control over a match, on many occasions.