We have our quarterfinals:
Djokovicstarted poorly against a very solid Wawrinka. The swiss N?2 played well and made things very uncomfortable for the defender who had trouble finding his range (so many uncharacteristic errors) and his footing (the guy was slipping like crazy). As Wawrinka was about to take a very commanding 6-1 6-3 lead, things changed slightly. Wawrinka suddenly realized the magnitude of his performance and swung a little less freely, Djokovic changed shoes and, with his back against the wall found again this survivor instinct, this never say die attitude that has been his trademark for the last two seasons, getting in many many very tough matches but almost winning them all. And the tide turned. Instead of losing the set 6-3, Djokovic won it 7-5 and even got an early break in the third. All credit to Wawrinka, he managed to react, raise his game, fight back and cancel the break, forcing Djokovic to find an extra gear to close the set 6-4. At this point, surely Wawrinka would crumble? Surely. Nope: the swiss also found an extra gear which lead both players in a fourth set breaker that the swiss won to earn the right to play a decider. No tie-breaker in the fifth in the AO and Wawrinka was the Mahut of the day, forced to play catch up again and again after breaks were exchanged early. The underdog refused to flinch, fought and fought, producing tennis as stellar as his opponent's despite the duration of the match. But after saving in a masterful manner a first match point at 11-10 a cheap error brought another, resulting in another monumental rally won after 5 hours of battle by Djokovic.
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Berdychhas yet to lose a set. Dominating Anderson through the first two sets of their match, he found himself in a tough battle in the third, but did not blink, producing the goods again and again in a breaker that ended at 15-13!
Last year, Djokovic played a marathon against Murray in the semi only to play and win another marathon in the final against Nadal, so it's difficult to say that Berdych will benefit from the serb's fatigue. What can be said though is that the match might turn into another endless dogfight and that the semi also very well could and that, no matter who you are, the accumulation of effort has to be paid at short, medium and sometime even long term.
Ferrercontinues to show that being the weakest link of the top 4 does not mean he is a weak link at all. Facing the offensive Nishikori that had a 2-1 advantage in head to head (the japanese won their last meeting at the 2012 Olympics), the spaniard left no openings and won in straight sets.
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Almagrobenefited from the withdrawal of an ailing Tisparevic to go through.
Almagro never beat Ferrer. The veteran is probably just too steady, just defending a little too well, to make it possible for Almagro to have more winners than unforced errors. That said, tennis history is filled with guys breaking huge losing streaks.
Chardyconfirmed his performance against Del Potro by besting Seppi. The french started the match very flat but then went to work and prevailed.
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Murrayhad no problem discarding all that was left of Simon after his epic against Monfils.
This one could be intriguing. Not only because Chardy won their last meeting in Cinci last year, but also because it's such an opposition in styles. Chardy tries to make the points as short as possible, while Murray is usually content defending, counter-punching, out-rallying and discombobulating his opponents. Murray's return of serve will be key to not allow Chardy to dictate play, because if he does, then Murray's weight in the equation is greatly reduced, it becomes only about Chardy being able to execute his aggressive game play and, obviously, he showed that, these days, he can.
Tsongacontinues to prove that he found a maturity that allows him to repeat again and again high quality performances. Here again winning in four sets in a very tricky match against a talented and in form compatriot in Gasquet.
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Federerhad to face PFG in Tomic and that resulted in a first set well managed, a close second won in a breaker and a solo in the third against a mentally broken opponent. It was a repeat scenario against PFG Raonic who simply could not deal with Federer's serve and with the intensity of the swiss in the rallies. With that win, Federer will play his 35th grand slam quarterfinal in a row. Fun fact: only 5 of the other 127 players in the draw competed in the previous 34 grand slams! Another comparison is that Djokovic would need to reach the quarterfinals of the AO in 2018 to match that streak.
Strangely, they faced each other 8 times in 2011 (6-2 Federer - 2-2 on fast outdoor) but never in 2012. For my money, Tsonga is a little better now than then, but Federer has been very impressive in these first few rounds, nimble on his feet, very consistent with his shots, serving well... yeah, the guy will be tough to beat.