So.... somehow we got our semis.
DJOKOVICdid not play a stellar match, probably made a little uncomfortable by a surprisingly aggressive Murray, turning the match into a much more pleasant viewing than some of their earlier battles. Sadly for the scott, he ran out of gas in the third set after a very very close battle. He still managed to turn the fourth into a tricky contest, but even if he somehow stole it, it was pretty clear at that point who would win in the end.
vs
NISHIKORIstarted his match a set late thanks to his previous round that turned his body into a stiff and sore mess. He got it going from the 2nd set onward and made things extraordinarily difficult for Wawrinka, as the swiss no longer really knew when to be patient or when to attack and when you don't have a clear idea of what to do, you play the wrong shots, giving opportunities to your opponent, and you make mistakes, which messes with your mind even more. Wawrinka broke that viscous circle in the fourth set, deliberately setting points up with well placed first serves instead for going for too much, which lead to a poor first serve percentage and a lot of pressure put on his 2nd delivery. Nishikori had trouble creating opportunities and possibly started to chose his battles as holding serve was paramount and difficult. The japanese N?1 forced a tie break in the fourth, but lost it and by the skin of his teeth found a way to stay alive in the fifth, and made a final push to break when Wawrinka had his back against the wall.
The good piece of news for Nishikori is that semis are played Saturday so he should be ok. Well... as ok as the japanese can be since he actually has a problem with one of his feet and postponed a minor surgery to it to not miss the US Open. He must be pretty happy about his choice at the moment! Djokovic is the favorite on paper, but he only played Nishikori twice and they are tied at 1-1. It's difficult to know the value of these stats though since it's a french open match from 2010, won easily by Djokovic and a 2011 match in Basel (indoor hard) that the japanese won 6-0 in the third (How? I don't remember).
CILICplayed a very good match against Berdych. Not only did he serve well and hit the ball well despite the windy conditions, but he stuck to a very effective game plan; giving no angle to Berdych, forcing him to be the one to open the game and then counter-attack. In the neutralization phase he mixed things up, trying to make things awkward for Berdych, with low sliced balls or floaty shots that the wind could turn into problems for the tall czech. Berdych also helped Cilic a good deal, not being able to find a way to serve reliably in the wind, losing confidence in his groundies and as a result making a lot of unforced errors. As the wind died down a little, Berdych stepped up his game, but it was too little too late as he also messed up the third set breaker.
vs
FEDERERstarted the match very well against a tensed Monfils, but the frenchman held his first service game after much trouble and then broke Federer with a mixed bag of lucky trick-shots (including a baseline volley on the run with the wrong side of the racket for a winning passing shot!). Needeless to say that liberated Monfils and pissed Federer off. Quality serving and aggressive hitting by the frenchman made things very unconfortable for the swiss who wants to be the one dictating play. End result, a frustrated Federer making too much unforced errors for his own good. Decided to die by the sword, Federer became even more aggressive in the 3rd set, which he won, and continued to be the aggressor in the fourth. By the end of the fourth it was impressive how after every shot Federer tried to move closer to his base line and from there maybe enter the court and from there go to the net and how after every shot Monfils was moving back, ready to retrieve another ball and another ball and another ball, but almost never trying to be the aggressor like he was in the first two sets. The worst thing is that it almost got rewarded by victory as Monfils had two match points late in the fourth on the Federer serve (not making enough 1st serves in that set). With balls of steel, Federer did not hold back. Live by the sword, die by the sword. And that got rewarded. Accepting a little too easily the part of the guy who once again almost won and lost in the end, Monfils checked out at this point and a pumped up Federer won the fourth and ran away with the fifth. It was only slightly better than the shocker he pulled at the French Open (where he basically made 24 unforced errors in les than 20 minutes to give the match to Murray after winning sets 3 and 4!) as it took a good Federer to dominate the set.
Cilic's ball is not as heavy as Monfils' and his court coverage is not in the same league, but the croatian also forgot to be stupid and, as demonstrated today, is able to stick to a winning game plan and maintain a high level of play through a whole match. Cilic never beat Federer in five attempts, but they met very recently in Toronto and it was a very close match (two breakers and 6-4 for Federer in the 3rd).
I think we saw a bit today the strengths but also the limits of Federer's return to his super aggressive roots. This is a style of play that basically says: I will lose points, but I will win 70% of them. That's a great plan over the course of a match, even more so over the course of a tournament or a season. But when facing break points, you're flipping a loaded coin and, depending of the opponent, you might not even be at 70%. That worked against Monfils today, I suspect that will work against Cilic Saturday, but on Sunday against Djokovic? Or a fast and cool headed Nishikori? We shall see... it's spectacular, but nerve wracking!
PS:Martina Hingis, yes, that Martina Hingis, is in the final of the women's double with Flavia Pennetta! With Kimiko Date-Krumm reaching the semi (with Barbora Zahlavova Strycova) you could almost confuse the draw with the one of the legends tournament!
