Well, what a day. John Isner beat the world No. 1, Tomas Berdych beat the world No. 2, and the 31st meeting between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer exceeded all expectations.
Quarterfinal action started with Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Dmitry Tursunov, which was also a good match and similar to Del Potro’s third-rounder against Feliciano Lopez on Thursday. The Argentine endured a second-set walkabout both mentally and with his game, but he recovered in convincing fashion for the third set. Tursunov was once again impressive, but he did not have quite as much power from the baseline as his opponent and did not win as many free points on serve. Del Potro’s serve placement was incredible. Rarely did he serve above 125 MPH, but he was hitting his spots to perfection. Tursunov would have been seeded for the U.S. Open if he had won; Del Potro will pass Federer in the rankings on Monday.
Del Potro was presumably on his way to a semifinal showdown with Novak Djokovic, which would have been a rematch of last year’s Western & Southern Open semis. It was not, however, Djokovic’s day. A lot of that had to do with the world No. 1, himself, but Isner also played a major part. Isner was seriously out of his mind in the first set and early in the second. After winning the opener in a tiebreaker, he had five break points–arguably virtual match points–early in the second. Djokovic weathered the storm to stay on serve and that briefly changed the match’s momentum, but the top seed never completely got on track. Isner was once again the better player throughout most of the third and it paid off with a break–albeit mostly out of nowhere–at 6-5. Isner saved two game points when he appeared to be destined for another third-set tiebreaker, one with a ridiculous running forehand pass. The underdog had some great things to say about Djokovic in his on-court interview and in his press conference. In the presser he admitted, “Simply put, he (Djokovic) is a better tennis player than me. He just is.” Nobody would argue that because it’s true (Djokovic played very bad, Isner played amazing, and it still went to 7-5 in the third set), but interesting to hear Isner go right out and admit it….after winning, no less!
Another surprise was already underway on the Grandstand while Isner and Djokovic were battling it out in the Stadium. Berdych has been flying under the radar this week since he has not yet played on the feature court and his first two matches were not even on the Grandstand. But he has been quietly pummeling people; first Jarkko Nieminen, then Tommy Robredo, and now Andy Murray. The Wimbledon champion spent most of the afternoon cursing at himself whereas Berdych could do almost nothing wrong. Murray was far from good, but he also wasn’t terrible; just got outplayed. It should be noted that Murray also lost early in Cincinnati last summer (to Jeremy Chardy in the third round) before going on to win his first career Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open.
A break in between the afternoon and night singles matches allowed time to watch the Bryan Brothers on Court 3. They won an all-American duel against James Blake and Steve Johnson. The stands were absolute packed; four Americans, two who make up the best doubles team in tennis history, and at a time of day when almost nothing else was going on around the grounds. The match was contested in good spirit, of course, between countrymen and it was actually much closer than the 6-2, 6-4 scoreline suggests. After that there was a Friday at 5:00 happy hour in the media center. What a perk!
Just when it looked like the day could not get any better, Federer rose to the challenge and made the latest installment of his rivalry with Nadal a surprisingly competitive one. For almost two full sets, Federer looked like the Federer of old–an entirely different player than the one who was on display at Wimbledon, in Hamburg and Gstaad, and during the early rounds in Cincinnati. A 15-minute stretch at the end of the second set and start of the third (Nadal broke at 5-4 to end the second at 1-0 to begin the third) made the only real difference. Federer’s first serve failed him during the two service games in which he got broken and–as usual–Nadal’s heavy topspin to the Federer backhand ultimately took its tool. The loudest it has been all week (maybe tied with a few moments in Isner-Djokovic) was when Federer took the first set and again when he dug out of a 0-40 hole in the final game against Nadal, saving three match points and getting to deuce. Finally, though, Nadal sealed the deal–with a forehand winner that replayed showed to be OUT!
Some comments from Federer in press: “I think I did pretty well and felt good out there, serving well particularly for most of the match, then maybe a bit less end of the second, beginning of the third. But I think also maybe Rafa was able to step it up…. I’m happy with my progress. I think it was a good step in the right direction. My mind’s already totally geared into what I’m going to do tomorrow, next day, and the following day, and looking ahead to the U.S. Open.”
And some from Nadal: “It was very close. He had a good chance in the second. I think I played a good few points in important moments. I think I had the third, I had the match more under control. Then the last game was close. I was in control 40-love and I played a bad point, just the first one, then he played great…. He played a very bad match yesterday. I saw him play yesterday with a lot of mistakes, and today he was on court with a different tactic, with a different level of tennis…. Always the emotions are there when we play each other. But the emotions in the final are always more special than when you’re playing quarterfinals. Then when you play final, there is a winner. Tomorrow at 2:30 I will be on court.”
That was a thrill to watch rafa and Fed last night…awesome match!
Great recap of Friday…makes me feel like I was there in person!