The Mighty Fed started off very slow, and the conditions suited Delpo's massive game to the letter. It was overcast, rainy, and slow, all which helped JMDP implement his unstoppable baseline game. Roger looked one step behind for the first set and lost it 6-3. In the second he went up a break but then lost it, and the set went to a tiebreak, where the Argentine played too well, and in what seemed like too short a time, Fed was down two sets to love. It would be a long road back if he wanted to get by.
The long road back started very quickly, as Roger improved his play at the start of the third and immediately gained control. Delpo was starting to feel the effects of his knee injury and that little drop in level gave Roger all the opening he needed as he stormed through the third 6-2. The fourth was much of the same and The Fedster dished out a bagel (his 2nd of the year, first was against Llodra in Dubai), and all of a sudden, almost too quickly, they were in a 5th set.
Delpo looked much sharper at the start of the decider and held two break points in the first game but Roger was able to fight them off, crucially. As usually happens in matches where one man cannot take the break, Delpo was broken, and that was all Roger needed. The big guy fought valiantly to try to get back in the set, but Roger was too good and he took the final set 5-3. The match ended after 3 hours and 14 minutes of play, usually very short for a five set match, but Roger did win the final 3 sets 6-2, 6-0, and 6-3.
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| Two great sportsmen with nothing but respect for each other. |
There is no doubt, and Roger said this himself, that Delpo's injury troubles popping up after the second set really turned the tide of the match. However, Fed also raised the level of his play, and in the end, the Argentine never really had a chance in the final three sets, apart from two break points in the first game of the fifth set. The match reminded me a lot of the match against Tommy Haas three years ago, without the third set drama (where Fed was down 3-4 30-40 and hit that sensational inside-out forehand winner).
Statistically, Roger was good. He hit 59 winners to 43 unforced errors, and hit 11 aces to 1 double fault. He was also 25 of 30 at the net, which is a sign that he does very well when he gets into net (do it more!). In the final three sets, Fed was attacking much more and controlling the points, something he seemed reluctant to do in the first two sets. He also changed it up more than he did in the first two, where he was practically feeding Delpo balls to hammer back at him. He utilized smarter slices and angles and served better also.
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| Roger knew he escaped a terrible situation. |
Novak Djokovic saved 4 match points to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a classic 5-setter. The #1 took the first set 6-1 and Tsonga looked uninspired. Then Nole went up a break in the second, and that seemed to wake the Frenchman up as he broke back and won the second set 7-5. He continued his fantastic play and unbelievably, took the third set 7-5 as well.
The fourth set was where all the magic happened. Jo was fighting valiantly to close out the match, and to get to the semis, which would be his biggest accomplishment, at least personally. Novak was not going to go away easily however, and saved four match points, all on serve, to take it to a tiebreak, which was hectic. Novak went up 2-0. Then Jo made it 4-2. Then Nole made it 6-4. Then Jo made it 6-6. And then finally, Novak got the edge and took the tiebreak 8-6. Crazy stuff.
After that, the air went out of the tires for Jo, and he lost the fifth set rather easily, which is understandable knowing how close he was to making it to the semifinals of the French Open. It was obvious that if Djokovic won the 4th set, he would break Jo's spirit, and that's exactly what he did. Credit to the Frenchman though - he played three of the best sets of tennis he could have ever played on clay, and just faced a Novak Djokovic that was too strong in the head and faced his four match points fearlessly.
The other two semifinal matches will be determined tomorrow, with Nadal vs Almagro and Murray vs Ferrer. They will be in tough to top the action that was seen in the two brilliant five-setters we saw today, but I'm sure they will try. And fail. In other news, if Nadal and Murray win, I will have gotten all my 4th round and quarterfinal predictions correct, so yay for me!
Since the semifinals will be played on Friday, I will go into detail on the two matches on Wednesday or Thursday. All I will say now is that it should be a good match between Roger and Novak and I hope they bring out their best tennis like last year. I give Roger the edge personally, because I feel he is a better mover on this Roland Garros surface. But enough of previewing that, it shall be saved for later.
Hope you enjoyed the tennis like I did,
Kyle.
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