While it’s probably too early to start picking out favorites for the upcoming U.S. Open just yet, this week’s action in both Toronto and Cincinnati has certainly pointed out some early names to add to the list. It’s hard to believe Ana Ivanovic could be part of the contender’s list for New York, but if she keeps up her stellar play from she just might. Meanwhile in Toronto, Tomas Berdych had a chance to pull off a “hat trick” in three straight wins against Roger Federer, but the partisan Canadian crowd had other ideas.
At the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Andy Murray stopped David Nalbandian’s 11 match win streak with an impressive 6-2, 6-2 victory. Next up for the Scot is top seed Rafael Nadal who needed three sets to get past Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber after Kohlschreiber attacked Nadal early in the first set but lost the rhythm on his serve and backhand in the third set to give Nadal a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win in just over two hours. However, the main event was the night match between Federer and Berdych in a rematch of the Wimbledon quarterfinal earlier in July. Federer showed off more aggressive play than usual in taking the first set 6-3 and for awhile it looked like he would cruise to a straight sets win.
But Berdych, who has long been questioned for his fight, hung around and seemed to get fired up after a lengthy exchange with the umpire over a line call. Meanwhile it was Federer, who got tight himself, serving several double faults and a shanked forehand at 5-6 to give Berdych the break and the set. After Berdych broke again for 3-1 in the third set, it seemed victory was his. But serving for it at 5-3, Berdych appeared visibly distracted by the partisan crowd rooting for Federer who shouted out support for Federer during Berdych’s service toss. Federer broke serve to the crowd’s delight and eventually forced a third set tiebreak. By then Federer found luck in an early net cord winner while Berdych could only smile as the match slipped out of his grasp. Berdych forced a Federer forehand winner to get things to 5-5 but it was a little too late as Federer served out the match 6-3, 5-7, 7-6. Federer will now face Novak Djokovic in the semifinals who easily dispatched Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-3.
Down in Cincinnati, Ana Ivanovic continued her impressive run with a 6-1, 6-3 win over big serving Akgul Amanmuradova that saw Ivanovic come to net more often to finish off points. She’ll now face Kim Clijsters, who despite finding more winners with her backhand than her forehand which was erratic today, was able to finish off Flavia Pennetta 7-6, 6-4 in extremely hot conditions on court. Maria Sharapova didn’t need much time finishing off Marion Bartoli except in the final set where Sharapova showed uncharacteristic nerves up 5-1 where she tossed in several double faults to lose the game before finally serving out the match for 6-1, 6-4 win. She will now face 19-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, also of Russia, who won a tough three set match over Yanina Wickmayer 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
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Poor Berdych was getting no love from the crowd. Oh well. He still had his chances. This was a fun match, and I think both men proved that they are in pretty good form at the moment.
Though he looked really annoyed on court, in his press conference Berdych seemed more relaxed about the whole thing saying the crowd “had fun” and was there to enjoy the match. I think Berdych is also getting used to be more of a known quantity to casual tennis fans based on his good form this year after being such a headcase for so long. If anything, last night gave him a good taste for NY night matches.
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