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I was just reading the reports on The Ferrer/Murray Vienna Open final and it reminded me that I no sold the latter stages of this event (The U.S Open 2014).

 

What a tournament! Jesus!

 

The parts I caught of Murray/Djokovic were encouraging for Murray, I thought he played well. I thought he was unlucky in the first and could have conceivably been two sets up. I still think he would have lost from there. Murray was good but didn't have enough fitness and strength to hang with Djokovic. He didn't quite look at 100% yet. He would have needed to win in straight sets and he wasn't playing well enough and Djokovic wasn't under par enough to do that. A good showing, something to build on, it looked like.

 

Djokovic was good and after getting past Murray, Nishikori knocking Wawrinka out, Monfils over Dimitrov and Cilic over Berdych I thought it was a straight shootout between Federer and Djokovic in the final. I would have backed Djokovic because he looked to be playing better and had made an easier run then I expected. First Monfils went two sets up against Federer! But I was watching that live and still thought Federer would make it hard from there taking it to 4 or 5 sets.

 

But then Djokovic V Nishikori and Federer V Cilic! Jesus!

 

I wanted to claim great analytical powers in Djokovic getting knocked out but I couldn't. I would have bet the shirt off my back on him winning that (injury free). I would have put a lot of money on Federer too, nowhere near as much as Djokovic because Cilic has power and a good serve, things that can beat a top guy. But Nishikori beating Djokovic at his own game? Wow.

 

I heavily fancied Cilic in the final, unfortunately. It's always nice to get a new guy breakthrough but I've never been a fan of Cilic. The worst part was that I didn't catch any of the Semis because I thought they were foregone conclusions in the case of Djokovic/Nishikori and unappealing in the case of Federer/Cilic (and to a lesser extent the final).

 

I've forgotten what happened in the women's side of the draw already. I looked it up and yes, Serena beat Wozniacki who had a good tournament.

 

Getting back to Murray, he's been having a real go at qualifying for the season ending World Tour finals and has made a decent stab at it. He won the Shenzhen Open, beat the U.S Open Champion easily on his way to getting knocked out by Djokovic at the China Open. He then lost to David Ferrer in three in Shanghai, a little disappointing, he would have expected to get past that and get to Djokovic in the quarters at least but Ferrer's a guy even top players will lose to now and then. Then we had the Vienna Open which concluded today. Murray took this on as an extra event to earn some points. He cruised through to the final as he should have. I couldn't find any live coverage so I was keeping my eye on the text commentary and it was a tight game. Ferrer won the first and was the better player. I was a little curious because Tsonga (a couple of times) is the only top-10 player Murray's beaten this season since his injury problems (and Cilic in the previous tournament). So he could really use a win over Ferrer. He pulled it off though, in quite a big way, coming back from a break down twice in the final set, including when Ferrer was serving for it. Hopefully he can build on that and get back to the top tier of the game. There's two more tournaments before the World Tour finals, he'll need a couple of good performances to qualify.

Edited by bigmatt

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There was a repeat of the Vienna Open final in the Valencia Open semi-finals today. Murray vs. Ferrer for the third straight week. Murray won in straight sets today and on paper it looks slightly more comfortable. He will meet the winner of Chardy vs. Robredo (which starts in an hour and half) in the final. He'd be a strong favourite for back-to-back titles and his third in four of five weeks there. Berdych, Isner, Lopez and Simon all got knocked out that side of the draw. It's a pretty good run and he's one step close to qualifying for the World Tour finals.

Jesus f*cking Christ was that brutal. Murray won in 3 hours and 19 minutes, the longest ATP final of the year, 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (10-8). He saved five championship points. It was absolutely exhausting to watch, nevermind play in. I thought he was going to lose it for the vast majority of the match which was pretty agonising as I had bet on Murray to win quite heavily for shitty odds pre-match (around 1/3). Both players looked like battle victims after about 9 games onwards. The balls on that man to win that. I just don't understand it. I also hate him for putting me through that. That's his second title in-a-row and his third in five weeks, so he's now pretty much guaranteed his place at the tour finals.

 

Serena also won the women's tour finals and Roger Federer won the Swiss indoors titles. Both very, very comfortably. The bastards.

  • 6 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Tough draw for Djokovic, Nadal, and Murray at the French Open. Nadal/Djokovic and Murray/Ferrer (Murray's never beaten Ferrer on clay, 0-4 to Ferrer) could/should be the quarter-final line-up for the top half of the draw with the winners facing each other in the semi-finals. Murray could also face Kyrgios who knocked Federer out of the clay tournament Murray won a couple of weeks ago in the 3rd and Isner who knocked Kyrgios out in the 4th. Nadal could face Dimitrov or Robredo in the 4th. He could also have a nice Roland Garros reunion with Almagro in the second. A good draw for Federer but someone in that half could step up and get themselves a great shot at winning it.
  • 2 weeks later...

The French Open has been good so far. The quarter-finalists were made up of seven out of the top eight seeds, so that all went to script. Tsonga was the only "upset" knocking out Berdych and that's not much of an upset. Berdych's game isn't the best for the clay, Tsonga's always ranked a bit lower than his Grand Slam potential because of his (lack of) consistency and he was the home favourite. Getting past Nishikori earlier in the semis was a bit more of an upset, Nishikori was many peoples pick to make the finals and Wawrinka beat Federer.

 

The other quarter-finals today from the top -half of the draw and should be crackers. Murray/Ferrer, Murray's a bit stronger of a favourite than I expected. He's never beaten Ferrer on clay in four attempts and Ferrer's good, especially on clay. I'd favour Murray but only just. 55-45 or 60-40, the odds are a bit stronger than that. And the absolute cracker that should be Nadal/Djokovic. One of the BBC's tennis correspondents described it as being "the most eagerly anticipated Grand Slam quarter-final in history.". Djokovic is a stronger favourite than I expected too but that's probably right. I haven't seen much of him this year but when I have seen him, he's been awesome. This has to be his Grand-Slam completion, doesn't it? He might to the Rod Laver and win all four this year.

  • 2 weeks later...

The French Open was a really enjoyable tournament, I thought. I was sort of pulling for Djokovic in the final because it's hard to see a man that went through Nadal at Roland Garros in the quarters and Murray in five sets in the semis not win the whole thing. Jo should have beaten Stan in the semis too, he was there for the taking but Tsonga doesn't have that edge that wins Grand-Slams. Stan did beat Federer (in straight sets) though and played well in the final so good on him. A 2-time grand slam champion. I wouldn't have predicted that a couple of years ago. Djokovic chasing that slam is a compelling story too, so I'm glad we'll get that again next year. It would be even better if both him and Murray are chasing it.

 

I fancied Djokovic to beat Nadal and win it this year and usurp him as the king of clay. I was a little worried that after he surpassed Nadal on clay there was nobody else in his league so it was encouraging to see Murray really step it up and stretch him and of course Stan showed that a guy with weapons can blast him on the right day. That's good to see.

 

Wimbledon should be very interesting. I'm leaning Murray by a smidgen at the minute. Queen's would be a good start.