AO Alert: Swiss Stan Stuns Serb

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Welcome to the latter stages. We have some seriously exciting quarterfinals and semifinals coming up. I shall review the past two days' quarterfinals and fourth rounds. My pre-tournament predictions have gone badly. Not just on the women's side, where I always do badly somehow, but on the men's side, too. The upset of the tournament occurred yesterday. Wawrinka edged Djokovic in a drama filled, error strewn match 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7. Djokovic missed a simple volley on match point down and that really summed up the match for the Serb. Serving at 5-5 40-15 the heavens briefly let fourth a drizzle which halted play for a little bit. Wawrinka learned from his last two heartbroking losses to Djokovic, however, and he was not to be denied on this occasion. He clung on and won. It was the match of the year. He plays Berdych next and I think that Wawrinka does have a shot at the slam albeit still an outside one.

*Suicide pool watch*
Day One: Madison Keys, Jeremy Chardy [29]
Day Two: Anastasia Pavlychenkova [29], Fernando Verdasco [31]
Day Three: Ekaterina Makarova [22], Ivan Dodig [32]
Day Four: Carla Suarez Navarro [16]
Day Five: Eugenie Bouchard [30]
Day Six: Simona Halep [11]
Day Seven: Angelique Kerber [9]

Well, with Pennetta's upset of the ninth seeded German, I am finished in the sucide pool.


Fourth Round: NADAL d. NISHIKORI, ESP/JPN
...It took Nadal three and a quarter hours to finally beat Nishikori 7-6, 7-5, 7-6, winning both breakers 7-3. Nishikori deserved to win the second set and served for the third. He played a truly amazing match. The big issue for him was a lack of winners. He had few winners whilst Nadal had 12 aces and 40 winners, too. Also, the Japanese needs to cut out the errors. He often tricked Nadal with the dropper, which is a weapon Federer uses often and Murray uses even more often. Nishikori showed how to beat Nadal and on another day he may have had the Spaniard. I like Dimitrov's chances of taking a set perhaps. The key has to be for the Bulgarian to get into some tie-breakers. Nishikori also surrendered his serve five times . That is too many times. The younger generation seems to be stepping up. Expect bright things from them this year.
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Fourth Round: FEDERER D. TSONGA, SUI/FRA
...Federer rekindled something against Tsonga. He was, once more, the Federer of old. The Federer whose backhand belonged in an art gallery, whose forehand decimated opponent after opponent and who ghosted into the net and volleyed the most beautiful crisp volleys. He returned against Tsonga. With eight aces and 43 winners, he sent out a warning. He only hit one double and 21 errors. Tsonga did not quite turn-up but it probably would not have mattered in any case. Federer played 48 first serve points. He won 42. He and Murray both played Frenchman, but Federer did not drop a set against the world number ten whilst Murray dropped a set against Robert. Federer looks back to his usual self and he has a real shot to win the thing. Perhaps he could try channeling his inner 2002 Sampras.
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Fourth Round: MURRAY D. ROBERT, GBR/FRA
...This is why Murray is not winning grand slams often. He drops sets where he should not. He beat Robert 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 in just under three hours. He has spent over an hour longer on court than Fed. Murray had 8 aces and 48 winners. His opponent hit a lot of errors and Murray should have put him away. Murray was serving at 5-4 in that breaker but lost it 8-6. He smashed his racket afterwards in a fit of anger. He choked. I think the signs are clear right now. He is starting to fade. He turns 27 this year and his form has looked poor so far. On current evidence, I don't think he can stop Federer. He has finalist points to defend and to defend them he has to get past Federer and Nadal. Murray can't afford to be ranked anything lower than four because Nadal and Djokovic are two players he struggles to beat.
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Fourth Round: DIMITROV D. BAUTISTA-AGUT, BUL/ESP
...This match was a gem. It was not as televised, but the quality was still high. The Spaniard and the Bulgarian are both up and coming young stars though Agut only really emerged at the end of 2012 and in 2013. Dimitrov has threatened to be brilliant for ages. He made his first slam fourth round at the Aussie, followed by his maiden quarterfinal. Dimitrov had 11 aces and 40 winners or so. He played an aggressive and consistent match here, which he has to replicate against Agut's compatriot Nadal. Dimi broke four times and he will need to really put pressure on Nadal's serves. Nadal will bully that backhand, though. It will be a great match.
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QF: BERDYCH D. FERRER, CZE/ESP
...Berdych came out on fire against Ferrer. He took the opening set in half an hour at 6-1. After that, the scrappy match got even scrappier but Berdman hung on for a 6-1, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. It was a scrappy match with a lot of errors. Neither of them played particularly, well but Berdman did claim the Nalbandian Slam, something Ferrer has not done yet. Berdych, title-less last year, finally makes the semifinals after three straight quarterfinals. Berdman has to improve his game because the performance against Ferrer will not be enough against Wawrinka.
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QF: WAWRINKA D. DJOKOVIC, SUI/SRB
...It took him exactly four hours, but Wawrinka finally beat Djokovic for the first time in almost eight years. He won 9-7 in the fifth. The Swiss hit 17 aces on his way to victory. Although Djokovic won eight more points, (161-153) he could not beat the Suiss this time out. Also, they both hit exactly 60 errors each. Wawrinka was the better player in this topsy turvy match, but only just. This really is the upset of the year and I think we will still be talking about it this fall, if not next fall. Next up for Wawrinka is Berdych, and he should be too good there, but we will see.

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