French Open QF Recap

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Now let's take a peek back at the men's quarterfinals...


CHATRIER: NADAL D. CARRENO BUSTA
...There's not much to say, really. Pablo Carreno Busta came in with an abdominal issue. And when he was down 2-6, 0-2 this happened:

Pablo Carreno Busta abandonne. @RafaelNadal en demi-finale.

Carreno Busta forced to retire from his QF match vs. Nadal due to injury. #RG17 pic.twitter.com/Ot3CekdQEO

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 7, 2017

The Spaniard has had a glorious run, but an injury is a sure-fire way to end it. The consolation is that Nadal would have likely won anyway. He rises in the rankings and a top 16 seed at Wimbledon is not out of the question. Whether or not he can take advantage of that is another thing. You can count the list of Spanish Wimbledon winners, or even finalists, on one hand. That's why Conchita Martinez is such a strange case - she was a classic dirtballer who just won Wimbledon. Seeing as there isn't much of this match we can talk about, have a picture of her.


Rafael Nadal now plays the only man who has troubled him on the clay - Dominic Thiem. Now the funny thing is, Nadal hasn't had a challenging match yet. He honestly has not had to face stiff opposition. And sometimes, when you're at four-all in a tiebreaker, say, you need that. Nadal should win this, but the Austrian is a major banana peel. And there's also the five set factor. If Rafa wins in five grueling sets and plays Stan Wawrinka next, he could struggle. But, really, this should be a Rafa cruise.
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CHATRIER: MURRAY D. NISHIKORI
....The Scot has looked weak at times, error prone at others, and downright abysmal in parts, too. But he has reached the semi-finals of Roland Garros. He and Kei Nishikori played out an entertaining 2-6, 6-1, 7-6[0], 6-1 four setter in front of the French crowd. Kei started off on fire but deteriorated as the match wore on. While it was fun to watch, there were plenty of times the quality came into question. There were 12 breaks and Murray served for the third set at 6-5. It was a typical Murray match where he just could not put his opponent away. Had Nishikori taken the third set...well, who knows. 71 errors in four sets is also really poor. The Scot has not looked like a world number one during the tournament, and that continued for the two hours and forty minutes he was out there in the quarterfinals. Nishikori moves onto Wimbledon, where he will do terribly and Murray moves onto Wawrinka. Where he will also do terribly. Wawrinka is playing scary tennis right now. Out of this world, hit you off the court, off the continent, hit you into outer space good. He might even be making Rafa a bit nervous.
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LENGLEN: THIEM D. DJOKOVIC
...Dominic Thiem was 0-5 against Novak Djokovic. But now he has his first win. And it was a belting, 7-6[5], 6-3, 6-0. It will send Novak Djokovic to world number three. And he could drop out of the top five altogether. If Stan wins he will be ranked fourth in the world come Wimbledon. He may not even be seeded in the top four. The alarming thing is the lack of chutzpah that Nole showed. He just went away as quietly as Jeb Bush has. In the two and a quarter hour match, Nole was broken six times and hit 35 errors. His opponent, however, was at his swashbuckling best, his backhand singing in the Paris breeze. With his trademark headband and big kicker the Austrian looked the real deal. And, though you might not admit it, you know you want a Wawrinka/Thiem final. You know that's the best of the finals left on the table. And, in fact, if you were offered that at the beginning you would have taken it. Against the best returner in the world, he won 53 per cent of second serves. Djokovic is finished. His career is now dead. He has been awful for months now and if Andre Agassi can't fix it, well who can?
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LENGLEN: CILIC D. WAWRINKA
...The Swiss won 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and forty minutes. The Swiss broke that big serve six times and won 73 per cent of second serves. He made Marin Cilic look absolutely ordinary. And he did it with total ease. This wasn't a match, it was more a confirmation of Wawrinka's mastery. And now the Swiss plays Murray. And he's going to win that. He is going to smack Murray's second serve about, attack off the Scot's soft forehand wing and use that inside-out backhand like a wrecking ball. He is looking frighteningly good. This BACKSPINNER would even go so far as to say the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double is not out of reach.
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