Didn’t have time to a separate post for day 5 so I thought I’d do it together with day 6.
Day 5: Only 2 out of the 3 swiss-musketeers won their matches, even though in my opinion all three of them should be through. Poor Stan this season he’s had so many near wins over the top 10 but he can’t finish the match, he gets tight, his game falls apart once he gets the lead and his opponents see it and they come back and beat him, that’s what happened against Djokovic, Djoko deserved to be beaten in straight sets, Wawarinka was the better player until 6-6 in the second set, it was then he began to fall it apart he knew he only needed seven points to win and the errors came, it was quite sad to watch after that, Djokovic was inspired and he won the third set comfortably, this match unfortunately showed why Wawa is not a top ten player and why he’s slipped down the rankings, he’s a top 25 player with loads of talent that would get him into the top 10 but talent alone is good enough, players in the top 10 needs to be mentally strong they need to find a way to win matches they shouldn’t win, whether it’s because of seeding or poor play, that’s what separates the top 10 players from the top 20.
Stepanek made my prediction come true and beat Cilic, Cilic had a 4-0 lead in the first set, blew it and it was reduced to 4-3, managed to hold serve and served it out for 6-4 but Stepanek didn’t go away, he found the range he needed to on his serve and once he had the two breaks in the next two sets, it was obvious who the winner was going to be.
Marco dropped only 4 games to beat an ailing Gasquet 6-1 6-3, he hit the ball very cleanly and didn’t show any signs of nerves like he had done preiously with Lammer. The win puts him into an all swiss semi final as Roger dropped 5 games (one less than his last meeting with Korolev). Can’t say much about the match as I didn’t get to see it due to internet streaming problems, Roger managed to save the two break points that Korolev managed to make for himself.
Day 6:
Stepanek chokes away 3 m.ps to give Djoko match, Djoko had a game of all 2nd serves at 4-5 second set which Stepanek could do nothing with, the excellent returns that he had managed throughout the whole match were nowhere to be found and that cost him the match, Djoko held, Radek was broken and was broken again at the start of the third set and again to seal the victory for Djoko, Radek didn’t have nearly as much purpose as he did in the previous sets and failed to do what he had done throughout the whole week whenever he was losing which was to make his opponent know that he was still there with his little antics.
Roger was given his first real true test of the tournament by his childhood friend Marco, who managed to take a staggering 9 games off the world number 1, Olivier Rochus had taken the most (7 games) before this semi-final match. Marco served well and saved 2 break points in the opening set and even had 3 of his own until Roger stopped “toying with him” and played like he should have done at the start of the game. Both boys had been two of the biggest servers in Basel this week but collectively on managed 5 aces however the serve with still impressive giving both players many free points. The first set went to a tie break which Marco lead 4-1 until two good serves from RF and a breath-taking rally won by RF levelling things up again, the breaker remained on serve and both had set points until a blistering forehand from RF and “being in the moment” was too much for Marco who hit a forehand long to give RF the set. An easy hold from RF and Marco unable to maintain his high level of play let Federer into his service game for the second time in the match and at his third opportunity to break his broke Marco serve and one break was enough to decide the set. The two exchanged their camaraderie before, during and after the match, Roger was very relaxed throughout unlike his opponent in the final. Muttering to yourself, throwing your racquet and screaming Djoko is not going to win you the title. Any match against Djokovic is tough and I will be not be surprised if Djoko pulls off the win, in fact I’m expecting it as Roger simply does posses that aura that would give his opponents the felling of losing the match before it even started but Roger has a lot of variety and he should pull through, I’m not sure if Djokovic can make a miraculous escape for a third time in a row but those how have an easy path to the final tend to struggle when things gets a little tight, Fed has yet to face a seed and think it has been too easy for him, Fed has dropped just 27 games in 4 matches whilst Djoko has dropped 28 in two matches, I definitely want Fed to win as I want him to seal the number 1 in Paris and become the first player to 4 times in Basel and it would be great for him to do that tomorrow but I’m just not convinced that he’s been tested enough, call it not trusty Fed or worrying too much or the dreaded frazzle that over come all true Fed fans, fingers crossed that King Rog wins.
