Well, Yeah!
Federer's looking good this week. The highlight reel against Stepanek was quite riveting, and I got to see the match against Del Potro today. The movement's back, the hitting's crisp, and he's even got his 2004-6 aura. About the only thing that was missing from Federer's game was backhand winners, but then again he didn't hit any backhands wildly out into the stands, and he also hit many good slice shots back into play. There was also that down-the-line winner off the backhand wing that he hit in the later stages of the match.. No complaints, really. Federer in full flight, they call it. It's something beautiful to behold.
Del Potro played fairly well, although his serve let him down at crucial moments and he couldn't really do much about Federer's game today. All in all, I'm quite excited about Del Potro's potential. He's got a booming serve but doesn't rely on it overmuch; rather, his solid ground game wins him his points. He probably needs to work a little on his net game, but even with that said, I saw a couple of good net points during today's match. Lots of potential there, so hopefully he'll stick around for a bit.
QF results
[1] Nadal d. Lopez 64 64 (correct)
Simon d. [14] Karlovic 76(1) 46 76(2) (correct)
[4] Murray d. Monfils 62 62 (correct)
[2] Federer d. [9] del Potro 63 63 (correct)
SF predictions
[1] R. Nadal v. G. Simon - Nadal
Hmm, this is rather unexpected. I think I had Djokovic losing to someone in my bracket before this stage, but then changed it back because I thought it'd be better to go with the safe picks. Anyway, Simon put up quite an admirable fight today against Karlovic. He was down by a break in each set, but managed to break Karlovic's serve (!) in the first and third sets to force tiebreaks, which he'd win by fairly huge margins. I think I'll try to catch this match tomorrow, just to see more of this guy. Plus I haven't watched Nadal play in a while. Most likely a Nadal win, unless he's really off/injured/whatever. By the way, rumours circulate that Nadal has wrapped up the year-end #1 ranking with his win over Lopez today. I haven't done the calculations to prove or disprove it yet, but congratulations to him for a superlative year.
(Edit: He needs to win against Simon to clinch it mathematically, according to the ATP website. There are certain conditions to be met otherwise, but most involve just one or two more wins from this point on. Not a tough ask, since we are talking about Nadal here. The year-end #1 ranking is quite firmly in his pocket at this point.)
[4] A. Murray v. [2] R. Federer - Federer
A rematch of the US Open final, with both players older and wiser than they were the last time. Interestingly enough, Federer's had to play two seeded players in his last three matches, while Murray's played none. On the other hand, Monfils and Cilic aren't exactly the bottom of the barrel either. Quality young talent there, too. I think Federer goes in with the edge, seeing that he won their latest encounter. Both appear to be in good form, winning quite decisively in the earlier rounds, though. Should be interesting, though methinks the scale tips in Federer's favour.
Del Potro played fairly well, although his serve let him down at crucial moments and he couldn't really do much about Federer's game today. All in all, I'm quite excited about Del Potro's potential. He's got a booming serve but doesn't rely on it overmuch; rather, his solid ground game wins him his points. He probably needs to work a little on his net game, but even with that said, I saw a couple of good net points during today's match. Lots of potential there, so hopefully he'll stick around for a bit.
QF results
[1] Nadal d. Lopez 64 64 (correct)
Simon d. [14] Karlovic 76(1) 46 76(2) (correct)
[4] Murray d. Monfils 62 62 (correct)
[2] Federer d. [9] del Potro 63 63 (correct)
SF predictions
[1] R. Nadal v. G. Simon - Nadal
Hmm, this is rather unexpected. I think I had Djokovic losing to someone in my bracket before this stage, but then changed it back because I thought it'd be better to go with the safe picks. Anyway, Simon put up quite an admirable fight today against Karlovic. He was down by a break in each set, but managed to break Karlovic's serve (!) in the first and third sets to force tiebreaks, which he'd win by fairly huge margins. I think I'll try to catch this match tomorrow, just to see more of this guy. Plus I haven't watched Nadal play in a while. Most likely a Nadal win, unless he's really off/injured/whatever. By the way, rumours circulate that Nadal has wrapped up the year-end #1 ranking with his win over Lopez today. I haven't done the calculations to prove or disprove it yet, but congratulations to him for a superlative year.
(Edit: He needs to win against Simon to clinch it mathematically, according to the ATP website. There are certain conditions to be met otherwise, but most involve just one or two more wins from this point on. Not a tough ask, since we are talking about Nadal here. The year-end #1 ranking is quite firmly in his pocket at this point.)
[4] A. Murray v. [2] R. Federer - Federer
A rematch of the US Open final, with both players older and wiser than they were the last time. Interestingly enough, Federer's had to play two seeded players in his last three matches, while Murray's played none. On the other hand, Monfils and Cilic aren't exactly the bottom of the barrel either. Quality young talent there, too. I think Federer goes in with the edge, seeing that he won their latest encounter. Both appear to be in good form, winning quite decisively in the earlier rounds, though. Should be interesting, though methinks the scale tips in Federer's favour.