Andy Murray comes through in straight sets to book his place in tomorrow's quarter-finals. On paper, he has faced a tough draw but Murray still hasn't looked ruffled against any of his opponents. His fourth round opponent was Queens winner, Marin Cilic.
After a rain affected day yesterday, Murray and Cilic came back onto court one with Murray a set and 3-1 up. He continued where he left off and strolled to take the second set 6-2 and then asserted his dominance to take the third set 6-3, easing into the last eight.
Murray's tough matches keep on coming as he will face seventh seed, David Ferrer, in the last eight. They have met ten times, never on grass, and both have won five matches. Ferrer took on ninth seed, Juan Martin Del Potro, and also went through in straight sets. Ferrer took the first set 6-3 before making it 2-0 with a 6-2 second set victory. Del Potro didn't play badly, but he was totally overwhelmed by the Spaniard who took the third 6-3 to book his place in the quarters.
With only one quarter-final match-up decided yesterday, the remaining five places had to be finalised. Novak Djokovic had already booked his place in the quarter-finals but wasn't sure who he would be playing. He now knows it will be 31st seed, Florian Mayer, who perhaps surprisingly beat 18th seed, Richard Gasquet. The German took the first two sets 6-3 6-1 to take a commanding lead. Gasquet forced a fourth set by taking the third 6-3 before Mayer won the match with a 6-2 victory in the fourth to set the tie against the world number one.
The last quarter-final will see fifth seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, battle it out against 27th seed, Philipp Kohlscreiber. Tsonga had to see off a difficult Mardy Fish, seeded tenth, in four sets. Another shock was possible when the American took the opening set 6-4. The second set went to a tie-break which Tsonga crucially won 7-4. The Frenchman then took the following two set 6-4 to progress into the final eight. Kohlscreiber took on another American in the form of impressive Brian Baker. The German steam-rolled his way to a 6-1 first set victory. Baker managed to fight back and force a second set tie-break but he lost it 7-4. The German then took the third set 6-3 to book his place alongside Tsonga.
Today was ladies' quarter-finals day and, despite rain showers, all four were completed with three of them played under the roof of centre court. The second of which saw sixth seed, Serena Williams, face fourth seed and defending champion, Petra Kvitova. Williams stormed into a 6-3 first set victory and a mistake from the Czech allowed the American to break the second at 6-5. Williams then held her serve to take the second set and the place in the semi-finals.
Williams will now face second seed, Victoria Azarenka, who managed to oversee Eastbourne champion, Tamira Paszek. Azarenka took the first 6-3 before Paszek battled to a second set tie-break, but the Austrian couldn't overcome the Bulgarian and Azarenka took it 7-4.
The first quarter-final of the afternoon was an all German affair. 15th seed, Sabine Lisicki, faced eighth seed, Angelique Kerber. It was Kerber who would take the first set 6-3 and would then miss two match points to take the second set, a set that went to tie-break. Lisicki fought hard and it paid off, taking the tie-break 9-7 to force a final set. Kerber again saw herself with three match points taken away from her before she finally won the set 7-5, booking her first semi-final place at Wimbledon following her first appearance on centre court.
Kerber will take on second seed, Agnieszka Radwanska, who endured the rain to come through against 17th seed, Maria Kirilenko. The match started a 2:20 but didn't end until 7:15 because of various rain delays. We were treated to a three set thriller though as Radwanska took the first set 7-5. Kirilenko battled hard and forced the final set with a 6-4 second set victory. The third and final set also went all the way before Radwanska took the 12th game to book her place alongside Kerber.
No comments:
Post a Comment