Wawrinka Takes Out Nadal in Paris ~ BreakPoint

So yesterday was ‘tiebreak day’ as there was a total of six tiebreaks played in the quarterfinals and each match included at least one tiebreak. In the match between Nadal and Wawrinka, there were two tiebreaks with Stan winning 7-6(8), 7-6(7).

Nadal got the early break to take a 2-0 lead, but this was not Shanghai which is played on Decoturf. Paris is played on a slower GreenSet surface which gives Stan more time to set up those big groundstrokes.

Stan was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set but missed one shocking volley and Nadal broke back. Then in the tiebreak it was Nadal’s turn to throw away a lead when he was leading 5-2 and 6-4. This time, it was him who missed a shocking overhead and Stan finished him off.

Still not the worst result for Nadal as he keeps improving while Federer keeps doing the opposite. I really hope those two are in the same group in London.

Elsewhere in the Draw

Djokovic was first up yesterday against Berdych who he also defeated in two tiebreaks 7-6(3), 7-6(8). In the first tiebreak, Djokovic just raised his game but in the second tiebreak Berdych was much more stubborn and played some superb tennis.

But in the end Djokovic’s mental fortitude won the day again. This victory means he is now on a 20-match winning streak and still hasn’t dropped a set since the USO final.

He may very well drop a set against Stan though if not more than that. I think there is a very real possibility that he could lose to Stan. There is a reason no one has ever won six Masters in a year and these kinds of records are always very difficult to beat.

It’s going to be a cracker anyway.

Then in the bottom half Murray had a much tougher match against Gasquet than he had in his first two matches but prevailed 7-6(7), 3-6, 6-3 in the end.

Finally, Ferrer defeated Isner 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2. Ferrer very solid as usual and he trails the head-to-head with Murray 6-10. Certainly he has a shot at winning but Murray just has to be the slight favorite I guess.

Well, it should be another cracking day of tennis and I’m certainly going to watch the Djorinka match. Djokovic leads the head-to-head 18-4, but we all know that doesn’t mean much and that Stan has the game to defeat Djokovic.

The last meeting was in Cincy where Djokovic took revenge 6-4, 6-1 for the French Open loss, but now we are back on a slow surface which makes this a very interesting contest indeed. Let’s see if Djokovic and Becker have figured out a way to outsmart another Swiss.