Top Half
It had to come, didn’t it? Play rained out completely at the French Open on Monday and on Tuesday there was some play before it rained out again. This grand slam has serious problems.
This means that Djokovic will have to play again tomorrow after having played the last couple of days to finish his match against Bautista Agut which he won 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 today. It included two rain breaks and took three days to finish.
It started on Tuesday when Djokovic lost the first set. I didn’t see that set but apparently the courts were muddy and slow and he struggled to adapt. Then there was a rain break after which they came back and Djokovic took a 3-6, 6-4, 4-1 lead.
It was nice for him to get the break before the rain started again. He was now starting to take control of the match. They came back today as Djokovic delivered his first bakery product since his first match.
In the fourth set, he went a break down to trail 2-4 but got the break back straight away and broke serve again to close the deal. It reminded me of their US Open match where Djokovic also won in four sets.
Bautista Agut played well but you always expected Djokovic to win. It was difficult conditions but Djokovic made the best of it and got the job done. All these rain break means Djokovic has to play his quarterfinal match against Berdych tomorrow.
Berdych defeated Ferrer 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 so I guess he is playing pretty well. The schedule is now against Djokovic again because he has to play three days in a row while Murray and Stan get another off day tomorrow.
I don’t know what the rest of the schedule will look like. I have heard that they may play the final on Monday like they do at the US Open. That would at least be more fair to Djokovic or else he will have to play four days in a row which is ridiculous.
Or they could let him play his semi on Saturday and play the final on Sunday which would be unfair to him too. So I certainly think it is appropriate to play the final on Monday rather than on Sunday. They can’t screw him again like they did last time with the lights.
It’s already unfair to him to have to play three days in a row. This tournament is becoming a bit of a joke to me, to be honest. It was never my favorite slam but the fact that they don’t even have lights is just pathetic.
And now I read they won’t have a roof before 2020. Sad! Elsewhere in the top half Thiem and Goffin also progressed and will face off in the quarterfinals. That’s another great result for Thiem who makes his first slam quarterfinals.
He defeated Granollers 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-4. Goffin leads Thiem 4-2 in the head-to-head and he has been very solid lately. I think that should be a very interesting match. As for Djokovic he leads the head-to-head with Berdych 23-2.
That’s Federer/Roddick-like. Worse actually since Federer led Roddick 22-3 when Roddick retired. It sure wouldn’t hurt Djokovic to get a straight-set win. But who knows what his form will be like.
So Murray and Stan played today as well and both won which means they will meet in the semis in the bottom half. Murray defeated Gasquet 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-0, 6-2 while Stan defeated Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(7).
I watched the second set of Murray’s match and if I remember correctly he actually served for the second set at 5-3. Gasquet broke back, went a break up in the tie-break, but then couldn’t get the job d as expected.
Then I left the match because I knew it was over and Gasquet just imploded. If Gasquet was mentally stronger he would easily have won the second set and the match so this does nothing to make me think more of Murray.
Sure he is a good player but compared to Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic he is pretty weak. Stan could easily beat him because Stan has done it all before. That should be a very interesting encounter anyway.
I wouldn’t want to predict a winner either. Hopefully, it is a five-set marathon so that the playing field is at least evened out a bit for Djokovic.
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