Wimbledon 2009: Daily preview (Day 9) Men’s

Last year Roddick suffered his earliest exit at Wimbledon when he was beaten in the second round by Janko Tipsarevic. This year he will play British favorite Andy Murray for a place in the final. The sixth seed booked his fifth Wimbledon semi-final with a 6-3, 6-7 (12-10), 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-4 victory over Hewitt that took two hours and 55 minutes.


Roddick served 43 aces in the match, with a top speed of 140mph. Not only did he serve aces, he served them when they mattered. It had been an ominous start from the American who won his first service game to love, including a 139mph ace, then promptly broke Hewitt’s serve.

Tommy Haas, the oldest man in the draw, brushed aside Novak Djokovic, the No.4 seed and the youngest man left in the tournament 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3 in the quarter finals. He is 31 and has learned the value of fitness, training and preparation.


The German took a distinctly old-fashioned approach to playing on grass – he kept attacking the net. That was when he was not staying back and using his stunning backhand to unpick the Serb’s defenses. Djokovic was playing in the modern way – thumping ground strokes and explosive power.

Roger Federer is in such confident form at the 2009 Championships that even gun does not faze him. Wimbledon's five-time champion cruised into the semi-finals with a 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) victory in an hour and 43 minutes. It was Federer who proved supreme when it came to serving. Never faced a break point and was only once threatened by having his delivery taken to deuce.


Karlovic, came into this quarter-final contest having served 137 aces in his first four matches. He had also won all of his 79 service games and faced only four break points. These statistics in only the fourth game of the opening set, breaking the unbreakable serve by tackling the Karlovic power head on.

Andy Murray as the number three seed beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 on Centre Court. The authoritative victory over the former world number one puts Murray through to his first Wimbledon semi-final. Murray was winning his serve with ease, and Ferrero had to work much harder to hold on to his serve.


Last month at Queen’s where Murray wrapped up a simple straight sets victory. True, the Spaniard had a couple of jitters at the outset, and he pushed a half-volley long to give Murray an early chance to break. But nonetheless the Spaniard was playing a canny game.

Wimbledon 2009: Daily preview (Day 7) Men’s

The first match to be played in its entirely under a closed roof at Wimbledon turned out to be a classic as well as a marathon as Andy Murray staged a dramatic recovery to defeat Stanislas Wawrinka in five sets, 2-6 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-3, and gain a place in the quarter-finals for the second successive year.


The 3rd seed, under relentless pressure to become the first British player to win the Wimbledon men's crown for 73 years, had been in serious trouble early on against Wawrinka. These two men are good friends and regular practice partners, but there was nothing friendly about the fashion in which Wawrinka went after Murray in that opening set, serving brilliantly and hammering ground strokes which reduced Murray to frustration.

Roger Federer trod a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) reassuringly familiar pathway (rematch of this month’s French Open final) into the quarter-finals when he defeated Sweden's Robin Soderling in their Centre Court. It was Roger’s 11th successive victory over Soderling.

Even though the result was never really in doubt, it always felt like a close match, with Soderling riding high on a potent serve, which was broken only once. Unfortunately, he never captured the Federer delivery.

Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion, struggled through the first two sets against Radek Stepanek, he came back reinvigorated after a medical timeout, and even a break for rain could not stop him. Hewitt emerged victorious 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 after two hours 54 minutes and his first Grand Slam quarter-final in three years.


Stepanek had injury problems of his own, had endured two draining five-setters in his second and third round matches. Yet it was Stepanek who started the match full of energy. Hewitt showed typical spirit in saving four set points but a fifth proved too much.

Roddick won 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 48 minutes and is now one victory short of his third Wimbledon semi-final. Roddick turned Berdych’s form upside down in his win. Roddick blew all that away with a strong and accurate hitting performance that justifies his optimism before Wimbledon started.


Berdych had come into the last 16 without dropping a set, something he had not achieved in a Grand Slam since 2007. This showed that he was finding his feet again on grass and he might even have fancied his chances of making the quarter-finals.

Fourth seed Novak Djokovic moved comfortably into the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win over unseeded Israeli Dudi Sela. He is creeping through the draw without fanfare, produced a solid display, firing off 11 aces and 30 winners.


Sela was clearly enjoying the moment in what has been the best year of his career. He also reached the third round, as a qualifier, at this year’s Australian Open.

It was the giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic, pattern of aces(he served up 35 aces today) and very few rallies - in which the tiebreaks became all-important and he prevailed 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-6), 6-4, 7-6 (11-9) in three hours and one minute against crowd darling Fernando Verdasco. This tie was also destined to be a close-fought battle of very few chances.


The crowd simply rejoiced when either player grabbed a return point, to break up the love service games that were becoming so common. Both players then had opportunities to win the tiebreak.

Juan Carlos Ferrero became the first wild card since Goran Ivanisevic in 2001 to make the quarter-finals at Wimbledon after clinically dispatching eighth seed Gilles Simon 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-2. The Spaniard played solid tennis throughout the contest and stood firm.


Simon, meanwhile, had been on a terrible run coming into the tournament, barely able to string two wins together over the past few months, but he put this behind him to make a run to the fourth round here, dropping only one set on the way.

Tommy Haas needed just three sets to get past Igor Andreev 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 6-4 and into the quarter-finals. It had started off as a tense, tightly fought match. But using his greater experience, Haas managed to break away by taking the critical points in this their first meeting on grass.


This was a match of big-hitters, with both players regularly sending down serves in excess of 120mph. Both had survived five-setters in previous rounds but any chance of that happening disappeared as Haas grew in confidence and Andreev faded as the match went on.

Wimbledon 2009: Daily preview (Day 5) Men’s

The golden rules of sport kept Roger Federer on Centre Court for rather longer than he would have liked today. The Swiss slipped into experimental mood rather than applying the killer touch and paid for it when he dropped his first set of the tournament before bouncing back to win 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1.


For 28th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, that fateful day came in the third round here at Wimbledon. “When the draw came it I thought it was probably the worst one I could have got,” he said with a philosophical shrug after his 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 6-1 defeat to the de facto top seed in the absence of Rafael Nadal. “You look to see when you’ve got Federer and then think ‘well that’s the end of the line’.”

A four-hour marathon on No.1 Court was suspended in the gathering darkness at 9.33pm with Marin Cilic and Tommy Haas standing level at 5-7, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) and the final set on a knife-edge at 6-6. By the time they were forced to give in to the failing light.


Novak Djokovic, the fourth seed and probably the greatest threat to Roger Federer's peace of mind in the lower half of the men's singles draw, marched into the last 16 with a solid and competent 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory in one hour 58 minutes over Mardy Fish of the US.


Ivo Karlovic served his way to victory with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) win over the eighth seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France on No.1 Court. It was a fine win for the 22nd seed at the age of 30 because he had been beaten in the first round for each of the past four years here and despite having a game suited for grass.

Facing such a big server, Tsonga knew what was coming even though he had not played Karlovic previously. But the Frenchman is no slouch himself when it comes to serve and volley, which is why he was able to sustain his challenge for so long.


Fernando Verdasco came from a set behind to dispose of Albert Montanes 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) victory played in glorious conditions on No.2 Court this afternoon . Verdasco wasn’t playing badly in the first set but that Montanes simply slapped the life out of the ball and hit the lines with incredible accuracy, giving the illusion that his top 10 opponent was a tad slow around the court.


Soderling beat Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 6-4 in just under two hours on Court 3 to set-up a replay of the French Open final against Roger Federer in the fourth round. Soderling was so consistent on his serve that Almagro did not get a break point opportunity all match. Yet it was hard work for him to manufacture break points of his own.

Wimbledon 2009: Daily preview (Day 3) Men’s

Roger Federer's Wimbledon stroll continues. Having conceded a mere seven games in the first round, the second seed and five-time champion permitted Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain just eight games as he forced his way into the last 32 of the men's singles.

His display in a 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 win in the Centre Court sunshine was another master class of tennis. It is already becoming very clear that the Swiss will take some stopping at the 2009 Championships.

Federer was impregnable on serve, dropping just five points in a 27-minute first set - one of which was that eye-opening rarity, a double fault from the Swiss - and he faced only two break points in the entire match.

There cannot have been many observers on No.1 Court expecting much of Simon Greul in his second-round match against fourth seed Novak Djokovic, entertaining attacking play, before Djokovic emerged the 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 winner.

Loose shots from Djokovic, along with a double fault, handed a break to the German in the first game. Greul was developing a taste for grasscourt play, fooling his opponent with an approach to the net and a great dropshot on the half-volley. But when he tried another dropshot from the baseline, it tipped back on the wrong side of the net to give Djokovic break point.


The battle of the big hitters between California and Croatia went the way of Europe in the late evening on Centre Court when Marin Cilic outlasted Sam Querrey in a five-set marathon 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 in three hours 24 minutes.


For much of this gripping encounter, it was Querrey's ability to produce an ace - he hit 24 of them. The 11th-seeded Cilic needed a touch of good fortune, and found it when he broke the Querrey serve with an outrageously lucky net cord that fell dead into the American's side of the court.

There was more good news for Croatia as the 6ft 10in Ivo Karlovic defeated Belgium's Steve Darcis 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to join Cilic in the third round.

Fernando Verdasco of Spain was forced to fight for nearly three hours before overcoming Kristof Vliegen of Belgium in a battle of the big servers on Court 3. Verdasco, the seventh seed, eventually won 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, the score reflecting the dominance of both players’ serving on a warm day when the conditions complimented power play.


Both players maintained the intensity of their serving through to the fourth set when Vliegen was the victim of the only service break. With Verdasco ahead 5-4, and on the match point, the Belgian gifted him the match with a forehand error off the service return.


Surprise French Open runner-up Robin Soderling was pushed all the way in his 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 7-5 victory over Marcel Granollers. Throughout the two hour 46 minute contest.Granollers had begun the season by reaching the semi-finals at Chennai and peaking at No.44 in the world but was then unable to string together two wins in a row. Soderling was on a similar run, even dropping down to the Challenger circuit when he lost in the first round at Indian Wells.