A tennis feast! - Day 7

Marin Cilic and Juan Martin Del Potro put on a monumental show of big hitting in this fourth round match in which the scoreline swung back and forth throughout. I am absolutely delighted and relieved to tell you that the beast Del Potro was beaten, Cilic winning this marathon, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3. Del Potro was a huge threat to Federer should he have reached the final.

Current Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal faced off against giant-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic in a close encounter. Nadal took the opener only for Karlovic to level in the next set. But nadal began reading the Croat's serve and was totally on top by the fourth set. He won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Nadia Petrova continued her giant-killing act as she powered past 3rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets, the final score reading 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Belgian maestro Justine Henin came up against young compatriot Yanina Wickmayer. The youngster had been the surprise package of last year's US Open, and after losing a first set tiebreak, she went on to race through the second set 6-1. But Henin, seven times Grand Slam champion, kept her cool and put on another great exhibition of her skills, winning the decider 6-3 to set up a quarter final with Petrova. As much as Henin insists it is a great physical challenge for her after missing the last couple of years on tour, she nevertheless looks like she's never been away.

In the first match of the day, Andy Murray quite comfortably beat an inept John Isner in three straight sets. While the American has a serve to boast of, he possesses absolutely nothing else based on this performance, and was rather incapable of maintaining, let alone winning, a rally. Where does this leave Andy Murray? He has had four simple matches in which he hasn't been stretched in the least, and now he must be prepared to take on the second best player on the planet in Rafael Nadal. I think we will be seeing the Scot on a plane out of Melbourne in the very near future, perhaps on Tuesday.

ALLEZ JUSTINE! Day 3

A gripping match of the highest quality was played out between these two athletes on Rod Laver arena Wednesday. Services were frequently exchanged throughout the contest. Both competitors literally had to hit the lines to win a point, so fine were the margins, and so lofty were the standards of play.

However, it was Henin who decisively broke in the 11th game of the opening set to serve out a 7-5 winning margin.

Henin served for the match at 5-4 in the 2nd, Dementieva saving a match point before levelling at 5-5. Such was the fluctuating momentum between these two stars in the most intense match so far.

Henin broke again to serve for the match a second time following an exquisite backhand winner pushed up the line to set up break point, and a following Dementieva netted volley to give the Belgian the balls on her racquet.

But Henin failed to hold once more, duplicating the pattern of both players struggling on serve. And so to a tiebreak it went. Dementieva, at 6-5, had the opportunity to send the match into a deciding set, but Henin produced her most glorious tennis when it mattered, to save the set point. Henin then drew the Russian into the net the following point, forcing Dementieva to send her attempted drop-shot into the net. Justine then tucked away a volley for the triumph.

The little Belgian now becomes a serious title contender as she looks like she's never been away.

ALLEZ JUSTINE!

The final night match finished after 2am in the morning, featuring Marin Cilic and Australian youngster, Bernard Tomic. The first four sets were exchanged evenly, and it was at 4-4 deep in the fifth that the 17-year-old dropped his serve, allowing Cilic to finish it off for a 6-4 scoreline in the final set. However, the signs look good for Tomic and he can walk away from this one with his head held high. He put on a great performance but experience came through in the end.

Another marvellous match was fought out between the Argentinian beast Juan Martin Del Potro, and America's James Blake. Del Potro fought from two sets to one down, to eventually prevail 10-8 in the decider. He has now dropped three sets in two matches and against a better opponent in the later rounds, he may struggle more. But it was a great fight-back from the current US Open champion and he will take confidence from that.

Now, a mention for Britain's Elena Baltacha. When was the last time a British female reached the third round of a Grand Slam? I too have absolutely no idea. So her achievement in disposing of 30th seed Kateryna Bondarenko, is all the more laudable, and she now has a dream match-up with three-time Slam finalist, Dinara Safina.

Meanwhile, Roddick, Murray, Nadal, Clijsters and Kuznetsova have all smoothly progressed to round 3 where they are hoping to build some good momentum for the later stages of the competition.

2 DAYS TO GO

Will Murray break his Grand Slam duck here?

Or will Del Potro the destroyer wipe the floor clean?

The Last Word on Tennis for 2009

The sound of soles rapidly shuffling into position on the spotlight's surface of the O2 arena has now ceased. The dazzling blue glow has been dimmed for the last time, and a worthy winner has emerged from the group of eight.

London's O2 arena hosted a fantastic ATP Masters year-ending tournament which saw the top five players fall at various hurdles. Nikolay Davydenko outlasted them all to lift the trophy and ascend to sixth in the world rankings, jumping past absentee Andy Roddick.

Robin Soderling's run to the semi-finals saw him finish eighth in the rankings, a career high for the much-improved Swede. Another player who has come on leaps and bounds is finalist Juan Martin Del Potro. It was only January this year when he was given one of the biggest thrashings at the Australian Open by Roger Federer, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0. He ran Federer close in a five-set loss at the semis of the French before triumphing over the world number one to win his first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows.

Rafael Nadal, plagued by numerous injuries and inconsistent form, finished the year on his biggest ever low, losing his last four matches.

Roger Federer has now been world number one for 258 weeks, 2 weeks shy of Pete Sampras' record of 260 weeks at the very top ranking. By Christmas Federer will be the outright leader. The Swiss ace won his first French Open crown, which equalled Pete Sampras' Grand Slam record and also completed his career Grand Slam. Then a month later at Wimbledon he overcame Andy Roddick in an epic final to stand alone as the all-time greatest player in history with 15 Grand Slam titles. He married long time girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec before welcoming twin daughters into his life. It has been a historic year for Roger Federer.

Finally, tennis will be losing two of its more famous players in Marat Safin and Fabrice Santoro. We will for sure miss Safin's petulance and anger issues as much as his superb tennis, which we must confess was sadly only rarely seen.

The Australian Open is up next in January 2010 and Roger Federer will be as hungry as ever to claim the title he so agonisingly lost this year.

ATP Tour Finals

The tennis tour finals is almost upon us, and the draw has thrown up some tantalizing matches in the group stage. World number one Roger Federer has been paired with Andy 'can't-win-a-major' Murray, Argentine scum-bag Del Potro, and Fernando Verdasco.

In the other group meanwhile, Rafael Nadal is matched up with three players who have all recently beaten him. His rivalry with Swede Soderling continues after he entered through the backdoor due to Roddick's injury. The Spanish bull will also face Novak Djokovic, who gave him a good stuffing last week, and Nikolay Davydenko (Mr. Consistency) who beat him well a few weeks ago.

It all starts on Sunday November 22nd, 2009 and I can't wait. In the back of my mind, I really worry for Rog as he just seems a bit off the pace at the moment, but I am reminded that Rog is a winner through and through, he wants Grand Slams and is not really bothered about inferior tournaments - those are for Andy 'can't-win-a-major' Murray. But on the flipside, I'm hopeful that Federer's period of rest will stand him in good stead and that he will produce his best tennis when it really matters.

The end of year finals is still a good tournament to win, but it doesn't really signify anything special nor accurately predict the outcome of the upcoming year. (Just take Murray's victory in last year's Shanghai finals and contrast that with his performance in 2009)

Anyway, whatever competition he is playing in, I want him to win. COME ON ROG!!!

U.S. Open Men's Singles Final

Well, I must admit that I wasn't going to bother writing a piece on the U.S. Open Men's final. I was prepared to just feel bitter, drown my sorrows with some silent treatment for half a day, and keep replaying in my mind where it went wrong.

Yes, Juan Martin Del Potro caused a major upset by overcoming Roger Federer in this morning's U.S. Open final. It went the distance to 5 sets, the Argentine coming from behind to prevail 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.

It was pretty hard to take defeat, as it always is, although not quite as difficult as Federer's loss in the Aussie Open final earlier in the year while he was still chasing Sampras' record. Now he's the Grand Slam outright record holder, it's not as bad. After mouthing some negative remarks about Del Potro and Argentinians being cheats, I realised that he really did play a great game, was nerveless and handled the pressure well. Maybe Rog had other things on his mind, his daughters perhaps; maybe he's the tiniest bit more relaxed or complacent now that he's over the Grand Slam record hill; or it might just be that Del Potro took his chances and played better today.

Congratulations to him, but he'll find it tough to keep up these sort of performances and win more Grand Slams. (Look what's happened to Roddick and Djokovic).

For Federer, he must now analyse his defeat and assess what went wrong, and come back better and stronger for next year's Australian Open. The tennis world is becoming increasingly intriguing, with more young players rising through the ranks to emerge as top challengers.

Just as a footnote, 5 of the top 6 players in the world now hold Grand Slam titles. Federer has 15, Nadal 6, Roddick 1, Joker-vic 1, Del Potro 1. But who's missing from the list? Yes that's right, Andy 'cannot-win-a-major' Murray. He must be feeling pretty down after this morning's events. He is not part of the current elite group. How many more chances does he need to win one? How many more times will he be hyped up only to easily fall each time? Del Potro has made the breakthrough at the tender age of 20.

We look forward now to the end of season Masters Series in London where the top 8 ranked players will battle it out to finish as 2009 champion.

I wouldn't be surprised if Murray wins it. The others have got to let him win something, although what would it prove about him as a player or about his season? Absolutely nothing.

So long.

US Open semi-finals

Waking up this morning I knew that Del Potro had stunned Nadal by taking the first set 6-2. I remember the fist-pump I executed. Just like a traditional Nadal fist-pump, but in favour of the Argentinian. It's not often that I find myself cheering on an Argentinian, but Del Potro was the subject of my very best wishes last night.

Heading straight to Skysports this morning, I was somewhat surprised by the shocking scoreline, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 to the 20-year-old Del Potro! At the same time I was ecstatic that the Spaniard had fallen and wouldn't be in the final against Federer.

For yes, Federer has made his 6th straight final at Flushing Meadows, with a straight sets win over the professional imitator, not so good tennis player, Novak Joker-vic. The final score read 7-6, 7-5, 7-5 in Rog's favour.

Fed is looking in great form and I'm extremely confident that he will sweep aside Juan Martin Del Potro in Monday's final. After all, the Swiss has never lost a Grand Slam final to anyone other than Nadal, and I don't see that record ending here.

Del Potro will have shocked himself by coming this far, but experience, class, talent, and big-match nerves all lie with Federer. I'm expecting a close final at the start, but nevertheless a straight sets victory for the great man.

Here is Federer with a magic moment near the end of his semi-final with Novak Joker-vic...