Nole is stepping up and ready to grab this title and to put up a fierce fight for next week’s Rolex Master in Shanghai. Yesterday the Serb had a remarkable game against Melzer, one of the finest of 2012.
Djokovic – Melzer 6-1 6-2
The result does not 100% reflect what happened in this match. The fair result would have been a double 6-0. Nole was just perfect in every department, Spot on his returns (not a news) and uncharecteristically good in his serve to blast 12 aces in 8 service games, 70% first serves in and 80% points on his first serve.
On the other side Melzer had the perfect strategy with a horrible execution. The Austrian decided not to engage Nole in long rallies (that would have been suicidal) to attack the Serb as soon as he could. The problem is that Jurgen couldn’t put a ball in and when he could there was super Nole on the other side to give everything back with interests.
The apex of the match was when Nole manage to won a game in the second set with four consecutive aces.
“I have stepped up at least a level in each match that I have played here,” said Djokovic. “But I am trying to be more aggressive and to have more efficiency on my serve. The serve was great tonight. It’s one of the best serving matches I have had in my career, so that’s a positive sign. I will try to keep on going.”
Djokovic will play Mayer in the semis. Head to head is 2-0 for Nole (6-4 6-1 6-4 in the quarters in Wimbledon this year). Nole is the mega favorite here.
Tsonga – Youzhny 6-3 6-2
Routine job for Jo that dismisses the Russian in 69 minutes. The interesting thing is that the Frenchman came out disappointed by his baseline tennis to declare “I’m a bit disappointed with my game on the baseline; I didn’t play really good tennis. Today it was not brilliant, but was solid enough to win it today. I served well and that’s it.”
Jo will play Feliciano Lopez in the semis (4-6 6-4 6-4 with Querrey in 2 hours and 26 minutes).
Head to head is 4-0 for the Frenchman that is expected to win also this one.
