This was another interesting day with some tough matches.
Novak
Nole had one of the most difficult match of his entire career. Besides having to play a really tricky player, Dolgolopov, he had also to cope with terrible news hours before the match: the death of his grandfather Vladimir.
The world nr.1 was not himself to lose the opening set 6-2. We have to say that Dolgolopov was really brilliant. If the Ukrainian can find a bit of continuity in his crazy and 200% enjoyable tennis he can definately break in the top 10. But he is still a bit far from that, so Alexandr lost the second set 6-1. The decider was really tight. Dolgolopov was playing really well and Novak was struggling to cope with the missiles coming from the other side of he court. Finally, the greater solidity of Novak’s tennis gave to the Serb the decisive break on the 4-4. The third set ended 6-4 for Djokovic.
After the match Novak paid tribute to the grandfather and then in a clear status of shock and confusion he broke in tears. Once again he proved to be a great champion winning this tough match in this mental condition.
Novak will play Haase inthe quarters.
Rafa
The King of Clay is back! We mean… the real one.
In the previous match with Nieminem, Rafa was playing much below his monstrous potential and he wasn’t really happy (see interview).
With Kukushkin it was a different thing. Rafa entered the court with a determination of a killer (and you know his face in these moments…). He was jumping up and down from the toss of the coin till the end of the match. It took only 1h for the Spaniard to destroy Kukushkin 6-1 6-1, 58 points to Rafa vs 22 points won by Mikhail (… and he was really lucky to win 2 games).
Rafa will play Wawrinka in the next match.
Andy
Murray had a surprising and very difficult match with Benneteau. The Frenchman had a perfect interepretation (and execution) of the game. Basically, he was well aware that he couldn’t rally with Andy…so you know what…? let’s go for the big shots! And he went for it! After a slow start where Andy won the first 2 games, Julien played a remarkable tennis to break back the Scott and to bring him to a nasty 5-5. Then Benneteau had a horrible fall to have to retire after 1h and 24minutes. Pity.. it was a great match.
Andy will play Berdych in the quarters
Other matches
Haase – Bellucci 6-2 6-3 (Thomaz lost his magic)
Berdych – Nishikori 2-6 6-4 6-4 (great match for the Japanese)
Simon – Tipsarevic 6-0 4-6 6-1 (the Serb went on vacation for a couple of sets)
Wawrinka – Almagro 6-3 6-3 (Stainslas good luck in the next round with Nadal…)
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DRAWS
