SB Nation Tennis Wimbledon 2010
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SB Nation's Ben Rothenberg breaks down Wednesday's Gentlemen's Singles quarterfinal action on Day 8 of Wimbledon 2010.
No. 2 Rafael Nadal rallied for a convincing 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-1 over No. 6 Robin Soderling, patiently neutralizing the Swede’s superior power with tremendous depth and point construction.
A Soderling injury timeout followed by an immediate break of Nadal’s serve seemed to swing the momentum late in the third set, but Nadal convincingly won the ensuing tiebreak and ran away with the fourth.
An interesting subplot to this match could be how the news of Federer’s exit from the tournament swung the momentum. At roughly the time Federer’s losing score would have been posted on the Court 1 scoreboard, Soderling was leading 5-0. But from there on, it was all Nadal.
Did Soderling get tight seeing how the draw had opened up? Did Nadal realize the enormity of this opportunity? Both? In any event, it’s a possible storyline to consider.
With the win, Nadal becomes the clear favorite to take this title. Murray has beaten him in their last two encounters at slams, though, so his front-runner status is nowhere near as clear as Serena’s is on the Ladies’ side.
British crowd favorite No. 4 Andy Murray has lost the first set to No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a tiebreak, 7-5.
Tsonga earned a minibreak in the sixth point for a 4-2 lead, and never looked back.
It is the first set Murray has lost at Wimbledon 2010, making him the last player in the Gentlemen’s Singles draw to drop a set. Neither Serena Williams nor Tsvetana Pironkova has dropped a set on the women’s side.
With his loss to No. 12 Tomas Berdych in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, No. 1 seed Roger Federer will fall to the No. 3 spot in the ATP rankings, his lowest ranking since November 2003.
Federer was ranked No. 2 in the ATP rankings coming into Wimbledon, but was seeded No. 1 ahead of ATP No. 1 Rafael Nadal due to his superior grass court results over the previous twenty-four months.
Federer is still defending champion points at Cincinnati, finalist points at the US Open, and champion points at the Australian. Any poor performance at one of those tournaments could see him drop to No. 4 or even No. 5, depending on how No. 4 Andy Murray and No. 6 Robin Soderling perform in the rest of this tournament and beyond.
No. 2 Rafael Nadal made quick recovery from dropping the first set against No. 6 Robin Soderling, breaking Soderling in his first service game, racing out to a 3-0 lead and holding on for a 6-3 second set win.
Nadal’s balls are landing much deeper in the court than they were in the first set, not allowing Soderling to come over the ball and pound his forehand for winners nearly as easily.
No. 6 Robin Soderling is off to a fast start against No. 2 Rafael Nadal, getting an early break and holding on for a quick 6-3 win of the first set.
Soderling’s huge power off the ground is producing winners before Nadal even sinks his teeth into the point.
Nadal, the 2008 champion, has won his last eleven straight matches at Wimbledon.
No. 12 Tomas Berdych survived a huge test in the final game of the match, but hung on to hold serve and close out the biggest win of his career, a four-set upset of No. 1 Roger Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon, by the score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
The final game didn’t start promisingly for Berdych. Federer quickly went up 15-30 with a perfect backhand passing shot up the line.
Berdych responded well, leveling the game at 30-30 with a forehand volley winner to close out a long rally.
An unreturnable serve to Federer’s forehand on the next gave Berdych his first match point at 40-30.
But a steely Federer chipped and charged off a Berdych second serve, putting the lumbering Czech on the defensive and saving match point with a backhand volley to force deuce.
Federer appeared ready to crack Berdych’s notoriously fragile nerves shortly thereafter, forcing a break point with a cross-court forehand blast that Berdych slipped in attempting to return, remaining on the ground for a while after melodramatically.
But Berdych survived the scare, striking a huge second serve deep in the box break point which Federer could only put back into the net.
Federer’s next return at deuce went long, giving Berdych his second match point.
And on that second match point, Berdych finished the deed. He hit a huge first serve into Federer’s body, jamming him into a short return which Berdych pounded for an up the line forehand winner to seal the victory.
As he walked off court, Federer saluted the Wimbledon crowd and was cheered emphatically in departure, the earliest this crowd has seen the six-time champion exit the draw in eight years. The loss broke Federer’s streak of seven straight appearances in the Wimbledon final.
It is Federer’s second consecutive loss at a grand slam before the semifinals of a major, after previously making 23 straight (though with a glass half-full perspective, he still has made an incredible 25 straight grand slam quarterfinals).
The loss also breaks Federer’s streak of seven straight appearances in the Wimbledon final.
(For more on Tomas Berdych, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of his interview with SB Nation’s tennis blog, The Daily Forehand)
After a hold by each (of which Federer’s was much shakier), No. 12 Tomas Berdych will now serve for a spot in the semifinals at 5-4.
Alejandro Falla also served for the match in the fourth set against Roger Federer in the first round, but was broken and promptly thereafter lost the fifth set 6-0.
No. 12 Tomas Berdych simply needs to hold serve twice more for the biggest win of his career, after breaking defending champion No. 1 Roger Federer for a 4-3 lead in the fourth set.
Berdych had his first break point of the game at 30-40, but sailed his forehand return just long. He finished off the break six points later on his second opportunity thanks to a forced error at net off the Federer racquet.
Federer has been hitting his second serve terribly throughout this match, sending the ball in both slowly and without enough slice to stay low. The ball is rising right into the 6’5’’ Berdych’s strike zone, allowing him to tee off on the return and immediately take control of the rallies.
Things seem to be swinging in Federer’s direction through the first part of the fourth set, though he has nothing to show for it on the scoreboard so far.
Nerves visibly crept into Berdych’s game in the sixth game of the fourth set, with two consecutive double faults giving Federer 0-40 and triple break point.
But aggressive play off the ground and deft touch at net helped Berdych fend off all three of those opportunities, as well as a fourth that Federer later earned on Ad-Out.
3-3.
No. 3 Novak Djokovic hammered out a quick and dirty 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Lu Yen-Hsun on Court 1.
The rout really can’t help the psyche of Andy Roddick, who lost to Lu in five sets in the quarterfinal. Djokovic returned much better than Roddick did, breaking Lu five times, which was four more breaks than Roddick earned.
In what will be his second Wimbledon semifinal, Djokovic would be favored against Tomas Berdych, but not Roger Federer.
No. 12 Tomas Berdych added a second break in the sixth game to help close out a rout in the third set against defending champion No. 1 Roger Federer, winning the third set 6-1 to put himself a set from his first Wimbledon semifinal appearance.
Federer appeared to be getting more and more frustrated as the set went on, throwing his arms up in disgust after several Berdych winners.
The question now for Berdych will be if he has what it takes to finish off what would be the biggest win of his career. Berdych has blown even bigger leads against Federer in his career, as he once led Federer two-sets-to-none at the 2009 Australian Open.
For the second straight set, the first break of the frame was earned in the set’s second game.
But whereas No. 1 Roger Federer got off to the early break in the second, it is No. 12 Tomas Berdych who has struck first in the third. Berdych broke Federer’s serve at 30 and then quickly consolidating the break for a 3-0 lead.
There has only been one break in each set thus far.
No. 1 Roger Federer has leveled his quarterfinal match with No. 12 Tomas Berdych, taking the second set 6-3 to make this a best-of-three affair.
Federer made far more inroads into Berdych service games in the second set, breaking in Berdych’s first service game and having additional break (and set) poins at 2-5, as well.
Two-time defending champions Venus and Serena Williams have suffered their first defeat in grand slam doubles play in over a year, losing to the unseeded Russian pair of Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The match provided a likely preview of the Ladies’ Singles final, with both Serena and Zvonareva heavily favored to win their semifinals tomorrow against Petra Kvitova and Tsvetana Pironkova, respectively.
The Williamses gained the No. 1 ranking in doubles at this year’s French Open for the first time in their career, seizing the ranking from splitting pair Liezel Huber and Cara Black.
The sisters had won the last four had been halfway to the calendar grand slam, having previously won the 2010 Australian and French Opens. They also held all four grand slam titles going into this tournament, having also won Wimbledon and the US Open in 2009.
No. 12 Tomas Berdych has struck first in his quarterfinal against No. 1 Roger Federer, breaking in the seventh game of the set to go up a set on Centre Court.
Berdych has been consistently beating Federer with his strong forehand, especially taking advantage of Federer’s second serve.
Berdych won the pair’s most recent meeting, a third set tiebreak win in March at Miami.
After the surprises of Tuesday's Ladies' Singles quarterfinals, the eight remaining men take over on Day 9. None of these matches could produce a result anywhere near as shocking as Pironkova beating Venus was, but there's still plenty of room for surprises.
No. 1 Roger Federer (SUI) vs No. 12 Tomas Berdych (CZE) -- Tomas Berdych finally seems to be living up to his potential. He made the final of Miami in March, beating three top ten players in the process. The first of the top ten players he was ousted was Roger Federer, who he also beat at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Berdych made the final four of a grand slam for the first time in his career earlier this month, eventually losing in five sets to Robin Soderling in the French Open semifinals. Berdych should be able to beat Federer in baseline rallies, and if he serves well he should be able to make things incredibly difficult on Federer. The only question is finishing ability, which Federer has in spades and is considerably more suspect for Berdych. If Berdych is going to win this match, it's going to have to be over in three or four. But I don't think it will be. Prediction: Federer in 5.
(For more on Tomas Berdych, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of his interview with SB Nation's tennis blog, The Daily Forehand)
No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs No. 4 Andy Murray (GBR) -- Puncher vs. counter-puncher battles are always interesting, and but should favor the puncher on the fast grass courts. Therefore, if both play their best tennis, Tsonga should win this one. His weapons are simply bigger. But even though his game is more suited for it, Tsonga might not have the comfort level on grass that Murray has developed. This is Murray's third Wimbledon quarterfinal, and Tsonga's first. Add the partisan crowd to the mix, and I give Murray the edge. Prediction: Murray in 4.
No. 3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) -- These two could be considered the two with the worst chances to win this title, and therefore are pretty lucky to be playing each other. What allowed Lu to beat Roddick was Roddick's atrocious returning, which shouldn't be as much of an issue for Djokovic. What will be an issue for Djokovic, however, is his largely suspect health and conditioning. Lu will make Djokovic run, and if the heat gets to him he could be in trouble. But temperatures aren't even going to be in the 80s on Wednesday in London, so Djokovic should be in good shape to make as surprising a semifinal run as a No. 3 seed ever has. Prediction: Djokovic in 3.
No. 6 Robin Soderling (SWE) vs No. 2 Rafael Nadal (ESP) -- The marquee match-up of the day, to be sure. At least until his fourth round struggle against No. 9 David Ferrer, Soderling had looked like the most dominant player in the tournament. His huge ground strokes were finding the lines, and his serve was untouchable. Nadal, on the other hand, was forced to play five sets in back to back matches against relatively marginal opponents. But he looked sharp Monday, controlling his match against Paul-Henri Mathieu from wire to wire for a straight sets win. Still, Soderling's power and aggressiveness should help him against Nadal on grass immensely. They were even enough to beat him on clay at the 2009 French Open, on a much less ideal surface for Soderling's style. Soderling should be able to hit through Nadal with relative ease, much in the same way Juan Martin del Potro did at last year's US Open. There's been some bad blood between the two at Wimbledon in the past, but the only thing likely to be on display today is some good, dominant tennis. Prediction: Soderling in 4.
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Wimbledon: No. 4 Andy Murray Starts Slow, But Finishes Fast Against No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
After a slow, somewhat passive start, No.4 Andy Murray has kept British hopes alive with a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-2 over No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Centre Court, finishing up the Gentlemen’s Singles quarterfinals with an eventually convincing win.
This match completely swung in the second set tiebreak, with Tsonga making an enormous mistake by letting an easy Murray ball go past him, where it landed on the baseline. Murray morphed into his ridiculously fired up self from then on, and Tsonga never recovered.
So the semifinals are now set. Tomas Berdych vs. Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray vs. Rafael Nadal. Whoever wins the second final will be the heavy favorite in the final, but that really hasn’t meant anything so far.
Jun 30 2:13p by Ben Rothenberg - 0 comments