Madrid Masters - Day 4 thread

[lydian]

First topic message reminder :

Morning all, a fantastic line-up of tennis matches today as we start getting to the business end of the event:

1 N. Djokovic vs. S. Wawrinka May 10, 7:45 PM
On this quick surface could Stan be the man? His BH is a great spectacle and Nole hates Smurf-Clay but hard to see a win for the Swiss understudy.

3 R. Federer vs. 14 R. Gasquet May 10, 5:45 PM
You have to figure Reeshard will be his usual whipping boy for Roger...BUT just how stiff will the maestro be today?

7 J. Tipsarevic vs. 9 G. Simon May 10, 5:30 PM
Simon has been in good form of late so I'm going with him in 3 sets - probably the most competitive - but boring? - match today.

5 D. Ferrer vs. 11 N. Almagro May 10, 3:30 PM
Interesting match-up...Almagro will blow hot and cold but 'Daveeeeeed' will grind him down with metronomic consistency.

2 R. Nadal vs. 15 F. Verdasco May 10, 2:15 PM
Oh dear...Verdasco hates facing Nadal as it usually entails a trip or two to the bakery. Usual order for Rafa today - grass shoes or not.

10 J. del Potro vs. M. Cilic May 10, 1:30 PM
Battle of the serve & FHs...Cilic has looked good this week, I'm going for the surprise upset with Cilic-Bang today.

4 J. Tsonga vs. 16 A. Dolgopolov May 10, 12:00 PM
Should be a very entertaining match---from 2 entertaining players! I fancy Alexandr to have too much clay guile for Jo-Dubya today.

6 T. Berdych vs. 12 G. Monfils May 10, 12:00 PM
As usual, what side of the bed will Berdy get out of this morning? Monfils is bound to bring his gangly brand of entertaining tennis. Berdy to edge it.

Any views on the above matches welcome

[lydian]

5-5...completely bizarre now...give in trying to predict this one!!!

[lags72]

Can someone confirm this hasn't been slotted in as an exhibition match ....?

[luciusmann]

I actually thought Nadal had wrapped this up (when he got the double break in the final set) but amazingly Verdasco has hung in and is now 6-5 up in the final set!

[lags72]

When I said "lets have a tb" I really really was joking ......

[HarpoMars]

They don't seem to know how to play! Its the court though right?

[HarpoMars]

Can someone confirm this hasn't been slotted in as an exhibition match ....?

Well if so, then they should be finishing in about 5-10 minutes because Federer's due on court.

[lydian]

0-30....!

[Guest]

How Nadal has let this slip through his fingers is beyond me. Finally someone out there who can outlast him between points

[Guest]

I shall not be watching anymore tennis after this. If I see another Premier Inn advert I am going to scream. Seems like old Lenny has done more for them than Comic Relief!

[lydian]

What was that FH from Nadal at 40-40? Has he EVER played this badly before?

[luciusmann]

Oh my god, beats Nadal....on clay.....!

[Josiah Maiestas]

Fail Fail Fail Fail Fail Fail Fail zxpooppw432p[[3p53[5p

VERDASCOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

[lydian]

And Nando breaks his duck!

Completely bizarre...expect Nadal to be very scathing about the courts now!
Just how did he lose that match from being a double break up twice in the 3rd?

[lags72]

Now ..... when I said a Nando win wasn't even worth a £1 punt .......

[Guest]

GSM Verdasco.

Not sure I can remember a poor performance from Nadal on Clay than this. As much as I would like to credit Verdasco for this performance, it was a scrappy poor match.

[Guest]

JM maybe a maiden 1000 title for Dolgo??

[HarpoMars]

Hmm, well that was interesting....
It does throw some interesting scenarios for the ranking change-up. Federer could overtake Nadal now.

[lydian]

The look of shock on Verdasco's face was something else...

Utterly bizarre result from Nadal...so bizarre he can probably just write it off. Helps Feds cause for #2 no end though.

Well done Nando for hanging in there whilst Rafa lost his head...lol.

[reckoner]

Nadal clearly injured...

[bogbrush]

Now Federer needs to dig deep; a FeDjokovic RG final anyone?

[luciusmann]

Nadal's first loss on clay before the quarters since 2008 (in the masters), also first time he's failed to reach a final in the clay masters since then too, quite a shock....really opens up the tournament for the rest though.

[Josiah Maiestas]

LK he's never made a final in 1 of these yet so I won't make brash predictions.

Semi final would be a positive move. He can beat Del Potro I reckon, but then will play an on form Berdych who is slightly more consistent than Del boy these days.

[lags72]

Verdasco could only manage four games vs Rafa in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago. And now this.

This blue stuff is clearly the magic formula

[luciusmann]

Fed can catch Nadal up provided he wins here in Madrid and gets the quarters or semis of Rome (and Nadal doesn't win it).

As I said ages ago, Fed's chances of catching Nadal depends entirely on winning a clay court event and it's certainly possible he can now Nadal is out of this one.

[Josiah Maiestas]

Well done Nando for hanging in there whilst Rafa lost his head...lol.

Rafa has reached his goal of beating Djokovic finally in the meaningless MC masters, now he had nothing to strive for.

Verdasco beat an on fire Nadal

[lydian]

Nadal will now say "Do I not like blue!".

Out of all the people you might think Rafa could lose to on a "clay" court, Nando wasnt one of them! If Tiriac is looking for an interesting event he's sure got one!

[lydian]

lol JM...I'm sure Nadal will be smoking now for sure!

[kemet]

Wow, Rafa lost on clay.

This certainly does not happen often. Besides Djokovic, Federer and Soderling, Rafa has been near impregnable on this surface. I will definitely have to watch the highlights to see what happened.

[touch(A)parabola]

[quote="reckoner"]Nadal clearly injured...[/quote]

That's it. When Rafa looses - injury. When Nole looses - not good enought.
In my opinion even if it's injury = not prepared well.
In any case, I don't think Nike will be in favour telling to Federer to pass Nadal. How would they put Federer in Nole's side of a draw the next time?

[lags72]

Wow, Rafa lost on clay.

This certainly does not happen often. Besides Djokovic, Federer and Soderling, Rafa has been near impregnable on this surface. I will definitely have to watch the highlights to see what happened.

Well yes it is rare, but others have managed it too - albeit several years ago

Coria, Gonzalez, Ferrer, Gaudio, Andreev .........

[bogbrush]

Nadal complaining about the court.

[Josiah Maiestas]

This is just the payback that has been hibernating for 3 years since that fluke victory in the semis of Aus. Nadal's hate it when you fight back.

[Josiah Maiestas]

Roland Garros needs to adopt the blue clay fast before Madrid becomes the real clay slam.

[LuvSports!]

LK he's never made a final in 1 of these yet so I won't make brash predictions.

Semi final would be a positive move. He can beat Del Potro I reckon, but then will play an on form Berdych who is slightly more consistent than Del boy these days.

del potro handles berdych pretty well 2bh may be different on here but i would favour DP.

[kemet]

Wow, Rafa lost on clay.

This certainly does not happen often. Besides Djokovic, Federer and Soderling, Rafa has been near impregnable on this surface. I will definitely have to watch the highlights to see what happened.

Well yes it is rare, but others have managed it too - albeit several years ago

Coria, Gonzalez, Ferrer, Gaudio, Andreev .........

That is true; I should have qualified my statement by saying post-2005, when Rafa started his amazing clay run, where only an inspired Federer, Sodeling and amazing Djokovic has been able to beat him.

I wish I could say more about the match, but I have not had a chance to watch it (I'm at work and should probably log off this site soon, don't want to have more time on my hands all of a sudden )

I will definitely watch later.

[Haddie-nuff]

kermet..... try watching it in bed in case you fall asleep

[lags72]

1st set wrapped up Fed / Gasquet in around 27 mins

3 hrs 10 mins for 3 sets Nadal / Verdasco

[LuvSports!]

im still in shock so gutted i missed it doing stupid uni work

cant wait for the highlights!

[lags72]

Federer seemingly on a (Swiss ) roll here .......

Reeshard not looking too comfortable on the blue stuff (so says live text commentary)

[bogbrush]

Reeshard not presenting stiff resistance. Just what Federer needed after the toughie last night.

[lags72]

It's a wrap.

Seems like Federer only bought one hour of court rental time

[lydian]

Reeshard at times (most times) is very disappointing...all that talent gone to waste.

Almagro/Ferrer looks a grueller.

[lags72]

Yep, and five years younger than Federer. Should at least be putting up stronger resistance ....

[lags72]

Whoever prevails in Almagro/Ferrer will be feeling it tomorrow .......

[lags72]

Do we know if one enjoys more support than the other on home soil ....?

[lydian]

Looks like Ferrer's 9-0 Almagro H2H is coming to an end...a day of surprises!

[lydian]

Ferrer saves 3MPs...

[lydian]

Wow...what a winner! 10-0 it is!

[lags72]

Ever the terrier ! He sure lives up to his reputation

Well warmed up for Federer !!

[lydian]

Wawrinka looks a little "thick" around the middle...?

Got to love that SHBH though...I prefer it to Gasquet's actually.

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