Madrid Masters - Day 6 thread

[lydian]

Morning all

So here we are...a day of blue skies and blue courts at the business end of the tournament.

2:30pm - #10 Delpo vs #6 Berdy
Battle of serves and inside out FHs! Berdych has been in tremendous form this event...he's my pick today.

6.00pm - #3 The Maestro vs #7 Tipsy
Hard to see beyond Roger today...Tipsy can be a handful if on form but won't be able to handle the variety thrown him.

Your picks?

[CaledonianCraig]

Can't disagree with your picks there. Berdych is the more consistent performer and has looked very good in Madrid and will come through in two tight sets for me. Federer to beat Tipsarevic in straight sets - I think Tipsy has had his one big match of the tournament against Djokovic.

[bogbrush]

I'm amazed JMDP has made it this far on the slippy stuff, the guy moves like an oil tanker. I go with your picks.

[Guest]

I concur although I hope JMDP can beat the Big Bird.

I fear that the Big Bird may have too much fire power for Roger were the two to meet in the final.

[lags72]

Thanks for these excellent match briefings you've been putting up during the past week lydian, and once again I find myself on the same wavelength wrt your picks.

I'm also with emancipator on the outcome of a potential Berdy / Fed final

[Haddie-nuff]

...ditto.. Lydian

[Guest]

These two are pounding the ball, some great rallies

[Guest]

Incredible point from DP to break.

[Guest]

Hello

[Guest]

am I...

[Guest]

alone?

[Guest]

Planet earth, my home, my place

[Guest]

Floating around in the sea of space

[Guest]

Planet earth are you just?

[Guest]

A minor globe, bound to rust?

[Guest]

Clothed in darkness, pale blue serenity

[Guest]

A distant landscape, engulfing cacophany

[Guest]

I am alone

[bogbrush]

You are never alone, my son.......

[Guest]

DP's face looks a bit like the original Hulk.

He sounds scary when he lets out that grunt followed by a big FH

[Guest]

Oh dear DP's first serve goes missing and he promptly loses his serve when serving for the match and now Bird will serve to force DP to serve to stay in the 1st set.

[Guest]

Bird holds serve to force Dp to serve to stay in the first set after he failed to hold serve to serve out the first set in his 4rth service game.

[Guest]

Good service hold from DP to force a tie break after losing his serve in the previous service game after which Bird served very well to hold his serve thus forcing DP to serve to stay in the set which he did with a swift service game comprising of huge first serves.



rotapicname

[reckoner]

Is Berdych the new GOAT?

[Guest]

Bird hit 22 winners in that set just 15 errors.

Quality set.

Wins the tie-breaker

[reckoner]

I bet he slipped Tiriac a fiver...

[Guest]

Bird breaks Dp at the start of the second.

The stupid Bird is probably gonna win this tournament

[Guest]

Bird is hitting the ball soooooooooooooooooooooo hard. Averaging 10kph more on the FH than DP

[reckoner]

Yikes bit worried for TMF!

[Guest]

Yeah I think it's gonna be very tough for him to tame the beast - if he beats Tipsy. I'd give the edge to Bird, but of course it'll be a final and the Bird has a tendency to flake on the big occasions.

[Josiah Maiestas]

I generally hate Berdych when he's off clay as he's weak in court craft. On clay he's good though so well played. Del did his best and not much in it, not often you see him lose 1 TB nevermind 2.

[LuvSports!]

disappointed with DP here. He had won 3 in a row against bird, with his most recent thumping back at rotterdam but if he wants to really challenge again he needs to beat berdych if he wants to make an assault on the big 4. He is still waiting for that breakthrough and the longer it goes on the more i fear for him.

[Josiah Maiestas]

Berdbrain has never been the most significant player on Hard LuvSports!

I was 60% in favour of him holding off Del today, his clay form is good, fractionally better than Del these days on the stuff.

[LuvSports!]

well dp was the only player on clay this year who was undefeated and had a better record this year on the whole. I expected DP to win through especially as he had that lead in the first set

[Josiah Maiestas]

Berdych was due a win over him, he's too good a player to keep getting owned by a player that isn't Nadal/Djokovic.

Del is still in good nick, but I liked the run Tomas was on recently.

[Josiah Maiestas]

DP didn't shake the umpire hand after the match. What a tool as the umpire made right calls.

[Josiah Maiestas]

Federers cruising.. tennis from another planet.

[bogbrush]

Adaptability is what's making this easy for Federer. He just has so much skill and intelligence he can play to the circumstances.

[LuvSports!]

alleezzz!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Josiah Maiestas]

6-2 6-3

Federer - Berdych

Madrid Final.

[Josiah Maiestas]

Final prediction:

6-4 3-6 7-5

Not sure who wins yet...

[bogbrush]

If its windy like this Berdych will hate it. His serve will be coming down a yard away.

[luciusmann]

Should Fed win tomorrow, he'll have won 4/4 finals he's been in this year, that's the sort of win rate (in finals) Fed hasn't seen since 2004/2005 (won 22 out of 23 finals), not bad for a player over 30. Not to mention the small matter of reclaiming #2. As well as equaling Nadal's record haul of 20 ATP Masters 1000 titles . Hopefully all this will be enough of an incentive for Fed to knock out Bird convincingly.

[LuvSports!]

i hope you are right LM but as usual for a federer match i will be a nervous wreck.

[bogbrush]

In Fed We Trust. Well, maybe not trust, more like hope a lot.

[invisiblecoolers]

Poor DP fell badly on one of his points, I hope he is alright, his movements were clearly hindered but nevertheless he tried and Big B was the better player in the given conditions.

Fed vs Big B would be a great final and yes Big B would be the biggest test in this given conditions, lets see whether Fed able to prove it in the finals, i wish he can but gonna be difficult thou.

[CaledonianCraig]

Come on invisible this is the invincible Federerwe are talking about here taking on (in fans of the weak era theory a sub-standard player in the top ten. Why the sweating?

[lydian]

Why shouldn't Fed win this? This is the fastest court you're going to see all year as the number of TBs, and clay giant Berdy getting to the final, shows.

[Guest]

Of course he can win but to write of Berdy with the way he's been playing is silliy. Berdy becomes even more of a monster on such a fast court. A stat from yesterday's match showed that he was hitting his FH on average 10kph faster than Del Po. The guy was ripping winners (35+) and making very few errors. He has the potential on this court to take matters into his own hands.

[CaledonianCraig]

I just love that when Federer plays an opponent his opponent becomes a far better player yet when Murray plays that same opponent that player is suddenly transformed into sub-standard etc. Never could work that one oyt.

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