Rogers Cup Quarter Finals Review by Coolers

Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww what an amazing day and it was worth every cent of money.

To start with Tsonga match, couldn't catch it live as I booked tickets only for the evening session but seems like he is on fire and the crowd support is with him.Reached Rexall Centre @ 5 as the gates were said to be open at 5, but bloody Kev choked all his match points on serve when serving at 5-4 in the 3rd set [was 40-15] meant I had to wait for another 35 + minutes before I could enter the center court.

Match 1, Raonic vs Lopez

Fans in Rexall Centre thronged for the evening session inspite of the delay to watch the local hero Raonic and GOAT Federer on his birthday. Raonic had a very slow start and lost his serve easily, we tried every bit possible to cheer him up but for some reason he looked very tired in the 1st set, however woke up in the 2nd and grabbed his chances to the delight of the crowd, was riding the momentum early in the 3rd set and Lopez was down 0-40 when the scoreline was 2-2, We were already celebrating Raonic win, for moments some people in the stadium thought it might explode on celebration, but to our dismay Lopez saves 9 break points and endup winning the set and match.   
It was a moment of sadness and excitement, sadness for Roanic loss and excitement for Federer's entry.

Match 2 , Federer vs Ferrer [Two of my favs]

Federer breaks Ferrer straight off in the first game, and lost his break immediately the next, but already the quality of play was 10x better than previous match, the first match looked like me taking on somebody on my backyard while the 2nd match clearly looked like some world class players competing. To my surprise not many localities knew much about Ferrer outside his rank, they neither knew his fighting qualities nor his h2h stats vs Federer but they are little worried anyways as they have come to see their man in action on his birthday.

Federer could have easily lost his concentration as birthday songs were sung even between points   , we tried cheering David to rise to the occasion so that we could catch Fed in action for longer   Yes the tickets were expensive but it was worth every cent, some people in the stadium have taken flights from Nova Scotia [Other side of Canada] just to watch this match says the craziness for RF in Canada.

All ended well and it would have been horrible to celebrate his birthday with lindt chocolate cake had he lost the match.

A great day filled with so many great moments to cherish for life, reached home around 2 PM but was still no mood to sleep and was replaying some of the videos I took, 2 videos even captured some stunning shots by Fed, there was 1 more video which captured little Dave's great shot.  

Glad you had a good time. Some months ago, I was toying with the idea of going to Rogers Cup this year, but in the end we ended up not going.

In spite of Rafa missing and Andy and Nole going out early, this has been a pretty exciting tournament, with a lot of close matches.

Fab report, being a tennis fan is all about passion for the sport and your post exudes that...great stuff

IC, where do you live if you don't mind me asking?

The reason I asked is I am just curious did you combine this trip with some other purpose, or was it purely to see the tennis? And just curious how far you would travel for tennis.

OK if I click on your name it says Toronto, so I guess you live there.

I have seen Federer-Ferrer at the WFT twice, and it tends to be a good match up for Federer, on a fast hard court Ferrer has no weapons to hurt him, and can be beaten reasonably comfortably, usually in straights.

Henman Bill wrote:I have seen Federer-Ferrer at the WFT twice, and it tends to be a good match up for Federer, on a fast hard court Ferrer has no weapons to hurt him, and can be beaten reasonably comfortably, usually in straights.

Yesterday, Ferrer was just hitting to Federer's BH almost every shot or would pin him on BH and play line-painting FH DTL. He took a set off Federer, which Lopez could not manage tonight. Lopez just a bad serving night.

Looking forward to Federer v Tsonga (11-4) but Tsonga loves Canada. Tsonga also has the notorious win v Federer in 2009, where Federer just lost it from being 5-1 up.

lydian wrote:Fab report, being a tennis fan is all about passion for the sport and your post exudes that...great stuff

Thx Lyd.  

Henman Bill wrote:IC, where do you live if you don't mind me asking?

North York , just 10 mts from Rexall Centre , i live near Jane and Wilson.

laverfan wrote:

Henman Bill wrote:I have seen Federer-Ferrer at the WFT twice, and it tends to be a good match up for Federer, on a fast hard court Ferrer has no weapons to hurt him, and can be beaten reasonably comfortably, usually in straights.

Yesterday, Ferrer was just hitting to Federer's BH almost every shot or would pin him on BH and play line-painting FH DTL. He took a set off Federer, which Lopez could not manage tonight. Lopez just a bad serving night.

Looking forward to Federer v Tsonga (11-4) but Tsonga loves Canada. Tsonga also has the notorious win v Federer in 2009, where Federer just lost it from being 5-1 up.

As you know LF, Tsonga has a huge support here, so crowd will be 50-50 tomorrow, and there is a buzz that Tsonga will be a very big challenge and will trouble Fed tomorrow, indeed most fans [Toronto Fed lovers] are worried.  

Henman Bill wrote:OK if I click on your name it says Toronto, so I guess you live there.

I have seen Federer-Ferrer at the WFT twice, and it tends to be a good match up for Federer, on a fast hard court Ferrer has no weapons to hurt him, and can be beaten reasonably comfortably, usually in straights.

I stay in North York to be precise and the actual tournament is not in Toronto but in North York and very very close from my house, just 10-12 mts drive.

The good part of Ferrer is that he never gives up win or lose and that means the guy who beat has to be at his best , Cilic match was the eye opener for Fed, had that Fed turned up Ferrer might have got his first win.

I was least worried for the result and was just enjoying my occasion, my facebook is flooded with the videos and pictures, planning for a trip tomorrow as well provided if my friend doesn't turn up coz he got a VIP pass , so fingers crossed.