Andy Murray needs to figure out a new game plan if he wants to get the better of Roger Federer, that’s the view of Sky Sports tennis expert Mark Petchey following the Scot’s defeat in the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters.
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Williams beat Ivanovic in straight sets to win her first Cincinnati title past year. She quit three games into the second set.
By and large the victor of this sporting contest has won it convincingly and I had to go back to the 2008 Masters Cup in Shanghai in November 2008 to find a match that wasn’t won by one or the other player by at least four games.
At the start of the tie-break a poor backhand error from Murray enabled Federer to grab the mini break and move 3-1 up. “He consolidated for 3-1 and pressed for a second break with a 0/30 peek at Murray’s next service game”.
As an alternative, Gasquet would go on to interrupt Murray the primary probability he obtained, after which completed it off 6-Four on his personal serve with a forehand victor.
“I think the first break always gives you a bit of a boost and right then I felt conditions weren’t that fast and I could probably get some more balls back than maybe a day session”, Federer said.
With a win he’d become the first player to triumph in all nine of the ATP’s elite Masters 1000 events – a feat that Federer said would be “quite unbelievable”.
Djokovic commanded a 6-4, 6-1 victory in just 63 minutes and clinched his place in Saturday’s semifinals opposite Alexandr Dolgopolov.
“I’m a father and a husband and a different player”, Djokovic said with evident satisfaction.
“It’s only quarter-finals, I know it’s a good result so far and I’m playing great tennis but hopefully I can keep it up tomorrow”.
It wasn’t the first time that Djokovic has fallen behind to him.
For his efforts Dolgopolov will rise in the rankings come Monday, probably into the Top 40.
Even after Murray broke back, Dimitrov had the match on his racket, and played some hyper-aggressive points to earn match-point-only to strike a Murray second-serve long-and he would not get another chance.
The match was a pretty close affair with Lopez just edging out Nadal in the total points won count, 98 to 97.
Sunday’s final will be their fifth encounter of the year, with Federer winning on the hard courts of Dubai and Djokovic emerging in Indian Wells, Rome and Wimbledon. “But today I played against an opponent that played a fantastic match”.
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The top seed will next face Ukrainian 14th seed Elina Svitolina, who upset French Open finalist Lucie Safarova 6-4, 2-6, 6-0. The defending champion is trying for an unprecedented seventh title in Cincinnati.
