Roger Federer was able to see plenty of positives despite his quarter-final loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Monte Carlo Masters on Friday. I just think that Tsonga will have the confidence from his upset of Federer to beat Monfils and advance to the final here. Thiem has the second-most wins on the tour this year, after Novak Djokovic. I might decide to practise a bit more here because in Switzerland the weather’s not nice. It’s good for me.
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The Spanish fifth seed, who has spent nearly 18 months in making a comeback to form after a slump, played some of his best tennis as he beat French Open champion Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-4 in their quarter-final yesterday. “I wasn’t patient enough in my first couple of matches this week”.
‘Stan made more mistakes than me, but at same time he was going for more on his shots all the time, ‘ Nadal said. “If I keep playing like this, I will have a chance”. From there, the world No 2 was finally able to dominate against a demoralised opponent, and he eventually closed out a 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 win in 2hr 32mins.
The 5th seeded Spaniard came into the match, looking for revenge, as he had suffered a defeat on clay to Thiem earlier this year.
“He wasn’t at his best (at the end of the first set)”, Nadal said in a courtside interview. While the Swiss broke back to get back on serve, a final break would leave Nadal the opportunity to serve out the match, which he did. “On hard courts you hit the ball flatter and the points are faster, but here you play with more height, spin and patience”.
“The Serb star lost 6-4 2-6 6-4 to the Czech, his first defeat to a player outside of the top 50 since being beaten by then world No. 74 Xavier Malisse in 2010”, the same article reports.
“I lost a lot of matches before the final previous year”. “I was really happy being home”.
The second-seeded Scotsman will take on the big serve of Milos Raonic in a Friday quarterfinal after the Canadian defeated Bosnian Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5).
Murray had hoped to make it into the semi-finals of the doubles as well alongside Davis Cup team-mate Dominic Inglot but Herbert got his revenge as he and fellow Frenchman Nicolas Mahut saved a match point to win 6-4 3-6 12-10.
He reached the semifinals this time with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Canada’s Milos Raonic. These matches are important. “It’s not easy to get into a rhythm against him”.
“I defended well, I moved well”, Nadal said. The Murray backhand down the line could break down the Spaniard’s weakness; his backhand.
Murray vs Nadal will take place on Saturday.
“It was really good today”, said Murray.
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Raonic pushed Murray to the limit in the Australian Open semifinals but physical frailty cost him that day, a groin injury hampering his game.
