Djokovic 3-2 up on Andreev, with one break of service apiece.

A v quiet start to this thread - a strange lack of interest in this match. Anyway, does anyone see Andreev upsetting Djokovic here? Got to admit, I've not seen Andreev this tournament, but it sounds like he's in hot form - and out of the 4 quarter-finals this one probably has greatest upset potential.

Djokovic now serving for the 1st set at 5-3 30-15.

That's the downside of the Nadal/Federer rivalry - other games are not seen as anything like so significant.

We seem for the whole tournament to have been waiting for a Fed/Nadal final....

Let's see

Which is a pity - as fascinated as I am by Federer and Nadal I find the sub-stories and journey to the final as engrossing as the final itself. I went to Roland Garros this year, saw Volandri and Tipsarevic in their first round matches so was fascinated with how well these players would do. Its interesting to see how the younger players are doing in the tournament (Berdych and Gasquet disappointing, Monfils OK, Baghdatis fairly well, Djokovic getting stronger and tougher as time goes on).

Also, the contrast between the success of the Russians, and the comparative disappointment of the Argentinians - the awful results of the Americans and Brits...

Looks easy for Djokovic so far - won the first set 6-3 and serving in the 2nd at 2-1 a break ahead - now 15-0.

I agree with you Mr. I.

I would just like Fed to get an RG win behind him so the pressure-cooker build up of will-he won't-he is gone and we can concentrate on the tournament for its own sake, rather than what a Federer win would do for his numbers and his place in history. Sadly I don't anticipate such a thing any time soon as Nadal is still my pick for the win.

Djoko a set and break up.... Come on Djoko!

I'm watching. I thought it would be tighter than this tbh. It's one that I thought could go either way, despite Andreev's much lower ranking becasue he's in good form. And I don't think Djokovic has buckled down to the task as well as he coudl have so far. Looks different in this match though.

Djokovic leads 6-3, 6-3, and is first to serve in the 3rd set (30-30), surely there's no coming back from this for Andreev?

Andreev is a late starter but Djokovic must be pumelling him!

Djokovic now serving with a break in the 3rd at 2-0, 2-0. It looks hopeless for Andreev.

It's a bit of a tedious affair, really. Andreev has been sluggish from the start, and Djokovic is just going through the motions with the occasional well-played point. It's a shame Baghdatis couldn't get past the Russian for a more entertaining quarterfinal. That said the third set has been a bit more lively, although Djokovic seems to be about to run away with it as well.

And then we get to look forward to Nadal v Moya. :rolleyes: I wouldn't rule out the upset, since Nadal has that seeming mental susceptibility to his 'mentor' and Moya knows his younger countryman's game so well. Their last two matches have gone the full three sets, and they've traded wins in them. But it still doesn't promise to be such an enthralling encounter. High hopes for the potential Nadal v Djokovic semi in their fourth meeting this year, though - even when the winner takes it in straights (as he has each time) there is plenty of action and brilliance on the court.

Djokovic 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Comprehensive I'd say, dropping only one service game on the way.

Maybe he'll provide Nadal with a test.

Serbia gets its third semifinalist as Djokovic goes through 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Well done. The outcome never really looked in doubt, but Andreev did very well here in reaching his first Slam QF, which will do wonders for getting his ranking back closer to where it was.

Nadal and Moya now warming up for their QF.

As far as I can see the biggest query about this match is whether it will generate more interest on this board than Djokovic's procession.

my pc is in the study and my sky doesnt work in there, so i will be in the front room watching it :)

This thread is really dead at moment! Anyway, for anyone that's interested, Nadal is 5-4 and a break up, serving for the 1st set. I only saw the first three games of this match, but Moya was playing pretty well - seemed to be hitting most of his shots to Nadal's backhand - having said that Moya was missing one or two good chances to make a good start in this match.

Thanks MrL

First set 6-4 to Nadal :D Go Nadal. :clap: :clap:

1 winner out of 69 points

:clap: indeed....

Petal and I had this discussion in another thread, but the RG winner count is flawed (doesn't include backhand and forehand for some reason). If you were watching the match you'd have seen that both men have hit several sizzling forehands for clean winners.

(As an example look here for the Federer v Youzhny stats: do you really believe both men only combined for 23 winners out of 210 points? It's been irking me the entire tourney. Sigh.)

That doesn't mean it's actually been an exciting match, since both men are at something like 50% intensity level and seem almost afraid to play a point better than the other. :wacko:

Even good old Roger has questioned the statiticians recently.... A quote from the Daily Times suggested he questioned if the statisticians knew an unforced error from a croissant...

Yawn.... Nadal is 6-4, 6-3 and the 3rd set opens with his serve.

So, SF are:

Fed : Davydenko

Nadal : Djokovic

I say Fed to win in 4, Nadal to win in 3, and Nadal to win the final in 4.

Might as well go away until about 4.15pm on Sunday to see them hand the cup to Nadal.

Heh, Federer often questions the way UEs are tabulated but that's also been rather suspect here as well.

My guess is that because winners are categorised, service winners and successful points at net are being kept separate from the more basic forehand/backhand winners, but the latter are being kept out of the total count inexplicably. I first noticed when Gaudio supposedly had only 17 winners for the five sets against Hewitt--his level dropped later to be sure but he surely hit that many off his backhand wing in the first two set alone!

At any rate Nadal is up 6-4, 6-3 in his exhibition match against Moya. :rolleyes:

They might as well give Federer the Wimbledon trophy in the same ceremony to save time! :P

Honestly I think the title is the No 1's to lose. Nadal has the tougher semi and Federer will have the belief this time in the final.

Well I'd like Fed to win both, and having been very gloomy earlier in the year I now think he has a better chance at RG this year than last. Even so, I think beating Nadal in a best of 5 on the French Clay is going to be beyond him. Weather forecasts suggest good weather and a temparature between 25-30 degrees on Sunday, a last-minute relative heatwave, which I understand is set to favour Nadal like last year.

nb. Nadal has got his break in the third and is now 2-0, 3-0).

As I understand it there are flash thunderstorms slated for the weekend, which will dampen up the clay again after it has dried out all week and nullify its bounce a bit. But honestly even though the heavier conditions probably helped Federer in Hamburg I think it came down to the right game/tactics and intangibles (renewed confidence for one, fatigue for the other) that made for the victory and will be the critical factors either way again here.

Match point for 6-0 in the third here. I guess a desire to get off the court already has won out over compassion for his boyhood hero and friend for Nadal. :unsure:

6-4, 6-3, 6-0 and Nadal is a match away from the final. Djokovic is still a very significant obstacle I think--he seems to have rediscovered his game after dropping all those sets to obscure Frenchmen earlier in the tourney.

ouch!

just turned on the streaming to see Nadal finish off Moya....

looks like he had control all the way through then.

Nadal to beat Djokovic in 3 sets? I'd be surprised if that happened - whilst Djoko is still not as good on clay as Nadal he has been improving further on it, and has the right mentality (he won't throw in the towel). A tough semi-final opponent for sure, and he should be reasonably fresh, having thrashed Andreev in quarter-final.

Fed v Davydenko - probably a 4 set win for Fed, but I think this could be an entertaining match. Fed definitely won't underestimate Davydenko, and will need to get his serving percentage up (Davydenko's returns will punish any weak serving from Fed).

Nadal should nto underestimate Djokovic. Although not a great perfromance form Djoko v Patience before, he found a way through and today against Andreev he was much improved indeed. IMO Andreev played well, but Djoko neutralised his threat and appeared to be thinking well on court today rather than just going for shots. I cant; see him getting intimidated by Nadal so that won't be a factor, and his composure seems good today. He looks fit and strong too, and should be able to keep up the pace stamina wise. His serve seems good too. Not sure how much damage he will do to Nadal, but I do think he will make Nadal fight and I believe he has an outside chance to make the final. Depends on how Nadal comes out, a few shots here and there could be the deciding factor. Win or lose, I get the feeling that this slam is going to be a real coming af age for young Djoko, and I hope this is going to be a good match because a. these are two exciting youg players and b. we need one! :) .

Well, I was hoping for a tighter more competetive encounter as the tournement hasn't really fired up on the mens side, but of course pleased Nadal won. Unless he has a bad day at the office, can't see him not making the final. My Sunday pm is already booked on the sofa. :D

By the way, I set up a seperate thread for all the Djokovic v Nadal build-up...it should be here...

http://z3.invisionfree.com/Centre_Court/in...3607&st=0&#last

Cheers, I just contributed to it. Good to see Djoko fulfilling his promise isn;t it? :D

is it just me, or is Djoko sooo boring? i cant remember watching any match of his and actually enjoying it

I like him, but I don't think he's had the best matches to showcase his talents at RG. I do think he's gonna become a great big match player though, at least i hope so, so hopefully the best is yet to come.

im not just talking about RG, mind you, i think i have a grudge from the Davis Cup :lol:

Oh yeah! :D

I think he is bessie mates with Murray or something like that. There was all that talk of getting Djoko to play for GB a while back. Bet they wished they'd got him now, then again i don;t hink that woudl have been right.

I think Federer has the tougher semi for sure. Nadal had much more trouble with Davydenko than Djoko in Rome.

Having said that, I believe Djoko could do some damage (like Davydenko would have). One of the toughest opponent of Nadal this forthnight was his first: Del Potro. For a set Del Potro showed that by being agressive on serve and from the baseline, Nadal could be beaten. He even served for the first set but his immaturity or nerve cost him dear. Djoko there will probably show more nerves.

With Nadal the score hardly shows the story. The question is down to whether the opponent can cope with the high bounce or not. If the opponent cannot then the score is, as often, very one-sided. On the other hand if the opponent can time those high bounce well, Nadal becomes very vulnerable...especially over a 5 set match where he has to do a lot of running.

Nadal shoudl win but an upset would not totally surprise me.

I actually must admit that I was wrong about Djokovic and him on clay.He really seems to have surprised me and is playing well on it.A semi final at the French,well done.