Singles play is still a while away. The order of play is

Djokovic - Ancic (not before 2pm)
Nadal - Nalbandian (not before 4pm)
Federer - Lopez (not before 8pm)
Kiefer - Gonzalez

Ancic v. Djoko has just started - and it looked like Djoko faced a few BPs in that first game ( i'm just breifly glancing at the live scores so not sure how many :shrug: )

I think Novak might have too much firepower for Mario! :(

So far, it looks as though Mario has held his own. However, now it's getting to the crunch end of the set, and he needs to hold serve to stay in the set. This is where we might expect Djoko to start piling on the pressure ...

6-5 Djoko. Mario needs to hold serve to take this to a TB.

The pressure is rising ... at 30-15, Mario DFs to make it 30-30 ...

But then he wins the next two points, and it's a tie-break!

Very even match so far from the statistics - both players have won exactly the same number of points as the tie-break begins.

tie-break :yahoo:

Hate tiebreaks :( Even in real life!

Djoko takes the tie-break 7-2.

Now 1-1 in the first set.

:hmm: Dont know who to root for Djoker or Super Mario....

i'm rooting for djoko, although i'd like Ancic to put up a good fight. am i right in thinking that the winner of this gets to play Nadal or Nalby next???? :unsure:

Looks like you'll be happy - Djoko is a break up at 3-1 in the second.....

Novak is 4-1 up and serving to make it 5-1 ...

And yes, Novak and Rafa again ended up on the same side of the draw.

As expected.He has too much for Ancic. :(

Yeah and Djoko pulls the injury card again at the beginning of the second set .....and wins with more ease than ever.

:kpow2: :angry:

Great djoko..I want a semi Djoko Rafa.. :yahoo: :yahoo: ..Great man..He is the real gun among the youngs and he is showing day in day out...Djoko :bow: :bow:

No way Tenez, I do not follow you on this one..Yesterday he said in his interview that he is really tired: This season was so long he told, and I believe him (this time)..So, I give him the doubt at least for the end of this season..He is reducing his misbehaviour... And definitely he has more Tennis than plenty of other young guns out there at the moment..

Im getting tired of him and these injuries really. :angry:

I'm with you on that one DN - he's so annoying he really is. I used to like him, but I can't stand his gamesmanship - especially those 90,000 ball bounces :rolleyes: :angry:

well ancic sort of died there :(

here's to his 08 season :ok: :ok:

Well yes, exactly then if he is tired, why not taking an injury break for his foot?

This guy abuses the rules and it's annoying.

I see Bjorkmirnyi are enroute to a victory against Kerr/Perry (Kerry? Kerrerry?). :clap:

I did not watch, so I cannot comment - I know he was notorious for the injury timeouts, but my impression was that he cut them out this year.

If he did take an injury timeout for his foot even though he didn't need one, then that's not right ...

On the other hand, it's a fine line; if you're not feeling good, it is easier for some small niggles to give you trouble, and perhaps he just needed it checked out. In any case, I thought he was in control of the match anyway in the second; so would there really have been any strategic point to it? :shrug:

There is always a strategic point. he had just won the tie break after a very disputed first set and having an extra time before the start of the second set is pretty handy. Also, he must have asked for the trainer to come before the tie-break and that certainly did not go unoticed by Ancic who may have thought that Djoko was injured before the start of the tie-break.

This fine line as you say is getting pretty obvious imo.

Fed won the first set against Lopez in a tie-break. :clap:

Go Roger! :yahoo:

Fed has had 10 break points so far but not taken any of them :yikes:

He hasn't faced any himself though so far. :clap:

Lopez is actually playing really well from what I can see.

Am I the only one who thinks having those models as ball girls is ridiculous? :shrug:

mjt.
Is Lopez playing serve and volley? I really enjoyed their match in New York.

he is playing serve and volley by choosing his moments as in New York (i.e. not always)..The only difference, IMO, until now..Well Lopez is playing better on his second serve at the important points: this explains why he was able to save so much break points..FED on his side is massif until now on his serve (No break points against him until now) ..It is a powerful match like NY, yes..

Occasionally he does S&V --- but not, I would say, on most serves.

Fed is not making it that easy for him to come to the match either. In fact, there's been some pretty nifty net play from Roger himself.

Ooh, there was a S&V from Lopez there --- but he doesn't win the point.

Excellent volley there from Lopez for 40-30; that wasn't easy because it stayed very low.

And Lopez holds for 4-3 after a longish rally.

Fed came to the net 3 out of 4 points in that service game - and even some S&V. (The point he didn't come to the net on was won on the return.)

This is a really entertaining match, lots of exciting, attacking tennis.

Fed's deep groundstrokes, and his own getting to the net, keeps taking the offensive away from Lopez.

And he reaps the reward here, taking the first of three break points with a passing shot that catches Lopez in no-man's land.

Roger can now serve out the match for a place in the semis.

Three match points for Fed. :clap:

And he takes the first. :yahoo: :bigwave: :yahoo:

He only lost 9 points on serve in the whole match. :clap:

Which will most likely be genie Gonales. Hope Djoko can win the other semi. Fat Dave is very unpredictable.

Another Fed-Djoko final. Hopefully Djoko will learn from his USO final mistake.

Great Amazing serve game during all match..This is the second match in which the opponent do not have a chance..Great man :bow: :bow: FED..Great display against a very good Lopez, i.e. doing all he can do given his weapons :D :D ..I really do not know the semi tomorrow..Might Kiefer can beat Gonzo..Kiefer is similar to Nalbi (even if with less talent and more physical prob..) In any case I really do not see one of them close the door of the final to FED..And in the final I hope Nalbi..this was a classic during the junior: FED-Fat Dave..Let's hope..Djoko has already done so much this year..But if he is there it will be great either..Very happy plenty of players I like are still there so.. :D :D

It's Gonzalez v Kiefer next --- I hope Gonzo wins to collect some more points for Shanghai, although I like Kiefer too (and he's my compatriot).

I can't see either of them trouble Roger given his current form, though. On the other hand, whoever faces him in the final will give him a great match, I reckon.

I don't think Djoko will beat Fed this week though. Roger has been in great form, so far anyway, and I think the stress of his long season is starting to get to Djoko just a little bit --- he's been getting through his matches, and will be up for the final no doubt, but I just think Fed will have the edge.

With Nalbandian though, you never know --- he has the stuff to trouble Roger, and he has been in great form. I don't think he'll get through against Djoko though.

Nalby has a great record against youngsters. They are often surprised by his depth and pace of shots. Plus he returns very well. If he can hold his serve, he shoud lhave a great chance tomorrow.

Maybe. He'll definitely have a chance tomorrow; somehow I just think Djoko will come through. I guess we'll have to wait and see. :shrug:

Kiefer wins a very tight first set against Gonzo in a tie-break --- he got the set point courtesy of a net-chord, actually, and Gonzo won two more points in the set than Kiefer!