Andy Murray

World number one Roger Federer booked his third French Open final place as he saw off the challenge from Frenchman Gael Monfils to set up the dream final against Rafael Nadal at the French Open. Federer won the match 6-2 5-7 6-3 7-5 and takes his career record against Monfils to 4-0.

Although Federer looked good in the start of his match as he raced through the first set against the unseeded Frenchman Monfils, the world number 1 appeared to lose focus in the second set, allowing home favorite Monfils to win the second.

Roger Federer though is not the world number for no reason, the Swiss ace earned an early break of serve in the third set and never looked back. He went on to break again only to be broken back by Monfils, but Federer held out to win the set. Into the final set and after 9 games on serve Monfils bravely saved two match points at 5-4 in the fourth set to the delight of a Parisian crowd. though 2 games later at 6-5, he couldn’t repeat his early feats and Federer wrapped up the Match. After the Match Federer said,

The key was the first game when he allowed me to break and after that he was behind all the time. But he held on and battled hard and I am just relieved to have gone through. It was hard to play against him. He is such a great talent and now he has shown it on a big stage.

This was Monfils first ever grand slam semi final and with out doubt highlight of his short career to date. Since arriving on tour with much promise he has really failed to make any impact on the top 20. He has been floating around the 50 mark in the rankings and most had expected him to be up challenging with Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic to be the new big players to make their mark. Murray and Djokovic more so have been putting the Frenchman in the shade to date.

This was something that seem to be forgotten on the British press this week as Monfil’s was rolled out as an example of what Andy Murray could not deliver as yet, a decent run in grand slam. The narrow mindedness of the British press neglects the facts that Andy Murray as inconsistent as he is has been consistently performing 40 places ahead of Monfils. From time to time everyone is allowed a good run at the French Open, don’t forget Henman made it to the French semi’s and his record on clay was far more questionable than that of Murray. Monfils must prove now that he can compete in the top 20 on a regular basis. 

Federer will go into Sunday’s final very much the underdog and as long as Nadal turns up and plays to a decent level, Federer as little to no chance of winning.

All the talk this week from the British press was how Novak Djokovic was leaving Andy Murray behind. One  year ago these two were similarly placed in the world rankings and now Djokovic has cemented himself in third place in the rankings and won his first grand slam.

Today though, the young Serb was brought crashing back to earth with another loss to Nadal, this time 6-4 6-2 7-6(7-3).  Rafael Nadal showed why on Sunday he will equal Bjorn Borg’s record of 4 straight French Open Titles.

These two had played 10 times already, with Rafa winning 7, to Djokovic’s 3. But the last time they played, Djokovic at least stretched the clay king to three sets in the Hamburg semi-final. Today was a much more convincing win for Nadal, despite a wobble at the end of the third when Rafa was closing out the set.

Djokovic won the toss and served first, though this would be one of the only things that Novak would  win today. Nadal broke early in the first set and went on to hold his own serve without giving up one break point.

The first serve was overshadowed though with two code violations in the final game, one for each man. Nadal first receiving a time violation for slow play and then Djokovic one for hitting a ball into the crowd.

The Second set started Much the same way as the first with Nadal gaining an early break, this time he would add another break of service to lead 4-1 and would go on to win the set comfortably 6-2.

The start of the third set didn’t get any better for Djokovic, he was broken twice in the first three games for Nadal to take a 3-0 lead, Djokovic did fight this time though, he broke back and held serve to make 2-3, Nadal responded holding serve in his next two services games, with Djokovic also holdingserve bringing the score to 5-4 and Rafa with chance to serve out the match.

In the one blip in almost perfect match for Nadal, Djokovic matched the Spaniards game to break back to level things up at 5-5, both players held serve to take the match into a tie breaker. There was to be no miraculous comeback for Djokovic. Nadal ran of the tie breaker in style winning it 7-3.

On Sunday, Rafael will undoubtly become a 4 time French Open champion. Only injury or a really really bad at the office could prevent this.

After the match today, nadal had this to say,

Maybe the way the match turned out today was easier than I expected. I was not expecting to play at this level. I was very dominant, I could put the ball anywhere I wanted. I was dominating both on my forehand and backhand, and I didn’t think that I could make mistakes. That was key.

Jamie Murray and his American partner Liezel Huber beaten convincingly at the French Open today in their mixed doubles quarter finals by third seeds Victoria Azarenka and Bob Bryan. The final match score 6-0 7-6 (7-5)

Murray and Liezel were given a walkover in the previous round, the pair were scheduled to play 5th seeds Yan Zi and Mark Knowles, but Knowles withdrew for personal reasons. The duo were bidding to reach their second grand slam semi-final after reaching that stage at last years US open.

Victoria Azarenka and Bob Bryan overwhelmed the Brit American duo in the first set winning it without dropping a set. Murray and Huber turned things arround in the second set and gave much more of Match to the thrid seeds. They eventually lost the tie break 7-5.

Jamie Murray, the Wimbledon mixed doubles champion, was the last senior British representative left at Roland Garros after his brother Andy lost in the third round of the men’s singles and fellow Briton Ross Hutchins and Australia’s Stephen Huss lost 6-4 5-7 7-5 to Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov in the men’s doubles.

Jamie will hopefully now turn his attentions to some singles matches, if his applications to wimbledon and queens club for a wild card place are accepted.

Nicolas Almagro ended Andy Murray’s run at this years French Open. The clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro won in 4 sets 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 7-5.

Almagro got of to a quick start and broke Murray’s opening service game, the Spaniard went on to win the set rarely being troubled on his own serve. Andy Murray would battle back and claimed the second set on a tie breaker. He actually broke early in the third set to take control of the match, but Almagro won five straight games and the set. The Fourth set was a formality for Almagro as Murrays fight had beaten out of him.

Almagro will now play French wild card Jeremy Chardy who beat Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov, the 30th seed, 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 6-4.

After the match Murray said,

I think I proved I’m a good clay court player, You saw by the way that he reacted at the end of the match that it was a tough match. To win against me on clay, it is a very good result - I’m not someone that’s going to be taken lightly on this surface in the future. I believe that I’m going to be one of the top players on clay in a couple years. I just need a bit more experience, a bit more strength and understanding of how to play and I’ll be up there with the best players.

The 19th seed Almagro is very much a clay court specialists, in fact is rarely seen on any other surface. He has won 2 clay court titles this year in Brazil and Mexico and now boasts 28 wins on the surface this year.

Andy Murray’s attentions will now turn to the grass court season with StellaArtois Championship and Wimbledon just around the corner,

I want to try to win the tournament. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but I believe that if I play my best tennis, I can win,” said Murray, who did not compete at the All England Club in 2007 because of a wrist injury. I’ve won against a lot of the top players. Not as many guys play so well on grass. If you can get through the first few rounds and work your way into the tournament, there’s no reason why not.

Andy Murray has just given one his best performances ever and without question his best performance to date on clay. In match that lasted just over an hour and half the young Scot won in straight sets 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 against Argentina’s Jose Acasuso at the French Open.

With the British press hot in his back after a poor first round display where he just scraped through against a French wildcard, the British number today put all this behind him and produced some of his best form to really send a message home to his critics. Murray took control from the first ball hit, breaking the clay court specialist Acasuso in game one. He completed the match unbroken on his own serve and notched up another 4 breaks of serve.

Andy Murray sealed victory in one hour 37 minutes and now faces Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, currently ranked 20th in the world in the thrid round.

Murray admitted he had been in poor form in his opening match against French teenager Jonathan Eysseric and may have felt he had a point to prove, in the interview straight after the match Murray went on to say,

I felt my performances on clay have been decent this year but I keep getting questioned why I’m not doing better, I wanted to show I could beat a good clay court player. Acasuso might not be a Federer or a Nadal but I showed I can play on clay. I wanted to show to myself I can do it. To win in straight sets, not lose my serve and break five or six times doesn’t happen too often. It’s not too often a match goes as well as that. I’m very pleased, it was a great performance. I was very aggressive and my shot selection was great.

During the Match Murray’s shot selection was almost perfect every time and even managed to play his favorite drop shot at the correct moments. But it wasn’t just the drop shot that was working, his net play was particular good and on a few occasions produced some high class lobs to earn vital points.

Murray will now face Spain’s Nicolas Almagro, who is seeded 19th and ranked 20th in the world. Almagro has 4 career titles to his name with all his victories coming on clay, so the Spaniard will be a formidable opponent for the young Scotsman. The two have yet to play each other on the ATP tour.