WTF! On to the finale

This Nikolay Davydenko. He under promises and over delivers, if I may quote Chase Jarvis (he’s totally unrelated to tennis but I thought of Kolya when Chase said that). For a consistent top 10 player, he flies very low on the tennis radar and no one really picks him to win anything. In this week’s WTF, Kolya showed everyone why he’s in there with the big boys even though he’s not quite big. He played a quality match against Novak Djokovic to open his round robin play then handily defeated Rafael Nadal 2 days later. To book a semifinal place, he gutted out a 3-set win over Robin Soderling. Then today, over delivered when he took out Roger Federer, someone he’s never defeated in 12 tries, to get to the WTF finals.

Juan Martin del Potro snuck his way into the semis and the next thing you know, he’s in finals. From the craziness that was Day 5 where DelPo made it out of the round robin safely by a mere game to winning a come from behind match against Robin Soderling in the semifinals earlier, blink or rather suffer a few heart attacks and he’s playing for the final title of the season.

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WTF! Day 5

Day 5 was very… you needed to use your brain for this one. It started with Andy Murray nabbing a 3-set win over Fernando Verdasco to keep his chances of a semifinal berth alive. Then, Juan Martin del Potro also needed 3 sets to defeat Roger Federer to keep his semifinal chances alive. It ended with a fucking 3-way tie between Muzz, DelPo and RF and everyone got confused.

It came down to games won/lost to determine which players advance to the semis. If DelPo defeated RF in straight sets then he and Muzz would have qualified and really would have made things stellar for everyone. But no, he chose to let it go to a decider so it can get extremely complicated and very entertaining. RF needed to win 3 games in the deciding set to get to the semis and DelPo could not lose more than 3 games to also make the semis. At 3-3, RF had already qualified and Muzz was shitting his pants. Then, RF could not convert his break points nor could he hold serve and the next thing we know, DelPo is serving for the match at 5-3. Of course he closes it out, just like in the fairytales and Muzz is “audi” here.

If you’re still confused, let me slap you totals of games won/lost:

I know one thing that didn’t confuse anyone today, Nando couldn’t win shit. The Spanish… are not doing very well in this tournament, no?

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WTF! Day 4

Day 4 wasn’t very fun. Group B played and Robin Soderling was the first to clinch a semifinal spot while Rafael Nadal was booted out of contention.

Sod defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-1. He’s the only player in the tournament who hasn’t dropped a set yet. Sod’s really taken advantage of Andy Roddick’s withdrawal, no?

Nikolay Davydenko crushed many hearts, including mine, when he defeated Rafa in straight sets, 6-1, 7-6(4). I hoped that Rafa would play better but I can’t say that the loss was surprising. In contrast to Sod, who Rafa and his fans hate with a burning passion, Rafa is the only player who has yet to win a set in the tournament.

I told you, Day 4 wasn’t very fun.

Here’s where the boys stand after Day 4 and part of Day 5 because this post is very late:

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WTF! Day 3

WTF, indeed. Day 3 didn’t quite go as I planned. I plan tennis matches because I have so much control over them. Yup.

Group A was in action today. Fernando Verdasco lost a 3-set battle against Juan Martin del Potro and Andy Murray collapsed in the third set against Roger Federer.

I was only able to catch third set tiebreak between Nando and DelPo and Nando looked out of sorts. He sprayed the balls everywhere but inside the court. His record now falls to 0-2 and has a very slim chance of making it out of round robin play. Final score: Juan Martin del Potro def Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1).

Then there was the much anticipated match between Muzz and RF. Muzz looked like he was going to bag another win and better his already good head-to-head record against RF. He took the first set 6-3. Note that it wasn’t as easy as the score suggests. Then, his level of play dropped along with the disappearance of his serve. RF gained confidence (we have to admit, he does have a brain), raised his level of play, picked Muzz apart and convincingly took the next two sets. Final score: Roger Federer def Andy Murray 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Bring on the finals so Muzz can lose again and RF can gloat in his Year-end Number One ranking. Damnit.

Here’s where the boys stand after Day 3:

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WTF! Day 2

I’d lick it too. Wait… what?

Day 2 of the ATP World Tour Finals saw Rafael Nadal succumb yet again to his French Open foe, Robin Soderling, in straight sets while Novak Djokovic gutted out a 3-set win over Nikolay Davydenko.

Rafa is nowhere near his best yet but he still has some more WTF tennis to play and hopefully he can somehow pull enough wins/sets to make the semis. Although I have to admit, it’s not looking very good at the moment. Final score: Robin Soderling def Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-4.

Nole and Kolya both played well and their match could have gone either way. Nole was just a tad steadier towards the end. At 5-4 in the third and serving for the match, he lost his serve and surely could have gone bonkers after that. He didn’t, held his nerve, broke back and then finally served the match out. Final score: Novak Djokovic def Nikolay Davydenko 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Here’s where the boys stand at the end of Day 2:

Tomorrow will feature Muzz vs RF. Holy shit.

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