Canada’s Milos Raonic defeated world #4 Andy Murray to advance to the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.
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Raonic is one of tennis’s best young players and a massive hitter. He’s had some injury problems, though, missing parts of last year with hip troubles and twisting an ankle earlier in 2012. But when he’s on – as he was Friday – he’s hard to play against, even for a top-ranked guy like Murray.
Raonic hit 14 aces during his straight-set win. He moves on to meet world #6 David Ferrer, while on the others side of the draw it’s Fernando Verdasco v Rafael Nadal – who’s playing some of his best tennis in recent months.
Caroline, a fabulous tennis player, pulls out all the stops (the auto-tune stops, that is) on a song called “Oxygen” she, er, sings for charity.
We don’t want to criticize much here, because it’s all in a good cause – any proceeds from this effort go to benefit the Danish and Polish paralympic teams. But maybe a little more of her voice – whatever it may sound like – and a little less of the studio engineer’s hot little fingers on the auto-tune knobs might have introduced just a little humanity into the thing.
Check it out:
Then again, with lyrics like “Come over here so I can touch your body. Don’t make me wait. Don’t hesitate” and
“You’re like the gravity that’s holding’ me, it’s pulling babe,” maybe going hog-wild on that auto-tune was the best production decision after all.
Tagged as:
Caroline Wozniacki
Not surprising.
Even Andy Murray didn’t look surprised at the outcome, although you could see his eyes widen now and again as Djokovic powered first serve after first serve (70% in) into the service court, and often into the screens at the end for winners. Murray didn’t return well; Djokovic did everything well, and there we are.
En route to the title, Djokovic lost a grand total of zero sets… And with this win, Djoko joins only Agassi and Sampras as three-time winners of this event.
Seems like he’s picked up this year exactly where he left off in 2011.
Tagged as:
Novak Djokovic
Andy Murray is in the biggest match of his recent career this afternoon as he fights to draw level with world #1 Novak Djokovic after getting hammered the first set of their Miami Sony Ericsson Open final.
Andy caught a lucky break on the way to this final when his semi-final opponent, Rafael Nadal, decided he couldn’t play on a previously injured knee. So the Scot should be rested and ready to take on Djokovic, whom he hasn’t realistically got much chance of beating.
If Murray can somehow upset Djoko, it will be a great boost for his always-the-bridesmaid track record. He’s a likable guy, and I’ll bet a lot of the crowd in Miami are rooting for the underdog today.
Tagged as:
Andy Murray,
Novak Djokovic
One day after the euphoria of beating world #3 Roger Federer, American Andy Roddick tasted the dregs of defeat in losing to Juan Monaco.
Roddick didn’t just lose – he got smoked 7-6, 6-0. Apparently he wasn’t yet fit after coming back from injury. Funny – he looked pretty good against Federer.
Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic avoided the Federer stumble and are through to the next round.
Meanwhile, on the women’s side, Screamin’ Serena Williams’ string of convincing wins came to an end against former world #1 Caroline Wozniacki. Ever-petulant Serena mumbled post-match woe-is-me comments about how everyone she plays always comes up with their biggest match, and how she herself “only played at about 20%.”
Caroline now moves on to a semi-final against Maria Sharapova, a match that will set a new record for tall, willowy blondness.
Watching from the sidelines will be Serena. But for lessons in grace under pressure, she need look no further than big sis Venus, whose win over another former world #1, Ana Ivanovic, now puts her in the surprising position of a semi-final matchup against Radwanska. “Surprising” because prior to this tournament, 31-year-old Venus had not played a single tennis match in 2012 and had spent much of her time receiving treatment for an autoimmune disease…not exactly the way you prep for top-flight tennis in the south Florida heat.
Tagged as:
Andy Roddick,
Caroline Wozniacki,
Maria Sharapova,
Novak Djokovic,
Rafael Nadal,
Roger Federer,
Serena Williams,
Venus Willliams
"OUT" - no, wait - not really
“OUT!” No, wait – not really.
Roger Federer was well on his way to a two-set dismantling of American Ryan Harrison when he heard the line judge call one of Harrison’s shots out. Federer checked his backhand and watched the ball go by – inside the line.
Turns out the call came not from the line judge but from a fan. It was an important point, allowing Harrison a service break. Federer shook his head and sat down heavily in his chair. The rules of tennis dictate no replay, no review in a case like this, when a player stops playing for whatever reason. (The rules don’t say how many lashes the fan gets with the cat ‘o nine tails out back behind the stadium – but we’re sure it’s at least 39.)
Here’s Roger, post-match, on the incident: “”It completely threw me off. I didn’t know what to think of it, because I was like, ‘That’s it? That’s the break point? That’s how it’s going to happen? OK.’ … It’s my mistake at the end of the day.”
Harrison felt bad about it and apologized to Federer afterward. And although the American went on to push the World #3 much more in Game 2 (7-6) than in Game 1 (6-2), he ultimately wasn’t up to the challenge of beating the hottest player on the planet since last year’s US Open.
Next up for Roger is World #34 Andy Roddick. Andy can’t be feeling too good about the matchup: Federer now has 77 straight wins against anyone ranked outside the top 20.
Tagged as:
Roger Federer
