Cincinnati Masters Tennis: Novak Djokovic Continues Dream Run, Murray into Last Eight

As usual, the winner

World no.1 Novak Djokovic extended his season record of wins to 55-1 as he brushed aside Czech veteran 32 yr old wildcard entrant Radek Stepanek, 6-3, 6-3 in the Cincinnati Open Tennis Tournament.

Djokovic had trouble with his first serves as he could muster just 47% of his first serves in. He lost his serve thrice in the match while he broke Stepanek 6 times out of a possible 12 chances.

Stepanek could not win many points on his first service, just 37% to be exact. The match in general saw a lot of breaks being traded as the World no.1 was not consistent enough on his generally reliable serves. He lost his serve twice in the 2nd set alone.

On the whole the match didn’t have much quality but Novak was able to soldier on due to his terrific ground-strokes. Maybe he was not motivated enough by the veteran Czech who has also had a decent year for his standards, by winning an ATP title recently by defeating the much higher ranked Gael Monfils.

Novak will find his proper match in the upcoming 3 matches as he aims to extend his spotless hard-court season record even further.

Much better showing this week

Meanwhile, Britain’s Andy Murray continued to improve as he reached the last 8 by getting past Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-2, 7-5. He seems to have put aside his bad showing at the Montreal Masters, like any class player would.

But Murray was very inconsistent in his serves as he mixed up 11 aces with 6 appalling double faults. Alex also served 6 double faults.

Murray was broken a couple of times in the match before he broke Alex for the crucial lead at 6-5 in the 2nd set to close out the match. The first set was straightforward for the Scot as he broke Alex twice and held serve comfortably to win the set. Murray raced to a 4-0 lead before his serve was broken. But, this was just a minor wobble.

Murray as usual was supreme in his service returns as he won 51% of his return points. But there were quite a lot of unforced errors that frustrated him late in the 2nd set. This straight set win must have come as a great relief to Murray as he could avoid the soaring afternoon heat. This win was also a sweet revenge for his defeat to Alex at the Miami Masters in March. He closed out the match with his 11th ace as he attempts to repeat his 2008 showing at this tournament. This match lasted an hour and 41 mins. Murray will next meet Frenchman Giles Simon in the last 8. Simon got past Spaniard David Ferrer.

The much awaited dream semifinal line-up is almost there. Hope the superstars live up to their reputations in their respective last 8 clashes.