2010 BNP Paribas Masters: Review of Thursday Afternoon Session; Novak Djokovic Defeated
As the afternoon session on Thursday concluded at Bercy, upsetting results were seen on the scoreboards. Eight professionals took to the courts to battle it out for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Local Michael Llodra added yet another feather to his cap as he defeated defending champion, Serbian Novak Djokovic in their third round match. Llodra is enjoying his best career season, and having defeated the likes of Robin Soderling,
Marcos Baghdatis, Gilles Simon and Tomas Berdych with two title wins, added yet another accomplishment today when he ousted second seed Djokovic from the BNP Paribas Masters. Djokovic, who looked to defend his title, had his hopes crushed after he suffered
a straight-set defeat against the rising local.
The match was really decided after the first set which the French won in the tie-breaker. Even though Djokovic had the lead at 6-4 and should have won the tie-breaker, Llodra bounced back with two powerful serves and two incredible
returns to win at 7-6(6). It seems the first set - which lasted for an hour - left the Serb fatigued, enabling the Frenchman to secure an easy win of 6-2 in the second set in about thirty minutes.
After the match, Djokovic said: "I have to congratulate him, because he really played a perfect match. I don't think I played bad. Actually, I think I even returned well in the first set, but any time I needed a point when it was
important, a couple of games in the first set, deuce or 30-all, he comes up with a huge serve, just close to the line, or he comes up with an incredible first volley or something like that. All credit to him. He stepped in when he needed to, and he deserved
to win."
While Llodra played Djokovic, court 1 saw Austrian Jurgen Melzer playing Spaniard David Ferrer for a spot in the quarterfinals. Prior to the match, Melzer’s hope for a London qualification had ended with Roddick’s victory and Fernando’s
defeat in their respective third round matches.
Though his hopes were dashed, Melzer still played excellently to secure a spot for himself in the quarterfinals. In a three-setter that lasted for over two hours, Melzer went up and down in the scores before finally securing a
win for himself.
Both professionals engaged in a tooth-and-nail battle in the first set taking it into the tie-breaker. Even in the tie-breaker, they were neck-to-neck with no break for either till twelve points. At 6-6, Melzer made two powerful
serves to win the tie-breaker 8-6. As pattern would define it, after winning the tie-breaker Melzer should have won the following set; however, Ferrer bounced back, humiliating Melzer with a 6-2 defeat. With one set each, it all came down to the decider. Melzer
broke back in the third set, taking the lead and then maintaining it for a 6-3 win.
Swede Robin Soderling met Swiss native Stanislas Wawrinka to battle it out for a spot in the title run. In-form Wawrinka, having done away with Ivan Ljubicic the previous day, took the lead early into the first set. At 4-1, Soderling
finally bounced back to take the set into a tie-breaker. The tie-breaker started off with a strong neck-to-neck run; however, at 3-3 Soderling managed to score four consecutive points winning the first set at 7-6(3). From there on it was a somewhat easy win
for Soderling, having broken the Swiss’s confidence. Soderling won the second set 6-3 to enjoy a straight, though in no way a simple, set win.
In the final match of the afternoon session, tenth seed Nikolay Davydenko met fifth seed Tomas Berdych. Although Berdych managed to win the first set 6-4, Davydenko broke back in the second set winning it on a tie-breaker. Davydenko
denied Berdych a single win in the third set winning it 6-0. The final match score was 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-0. Davydenko now faced Michael Llodra for a semi-final berth.
Tags: