U.S Open 2010: Roger Federer advances into the semi-final round in New York
The world number two, Roger Federer has made his way into the semi final round of the United States Open tennis tournament 2010 after defeating Robin Soderling in a total of three sets on Wednesday. The final match score was 6-4, 6-4, and 7-5.
Despite gusty conditions, the sixteen times Grand Slam champion, served quite well throughout the match.
“I have been practicing my serve ever since the start of my career. If I still fail to serve in the wind that would be the worst nightmare for sure. You could wake me up at perhaps 2 or 4 in the morning, and I could still smash some good serves without any question,” said Federer after the match.
As a result of this victory, the 29-year-old Swiss has also improved his career mark versus the Swede to a total of thirteen victories out of their fourteen clashes.
The only defeat was in their previous clash, in the quarterfinal round of this season’s clay court French Open tennis tournament. Robin’s win there ended Roger’s streak of making his way into the semi-final rounds at a record twenty three Grand Slam championships in a row.
Roger then lost in the quarterfinals at the grass court Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon as well, promoting his doubters to question whether his dominating period was behind him. However now, just a month after his twenty ninth birthday, the big man is once again back in the semi-final at a major event, one that the Fed Express has captured on a total of five occasions so far in his career.
Roger has won forty five of his previous forty six clashes in New York, with one exception of last year’s title battle versus Juan Martin Del Potro.
Next up for the Swiss is the third-seeded Serbian, Novak Djokovic at the Flushing Meadows. It is the fourth season in a row that both of them will face each other in New York, dating to the 2007 title battle, and Roger has won each of those encounters.
“You can’t say anything prior to the match. All I can say at that moment is that I won’t be thinking about our past record while entering into the court this time in New York in spite of the fact that all those clashes were extremely tight until the end,” said the 2008 Australian Open winner, Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic has made his way into the semi-final round of the year’s final Grand Slam after thrashing out his seventh-seeded tennis foe, Gael Monfils from France in a total of three sets on Wednesday. The final match score was 7-6 (2), 6-1, 6-2.
In the women’s section, the top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki has also advanced into the semi- final round at the Flushing Meadows after getting the better of Dominika Cibulkova from Slovakia in a two-setter clash. The final match score was 6-2, 7-5.
The Danish tennis star, after the match while commenting on the blustery conditions said, “I felt like fighting in a hurricane or something of the sort.”
Wozniacki has triumphed in nineteen of her last twenty clashes since the grass court Grand Slam tournament this season at the All England Club.
In today’s semi-final battle, the 2009 United States Open finalist will take on the 2010 Wimbledon finalist, Vera Zvonareva from Russia.
Vera was ideally steady in her strokes and game strategy, as she defeated the thirty one-seeded Estonian opponent, Kaia Kanepi in a total of two sets in New York. The final match score was 6-3, 7-5. The world number seven, Vera Zvonareva committed just a total of twenty eight unforced errors in contrast to the Estonian’s sixty in the quarter final round at the Flushing Meadows.
“Well, I am glad that I made her commit mistakes after mistakes at every point and made it difficult for her to bounce back in the game,” said Vera who turned twenty six this Tuesday.
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