AO – Semis are set

The Men:

Dimitrov beats Goffin.  David Goffin, with his amazing timing and hand-eye abilities likes to use the pace of his opponents to produce stinging redirected shots.  That is exactly what he did to Dominic Thiem, who eventually started to overhit.  As a result Thiem pretty much beat himself.   Not so with Grigor Dimitrov, who supplemented his amazing court coverage and racquet handling abilities with a lot of variety on his shots.  He varied the topspin and location of his forehand, hit lot of backhand slices, and approached the net opportunistically.  He prevailed in straight sets in this tactically fascinating match.

Wawrinka beats Tsonga.  Stan and Joe play similar styles, but Tsonga likes to come into the net just a bit more than Wawrinka.  At this stage of their careers, though Stan Wawrinka is just more consistent.  He prevailed pretty easily in this game of power ball.

Federer beats Zverev.  Mischa Zverev served too hard to get close to the net before the ball was back at his feet, but not hard enough to prevent Federer from placing the returns where he wanted.  To serve and volley that way against Roger is to have no chance to win.  And, as several commentators pointed out, Zverev has no plan B.  So, Roger demolished him in the first set and spent the rest of the match experimenting with things like the SABR attack etc.  Federer faces Stan Wawrinka next, and although he’s never lost to Stan on a hard court, I predict that Roger will have his hands full.  Wawrinka is playing very good tennis, and Federer must still be at least a little bit rusty.

Nadal beats Raonic.  Nadal got revenge for his loss to Raonic in Brisbane with a straight sets victory here.  Raonic was bothered by a recurrent thigh injury, and he also served uncharacteristically poorly.  He actually double faulted when serving for the second set in the tiebreaker (remember the earlier post – double faulting in tiebreakers is a no-no!).  The real story of this match was Nadal, though.  He moved very well and plied his favorite trade – passing people who dare to approach the net against him.  Rafa has a real chance to win this tournament.  If he gets by Dimitrov and faces Wawrinka I  believe he will win it.

The Women:

            Serena Williams beats Konta.  Johanna Konta played very well in this tournament, but simply couldn’t handle Serena’s power.  With her somewhat strange outfit and bulging muscles, Serena looked a bit like an 18-wheeler with legs.  No surprise in this one, but kudos to Konta for a great tournament. 

            Coco beats Garbine.  Coco Vandewhegh is playing really good tennis.  She is harnessing her power, which is prodigious, and not losing her concentration.  She dominated Garbine Muguruza, with a straight sets victory that included a 6-0 second set.  No shame to Garbine, she just got outplayed.  Coco will play the 36-year-old Venus Williams in the semis.  What an amazing run for Venus, who beat Anastasia Pavlyuchencova in an expected victory.  I pick Coco in this semi if she holds her nerve.

            Lucic-Baroni beats Pliskova.  In a story that will be remembered for a long time, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni beat the #5 seed, Karolina Pliskova, and moved on to the semis.  The last time she made the semis was in the last century!  This result speaks to the great talent of Lucic-Baroni, and to the great loss we all suffered when she was taken out of the game for so long.  She will play Serena in the semis and is likely to lose, but she certainly captured the hearts of tennis fans with this great run.  Mirjana, we know you haven’t always felt loved, but we love you!