Djokovic Broke Nadal's Winning Streak At Monte Carlo

At last Djokovic has done it.  He has done that work which no one could do for last 8 years.  He beat eight time defending champion Rafael Nadal for the first time at Monte Carlo Country Club in last 9 years.  He beat his old rival in straight sets.  And with this victory he improved his record to 19-15 against Nadal all time and 12-3 on dust.  He has also become the only man who beat Nadal in final of clay event three times.  Previously he was tied with Roger Federer, who also beat Nadal in two clay court finals.
 

His path to this incredible victory was not so easy.  He also reached in the finals of Monte Carlo in 2009 and 2012 where he was defeated by Nadal.  He won against Nadal in third attempt and second in a row.  Djokovic's participation in this event was uncertain in the start due to some injury, but he participated and showed a slow start.  In his first two matches Djokovic was far away from his best.  But as time passed he continued to get better and better.  In quarter finals and semi finals he showed a good tennis and gave message to the tennis world that he will the man to beat on dust also.  He beat Fognini in semi finals by losing  just 3 games and without facing the break point in the whole match.  That was a clear massage to king of clay that Nole of 2011 has come back.  And he proved that at Monte Carlo 2013.
He beat Nadal by 62 76(1).  The whole match has seen many twists and turns.  In the start Djokovic served first and hold the serve pretty easily and after that he started to strengthen his grip on the match.  He broke Nadal and immediately got 3-0 lead.  But that was not a finish line, he broke Nadal again and he flies to get 5-0 lead.  At this time everyone was thinking that it would be a love set.  But Nadal hold the serve in very next game to get respectability and get himself on scoreboard at 6-1.  After that he broke Djokovic's serve and get scoreboard to 6-2 which tennis fans thought could be come back moment for Nadal  but that moment was short lived.  Because Djokovic broke Nadal again in very next game to take the opening set by 6-2.
In the second set, tennis fans were waiting impatiently for Nadal's comeback.  Djokovic again served first and hold the serve to get 1-0 lead.  In the second game Nadal also hold the serve to level 1-1.  In the third game Djokovic again hold his seve to get 2-1 lead.  Nadal again level the set by 2-2.  In next game Djokovic faced huge test because Nadal raised the level of his game and broke Nole to get 3-2 lead and immediately consolidated the break to get handsome 4-2 lead.  Nole did not lose heart and hold his serve to love to get scoreboard to 3-4.  In the very next game Djokovic broke back to level the match at 4-4.  And hold the serve to get 5-4 lead again.  Nadal again displayed an epic tennis and hold his serve to get himself at 5-5 and then he broke to get 6-5 lead.  That was considered as turning point of the match because if he was able to to get the match in the deciding set, the match would be in his pocket.  He was seving for the second set, but Djokovic had other things in his mind, he was a deternmined man.  He broke Nadal to take the set into the tie break.
After this Nadal looked exhausted because Djokovic took that tie break by 7-1 and sealed the victory in a very special way.

Andy Murray Wins Second Miami Masters

Andy Murray won Miami masters title for the second time in his career despite facing a match point against committed David Ferrer.  David Ferrer was pretty much disappointed because when he had match point there was a long rally, which David Ferrer stopped and challenged.  But that challenge proved as beginning of the end of David Ferrer.  Because the ball of Murray catches the baseline.  And Murray won the match in third set tie break.  Another good news for Murray is that he is now raised to no 2 in Emirates Atp ranking this Monday, overtaking the declining Federer.  He raised to no 2 spot for the first time since 2009, when he remained at no 2 for four weeks only.  Now he will try to catch Djokovic.    

There were a lot of twists and turns in this match.  This match was the second longest final in Masters 1000 three sets history.  This match continued about 2 hours and 46 minutes.  Before that the match between Djokovic and Nadal was about three and half hours.  Epic match that was.  Moreover this is the first match in Miami masters history that a player won the title by saving match point in the final.  Also Murray won semi final and final when he was a set down for the first time in his career.  This is his second title of the season, after winning at Brisbane.  And this is Murray’s first masters 1000 title after winning at Shanghai 2012 by beating the same man.  Murray beat David Ferrer  2-6 6-4 6-7(1). 

In the first set David Ferrer got an early break and lead by 2-0.  He continued his dominance in this set and took that set by 6-2.  In this set Murray committed 19 unforced errors and plenty of double faults.  In the second set Murray regroup as every champion do, and hold his serve pretty well and took the set by a break by 6-4.  In the third set the situation became more and more tense when both of players struggled to hold serves.  They exchanged the breaks of serves until they were at 3-3.  At last David Ferrer broke the ice and hold serve and lead 4-3 in the set.  Murray also raised the level of his game and took the next two games.  David Ferrer again came back and lead by 6-5 in the deciding set.  In this game David Ferrer had a match point but his challenge proved a huge bad luck for him, because by losing that challenge he lost the match.  Murray took the set in the tie break and took that tie break by 7-1.  With this victory Andy Murray is now 7-5 head to head against Ferrer.

Djokovic, Murray And Ferrer Face Tougher Test At Miami 4th Round

The world no 1 Navak Djokovic, no 2 seed Andy Murray and no 3 seed David Ferrer will be in action on tuesday at Sony Ericson Open 4th round.  This time they have to face the tests which are tougher to some extent as compared to the previous rounds.
First of all David Ferrer will take court against Asian no 1 Kei Nishikori.  David Ferrer and Nishikori are tied at 2-2 head to head at atp world tour.  Both met two times in grand slams, their first meeting was at Australian open where Ferrer prevailed, the other meeting was at US open where Nishikori won in epic five setter.  The other two meeting were at London Olympics where Nishikori won and other meeting was at Tokyo where Ferrer won.  So overall both of these guys have pretty much even record.  So no solid prediction can be given about this match.  I think no one will take risk to bet against Nishikori because he has ability to come on the top at any stage.

After that Murray will be in action against Italian Andreas Seppi.  Andy Murray leads head to head against Seppi by 4-1.  His only defeat by the hands of seppi was in 2006 Notingham open in three sets.  After that all the meetings were one sided in which Murray won in straight sets.  Their latest meeting was at Rome in 2010 where Murray won by 6-2 6-4.  In this match Murray have to avoid those mistakes that he committed in previous match because Seppi is the man who always jumps upon the opportunities.  If he gives any chance to Seppi as he gave to Dimitrov then he has to pay the price.
In the night session Djokovic will lead the show, when he will take on against Tommy Haas.  Tommy Haas got the Atp award of most improved player last year.  In his compaign last he was the only man in 2012 who beat Federer on grass court at Gerry Weber open.  Djokovic leads head to head against Haas by 6-2.  Tommy Haas beat Djokovic twice in 2009 Wimbledon and at 2009 Gerry weber open.  Both events were on grass, and at that time Djokovic was not the same man as he is now.  All meetings on other surfaces were won by Djokovic.  Their most recent meeting is in 2013 Hopesman cup in which Djokovic thrashed Haas by 6-2 6-0.  In today's match same thing is expected but in tennis any thing can happen because both players have to start from 0.

The other matches of the day include Gasquet vs Almagro, Tsonga vs Cilic and Berdych vs Querry.

Murray Passes Tomic Test Comprehensively

2012 Sony Ericson Open runner Andy Murray made a pefect start in the 2nd round of Miami masters and beat australian young man Bernard Tomic.  He beat Tomic by 6-3 6-1.  In this match Murray fired 8 aces and his first serve percetage was 70%.  And he won 80% of the points when first serve made its mark.  He also won 60% of the second serve points also.  He faced 3 break points in the whole match and he saved all  those break points.  His return game was also impressive.  He produced 5 break points and converted  4 of them.  These were some statistics of Murray which showed that he is playing at a high level.

Tomic's bad defeat was due his first serve percetage that was only 58% and he could not make use of break point oppotunities.  He has to work hard to compete with elite class players.  He has potential to do so, and he beat Djokovic at Hopeman cup also.  But the level he is playing is not enough to compete with top players.  Andy Murray's next opponent will be Dimitrov.

In another match, the no 4 seed Tomas Berdych was looking off colour is in his first match at Miami.  He beat Gimeno-Traver 5-7 7-6(3) 6-2, when he was a set down.  Gimeno Traver stepped into the court as a most ambitious person, who want to made a second upset of the tournament.  He did so in the first set and after hard fighting, he came on the top and won it by 7-5.  In the second set Berdych was more concentrated than before but Traver's mission was strong.  The whole set was pretty much tight.  And a tie break was needed to decide this set.  Berdych took that tie break by 7-3, and took that set by 7-6.  After losing second set tie break Traver was looking exhausted and it was the begining of end of Trave.  Berdych broke Gimeno Traver's twice in successive games and closed the deciding set by 6-2.  That was a big scare but at last Berdych handled it well.  Next Berdych will face Falla who beat Verdasco by 6-3 7-6.