French Open Day 11 - Can Wawrinka Stop Rafa?

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What a day we had, finally a French hero rising to the occasion to down a legend, but his work is not over indeed got 2 crucial matches ahead to be considered as a GS champ. Rise of underdogs as been the theme of the day will it continue another day? the biggest question is can Wawrinka somehow outset the off-color Rafa?

Haas has in him to beat Nole, but not sure Wawrinka has in him to take Rafa to even 4 sets let alone a win, but would certainly love a complete underdogs semi.

Schedule of Matches

Court Philippe Chatrier
2:00 PM Women's Singles - Quarterfinals
Jelena Jankovic (SRB) [18] vs. Maria Sharapova (RUS) [2]

Followed byMen's Singles - Quarterfinals
Rafael Nadal (ESP) [3] vs.Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) [9]

Court Suzanne Lenglen
2:00 PM Women's Singles - Quarterfinals
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) [12] vs.Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [3]

Men's Singles - Quarterfinals
Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs.Tommy Haas (GER) [12]

Jelena is a surprise semi's in my view, could get toasted at Sharapova's hands, Kirlenko vs Vika could be interesting, Two Maria's can do it.

I would love to see Wawrinka -Nadal match start atleast an hour early, so if miracle happen and Wawrinka upset Rafa I will be fully rooting for Haas, if not I would love to see Nole-Rafa semi's, so either Waw-Haas or Nole-Rafa, no other combination pls.

Tommy Haas got a good 7 odds to win the match, if people buying the hype of underdogs then Tommy's odds are eye catching. Wawrinka gets 10 odds on the other hand, I won't advice this unless somebody is an extreme gambler .

Let the theme "Rise of Underdogs" continue, most tennis fans want to see a new champ, let see whether Haas and Warinka has any say in it.

He's living up to everyone's expectations.

Off topic but I was just thinking about how Lydian was saying Fed uses an old raquet and hasn't moved with the times. How hilarious would it be to see him come back with one of those double handled raquets and dominate the game. It would be an irony fitting the state of the game today to have the most beautiful player transformed into the ugliest and dominate just like he did before.

Djokovic 6 games away now... not at his best but still much better than Tommy

Just when you think Stan is back in it when breaking for 3-3, Nadal ups the gas and breaks again. Even off the boil in this set Nadal is still far too much for Stan, he simply has more variety and control. Stan's tennis is a little straight up and down...and predictable.

At least Tommy's not being mercilessly crushed by Djokovic. He's kept it competitive and that's worthy of applause in it's own right, but is probably patronising. Novak to win the title having dropped just the one set?

Nadal standing miles back (I guess this is clay) and Stan just hitting errors to lose serve and the set. I just tuned in for the last game.

Wawrinka's level isn't too bad this set. Has it improved?

break_in_the_fifth wrote:Nadal standing miles back (I guess this is clay) and Stan just hitting errors to lose serve and the set. I just tuned in for the last game.

Stan is a fricking joke mentally give his talent to someone more deserving like Ferrer look at Nadal even he feels like this was too easy

break_in_the_fifth wrote:Wawrinka's level isn't too bad this set. Has it improved?

He's finished. He has played crap and he never had the belief to begin with.

So you're 2-0 and 5-0 down against Rafa on clay. Where do you go from here? What woud he need to do to win from this position??

break_in_the_fifth wrote:Wawrinka not living up to expectations?

Expectations generated by the H2H in which Nadal has never dropped a set?

Don't think so.

Henman Bill wrote:So you're 2-0 and 5-0 down against Rafa on clay. Where do you go from here? What woud he need to do to win from this position??

Simple. You need to hope that Nadal has a real injury.

Henman Bill wrote:So you're 2-0 and 5-0 down against Rafa on clay. Where do you go from here? What woud he need to do to win from this position??

Shoot Nadal in the knee cap

lydian wrote:Just when you think Stan is back in it when breaking for 3-3, Nadal ups the gas and breaks again. Even off the boil in this set Nadal is still far too much for Stan, he simply has more variety and control. Stan's tennis is a little straight up and down...and predictable.

Rafa won this match half a sleep, its good for Stan proper Rafa didn't turn up otherwise it would have been a humiliation, stan was completely off boil throughout the match except for few games here n there.

Well done Rafa.

ChequeredJersey wrote:

Henman Bill wrote:So you're 2-0 and 5-0 down against Rafa on clay. Where do you go from here? What woud he need to do to win from this position??

Shoot Nadal in the knee cap

Nadal will wheel chair to win.

Sorry Danny, but atleast you thank Nadal for not humiliating your man.

Did Novak fail to serve out a set again? It happens far too frequently.

Congrats on routine 3 sets victory of Haas Mr.Djoker.

Nadal and Djokovic... battle royal.

laverfan wrote:Nadal and Djokovic... battle royal.

Can Ferrer take advantage of it? we wanted Federer to take advantage of it, he said not interested

HM Murdoch wrote:Did Novak fail to serve out a set again? It happens far too frequently.

Yup.

_homogenised_ wrote:

Henman Bill wrote:So you're 2-0 and 5-0 down against Rafa on clay. Where do you go from here? What woud he need to do to win from this position??

Simple. You need to hope that Nadal has a real injury.

So, who goes first on Friday? I think it goes...

Djokovic v Nadal
Tsonga v Ferrer

as Tsonga second will suit French TV more (a la Murray/BBC). Normally I'd say Nole/Nadal as second as its the "bigger" match but I think Tsonga trumps that.

Great tennis from Nadal, ill be looking to play like him in my game tonight!

Im going for a Nadal vs Tsonga final, with Tsonga winning the whole thing. Putting some money on that now!

I think I'm now in a position to make a prediction and based on the respective performances so far, I can't see Nadal troubling Djokovic. The problem for Nadal is that (and feel free to rage at me until the cows come home) I think Novak's just better than him these days.

NickisBHAFC wrote:Great tennis from Nadal, ill be looking to play like him in my game tonight!

Im going for a Nadal vs Tsonga final, with Tsonga winning the whole thing. Putting some money on that now!

Message from William Hill

The Special Juan wrote:I think I'm now in a position to make a prediction and based on the respective performances so far, I can't see Nadal troubling Djokovic. The problem for Nadal is that (and feel free to rage at me until the cows come home) I think Novak's just better than him these days.

Up until today I would have agreed but......

Just saw the Novak match.

Novak hit a great winner in the 2nd set tie break that pretty much took the set away from Tommy. Despite this, Tommy made a point of giving Novak a thumbs up in commendation.

What a top guy. Real class.

Also, Novak 22 out of 27 net points! Novak! Net points!

HM Murdoch wrote:Just saw the Novak match.

Novak hit a great winner in the 2nd set tie break that pretty much took the set away from Tommy. Despite this, Tommy made a point of giving Novak a thumbs up in commendation.

What a top guy. Real class.

Also, Novak 22 out of 27 net points! Novak! Net points!

Look out Murdoch the volleying accounting team will come in now and tell us this statistic doesn't count. Remember overheads aren't volleys, drive volleys aren't volleys, if you don't come in on the first ball it isn't a volley, and if it is an easy put away it isn't a volley either. That is how they gave credit to Novak for 4 volleys in his final in the AO against Murray this year.

The Special Juan wrote:I think I'm now in a position to make a prediction and based on the respective performances so far, I can't see Nadal troubling Djokovic. The problem for Nadal is that (and feel free to rage at me until the cows come home) I think Novak's just better than him these days.

I think Novak is rounding into shape, he did lose his serve a couple of times in the last set but played a very clean match. If he serves well and plays cleanly behind his serve I think he beats Nadal. Tough to call though, very hard to predict who will win Nadal has so much fight and such pedigree on the surface.