The men's semifinals are finished, and wow, what a day of tennis. Fortunately, after much doubt, it was completed today, and the final is set. Rafael Nadal will meet Roger Federer for the fifth time here in Paris, the fourth in the final. We'll have the women's preview up later, but after the jump we'll take an in depth look at each match.
Men's SF Number One: Rafael Nadal def. Andy Murray 6-4, 7-5, 6-4
This match was an odd affair, with many breaks of serve going both ways. In the end, Nadal was too much for Murray, using his offense to punish the Scotsman. Nadal was up two breaks in the first, but Murray was able to claw his way back in the set, but eventually fell short, losing it 6-4. The second set was a very close affair, with Nadal breaking at 5-5 and then successfully served out the set. In the third, he broke early and never let go of his grip, winning it 6-4. Overall, it was a long match, going 3 hours and 17 minutes, an unusually long time for a straight set math.
Men's SF Number Two: Roger Federer def. Novak Djokovic 7-6 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
This one really was an instant classic. Federer took the first set after a long and physical set. Both players broke each other twice in the set, and it came down to a dramatic tiebreaker, in which Federer prevailed. The second set was marked by a drastic dip in Djokovic's play, and Federer took advantage of it, winning it 6-3. The first two sets were also very unique in that Federer was 3-23 in break point opportunities, which is actually really bad. 23 break points is almost unheard of at that level. Nevertheless, in the third set, Federer got broken in his first service game as was quickly down 3-0 with one break. He could never get that break back, losing 6-3.
The fourth set was where the drama happened. Both players held comfortably until 3-3, in which Federer held after a couple break points. Then at 4-4, Federer did get broken after 6 deuces. His serve failed him, getting in only 3 first serves out of 14 points. At that point, it was about 9:05 Paris time, so if Djokovic had won the fourth set, they would have had to come back tomorrow. Djokovic served for it at 5-4, but he quickly fell into a 0-40 hole. Two huge serves put him back at 30-40, but Federer hit two huge forehands, one off the return and one in the rally to break back for 5-5. The next game was also intense, with it going to two deuces. Federer did hold on to get to 6-5. Djokovic then held easily for a tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker itself was a microcosm of the match. Federer raced ahead to a 3-1 lead, but Djokovic fought back to 3-3. An error from Djokovic and two huge serves from Federer brought it to 6-3, with three match points, but Djokovic hit two monster serves, the second one unreturnable, to force Federer to serve for the match. Federer did just that, hitting an ace to set up a date with Rafael Nadal for the Roland Garros crown. It was really all you could hope for from them, and now Federer looks to beat Nadal for the first time in Paris.
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