Sports Betting Blog

Looking as strong as ever, the US Open defending champion managed to outplay the Argentinean in three straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-4, to earn his 10^th consecutive trip into a Grand Slam semifinals. But despite what you might make out of the overwhelming three set win, Del Potro had a fabulous game against the Serb. The match included a thrilling 20-stroke game that could have only come from a matchup between two previous US Open Championship. Some dozen shots into the play, Del Potro sprinted with his back to the court, got to the ball and lofted a lob the other way. It was a miracoulous save. Djokovic responded with a slamming  overhead. Del Potro somehow kept the ball in play right in front of the net. Djokovic laced a drop shot. Again, del Potro got there, attempting another lob. This time, it landed a little long.

This was the turning point of the matchup. Del Po was never able to get back into the game after this point. Juan Martin del Potro had defeated Novak Djokovic on their previous matchup as both went on head to head for the bronze medal in the London 2012 Summer Olympics. At the end, when it came to the bigger stage, it was the Djoker making the best out of that matchup. “We played some incredible rallies and incredible points,” the second-seeded Djokovic said. “It’s always entertaining, always so much fun, playing in these night sessions.” This was by far the first real test for Novak in the 2012 US Open. Let’s not forget that for the better part of the tournament, Djokovic just kept on rolling over his opponents. As a matter of fact, he hasn’t loss a single set yet.

But if anyone was going to give him a fight, a run for his money, that was going to be the tall and slender Argentine that kept on smacking down 100 mph forehands. Just to put this into the right perspective, consider for a moment that Djokovic’s and del Potro’s second set alone lasted 84 minutes. That is, 11 more minutes than the Djoker’s entire first round match last week. It is really a shame that Argentinean player has not been able to reach his full potential since he last won the tournament at Flushing Meadows. Injuries have really kept him from staying constant in the tour. Let’s not forget that he was sidelined for most of the 2010 season because of a right wrist injury that required surgery. Last year he had some issues with his lower back and to make things more complicated earlier this year he had problems with his left wrist, an injury that has limited the effectiveness of his two-fisted backhand.

Djokovic will now face the fourth-seeded David Ferrer in the semifinals on Saturday. Ferrer had to rely heavily on his speed and skill to defeat eighth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-3, 6-7 (5), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in 4 hours, 31 minutes. The other quarterfinal will be played between Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray and Thomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who pulled off an amazing upset over Roger Federer last night. Stay tuned for more action at the 2012 US Open.

David Ferrer was born on April 2^nd, 1982 in Valencia, Spain. Ever since he turned a professional at the turn of the century, the clay court specialist has lived under the shadow of his fellow countryman Rafael Nadal. And it’s not as if the second best ranked Spaniard hasn’t been doing well for himself. On the contrary, he has proved his worth especially in the last three years. Let’s not forget for a moment there that he reached the semifinals of the 2012 French Open, proving that he’s strong hold is set over the red crushed brick clay of Paris, but he has also has had success on hard courts. For instance, Ferrer made it to the semifinals of the the 2007 US Open and 2011 Australian Open. As a bonus, perhaps, he was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2008, 2009 and 2011. But despite holding some good numbers and plenty of tournament wins, his resume is just not in the same league as that of one Rafael Nadal.

Even though the grass courts of the All English club have by no means been his forte, this year, the 30-year-old Spaniard is proving that his got what it takes to become a real contender down the stretch. Ranked 6^th in the World by the ATP Rankings, Ferrer has placed himself in a very interesting position this year at Wimbledon. He managed to defeat Andy Roddick 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-3 in the third round of the latest Grand Slam, but he also did so, just two days after Rafael Nadal suffered one of the most exciting upsets we’ve seen in years when Nadal was stunned by Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-7(9-11), 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Rosol was certainly more powerful and his very strong serve proved to be a little too much for the Spaniard who just couldn’t keep up with the Czech’s rhythm. Ferrer will now have to face the argentine Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships.

Both Ferrer and Roddick arrived to the third round with a strong run. They both had had a good run at ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Eastbourne respectively, and even though Ferrer had a short 6-4 advantage in their head to head history, they had never played together over a grass court. Roddick took an early lead in the first set with his strong serve and managed closed the first set under 23 minutes of play. Still, in the second set, Ferrer got his fighting gloves on and began attacking the net. Soon enough, he had the game turning his way with his masterful groundstroke that kept Roddick holding back in the baseline and playing a very defensive match.

Now, if Ferrer manages to defeat del Potro in the fourth round, he will be advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time ever in Wimbledon. Sure enough he’s got an 8 game winning streak behind him as a motivational boost, but it seems that the 2009 US Open winner is going to be a hard bone to chew on. “It’s going to be going to be so difficult. To win him I will have to play very consistent. Is very important my first percentage with my serve. I will have to play very, very good,” Ferrer said of his game against DelPo. Let’s see what happens for now as these two guys take the courts tomorrow. 

In 2009, Juan Martín del Potro, the Argentinean tennis star, defeated Roger Federer in the US Open Title. It was the end of Federer dominance at the Medowlands and it was the last time that Juan Martín showed his full potential. A series of injuries kept him from defending his title the following year and kept on pushing him behind in the rankings. So when Del Potro managed to reach the ABN  Amro World Tennis final, many saw this one as a sign that his was recovering his form.

Still, Juan Martin would had to play the legendary Roger Federer on Sunday for the championship match. At the end, it would be up to the Swiss Maestro to defeat Juan Martin del Potro 6-1, 6-4 and take the win at the ABN Amro World Tennis. This is Roger Federer’s  first title of the year. The top-seeded Roger Federer reached the ABN Amro World Tennis final with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Nikolay Davydenko on Saturday’ semifinals. Juan Martin del Potro, the third-seeded Argentine, was able to overpower second-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-1 in the other semifinal.

In the final match, Roger Federer jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first set. This early deficit took a very high toll on del Potro’s mindset and his game just kept showing his lack of concentration. It’s not just that Federer was having a good day, truth is that del Potro was clearly making uncharacteristic errors. Del Potro tried to regain his form and took a 2-1 lead in the second set. But it was too little and too late to actually slow down Federer, who would down Del Potro with a phenomenal attack. Roger Federer won five of the next seven games to close the match.

“For me, it all began in 1999 when I reached the quarterfinals here,” Federer said in the postgame conference. “Even now, the expectations were high throughout the tournament. I am happy I was able to fulfill the expectations.”

The tennis fans in Rotterdam hadn’t seen the Swiss Maestro since he won the title back in 2005. Juan Martin del Potro, on the other hand, was playing in the tournament for the first time. But his experience could had been a lot better. Del Potro won just seven points on his serve in the first set. That was a bit too much to recover from a 5-0 deficit. Even though the Argentine’s game improved throught the match, del Potro simply failed to execute in the most important points of the game. It was as if del Potro just couldn’t find a way to beat Federer on the key points. And that made all the difference.

Roger Federer once again proved that he is still one of the sports’ finest, even if he has been overshadowed by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic lately. Still, Federer took a 4-2 lead before serving out the match to win his 71st career title. He saved all seven break points he faced and broke del Potro three times.

“I have managed to restore my rhythm,” Federer said at the end of the game “The match against Davydenko was a good warm-up for the match against del Potro.”

It was payback time for the defending champions, Swiss Roger Federer, as he would play 2009 US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro in their second round match. Del Potro has been out of contention for quite a while because of a series of injuries. Perhaps the most troubling is his hip injury that not only kept him from defending his title at the 2010 US Open, but also has been giving him some troubles recently. We have to acknowledge, just as Federer himself did, that this 6-3, 7-5 win over the Argentine player came when del Potro wasn’t at his best physical condition. He has been out of the professional circuit for over a year now, and despite some good moments in the second set, it’s quite evident that he is far from reaching his full potential.

Roger Federer entered the match with a 6-2 lead their head to head meetings, but like we said, del Potro had won their two most recent encounters. And it’s not just that they are the more recent wins, it’s also a matter of where and when this wins came. The first of the two came in the 2009 US Open final, when the Swiss was two points away from victory, and the later one came at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, just to prove it wasn’t just sheer luck what got del Potro through.

It was an easy win for the Swiss Maestro. Federer needed just a break of serve in each set to clinch the one-hour, 32-minute victory. The Federer Express won 83 per cent of his service points and found himself struggling only once in the second set. But it would last long as Federer successfully saved a break point in the sixth game.

Juan Martin del Potro really doesn’t have much experience in this tournament. Federer on the other hand has won this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 on four distinct occasions. If he collects his fifth, he will surpass Matt Willander for the most wins at this tournament. Del Potro had only been here in the 2007 edition and even back then he left early on when losing to Moya in the third round.

Del Potro has his eyes set on bigger prices. He is soon going to be traveling to the Meadowlands, to get ready for his return to the US Open. “I will try to train hard to be 100 per cent for the Open,” he said. “I love this tournament. I want to be there. I want to just play the US Open this year, and then I will have time to take a rest, to think about this season, and to fix all my physical problems.”

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will both see action later on today. Eight-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic became the first man to advance to the third round. Berdych defeated Argentina’s Juan Monaco 7-6 (2), 6-0. Ninth-seeded Nicolas Almagro, 10th-seeded Gilles Simon of France and No. 15 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a Wimbledon semifinalist, also made it into the next round