USO: One Three One

No, that’s not the score from tonight. That’s Rafa’s top serve speed. Where you been hiding that?

Rafa started his quest for his missing piece of slam hardware by playing #93 Teimuraz Gabashvili – a self-described slightly crazy Russian who can get streaky hot when given the chance and hits the ball hard and flat. He has the kind of game that’s written about in the tennis manual chapter on “how to beat Rafa on fast hard courts”, but could he do it consistently enough? Not quite. He played consistently well, but Rafa was just a notch better. Rafa’s through

31 Aug 2010 | by miri | 72 Comments

US Open Draw

The US Open draw was performed today and I tried to follow along while at work. The top for divided up with Rafa/Murray in the top half; Nole/Federer in the bottom. The top quarter is Spanish heavy with Rafa, Ferrer and Verdasco. Rafa’s first match will be against Gabashvili.

The draw

26 Aug 2010 | by miri | 43 Comments

Falling Just Short of the Semifinal

It was a dream quarterfinal for me, my two darling boys, Rafa and Marcos Baghdatis. Rafa had moments of utter brilliance and you could see him adjusting to his opponent’s play (or trying to). Like much of this tournament, Rafa held on with claws and teeth, but finally encountered someone who could shake him off. He fought for it like the tenacious champion that he is but in the end was brought down by

20 Aug 2010 | by Kalliopeia | 94 Comments

Battling Into the Quarterfinals

Once again I missed most of today’s match. From what I did see, Rafa still seems a little bit sloppy. But thanks to his tireless determination and probably at least a little helped by some third set cramping issues from Benneteau, Rafa wins in three 5-7, 7-6(8-6), 6-2. He plays my darling Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

19 Aug 2010 | by Kalliopeia | 44 Comments

Starting Strong In Cincy

Unfortunately I didn’t see a single point of the match today, though it looks like Taylor Dent held his own for awhile at least in the second set. The important thing is that he won 6-2, 7-5 and will next face Julien Benneteau. So, I have to hear it from you guys…how did Rafa look today?

18 Aug 2010 | by Kalliopeia | 39 Comments

RC: So long, Toronto

It’s semi-final day in Toronto and the top four players are left. The day started with Rafa vs. Murray. These two have played some crackers in the past and the match-up was highly anticipated. The level of tennis lived up to expectations – the players were smacking the ball right from the start. Aggressive Andy came to play today and he was pushing Rafa around. Andy broke 8th game of the first set and then served it out. They traded tight breaks in the 2nd, but Andy broke again in the 9th game. He served it out in style and

14 Aug 2010 | by miri | 56 Comments

RC: Steady improvement

Rafa and #37 Philipp Kohlschreiber played the 2nd quarterfinal match today at the Rogers Cup tournament. Turns out, Wednesday’s shanktastic Rafa was back and Kohlschreiber needed just 32 minutes to claim the first set. Rafa stepped things up, broke in his first receiving game of the second set, and, 33 minutes later, the second set was his. Things were tight in the 3rd when Rafa broke at love in the 7th game. That’s all he needed and he’s through: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

13 Aug 2010 | by miri | 43 Comments

RC: Big server? Okay.

In his 3rd round match at the Rogers Cup, Rafa played #87 Kevin Anderson who knocked out fellow tall lanky server Sam Querrey in his prior match. We all know the big guys can be a problem on the hard court especially when you’ve never played them before and don’t know their serve. It took Rafa awhile to even get a point on Anderson’s serve, but once he did the first set was soon over. The second was a bit closer with the guys trading breaks until a tiebreak that, while a bit more dramatic than it needed to be,

12 Aug 2010 | by miri | 25 Comments

RC: Hello? Hard court season?

For his first singles match since the Wimbledon final, Rafa took on #24 Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round of the Rogers Cup this evening. Showing a rustiness that’s a wee bit familiar when starting on hard courts after a break, Rafa’s timing was well off in the first set. He somehow managed to scrape out the set during an extended tie break. The second set was more routine – Rafa was finding his range bit more consistantly and Wawrinka’s will to win was on the wane. Rafa’s through: 7-6(12), 6-3.

11 Aug 2010 | by miri | 38 Comments

RC: Rafole denied

Rafa and Djokovic (aka Rafole) took on a Canadian duo of Pospisil/Raonic (aka Posonic). The organizers of the tournament worked hard to get the match on Canadian TV…the rest of the world was out of luck, however. Despite this being the only the second time that the #1 and #2 players have teamed up – the first time was Connors/Ashe in 1976 (that combo still boggles my mind). They played well, but couldn’t quite pull it off. Posonic win: 5-7, 6-3, 10-8.

9 Aug 2010 | by miri | 27 Comments