Men's QF days promises some thrills, but no major surprises
on the cards:
 |
| Expect Murray, Federer, Djokovic and Cilic to power through to the semis. |
Sadly (for me), in spite of Rafael Nadal bowing it, the
tournament moves on mercilessly. Anyways, the remaining eight men, diversely
representing eight countries (Great Britain, America, Switzerland, Canada,
Luxembourg, Croatia, Serbia and the Czech Republic)
Andy Murray v Sam Querrey: Querrey is playing terrific
tennis, and last year had knocked out Novak Djokovic, kicking of his slump. He
is a big server, and plays well on grass. He has beaten a few top 20 players
this year, including Nadal in Mexico. He has the game and the confidence. But
Murray eats big servers for breakfast and is approaching something close to his
best form of the year. He has beaten
Querrey on the one occasion they played here and more importantly defeated him
the last time they met, in Australia earlier this year. Murray now is better
than Murray then. Querrey might stretch Murray to a tiebreak or two, but his
run ends here.
Pick: Murray in 4 sets.
Roger Federer v Milos Raonic: A rematch of last year's
semi-final, where an undercooked Federer still lead by two sets to one before
falling in five sets to the Canadian who was playing the best tennis of his
life. Now the Swiss is playing better and the Canadian is not at his 2016
level. While it is true that Federer has not played anyone with a serve the
caliber of Raonic, it is also true that Raonic has not met anyone nearly as
complete on grass as Federer. Before last year, the Swiss had beaten the
Canadian on grass twice, once on these lawns. Expect the same.
Pick: Federer to win in 3 sets.
Gilles Muller v Marin Cilic: Both great servers. Both with
over 10 wins on grass already this year. They partied long and hard in
Luxembourg for Muller's career-defining performance in defeating Rafael Nadal, apparently
showing no nerves and displaying excellent grass court nous, but surely Muller
must be a little tired and more riskily, on a high that he needs to climb down
off. Cilic has an excellent record on grass, defeated Muller two weeks ago and
is still smarting from somehow letting Federer off the hook last year in the
quarters after holding match points. Oh, and one more thing: Muller's epic
fifth set 15-13 took longer than Cilic's entire fourth round match.
Pick: Cilic in 3 sets.
Novak Djokovic v Tomas Berdych: This tournament was where the
slump started for Novak, which resulted in him relinquishing all 4 of his Slam
titles, started. And it does appear that this tournament is where he is slowly,
but surely, rediscovering his inner mongrel, so essential to his success. He
can put aside the hugging and loving and learning for now. Facing an opponent
he has beaten 25/27 times should provide him with a brisk workout, nothing else,
for Berdych, so long a mainstay in the top ten, has had his own slump. Berdych
can look to his 2010 defeat of Novak on these courts for inspiration. But that
was a long time ago, and unlikely to return. The big serving, industrious Czech
will need to be happy with a quarter-final result.
Pick: Djokovic in 4 sets.
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