Friday, May 14, 2010

Madrid Results: Fed, Rafa and Venus Reach Semis, Jankovic and Murray Fall

After suffering a devastating defeat to Ernests Gulbis at the Italian Open two weeks ago, Roger Federer turned the tables on the Latvian in Madrid, mounting an impressive comeback to defeat Gulbis, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Rafael Nadal has yet to drop a set this week at the Mutua Madrilena Masters, where he is the defending runner-up, making quick work of Gael Monfils, 6-1, 6-3, to advance to the semifinals.

Just one week after receiving an absolute beatdown at the hands of Jelena Jankovic, Venus Williams had little difficulty beating one of the other hottest players on tour, Sam Stosur, who could have broken into the top 5 with a win.

“Her game plan seemed to be to just attack everything,” said Williams, following her 3 and 3 win. “She played well. But there were some key points, and at the end, from 4-3, I felt like I went, on autopilot, so it felt good.”


Venus will take on Shahar Peer, who took out Li Na in 3 sets, while Lucia Safarova, who beat Nadia Petrova 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, will face Aravane Rezai, a upset victor against Jankovic.



David Ferrer pulled off an unexpected upset by beating 4th-seeded Andy Murray in straight sets to advance to the final 4, where the Spaniard will take on Federer. Over the course of the 7-5, 6-3 win, which lasted 2 hours and 11 minutes, Ferrer proved why he is constantly a lay-court threat, while Murray showed some of his amateur tendencies that popped up in March. To complete the trifecta of Spaniards in the final, Nicolas Almagro easily defeated Jurgen Melzer, 6-3, 6-1 to earn the right to play Rafa for a finals berth.

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