Federer and Murray Advance to Rogers Cup Final

This article was last updated on May 19, 2022

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Murray gets ready to unload
a serve at Nadal
The two top ranked players in the world were eliminated on semifinal Saturday as Roger Federer and Andy Murray advanced to the Rogers Cup final on Sunday afternoon in Toronto.
 
In the afternoon semifinal match, Murray had very little difficulty defeating top-ranked Raphael Nadal winning in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-4. Like the quarterfinals, Nadal struggled in the first set as he made too many unforced errors. But Murray was playing some great tennis as well – up 5-3, Murray hit three aces in a row and then later hit a baseline winner to close out the set 6-3.
 
 
Raphael Nadal does a fist-pump
after finally breaking Andy Murray’s serve
to tie it at 3-3 in the second set.
Nadal struggled to break Murray’s serve throughout the match but when he finally did break, he did a big fist-pump in the air to tie the set at 3-3. Nadal then went up 4-3 as he held serve and looked poised to steal the second set.
 
But after holding serve to tie at 4-4, Murray broke ‘Rafa’s’ next serve to go up 5-4 to steal the momentum away from Nadal and the Spaniard didn’t seem to have enough in him to fight back. Murray served out the match to win the set 6-4.
 
“Well, playing against Andy always is a challenge,” said Nadal. But anyway, I had the chance 3‑All, 15‑40, and he made double fault. The referee was watching another court, but was double fault.”
 
Nadal was referring to the referee not calling a double fault on Murray at a crucial point in the match.
 
“But sure is not an excuse, is only a point and the match is a lot of points…anyway, sure, was important point, but after that he played better than me,” added Nadal.
 
Murray doesn’t expect to always come out on top against the best tennis players but thinks he’s more than capable if he plays great tennis like he did on Saturday.
“You never expect to beat the best players in the world, but I think if I play my best tennis like I did today, I have a very good chance against all of them.”
 
“But the margins are so small in tennis…like in the second set today he (Nadal) had a couple of chances to go up a break at 5‑3, didn’t take them, and then I just managed to break in the next game, and the momentum shifts can come very quickly, and the game where he broke me at 3‑3, I think he hit three forehands onto the line. Some days they will go in, some days they go out. You don’t expect to win against them."
 
Federer Knocks Off Djokovic
 
 
Novak Djokovic leaps in the air to
smack a serve at Roger Federer
who waits patiently.
In the evening semifinal, Federer was on fire early as he broke Djokovic’s serve three times and won the first set easily, 6-1 – perhaps too easily.
 
Federer kept his momentum going into the second set breaking the first game and holding serve to go up 2-0. Djokovic’s body language said it all – after missing a shot he would throw his hands in the air and talk to himself, he clearly wasn’t happy. But Djokovic rallied to break Federer’s serve three times in the second set and fought back to win the set 6-3.

In the third set with the score tied at 5-5, Djokovic was at double break point before Federer was able to get it to deuce. On the next play, the Serbian missed his shot and then smashed his racquet on the ground – the second time he’s smashed a racquet this week. Federer won the next point to hold serve and go up 6-5 before breaking Djokovic in the following game to take the final set 7-5.

 
Federer thought he played really well but gave Djokovic credit for fighting back after the first set.
 
“I was doing everything right,” said Federer. “He just put the foot in the door before I was going to close it. But no, he played well. He came up with some great stuff. He had some incredible pickups redirecting the ball, some massive forehands when he needed them. You know, credit to him that he came back so strong."
 
“Well, I had a very slow start,” said Djokovic. “I knew Roger is gonna take the ball early and try to take pressure on me. He did. He did it extremely well.”
 
Federer returns the ball towards the
near baseline while Djokovic is
poised to make a run.
“I kind of didn’t find my rhythm, you know. After only half an hour it was already set and break up. But I managed to come back, and I started feeling the ball better. But overall, I think it wasn’t the best performance by my side. I wasn’t serving well when I needed to, and I made a lot of unforced errors on my backhand side”
 
When both players came to the net to shake hands, Djokovic smiled and said something to Federer. When asked what the Serbian said, Federer replied, “He told me that he thought I should have won the match earlier, so I deserved the victory. I was like, ‘Yeah’, I kind of agreed. But I’m still happy I won either way, you know.”
 
“To come through obviously feels great,” added Federer. “Playing against tough guys back to back is something that makes me very happy, and I got a chance now to win the title tomorrow, so I’m excited about it.”

Click HERE to view more pictures from this match.

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Contact Aman Dhanoa at aman@oyetimes.com    

Photos courtesy of Aman and JP Dhanoa

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