Pakistan’s Aisam Qureshi and partner Jean-Julian Rojer fell short in their French Open semifinal against the Bryan brothers of the USA. This was a gilt-edged opportunity for Aisam because clay is the Bryans’ least favorite surface.
When the pair found themselves a set and a break down with the Bryans serving at 40-0, it seemed all over bar the shouting. But Aisam and Rojer clawed their way back and broke the Bryans in that very game, ultimately forcing a tie-break. The Bryans ultimately prevailed at 8-6 in a tense tie breaker. Had Aisam taken the tie break, the momentum would have been with him and Rojer and anything could have been possible.
The good news is that the Aisam-Rojer pairing has gelled and should be a real threat at Wimbledon. The bad news is that Aisam’s quest for a Grand Slam title continues to be elusive.
The semifinal stage of the French Open tennis revealed few surprises, with the top three seeds in the men’s reaching the semifinals along with sixth seeded David Ferrer. The only upset, and that too a mild one, was Ferrer’s defeat of the fourth seed Andy Murray. With Murray suffering from a bad back, this was always on the cards. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic came back from the brink of defeat to book their respective spots while Rafael Nadal was too consistent for compatriot and friend Elmagro.
The match of the quarterfinals was undoubtedly Joe Wilfred Tsonga’s challenge to Djokovic. Tsonga, who has discovered consistency and a recently developed defensive game, outplayed Djokovic for most of the match. He had several match points in the fourth set but Djokovic saved them all with some nerveless play. The fifth set was a mere formality with Tsonga offering little resistance.
Roger Federer was also in trouble, looking at a two set deficit against the giant Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro. But Federer, apart from a loss at the US Open final a couple of years ago, has mostly had the measure of the younger man. Del Potro may have had a problem with his knee, but in the final three sets it was all Federer.
David Ferrer was too steady and too mobile for Andy Murray and his win was an upset only on paper. Murray has changed more coaches than most players and it might be that the Ivan Lendl experiment would fizzle out as well. Murray has the misfortune of playing at the same time as three of the greatest players of all time. He would also be looking over his shoulder as the next generation of stars matures. His window of opportunity for winning a major event is getting smaller by the day.
The semifinal pairings were Federer against Djokovic and Ferrer against Nadal. Nadal-Ferrer was almost a foregone conclusion. Raffa is playing imperious tennis and Ferrer simply did not have the firepower to counter his compatriot. Djokovic on the other hand showed signs of nerves, perhaps because he is on the cusp of being the first player in 44 years to hold all four major titles. Federer had numerous chances. He was up a break in the first set and failed to consolidate. He was up two breaks in the second but insisted on trading ground strokes with Djokovic. Had he mixed things up with off pace ground strokes and slices, he could have forced errors from the world number one. But Federer seemed to have no plan B.
Perhaps success has spoiled Roger. He had things so much his own way that he had no need to change his game against anybody. This is perhaps Federer’s only weakness: the inability to break down his opponent’s game with subtle change of pace and spin.
It will be a battle royale on Sunday with Nadal and Djokovic going at it hammer and tongs. Nadal is looking for his seventh French Open while Djokovic looks to be the first player since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles at the same time. It looks like the Spaniard may just have too much clay court savvy for the Serb
In the women’s event, Italian Sara Errani was the surprise package, reaching the finals by defeating the powerful Sam Stosur in three sets. In the other semi, there was the repeat of last year’s Wimbledon final between Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova. Sharapova has shown a lot of improvement in the recent past and was too strong for the powerful Kvitova. She would be the odds-on favourite in Saturday’s final. Sania Mirza won her second major title, the mixed, with Mahesh Bhupathi. Sania is now, essentially a doubles specialist. She did well in singles for a few years, but found herself overmatched against players much bigger and stronger than her. A technically flawed service action and niggling injuries also contributed. Sania can now look forward to a long and prosperous doubles career.
Pakistan bounce back
In cricket, Pakistan bounced back from a T20 loss to win the second T20 International against Sri Lanka. They then easily won the first ODI by six wickets. Pakistan’s bowling attack was impressive, with Umar Gul, Sami and Sohail Tanvir in the pace attack and Ajmal, Hafeez and Afridi forming a potent spin trio. Tanvir was player of the T20 series. He is a very effective bowler because of his unorthodox, wrong foot action. Tanvir can also be an electrifying striker of the ball, given the right circumstances where he can get a few balls to get his eye in. Tanvir should be persevered with as a bowling all rounder.
Mohammad Hafeez did quite well as captain in the T20s. He was, understandably, taken up by the occasion in the first outing, but handled his boys better in the second. Hafeez is well spoken, articulate and is considered a good student of the sport. He should get a long run as captain with an eye to grooming him for the longer versions of the game.
