Forgetting to Lose

I think I can safely say that a lot of people the world round are surprised by the two blokes we have in the final of Cincinatti. I would venture to say that Murray/Nadal was the popular choice... but no, we will have Federer/Djokovic.

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I can see why people pick Murray over Federer. I really can. It pains me to say it, but I can. The head to head record, particularly outside finals, is overwhelmingly in Murray's favour, and he just seems to be able to feed a lot of balls back to Federer which are a little bit... different, and oddly placed. Murray is a great tactician and he has a great mind for the game.

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Reality is, though, that Federer is totally capable of wiping the floor with him, and when Federer does... you feel a bit sorry for Murray. Today's match wasn't a whitewash, but it certainly didn't go to a final set breaker. It seemed inevitable that Murray would win, what with the factors previously discussed, but Roger sort of forgot to let Andy get in his head today. It was a great match - and I think it's going to be very good for Roger going into the US Open.

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Then the other match - I know Rafa's knees are not great right now, but I think this was a really big win for Djokovic. He hasn't played well since Rome and Madrid, really, where he played some absolutely marvellous matches... and the dude that stood in his way and prevented him from converting that into actual titles was, in every circumstance, Nadal. We all know I'm not a Djokovic fan, but I couldn't help feeling a little bit glad for the guy when he let out that primal scream... it might be a very telling victory for him, a very telling victory indeed.

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Today's Results

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Western and Southern Financial Group Masters (Cincinatti)

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Roger Federer def. Andy Murray, 6-2 7-6 (10-8)

Novak Djokovic def. Rafael Nadal, 6-1 6-4

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Rogers Cup (Toronto)

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Elena Dementieva def. Serena Williams, 7-6 (7-2) 6-1

Maria Sharapova def. Alisa Kleybanova, 6-2 4-6 6-4