The first Grand Slam of the year 2009 kick started in Melbourne just about 2 weeks back and what a couple of weeks it has been! Top seeds doing well, upsets galore. This year's open has been top class and the best the world has seen thus far. It all started with Andy Murray of GB being announced one of the top favorites to win the crown. What with him having beaten both Nadal and Federer in the run up to this event! However, as Djokovic repeatedly commented, Murray was a favorite only after Nadal, Federer and himself. As the tournament wore on, a new star emerged. That was the Spanish Davis Cup hero and 14th Seed, Fernando Verdasco. He reached his 1st ever Grand Slam Semi Final beating the 4th Seed Andy Murry and 5th Seed Jo-Wilfred Tsonga on his way there. The top seed Nadal had absolutely no problems ambushing his opponents on his way to Semifinals. The semifinalists from the top half of the draw were Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco (both Spaniards), a first where Australian Open is concerned. In the bottom half of the draw, things were more in order with the quarterfinal line-up as expected. In the quarterfinal, Roddick, a former No. 1, played a fanstactic game to force the 3rd Seed Djokovic to retirement and set up a semi-final date with the man gunning for the record, Federer. So, the Australian Open Semi-final line up looked like
No. 2 Seed Roger Federer Vs. No. 7 Seed Andy Roddick
No. 1 Seed Rafael Nadal Vs. No. 14 Seed Fernando Verdasco.
On 29th January 2009, Federer brushed past Roddick in straight sets to keep his date with destiny. He was now eagerly looking forward to know who is opponent on 1st February was going to be.
On the other hand, the second semi-final was turning out to be a classic. Keeping up his reputation of playing some unstoppable tennis in this open, Ferdasco continued to do so. The top seed who had not lost a single set in any of the previous rounds was forced to play a more formidable opponent and lost his first sets of the tournament. The monumental battle, the longest in the history of the Open, ended late into the night a few minutes after 5 long and gruelling hours. It was a shame that there had to be a winner and loser in this battle. But the world got to view some enthralling tennis and after the gruelling battle, the top seed came through as a winner to set up a final clash with his favorite opponent.
No other players have met 7 times, in the Open era, in the grand slam finals. Federer meets his old nemisis yet again in a final and hopes to come over him to equal Sampras' record of 14 Grandslam finals.
More on this later... Keep watching... And enjoy the stories on this blog...
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