Yes so happy for the win today. At least Rafa did what he said he should do, by playing more aggressively and closer to the baseline and moved into the court whenever possible. Not facing any break point and serving around or close to 120mph, yes a positive result. Though first serve % was only 52, % won was OK and second serve points won were a good 82%. Overall a good performance and he's into his tenth final this year, well done! Hope he can win tomorrow!

Yes, I noticed Rafa's position in this match. Even the commentators mentioned that he was standing on the baseline or inside, not behind it like in yesterday's match. So nice to see Rafa making these adjustments! And what do you know - when Rafa hits that cc backhand inside the baseline, he gets winners. I also noticed that Rafa defended that forehand side in this match. He moved into the net when he saw his opportunities, took the ball early and went for winners.

Rafa's groundstrokes were more accurate, not all those mishits that we saw yesterday. He just took over the match and Fish started making UE's.

This is what I wanted to see! Congratulations, Rafa and good luck in the final!

When Rafa plays like this he is unbeatable. Why does he not do it all the time? That's the $60 million dollar question.

The Shanghai draw is out.

Seeds in Rafa's half: Mayer, Tipsa, Berdych (Rafa's Qtr) Ferrer, Verdasco, Roddick, Almagro (Ferrer's Qtr).

Seeds in Murray's half: Wawarinka, Troicki, Simon (Murray's Qtr) Tsonga, Melzer Dolgo, Fish (Tsonga's Qtr).

Rafa & Murray's potential 2nd Rnd opponents - G-Lopez or Devvarman and Tursunov or Bellucci respectively.

Great to hear Rafa played aggressively - I wish for exactly the same tomorrow against Murray. Vamos and good luck ...............

Fish strikes me as calm and focused guy...he usually does not show emotions on the court but rather decides to keep the 'poker face'...in today's match, however, with his extremely good defensive skills and ability to switch to offence when the opponent least expects it, Rafa was the cause of major frustration for Fish who then made unusual UEs...Rafa's defense is among the best in the world and pure perfection and I wonder why is it so often considered a flaw rather than virtue...you have to give a credit when credit is due...VAMOS RAFA!!!

I too was surprised by Mardy's loss of concentration. I couldn't hear what the dispute with the umpire was about but presumably he was aggrieved over the line calls and let it get to him because after that his game fell off dramatically and he started throwing the toys out of the pram.

who cares for the draw of Shanghai express? Tennis is at a deadstop without Fed everyone feels it and knows it. empty seats , no airtime, litle TV scheduling. Fed at 30 pushes the ATP tour likeno man can. Tennis must look very hard to find new ways to become more appealing when he retires. Better listen to his sound advice and not try to slow all the courts down to clayspeed. Boring matches with tedious long ralliegs are what we may look forward to.

Sienna..blah blah blah yawn yawn yawn..now go off to sleep :-)

God this lady has to put her 2 useless cents in every freaking thread and post..grrr

As per her tennis will have no viewership if Fed doesnt play..Last I checked most stadiums in Japan Open were over 80% full for Rafas matches and yes both China & Japan Open are being shown completely on TV (in India which is actually not a great tennis nation), so I am sure they are being shown in countries that have more tennis fans :-)

There is only 1 reason WTC was moved to the O2.
and 1000 shanghai has really no future with players wanting to change.

Fish was upset because he felt that the linespeople were making the calls too late. That is what he was complaining about to the umpire.

However, his real problem was Rafa! :)

@sienna: "Better listen to his sound advice and not try to slow all the courts down to clayspeed. Boring matches with tedious long ralliegs are what we may look forward to.
Sienna , 10/8/11 4:30 PM "

The long, grinding rallies is what will destroy tennis, and it's counter-productive to those players who engage in doing so. It does take a heavy toll on those players and it's one reason there are so many injuries. I only hope ATP wises up to the surfaces and stop tampering/tinkering with them, coz people will lose interest in the sport. I, for one, don't enjoy a 25 shot rally, it's boring. I become tired just watching the back and forth, hence, is it any wonder why some players have to take extra time between points when they engage in the extra long points?

I would have loved to see Mardy win this match and get to the final. If that had happened, he probably could have won the title, coz he's very capable of beating Murray again. Anyway, he got to the semis, which will help him to acquire some much needed points to qualify for the WTF. Oh well, better luck next time for Mardy.

scoretracker, This year's US Open final was BORING!!! I mean I like to see a long rally every now and then but almost every single point... it's not good!!!

I read an article where Jim Courier was saying that the homogenizing of the surfaces was not good for tennis and I agree. There was an inetreting stat that showed that in the 90's very few players even made it to the finals of wimbledon and RG on the same year. Now federer has done it (2006,2007,2008,2009) and nadal has done it (2006,2007,2008,2010,2011).
Of course I think Roger would still have won a ton of Wimbledons if the surface had remained fast because he is versatile and, I mean, he beat sampras for crying out loud. Just compare roger's match in 2001 with sampras and you'll notice the change in play - less volleys and staying more in the baseline. There are 2 reasons for this, the surface obviously was slowed down and the new strings allow players to return the ball faster making it extremely difficult to serve and volley (this style of play is dead!!!).

To conclude, I think there won't be any player to beat federer's achievements simply because tennis has been progressively changing. Whereas in the beginning of the game it was all about technique and shot making and the physical aspect was less important we can clearly see how the physical endurance and prowess have been taking an important place in today's tennis. Meaning that it will be extremely difficult for any player to win 3/2 slams a year for 3/4/5 years.

What wins GS now is not superior shot making but rather consistency and endurance. It is extremely hard to hit a winner through nadal when he is running 5/6 times from one corner of the court to the other returning almost every ball. But now djokovic has such consistency on his shots that he just doesn't miss. If he has to hit 30 shots to win a point he is up to it. To me that's a big difference to federer, sometimes roger will hit 1/2/3 great shots that against many other players would be a winner or would give him the point but nadal just returns them and federer ends up doing an UE.

These are dark times for those who don't like to see grindingfests. The final of the US Open that's the type of match the future will be mainly about in tennis.
UNLESS they change the surfaces back to what they once were.

@bleck: Of the top 4, three are grinders. You're right, we're in for dark times, as the tennis is not very enjoyable when they play each other. I doubt the surfaces will be changed back anytime soon, unless there's a huge uprising from the fans. I'd rather watch a good server than a grindfest.