As well as Nole's playing, I can definitely see Jo taking a set or at least something like 7-5 and 7-6. I can't see Jo getting handled like Monfils did. He may even pull the upset. Hope Jo can move into the top 10 quickly so no more early round matches against Roger.

So bummed about Liverpool right now.
I need Nole to win and make me feel a bit better.

It will not be as easy as Gael... but stil... Nole in 2 sets :)
AJDE NOLE.... we want more records!!!!

1-hour before started! AJDEEE!

Nole, keep your confidence high! Whatever the result, you've made us proud!

Shame... So sorry for Tsonga...

So at the end... anti climax !!!
But Nole is finale... so if ( when ) he wins it will be two more historical achievements...
First player who had won Master immediately after getting No1 position ...
First player with 5 Masters in year...
... so...
AJDE NOLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Outstanding!!!

Thanks Zare for the info. So delighful with the results!!!

Bring on Final!!!

Didn't watch, like nadline with Rafa, with the time difference it would have to be Andy playing for me to EVEN think of staying up. But why "shame" etc, can someone give a bit more info? Cheers.
But congrats to Nole....who can stop the Nolexpress?

My dear deuce,

I did see the match. Tsonga started off serving strong and seemed to try to keep the points short. He did well to hang with Nole in a tight first set. However, Tsonga was behind in his service games and had to fight to keep from getting broken. I know in one game he was down 15-40, but fought back with some great serving and solid play to hold serve. The problem was that Tsonga could not make any headway against Nole when he was serving. He never had even a chance at a break. I think the pressure of having to constantly come from behind on his serve finally caught up with him at 4-5. Nole got the break and the set and from that point on, it was all downhill for Tsonga.

In the second set Tsonga's serve failed him and he immediately was broken. He did have a chance at a break at 2-0, I think. That was the only tight service game Nole had and I don't believe that Tsonga ever even had a break point. The commentators pointed out that Tsonga was looking at his trainer early in the second set. I saw that. So it appear that he was having some problem. He retired at 3-0 citing a shoulder issue he suffered in his match with Fed, I believe.

Brad Gilbert was very critical of Tsonga's decision to retire. He said that if he shows up in Cincy and plays his first match, then it would show that Tsonga basically quit without a real injury. If Tsonga doesn't play in Cincy, then it was real. Gilbert felt that he should have finished the match and allowed Nole to have the win.

Nole's stats were unbelievable. He had 72% first serves in, winning 79% of first serves and 75% of second serves. He had 12 winners to 9 unforced errors. He played brilliant tennis and just broke Tsonga down. His return of serve was excellent. He got his racket on some of Tsonga's big first serves that could have been unreturnable. His game is firing on all cylinders and I do not envy Fish in tomorrow's final.

In closing, you didn't miss anything worthwhile and were smart not to stay up! :)

NNY, thank you so much for bothering to do that for me! I feel I was at the match! Think you should write articles on here. Big virtual hugs. :)
Wonder when on earth this express train will come off the rails....
PS job interview?

deuce,

Thanks so much! From what I saw, I wouldn't want to venture a guess, but I still have faith that our guys will come back strong in Cincy!

Nothing yet on the job interview, but at least I am out there!

Thanks so much for asking and thanks for your good wishes!

If you can't stay up for Cincy, I may try to come on here and write some thoughts on our guys!

Here's to Cincy! :)

It's way past my bedtime, so I will call it a night!

Take care!

Tsonga was holding for right biceps few times during 1st set. He is power player, and he is always trying to finish points ASAP. He was returning 150+ km/h and it was clear strategy it is hit or miss, and conversion ratio was pretty OK. So you can never be sure were he shortening points cause injury or defaulting to tactic. There was some serve and volley attempts but he was 50% successful on the net winning same number of points like Novak which was 100% successful on the net.

Tsonga was leading with winners most of 1st set, but risky game yielded with more UE. More than that, it was rare to see Novak unable to retrieve some balls as Tsonga was hitting like crazy. But as NNY said, fight was on Tsonga serve as Novak was holding his serve furiously. Novak was behind on his serve few times, but the way how he built points and how he finished them was stunning. It was brutally precise, efficient, demoralizing with clear message that there will be no breaks.

In 2nd set, after Tsonga was broken on 2-0 he asked umpire for medical time out, telling him that he can't play with his arm. Umpire told him that he must wait for his turn to serve, as Novak was serving.

Novak dropped his level significantly, speeding things down. And as I was on twitter it was confusing how it was perceived by Tsonga and Novak fans. Tsonga fans was complaining that Novak is trying to prolong MTO and to tire Tsonga even more. Novak fans were angry thinking that he is tanking match not trying to hit hard injured Tsonga. Anyway that third game was the only one which played little longer on Novak serve.

During MTO, I've heard Tsonga saying that he can't play with this arm against Novak. He want's to play next week and he is worried that he can be hurt even more. That is reason why he is harshly attacked by most commentators. I was watching Sky Sports, and Barry Cowan was saying same that if he shows up on Monday at Cincy than it is questionable his move as he should at least try to finish match because of crowd.

I have mixed feeling about this. I've noticed that he was holding for his arm in 1st set. But more than that I was noticing how tired he was, unable to catch breath between points. Tsonga is same height as Novak, but he is noticeably heavier with stronger constitution. His mileage on court cost him that 15kg extra weight. He complained after Almagro that he felt tired. His training before Novak match was described as lethargic. And after Federer win, I felt he is little bit worn out, emotionally and physically.

I know that in 2nd set it was clear that Tsonga is unable to hold with Novak. Does risking injury to finish match to please the crowd sounds reasonable? For me no. Is it exciting to watch match to the end, knowing outcome? No if it is 3AM on TV, YES if you paid ticket. Does ending match worth more than having Tsonga out of Cincy? NO!

To sum up, it would be great if Tsonga was able at least to finish match on exhibition level. Something similar what Monfils pulled out yesterday, except he admitted it was part of cunning plan to disrupt Novak concentration. But I still feel sorry for Tsonga as he was booed of the court. Novak stayed much more longer on court, signing almost everything fans throw on him trying to ease moment and please crowd.

But at the end, I support Tsonga decision as I think players knows the best. It would be boring without him. He struggles with injuries and I don't want to see him of the court, dropping rating. He is clearly top 5 caliber and I hope he will soon established deserved place. I am frustrating having him and Delpo roaming in early rounds keeping draw unbalanced.

Thanks atg. I missed the match as well, I kept an alarm to wake up, but instead of hitting the snooze button I think I hit the 'switch off' button and hence did not wake up til the morning.

Tsonga was booed off the court? I think thats a shame, because he's got a lot of potential and he's a highly ranked player - I think he's been around enough to show that he wouldn't quit a game unless something was really bothering him.

I might skip finals ;( I am traveling all night... I just hope that Macedonia and Greece will have RDS broadcast to at least read score, as I won't understand a word :) Or I'll hunt Wi-FI with iPad on all gas stations :)

Hey mriidula, although you won't admit it, I think you find Djoko's matches boring otherwise why would you sleep through it?

@rafaelite, go crawl back under your rock... one topic is enough for your thought how Novak is boring...

Rafaelite: Because I was tired? Because I'd had a hectic day? Besides, its not like I was awake and then slept WHILE Nole was playing. Now that would mean I found it boring.

ok, mriidula, I guess it is hard to understand what other fans see in players we find boring. Many Fed fans claim Rafa is boring and I find that strange.
But, I am convinced that if Djoko keeps winning, you will find his matches boring. After all matches are interesting only when the outcome is in doubt? When Fed was dominating, I got bored even though I used to like his game.
I really think that even as a Djoko fan you should hope for him to lose sometime otherwise many fans will stop watching, which means less TV ratings, less ticket sales, less sponsorship money, less prize money etc. all of which will hurt Djoko.
Roger got so many sponsorship deals and TV ratings shot up only because of the drama of his rivalry with Rafa.
Look at any Greek or even an Indian epic. All heroes can be defeated, Achilles had his heel.
Superman has his kryptonite. A story doesn't have appeal unless the reader or audience knows the hero can be defeated. No story, no drama in the exploits of an invincible hero.

rafaelite
By your logic I like Rafas 2011 season compared to last year because he lost five times to another guy

nirv02: you hit the bulls eye, _logic_ is the key word in this saga :)