For a while, this looked like a straight set match for Djokovic. Djokovic broke to take the first set, 7-5, then again, to take the second, 6-4. Then, it seemed like Djokovic was going to suffer from health issues, a problem that knocked him out of the Australian Open, and partly explained why he lost to Melzer at the French.
Djokovic said, in a post-match interview, that he had had an upset stomach and that was distracting him. He got medical attention, but dropped the third set, 6-3, with two breaks of serve (and nearly a third). However, Djokovic got out to an early break and nearly had a second break, when Hewitt held, then broke back. Both players were steadily holding serve. Then, at 4-all, Hewitt hit a big inside out forehand to get up 15-0, then a big serve to get to 30-0. Then a forehand hit long early in a rally, then a second forehand hit long, then an inside out backhand hit wide, and then a double fault to give the break to Djokovic.
Djokovic then hit a big serve, and Hewitt hit short second serve in the net, then another big unreturned serve, and finally a longish rally that ended with a big swooping forehand to seal the match. So, it looked like Djokovic might fade due to health issues, managed to recover, and it was Hewitt that basically choked it at the end.
Djokovic will face the winner of Lu-Roddick.
Speaking of which, I predicted this to be a gimme match for Roddick, and it’s been anything but. Although Lu has yet to break Roddick, he’s done a good job holding his own serve. Roddick won the first set with a single break of serve, but Lu got the second set into a tiebreak and got to an early lead and eventually won the second set in a tiebreak. Roddick looked to have a decent lead in the third set tiebreak, but gave that up, and Lu took that set in a tiebreak too. While Lu doesn’t have a particularly big game, playing somewhat like, say, Gilles Simon, Roddick has been having some issues. Roddick, it appears, has resorted to hitting harder, but making more errors in the process.
Soderling is also finding himself in a tussle. After taking the third set, 6-2, he’s down a break in the fourth set against David Ferrer. Meanwhile, Murray, who found himself serving for the match, then getting broken, then down break points at 5-all, managed to hold, then break Querrey in the next game to take the first set, 7-5. He’s up a break in the second set, 4-2.
