WIMBLEDON REVIEW & PREVIEW / ANDY MURRAY HAD A BAD DAY @ THE OFFICE WITH THE ROYALTY IN THE ROYAL BOX / ROGER FEDERER GLIDES THRU THE EVENT INTO THE SEMI-FINALS

Written by: Staff on 2nd July 2014

WIMBLEDON REVIEW & PREVIEW / ANDY MURRAY HAD A BAD DAY @ THE OFFICE WITH THE ROYALTY IN THE ROYAL BOX / ROGER FEDERER GLIDES THRU THE EVENT INTO THE SEMI-FINALS |

Photo by Brett Connors photography

A tale of three champions

Only one champion remains in the women’s draw as two Czech lefties Lucie Safarova and Petra Kvitova will face each other in the semi-final. Kvitova owns the head to head 5-0 but they have had some humdinger of matches. Safarova is always a danger in the draw, and now having made her first Grand Slam final, so could the momentum take her all the way?

If it is drama that you wanted, look no further than the match between Simona Halep and last year’s finalist Sabine Lisicki. Halep is the queen of adjusting tactics, and adjust she did, after going down 2-4 in the first set, the French Open finalist ran off 10 games in a row to bounce Lisicki out of the tournament in straight sets.

Her reward? It will be a battle of the WTA rising stars as Genie Bouchard took advantage of a slightly flatter Angelique Kerber who just could not lift herself enough to repeat her epic win over 2004 champion Maria Sharapova.

+The women’s semi-finals are on Thursday.

With the Duke and Duchess of Kent popping in for a day at the tennis, it was not the day to have a bad day at the office. Defending champion Andy Murray joined this year’s long line of former champions who fell in actions on the lush lawns of SW19, when he lost in straight sets to Grigor Dimitrov.

The Bulgarian was sharp from the start whereas Murray looked to have his timing a little off, and Dimitrov wasted no time in taking advantage.

The first set was over in 25 minutes, barely enough time to get in and out of a queue for Pimms, never mind the strawberries. Murray certainly had his chances in the second set as they went to a to a tie-break, but nothing seemed to work for him, as he admitted after the match.

“My start to the match was poor. I started the match badly. And I think that gave him confidence.

“I should have done a better job at the beginning of the match of making it tougher for him, and I didn’t manage to do that. Also, when I got back into the second set, that was my opportunity there. He’d been up in the set a break and I’d come back. Momentum was starting to shift a little bit. Couldn’t quite do it.”

Dimitrov has gone from being “the cramping guy” and lets not even go there with nick-name-gate.

He has won on all three surfaces this year, and that includes Queen’s Club – and it is not inconceivable that he could do the double.

“I was pretty steady during the whole match and came out the winner. I have two more matches to play hopefully. I’m trying to stay on course and prepare for the next one.”

Last year’s finalist dropped only his second set, against Marin Cilic, as he booked his place in the semi-final to face the Bulgarian.

He said: “I played a very bad game, with a couple of bad errors in the second set and the momentum changed for him to get back into the match,” Djokovic told BBC television straight after the match. “He found his rhythm on serve, but I allowed him to step in. It was frustrating for me.

“You’re fighting on the court as much as your opponent, and you try to just mentally be strong and find that inner strength that can help you in those particular moments,” he added. “That’s what helped me.”

In an all-Swiss battle, Stan Wawrinka got off to a great start against compatriot, taking the first set, but he seemed to struggle with his fitness and health and after losing the second set tie-break, Wawrinka faded badly, sending Federer to the semi-final.

And finally, young Nick Kyrgios just could not keep his phenomenal run going. Hopes were high after he took the first set on a tiebreak, but Raonic has been steady throughout the tournament, and just had more consistency when it mattered, earning him a place in his first Grand Slam semi-final.

+The men’s semi-finals are scheduled for Friday.

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Topics: AELTC, Andy Murray, Angelique Kerber, Eugenie Bouchard, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Lucie Safarova, Maria Sharapova, Marin Cilic, Petra Kvitova, Sabine Lisicki, Simona Halep, Tennis, Tennis News, Wimbledon, Wimby 2014, Wta

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July 2, 2014 at 5:50 pm

@Wimbledon REVIEW & PREVIEW / @andy_murray HAD A BAD DAY @ THE OFFICE WITH THE ROYALTY IN THE ROYAL BOX – http://t.co/ykjSQXHf5A #tennis