Tennis

[Guest shearfox]

Robson looks the real deal, to back up that victory over Clijsters with a quality win over Li Na was absolutely fantastic, I wouldn't bet against her beating Stosur in the next round

[Anorak]

Stosur's mental toughness can be so unpredictable as well. She was flawless in winning the final last year but a few months back she pretty much beat herself in the French semi.

Edited 31 August 2012 by Anorak

[ADK]

If Robson could serve better and move around the court a little better she would walk into the top 50 without a doubt.

[Narborough_fox]

Absolutely delighted that Robson won today, hopefully she can really push on from this run.

[martyn]

Muzza through in 4 but suffered worryingly through fatigue/physical issues in the heat. Think he could be in major trouble against either Raonic or Cilic in the next couple of matches, especially if it's a day match away from Arthur Ashe court.

[kingfox]

I hate it whenever Murray loses a point, he then suddenly looked knackered or holds one of his muscles.

Has suffered from heat at the US before anyway, Semis beckon now, Raonic is overrated and Cilic is dangerous but nothing special.

[leicsmac]

Reckon Murray had one of his brain fades - doesn't happen as often as it used to but it still does, in spite of Lendl's work on his mentality. That combined with the heat and humidity made this match tougher than it should have been.

Hoping Blake beats Raonic later today - not only would it mean an easier opponent, but a practically guaranteed night match on Ashe.

Interesting factoid - the last two times Murray has played on Armstrong Court (before today), he lost to Wawrinka in 2010 and had to come back from two sets down against Robin Haase in 2011, so it's safe to say it's not really a place where he feels at home.

[martyn]

Raonic is an extremely dangerous player. He will swing freely being the underdog and has beaten Murray in their only meeting to date. A day match on the faster Grandstand court would be extremely tricky, and mentally demanding given that more than 1 tiebreak would be a distinct possibility.

Cilic looked v good versus Nishikori and has despatched Murray very handily at the US open before. Murray needs to use the aggressive game employed at the Olympics and with which he got to the 2008 final here (super aggressive in beating rafa in the SF)

Edited 1 September 2012 by martyn

[leicsmac]

Raonic is an extremely dangerous player. He will swing freely being the underdog and has beaten Murray in their only meeting to date. A day match on the faster Grandstand court would be extremely tricky, and mentally demanding given that more than 1 tiebreak would be a distinct possibility.

Cilic looked v good versus Nishikori and has despatched Murray very handily at the US open before. Murray needs to use the aggressive game employed at the Olympics and with which he got to the 2008 final here (super aggressive in beating rafa in the SF)

A couple of things here...Raonic is a very good server, but then Murray is probably the second best returner on the Tour. I think Murray would be able to do enough to negate Raonic's serve (like he has done with Karlovic in the past) and Raonic wouldn't be able to break through on Murray's service game, unless Murray was serving very badly indeed.

As for Cilic...the H2H is 7-1 in Murray's favour for a reason. Cilic doesn't have any weapons to really hurt Murray, as shown in most of their encounters. The one time he beat Murray (USO 2009), Murray was carrying a wrist injury which then put him out for three months after the event, so I honestly think that can be disregarded with respect to form. IMO Cilic will be less of a threat than Raonic - at least Raonic has the serve which could pose a threat.

Totally agree with you on the aggression though - he's at his best when he plays like that, as the Olympics showed.

Edited 1 September 2012 by leicsmac

[PegguyArphexad]

Lopez was inspired last night. His opponents can normally rely on a fairly low 1st serve % and a forehand liable to break down. Unfortuantely for Murray neither of these things really happened.

Murray showed his class to beat a top ranked player playing at the top of his game in those gruelling conditions.

[ADK]

Robson is frustrating to watch, she has a great chance in this match though.

[ADK]

Robson loses although not before saving 8 match points. Decent effort.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

Stosur too good

[leicsmac]

Murray stamps Raonic into the dust...was a very very good performance. Perhaps he's beginning to hit form when it matters.

Fish forced to retire prematch against Federer with heart problems, could be the end of his career. I hope not because that's a sad way to go out for anyone. Fed now has a potentially tricky QF against Berdych, depending on which Berdych shows up of course - wildly inconsistent at Slams is the Berdbrain. Murray shouldn't really have many problems with Cilic.

[Guest shearfox]

Murray was awesome, some of the shots he made were just unreal, wasn't scared to trade forehands and just ended up smashing Raonic. Raonic didn't even manage a single break point, brilliant.

[ScouseFox]

This is going well...

[leicsmac]

Murray not shown up so far...Cilic been painting the lines but Murray has been very poor.

Seems the consistency is still an issue. That said, he's got one break back in the second set here and it actually seems that he's got out of bed.

[Guest shearfox]

Murray not shown up so far...Cilic been painting the lines but Murray has been very poor.

Seems the consistency is still an issue. That said, he's got one break back in the second set here and it actually seems that he's got out of bed.

He has decided to make an appearance now, better late than never...

[ScouseFox]

Better, Andrew.

[leicsmac]

Murray played so poorly for the first set and a half...but that's happened before. Now Cilic is folding.

[Guest shearfox]

Murray played so poorly for the first set and a half...but that's happened before. Now Cilic is folding.

Is it me or did Murray not realise the match had started until the stadium started to fill up.

[leicsmac]

Is it me or did Murray not realise the match had started until the stadium started to fill up.

Well, for some reason he was in zombie mode until the middle of the second set. God only knows why. It happens every so often.

On serve in the third now. Crucial set this.

[leicsmac]

That second set killed Cilic's challenge. Murray now a double break up in the fourth and utterly dominant.

[AKCJ]

Murray just won.

Cilic will be absolutely gutted, he was quality in the opening set/first half of the 2nd.

Murray just went through the gears to his top standard while Cilic lost it.

6-3 6-7 2-6 0-6

[leicsmac]

And it's Berdych Murray will face in the semi final after he beat Federer in four. Not actually all that surprised by that - Berdych (like Del P) is the kind of hitter who can give anyone trouble if his sights are lined up.

Not entirely sure what I make of that...Berdych has beaten Murray before in a Slam and has the power to blow him off court again, but then he's far less consistent than Federer and could easily make a bunch of unforced errors and fall apart. You just don't know what you're going to get with him...at least with Federer it's the devil you know.

Anyway, guess we'll find out on Saturday.

Looking forward to the Djokovic - Del P QF today...if Del P is on song that will be a cracker.