Thomaz Bellucci has had the most successful tournament of his career. Somehow he beat Andy Murray without me even noticing – which is more a comment on how I feel about Murray lately than Bellucci. After beating Murray, Bellucci then beat Tomas Berdych in straight sets and has, overnight, given Novak Djokovic a run for his money.
Ultimately it was Novak Djokovic who had the legs, fire power and experience to come out with the 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win.
Bellucci came out firing and out played Novak in the first set, breaking and staying comfortable in his own service games. Bellucci broke again in the fifth game of the second set, the crowd almost in shock at what they thought they were about to see, before Novak leveled the score and took the second set before running away with the third and the match.
Novak will now face defending champion Rafael Nadal for the title. “It’s great for the crowds, it’s great for the tournament, and for us in the end because every time it’s a big challenge and we both look forward to it. We
are competing a lot in the last couple of months and we’ve had some really good matches, especially the ones in the United States recently. Of course the memories come back from Madrid 2009, when we played that very, very long match. It’s going to be great for the people to see us play.
Of course I am motivated to win against anybody, especially against Rafa because it’s the ultimate challenge on clay courts. You want to step in and give your best and you want to try to win. He’s an incredible player, an incredible competitor and he’s been winning on clay courts so much over the past couple of years. I know that but I need to believe I need to step on to the court and try to win.”
Carlos Moya, a former Spanish champion, talked about Djokovic’s significant separation of the Nadal-Federer duo.
“When you come to the month of May without a single defeat then you have to get the credit for that achievement. Until recently we had the leading duo in the world tennis, Nadal and Federer, but now Djokovic has joined the mix. I think a number of things when it comes to the position number one do not depend solely on Rafa, but now it is also Djokovic who gets to stake his claim. I am sure he will one day become the world’s number one.” – Carlos Moya
