Day 9 – Quarter-finals day. The first quarter-final was between 4th seed, Krejcikova and unseeded American Keys. Keys can be very happy with how she played as she played a near flawless match winning in straight sets. The next quarter-final was between 6th seed, Nadal, and 14th seed, Shapovalov. Just like his previous matches Nadal started off extremely well as he took the 1st set 6-3. He then managed to get the important break in the 2nd set and he led 2 sets to love. In the third set, Shapovalov had to get through 2 tough games and it paid off because at 4-5, Nadal had a very poor service game and Shapovalov was back in the match. The Canadian rode the wave of momentum and he broke early in the 4th set. This break was enough and we were level at 2 sets all. Thankfully for Nadal and sadly for Shapovalov he was broken in his first service game of the final set. He then had chances to break Nadal but Nadal did enough and led 3-0 in the decider. This break turned out to be the match as Nadal kept it, eventually winning 6-3 in the 5th. The 3rd quarter-final of the day was between Australian, Barty and 21st seed American Pegula. Barty with the home crowd cheering her on, was much to good for the American as she dropped just 2 games on her way to the semi-finals. The last match on was between Berrettini and Monfils. Berrettini raced to a 2 set lead as he took the first 2 sets 6-4. Monfils though wasn’t done as he hit back and just like Shapovalov sent the match into a 5th. Berrettini showed his class though as he took the 5th set 6-2 and booked a semi-final meeting against Nadal.

‘Magic Team’ retake the lead from ‘To immunity and beyond’ who now sit in 2nd. ‘Novax Needed’ sit in 3rd with ‘Simply Smashing’ moving up 8 places in 4th. ‘Eish’ is still in 5th and is now tied with ‘FD Fantastics’ who are making a charge up the leaderboard. ‘Meerkat’ still sits in the wooden spoon position.

Matches on Day 9:

• Keys beat Krejcikova(4) – 6-3; 6-2
• Nadal(6) beat Shapovalov(14) – 6-3; 6-4; 4-6; 3-6; 6-3
• Barty(1) beat Pegula(21) – 6-2; 6-0
• Berrettini(7) beat Monfils(17) – 6-4; 6-4; 3-6; 3-6; 6-2

Matches to watch on Day 10:

• Collins(27) vs Cornet (02:00)
• Swiatek(7) vs Kanepi (04:00)
• Sinner(11) vs Tsitsipas(4) (06:00)
• Auger-Aliassime(9) vs Medvedev(2) (10:30)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a fantasy organiser.