Day 12 was the day of the men’s semi-finals. 2 mouthwatering fixtures were to be played today. The first match was between Italian Matteo Berrettini and Spaniard Rafa Nadal. Berrettini going into the match had never broken Nadal and had never taken a set off the Spaniard so it was going to be a tough task for him to book a spot in Sunday’s final. Nadal started off the match very well and raced to a 2 sets to love lead and it looked like the match wasn’t going to be going on for much longer. Berrettini though was not done and finally managed to break Rafa for the first time and then was able to serve out the set to take us into a 4th set. Berrettini from 3-3 in the 3rd set went on to win an incredible 23 straight points on serve but the game where that streak was broken ended up to be the game that Berrettini was broken in the 4th set. Nadal served it out and booked his spot in the Aussie Open final on Sunday.

The other semi-final was between 2nd seed, Medvedev, and 4th seed, Tsitsipas. The first set was a tight encounter with both players playing incredibly well. Heading into the first set tiebreak, Medvedev had only lost 1 point on serve = high quality tennis. Tsitsipas though got the first mini-break and led 4-1 in the tiebreak. Medvedev though kept his head and made it 4-4. Medvedev then won the crucial point at 5-5 and took the first set 7-5 in the breaker. Tsitsipas though came out firing in the 2nd set and broke in the first game and led 2-0. Medvedev broke back though to make it 3-3. At 4-4 Medvedev let a few points slip and on break point down served a double fault. He then got a violation for a gesture he made to the crowd. This sent Medvedev off as he fired comments at the umpire. Tsitsipas just managed to hold and we were level again at 1 set all. The first game in the 3rd set, Medvedev found himself 15-40 and 2 break points down. He managed to find 2 first serves to save the break points and then managed to hold from there. This was crucial for Medvedev to settle down again. He broke at a crucial time in the third to take the third set 6-4. Tsitsipas had little left in the tank and Medvedev went on to win the 4th 6-1.

Onto the leaderboard and finally ‘To Immunity and Beyond’ has taken the lead from ‘Magic Team’. ‘Novax Needed’ stays third while ‘Pat’s Pick’ remain 4th. ‘Eish’ sits in 5th. We lost 3 teams today – ‘STOPPERS’, ‘Ouma’s Biscuits’ and ‘Vax on Vax off’.

Men’s Semi-Finals:

• Nadal(6) beat Berrettini(7) – 6-3; 6-2; 3-6; 6-3
• Medvedev(2) beat Tsitsipas(4) – 7-6(5); 4-6; 6-4; 6-1

Ladies Final Tomorrow:

• Barty(1) vs Collins(27) (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.