Wimbledon: Men's Quarterfinals

If only Federer could have progressed we could have had the big 4 as the final 4, but it was not to be.  I rarely mention doubles but what about the Williams sisters and the Bryan brothers being upset on the same day!  We still should have two good semifinals but a little bit of the buzz is gone because we will have no Roger/Rafa final.  Here are the scores and my babbling:

12) Tomas Berdych (CZE) def. 1) Roger Federer (SUI) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 
Berdych is through to his second (consecutive) slam semifinal as he dismantled Wimbledon's king.  Obviously it the Czech's win semi at Wimbledon as we know he lost to previous semi appearance to Soderling earlier this month at the '10 French Open.  Berdych is now past Ferrer to #11 in the rankings and he may not be done.  Federer drops to #3 with the loss and misses semifinals in two straight slams for the first time since '03 Aussie and French Opens.  He has really gotten bad at converting break points and it really came back to bite him.

3) Novak Djokovic (SRB) def. Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
Djokovic is into his 8th slam quarterfinal and 2nd at Wimbledon.  His record is just 2-5 in those semis and 0-1 at Wimbledon.  His last semi was at the '09 US Open (loss to Federer) while his last at Wimbledon was in '07 during his run of 5 straight semis.  His last semi win was at the '08 Aussie Open (def. Federer).  He is probably happy not to see Federer, and is now back to #2 in the rankings, though at the present just up 20 points.  Novak is a much better returner than Roddick and it showed in his straight set beatdown.
4) Andy Murray (GBR) def. 10) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2
Murray has made his 4th slam semifinal and 2nd at Wimbledon.  He is previously 2-1 in semis with that loss coming at Wimbledon last year to Roddick.  His last semi was his win over Nadal at the '10 Aussie Open.  Murray has now defended his semifinal points and is back at #4, passing Soderling.  Tsonga for the time being, stays at #10.  Will the home crowd be able to cheer Andy to his first Wimbledon final?  By the way, Tsonga is quietly putting together a very good year with semis at Melbourne and SW19.

2) Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. 6) Robin Soderling (SWE) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1
Nadal has now made 13 semifinals in young career with 4 of those coming at Wimbledon.  His record in those semis in 9-3 with all the losses on hard courts.  He is 3-0 in Wimbledon semis.  His last semi was obviously at the '10 French Open.  His ranking continues to climb to the point where it is likely out of reach until next year's clay court season.  Soderling gets passed by Murray and drops back to #5 but that is still a career high.  The 3rd set tiebreak proved indeed to be very critical in this match and Soderling showed no resiliance after dropping it.

Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray are 1-2-3 in break points converted while Berdych is way down #9 behind a few players who were eliminated in the 4th round.  But he is 5th is aces and 1st serve points percentage.
Last years men with semifinal points to defend were Murray and Haas.  Success for the one with injured and a rankings dive for the other.

Friday's semis could be real dogfights:
Djokovic vs Berdych
Nadal vs Murray