The match started out pretty well but the conditions really wore down the players and Gonzalez looked pretty much worn out in the second set. After playing a tight first set Del Potro jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the 2nd and closed it out at 6-3. He was getting a bit more help by serving well and keeping points short on his own serve while Gonzalez needed to grind it out a bit more on his. Not quite the classic match I was hoping for with two great tennis players, but that sometimes happens in tournaments where you don't get much rest between matches.
The second semifinal was overall higher quality tennis as the players weren't worn down by the daytime heat and are both able to conserve energy with their strong serving. Isner didn't quite pull this one out but put together a really strong effort in this match and ended up going down a break late in the 3rd set to allow Andy to serve it out. Isner showed some great variety in his game in the first set making use of a very effective drop shot at some key points. He was definitely playing with a lot of confidence. Roddick served great all match and didn't really give Isner much of an opportunity to break. In the 3rd set Andy kept putting a lot of pressure on Isner's serve, played a long game at 4-4 which Isner managed to hold, then broke at 5-5 and served out the match.
Final Prediction: Del Potro has made it this far but still isn't playing up to a level he's capable of. Roddick has been playing the strong of the two so far and I think will prevail in the final. Del Potro isn't holding his serve quite as easily as Andy and after yesterday's match with Gonzalez it looks like he could be pretty fatigued for the final. If both guys come to play it could be a pretty high level tennis match. Looking forward to it.
In the women's semifinals in LA we saw more strong play from Stosur and a bit of a breakdown in Sharapova's game.
Samantha Stosur vs Sorana Cirstea: Stosur wins 6-3, 6-2
Another strong match from Stosur. There actually isn't a whole lot to say about this other than Stosur controlled the match from start to finish and took just over an hour to win in straight sets. I think this is going to be the week that Stosur wins her first title. It's taken a long time for her to get here and she's been playing great with a lot of confidence this week. I think she has the edge going into the finals.
Maria Sharapova vs Flavia Pennetta: Pennetta wins 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
Not a pretty match to watch. Sharapova has an edge in playing ability and it was hers to lose. Unfortunately that's exactly what happened. She tossed in 61 errors in the 3 sets. I don't want to discount Pennetta's play this week but this was just a brutal match by Sharapova. Since coming back from injury her play has been all over the place. Very good quality some days, but when she's off, she's really off. And yesterday she was really off. Pennetta has gone through some very good players to get to this point and deserves to be in the final based on her play this week. There was potential for a high quality semifinal between these two but it just didn't happen on this occasion.
Final Prediction: It should be a pretty tight final but I'll give the edge to Stosur. Pennetta's gone through Petrova, Zvonareva, and Sharapova to get here and should have a lot of confidence. But I like how Stosur's played this week and think she'll be pumped up to win her first title. She also had a much shorter semifinal and could have more energy going into the final.
