Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open

[eliomelma]

So at this POINT Sedas isn't bad !he won against me in out 2 last matches,so i thought i was out of form, but now he beaten C4ill too!

[Cerji]

Cerji(16)(Almagro) Def. Kyuuji(1)(Djokovic) 3/6 6/2 7/6(3)

What a match!
In the first set I got to 0-30 on his first two service games and i had bps on his third but on each and every occasion he managed to hit a great first serve.I was kinda surprised by how well he was serving with Djoko.
So we got to 3*/4 and as it often happens when one misses several bps, he took his chances and broke me.
We both held our serves from there and he won the first set 6/3.

I knew I had to fight even harder in the second and I managed to take the early break to lead 3/0.
Then i managed to save 3 bps at 3-1 to lead 4-1 which i think was the key of the set.
I took a second break at the end to come back to one set all.

The last set was really intense, we were both playing and serving really well.
The first break point of the set was a match point at 4*/5, I managed to return his serve but he hit a winning backhand.
Then we both held our serve to the tie break.
He won the first point on my serve but then he hit some errors and i took the lead 2-1.
I used the sliced serve on the T and the body service on next 2 service points since they were working quite well throughout the match.
I think he hit two errors on the next two points and I eventually won the tie break 7/3 which was a huge relief because i wasn't really confident when it started.

Great match he played really really well, I felt like I was almost always defending all the time and that it was really hard to hit through him when I had to attack.
I got lucky he didn't play as well in the tie break, maybe he got a bit nervous

[C4iLL]

It seems the king Kyuuji is back
Hope he will show soon how great he was in 2012, when he won so many tournaments !

[VMoe86]

I will report on my path to the SF. In R16 I got a WO against G.Dimitrov (BUL), because he did not have much time to play (Shame on you! ).

In QF I faced Indiantonike for the first time. One of C4iLL's padawans, I was wondering what to expect. So, I started with return and got to a break point: He double faulted there, his master couldn't do it better. I could not consolidate the break, though, he broke me on his first break point by hitting some good shots and putting me on defence. I realized I had to play better and defend a bit more than I hoped to, but I broke again for 2-1 after he made some errors and from the on I was kind of in control: Turning defence to attack quickly, holding serve comfortably.

In second set his serve was very weak, under 50% 1st serves in! Besides this also more errors were leaking into his game. I got to 4-0 more or less easily, he managed to hold again for 4-1 and at 5-1 he concluded the match with a double fault -- I think his master is also good at double faults.

In the end, Indiantonike has more of an attacking mindset, but cannot turn rallies around quickly from defence to attack. Maybe his master should teach lessons in pushing. Good game!

Now the big names are waiting: Cerji (Almagro) or Clog (Nadal) in SF will be a huge task. I'm ready for another big match like the Dubai final and nice to see a new name in the late stage of a bigger tournament: Sedas (Glückwunsch zum Sieg gegen Fox!).

[C4iLL]

You should open a jedi academy too VMoe, we would do padawans battles What is sure is I don't appreciate a lot when someone rapes one of my padawan, Indian will then be revenged at Sony.

Anyway, till now I taugh my padawans to be agressive and make double faults to break the rythm. But this time is finished, the academy is doing its cultural revolution as Mao Tse Tung.

[VMoe86]

Cerji gets revenge: Cerji (Almagro) defeats VMoe86 (Federer) 6-4, 2-6, 6-2

Congrats to Cerji for a well played match, he was better today and deserved to win! Will be interesting to see the final, considering their recent clay encounter in 1.12. Both have a shot, that's for sure, and good luck to both -- a new Masters 1000 winner!

The first set started slow with both of us. I started on serve and with a 1-0 lead I got to a double break point due to his errors. I did not return well on both break points and that's it. He then had break points in the following game, which I somehow saved. It continued on serve until 4-4. I was sluggish here and got broken, could not get into his service games at all anymore and consequently he closed it out 6-4.

Second set I started serving again and got broken immediately. He consolidated the break and it looked as if I were finished, but I hung in there and he probably relaxed too much -- I won 6 (!) games in a row, playing well, but also relying on his errors.

In the third set my bad deciding set record got the better of me. No, he regrouped here, but I have regrets about the first service game: I was up 30-0, had two "put aways" at the net and could not win these points. It killed me somehow, don't know why, he broke. I had a double break point to come back, but just like in the first set no good returns and that's it. Then I tried, but could not turn it around again.

Again a match where details decided. Maybe time to take 6 to 7 months off and come back in indoor season. Seriously, the mental aspects are very important, but everyone one has to deal with it and sometimes you manage it better, sometimes worse. Next up is Sedas in Miami, won't be easy at all.

[Cerji]

Cerji(Almagro) def. Richie(Verdasco) 2/6 6/2 6/2

Well, I never thought I would end up winning this in the first set!
He was really solid from the baseline, not making any errors and waiting for an opportunity to hit a great forehand.
I couldn't do much and lost the first set 2/6.

I had to fight really hard from the beginning of the second set to keep my serve.
I changed my game plan a bit to be more patient in the rallys, also mix it up with some serve and volleys which worked very well througout the match.
The last two sets were quite intense, the scoreline is a bit harsh, I know I got a really lucky volley in the third so sorry about that.
Anyway great match, nice to end up winning this time

[djarvik]

Congrats man! ...and well done to Richie too.

[Richie1308]

As Cerji said, a closer match than what the score shows in every set. He was able to make the difference in this top spin fight in the baseline with great serve and volleys with which he got a lot of points, using perfectly the big top spin of Verdasco in return to get easy volleys to play. In the last set probably the decisive moment was the sort of weird "lob volley" coming from nowhere on a debreak point on which Verdasco prefers to try a smash from the baseline, not really a good idea. Bad luck for me as it could have changed a lot of things in the last set, but that's how it is, then Cerji played really great to get the victory and I congratulate him for this.
Not a very fun match as the other time, Verdasco/Almagro with dead stamina provided us with a lot of very long rallies which we hardly were able to finish, so it's not bad that I have Federer in Miami to be able to attack more this time, hoping I'll have an as good tournament at this one, if not better...

[VMoe86]

Congrats Cerji on your first big title and better luck next time Richie -- surely not your last M1000 final!

[C4iLL]

2 hours for 3 sets.. it's almost worst than in real life ^^
Congratulations to both of you, France rule the world !

[Richie1308]

2 hours for 3 sets.. it's almost worst than in real life ^^
Congratulations to both of you, France rule the world !

France at the top !

PS : I think it was a calculated time in real conditions for the 2 hours cause I'm sure we did not play more than 1 hour, I wouldn't have accepted to play this long

[Cerji]

Thank you guys

And yeah it was calculated time for the 2 hours, the match actually lasted for 58'50^^