Three Awesome Hours and Five Amazing Minutes

Last night, Novak Djokovic took on Juan Martin Del Potro with a semifinal spot on the line.  Let me tell you something from a fan's perspective, this was the best straight-setter I have ever seen.  The fight out of Del Potro was tremendous and Djokovic was getting to every ball possible.  It was truly a fight to the bitter end.  Let's look back at the match.

In the first set, Del Potro was struggling to hold, and it seemed as if he would not have enough fight to really challenge Djokovic.  This could be the start of a trend for Del Potro as he was struggling at the beginning of the Roddick match too.  Although it was not a total disaster for Juan Martin, he still just could not make this set very competitive.  6-2 Djokovic.

The second set was the best I have seen in a long time.  Del Potro got up an early break, but just did not have enough to fend off Djokovic for the rest of the set, and fell back even with Novak.  At five all, Djokovic held easily, but on Del Potro's serve the fun began.   In a game that had right around 10 deuces and featured some of the hardest hit balls from Del Potro I have ever seen.  The thing is, however, Djokovic would get to almost every one of these balls and this game contributed greatly to an awesome defensive performance from Novak.  Del Potro just hit enough balls hard enough to allow him to take the game.  In the tiebreak, Del Potro gave everything he has, but it just was not enough, as he lost 7-4 in a depressing (for Juan Martin) tiebreak.  7-6 (7-4) Djokovic.

The third set continued to show Djokovic's superiority, and Del Potro's fight.  In the first game of the set, Del Potro was broken, but that did not stop Del Potro.  He was never broken again, even when down two break points down 2-4 in the set.  He fought Djokovic to the bitter end, hitting a running backhand winner as he came to the net.  This guy just would not quit.  Unfortunately for him, however, is that Djokovic had a lot of fight too.  He just would not lose serve, and finally beat Del Potro after an three awesome hours and five amazing minutes.  6-4 in the set.  6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 in the match.  That was spectacular.