Choke-a-vic

Roger Federer's average play is usually so high that even when he's not playing his best, he can win comfortably.

And boy, did Novak Djokovic have his chances. In the first two sets, Novak had chances to break Federer or broke him only to be broken back, and win the set. He could easily have been up two sets to none and making Roger sweat. In the first set, Djokovic hardly struggled with his serve. When he finally broke Roger, Roger promptly broke back. Not without struggle, but even so.

Instead, Federer calmly won the points he needed to win, and once it headed into the tiebreak, he took comfortable leads in both. Even the third set, which Djokovic was not outclassed, one game where his concentration loses focus, and Federer has the match.

Adam noted that it isn't so much that Federer plays so much better than everyone (though I think that is partly it), it's that most players can't focus 100% the entire match. They play sloppy games here or there. Federer doesn't lose focus, so his play his generally high throughout (even if he makes lots of errors, he still seems very much in the match).

I suppose this bodes well for Djokovic. He had set points to win, and pushed Federer, and one can only imagine that a guy who's only 20, and whose made progress by leaps and bounds, can start to challenge Federer. This doesn't bode well for American tennis as Djokovic looks like a solid number 3.

And Federer. Does it go without saying that what he does is amazing? This is his tenth consecutive Grand Slam title. He's catching up to Sampras quickly. Adam points out that Federer wasn't as far in his title hunt as say Nadal. Federer started winning when he was 23, while Nadal and Djokovic were more successful at 20 or before.

Haas Has Last Laugh

You have to give it to James Blake. He makes all his matches interesting.

James Blake had taken a two sets to one lead, and it seemed that Blake would take the fourth. Except it didn't happen this way. Haas went on win a 6-0 set, and especially at 4-0, it seemed Blake wanted to skip the fourth and run to a fifth set.

And when Blake fell back one break, the strategy seemed in doubt. However, Blake tried to go for his shots more, and it took a while, but he eventually got the break back. More than that, Blake had a chance to break for the match, but Haas stayed in the game, and managed to push it to a tiebreak.

If anything, Blake's aggressiveness lead to errors. Had he not made a few errors, he'd be the one going to the quarters. Instead, Haas took a lead in the tiebreak, then eventually stretched it to a 6-3 lead. Blake then returned a shot on the line, and despite the review, it was point to Blake, 6-4. Still, with two more points to win the match, and one more point on his serve, Haas's chances still looked good.

Then, he served an ace out wide. At that point, Blake might as well review, because the match is over if that doesn't happen. The review held up, and Blake was out.

If anything, Blake's game resembles more Michael Chang than, say, Pete Sampras. Blake is very quick, and relies on a pretty decent backhand to get him out of tight spots. Blake doesn't overpower people, though he can play aggressive returns. He just does a few things a little better than other folks, and that's essentially what happened with Chang.

Blake, for instance, doesn't ace his opponents very much. He doesn't overpower his opponents very much. But he can retrieve really well, and hit decent shots when under pressure. I'd have to imagine most opponents feel they can keep up with Blake, but find it hard to put him away.

This was the kind of match that eventually fell to mental toughness. Haas really did almost choke it away, losing the break, and nearly losing the match. Were Blake a bit mentally tougher, hitting a few shots better, he'd be victor. As it is, the heir apparent to the Becker legacy is off to the next round.