Top seeds go through to Melbourne semis

Petra Kvitova booked her place in the semi final with a win over Sara Errani.  It was a tough match which saw the erratic Czech go 4-1 down in the second set making 44 unforced errors.  She managed to get through the match winning 6-4, 6-4 and is still in with a chance of the number one spot.  Kvitova will now face Maria Sharapova who beat her fellow Russion Ekaterina Makarova who had stunned Serena Williams in the round before.  But for Sharapova it was very straightforward winning 6-2, 6-3. 

Andy Murray dominated his match against Japans Kei Nishikori strolling into the semis with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win, ending Nishikori’s successful run at the Australian Open.  Fatigue seem too show with the 22 year old Japanese failing in the third and what proved to be the final set.  He will now face the reigning champion Novak Djokovic who suffered with a leg strain and breathing difficulties in his match against Spain’s David Ferrer coming through 6-4, 7-6, 6-1.  Djokovic spent two hours and 44 minutes on court participating in some long epic rallies.  It will now be a rematch of last year’s final for Djokovic and Murray. 

ATP Round Up

Neither Basel nor Valencia’s finals were completely as expected with the No. 1 seeds in both tournaments being knocked out.  In Basel Rodger Federer glided to victory over Kei Nishikori who had defeated Djokovic in the Semi-Finals, 6-1, 6-3.  In Valencia a tough match saw Marcel Granollers taking the title away from Juan Monaco 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3).  

With Nadal already out of the Paris Masters and Djokovic not playing his best, could Murray be the No.1 seed and take another Masters series title?  This is the last tournament before ATP World Tour Finals in London so there will be other players looking to secure their place at the last tournament of the season.