FERRER PLAYS

David Ferrer is going to take part in the Mubadala World Tennis Championship for the 4^th time and he will be looking for his first title there. He had gone very close to winning that tournament a couple of years back in 2011, but, he had got beaten in the final.

Ferrer is high on confidence at the moment. His performance in the last season was fantastic. He claimed his maiden Grand Slam singles title by winning the final at Roland Garros and ended the season as the third ranked player in the world. It’s his career best ranking. His goal next season should be to move further up in the rankings and for that, he would like to make a good start to the season.

Talking to the reporters a few days back, Ferrer said, “I have played a few times in UAE, but, I am yet to win the title there. This time around, I am entering that competition with a much better frame of mind and I think this year I have a very good chance to achieve glory.”

“I have always been supported immensely by the people of UAE and I am hoping to get the same kind of support again. I would be pleased to win the title in front of those guys. I know it’s not easy as I will be up against some very good players there, but, I will try my best.”

Ferrer’s first opponent in Abu Dhabi will be the Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka who has also been in good form of late. When asked about that match, the Spaniard said, “Stanislas is coming out of a good season. So, he is not lacking confidence and I will have to play really well to put him under pressure.”

WAWRINKA LOSS

David Ferrer has been beaten by Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in a match of the ATP World Tour Finals. Wawrinka won the match in three sets by 6-7(3-7), 6-4, 6-1.

It was the 12^th match between these two players and Wawrinka defeated Ferrer for the 5^th time.

It was a very important match for Wawrinka. If he had lost, he would have been knocked out of the tournament, but, now, with this win, he has kept himself alive and if Rafael Nadal manages to get better of Tomas Berdych in his next match, Wawrinka will make it to the final 4.

Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, Wawrinka said, “I did what I had to do. I won and now, it’s all up to Rafa. He is a great player and I hope he wins his next match.”

On the other hand, Ferrer was gutted to end up on the losing side even after getting up by a set. The Spaniard said, “I think I played too many matches off late. I didn’t realize that coming into this tournament, but, now, I have realized that. Participating in 7 competitions in space of 50 days is just too much.”

In the opening set, Wawrinka started well and was ahead by 5-2 at one point of time, but, Ferrer made a tremendous come back and won 4 games on the trot to make the score 6-5 in his favour. He was serving for the set in the 12^th game, but, he failed to serve it out and the set went into the tie breaker.

In the tie breaker, Ferrer kept his nerves and ended up winning it easily to grab the first set.

But, from there onwards, Wawrinka began dominating. The Swiss number 2 broke Ferrer’s serve four times in the next two sets and won both the sets by profound margins to finish off the match.

FERRER VS TIPSARAVEC

David Ferrer will take on Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the 4^th round of the ongoing US Open. The winner of this match will make his way into the quarter final round of the tournament.

Ferrer hadn’t come into the US Open with the best of forms. He had looked in awful nick in the last couple of tournaments, but, here at Flushing Meadows, he got an easy draw and that helped him in getting his rhythm back to some extent. He hasn’t hit top form yet, but, he is certainly looking better than what he was looking a couple of weeks back.

The Spanish no. 2 had started his campaign against the Australian youngster Nick Kyrgios whom he thrashed without having too many problems. In the second round, he was up against his countryman Roberto Bautista Agut and he was supposed to dominate in that match too, but, he struggled just a little bit before eventually sealing the match in 4 sets.

In the 3rd round, Ferrer’s opponent was Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan and he dropped a set in that match too. So, he is still not at the peak of his game.

On the other hand, Tipsarevic who is a fantastic hard court player also has had tough times this season. He has dropped down 12 positions in the world rankings since the start of the season.

The Serbian player has done alright in this tournament, but, still to match Ferrer, he will have to raise his game significantly.

It’s the 6^th time that these two players are going to face each other. Out of the previous 5 matches, Ferrer has come victorious on 4 occasions.

So, if we take history into account, Ferrer seems to be the favourite, but, Tipsarevic is well capable of surprising any player on the tour.

FERRER LOSES

David Ferrer has been defeated by Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the quarter final round of the Wimbledon Championships. Del Potro won the match in the straight sets by 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(5).

This was the 9^th match between these two players and Del Potro defeated Ferrer only for the third time.

Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, the Argentinean player said, “I think this was my best performance in the tournament so far. I played my natural game and didn’t commit too many unforced errors. I was very good on my serve and I played my forehand shots well too.”

“I am delighted to be in the final 4. I have reached here by beating a great player and that is hugely satisfying.”

In the first set, the first couple of games went with the serve and at the end of the 2^nd game; the scores were levelled at 1-1. Del Potro got a breakthrough in the 3^rd game and then, consolidated that with a serve hold in the next game to get ahead by 3-1.

Both the players held their serve in the next two games and the score was 4-2 in Del Potro’s favour when the 6^th game got over.

In the 7^th game, Ferrer dropped his serve again which put Del Potro on the driving seat. He just needed to hold his serve in the next game to seal the set and he did that in style.

In the second set, Del Potro continued to be consistent. In the first 8 games, neither of the two players managed to sneak a breakthrough which kept the scores levelled at 4-4.

In the 9^th game, Ferrer’s serve was broken and he got trailed by 4-5. The next game was comfortably served out by Del Potro and the set was over.

In the third set, there were no breakthroughs in the first 12 games and the set was extended into the tie breaker.

The tie breaker got pretty tight, but, at the end, it was Del Potro who soaked up the pressure better and pulled it off to move into the semi finals.

In the semi final match, Del Potro will face the Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic.

FERRER MISSES OUT

David Ferrer has been defeated by Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in the second round of the ongoing Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell 2013. Tursunov won the match in three sets by 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.

Ferrer was given the top seed in this tournament and he was also playing on his home soil. So, he was the hot favourite to win the contest against Tursunov. But, that didn’t happen. A superb all round performance by the Russian veteran stunned Ferrer as well as the local fans.

In the post match interview, Tursunov said, “It was certainly not David’s best day in the office. He didn’t play as well as he is capable of. He was the favourite here because he is a very good clay court player and also because of his ranking, but, he gave me quite a few opportunities and I capitalized on them.”

In the first 10 games of the first set, both the players dropped their serve twice and the scores were equalized at 5-5 when the 10^th game got finished. Tursunov got his third breakthrough in the set in the 11^th game and this time, he made sure that he wouldn’t be broken back. He held his serve in the 12^th game and sealed the first set by 7-5.

Ferrer had a poor beginning in the second set as well. His serve was broken in the very first game of the set. However, the top ranked Frenchman broke back in the 4^th game to equalize the proceedings. In the next three games, both the players held their serve and at the end of the 7^th game, Ferrer was leading by 4-3.

Ferrer broke Tursunov’s serve for the second time in the set in the 8^th game and then, by winning his next service game, he wrapped up the set.

In the final set, Tursunov was on fire. He got a breakthrough in the second game to take a lead of 2-0.

The Russian player dropped his serve in the 3^rd game, but, that was the only game that he lost in the set.

With a couple of breakthroughs (in the 4^th and the 6^th game), he won the last four games successively and became the winner of the match.

FERRER WINS

David Ferrer has defeated Fabio Fognini of Italy in the third round of Sony Open. Ferrer won the match in the straight sets by 6-1, 7-5.

This was Ferrer’s 6^th match against Fognini. The Spaniard has won all of them.

Ferrer is ranked 5^th in the world at the moment, but, because of the fact that Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are not playing in this tournament, he has been given third seed. He was the clear favourite in yesterday’s match. He didn’t let his fans down and played fabulous tennis to make his way into the 4^th round.

Ferrer was in astonishing form right from the start. He broke Fognini’s serve in the second game of the first set to get ahead by 2-0. A serve hold for Ferrer in the next game enhanced his lead to 3-0.

The second breakthrough for Ferrer came in the 6^th game which took him ahead by 5-1. Ferrer won his next service game comfortably and that was the end of the set.

Ferrer committed only six unforced errors in the first set, while, Fognini committed 17.

In the second set, both the players won their first two service games and the scores were equalized at 2-2.

Ferrer broke in the 5^th game to take a lead of 3-2, but, this time, Fognini didn’t let him capitalize on that lead. He broke back immediately and made the score 3-3.

The next 4 games went with the serve. The set was heading towards a tie breaker. But, Ferrer didn’t let that happen. He broke again in the 11^th game and then, held his serve in the 12^th game to win the second set and the match as well.

In the fourth round, Ferrer will play against Kei Nishikori of Japan.