Rome Masters

[Sir David Gray]

In the final big tournament before the French Open begins in just over a week's time, the Rome Masters event is now into the semi final stage.

Up first is Rafael Nadal vs Richard Gasquet where Nadal is bidding to become the champion at this event for the sixth time in seven years.

Then the second semi final is between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. I think this will be a very interesting match. Murray will be trying to reach his first ever clay court final and he is also looking to become the first man to beat Djokovic in 2011 as the Serb has continued his amazing run of form.

He has now won all 35 of his matches so far this season and his two wins at the back end of 2010 mean that his winning run of 37 matches is now just nine matches short of the 34 year old record held by Guillermo Vilas.

[Sir David Gray]

Murray-Djokovic about to start in a few minutes if anyone's interested. It's live on Sky Sports 4.

The winner will play Rafael Nadal in tomorrow's final after he beat Richard Gasquet 7-5 6-1 earlier on.

[Sir David Gray]

6-1 Djokovic first set. Djokovic broke Murray's serve three times in that set.

Murray lost the first set yesterday 6-1 as well before coming through in three sets but somehow I don't see that happening tonight.

[Sir David Gray]

Game on!

Murray takes the second set 6-3 to level the match! :thumbsup:

[Sir David Gray]

Djokovic wins 6-1 3-6 7-6 in about 3 hours.

Murray played so well in the second and third sets and was one game away from ending Djokovic's winning run as he served for the match at 5-4.

But Djokovic showed how he has managed to go on this run over the past six months and was a worthy winner. I think the real winner from tonight's match, though, will be Rafael Nadal who will surely be the fresher of the two when the final is played tomorrow.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Murray will win the same number of Majors as Monty - bottle merchant!

[Sir David Gray]

Murray will win the same number of Majors as Monty - bottle merchant!

That may end up being the case but he did far better tonight than I thought he would, especially after being battered in the first set.

The run that Djokovic is currently on is extraordinary and amongst the best winning runs in the history of the sport of tennis in the past 40-odd years. He has now won all of his 36 matches that he has played in this year and has won 38 matches in a row in all.

Bearing in mind that Murray does not have a particularly good record on clay, I think this has been great preparation for him for the French Open.

He will be annoyed that he didn't win tonight, as he came so close but above anything else, it was an excellent match and a brilliant advert for men's tennis.

[Sir David Gray]

I didn't see tonight's final but Novak Djokovic won his 39th match in a row and has now won all 7 of the tournaments that he has entered this year. He beat Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-4.

A phenomenal achievement considering that it was less than 24 hours after coming through a 3 hour match against Andy Murray.

He'll surely now be in with a shout of winning his first French Open title, when it begins a week today and it must now be only a matter of time before Djokovic becomes the best player in the world for the first time as well.

When this inevitably happens in the next couple of weeks, it will be the first time that someone, other than Federer and Nadal, has led in the world rankings for more than 7 years.

[lyonhibs]

I didn't see tonight's final but Novak Djokovic won his 39th match in a row and has now won all 7 of the tournaments that he has entered this year. He beat Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-4.

A phenomenal achievement considering that it was less than 24 hours after coming through a 3 hour match against Andy Murray.

He'll surely now be in with a shout of winning his first French Open title, when it begins a week today and it must now be only a matter of time before Djokovic becomes the best player in the world for the first time as well.

When this inevitably happens in the next couple of weeks, it will be the first time that someone, other than Federer and Nadal, has led in the world rankings for more than 7 years.

Great run or not, Nadal absolutely owns Roland Garros. Can't see anyone else taking that title away from him, fitness permitting.

[Sir David Gray]

Great run or not, Nadal absolutely owns Roland Garros. Can't see anyone else taking that title away from him, fitness permitting.

He does and he'll almost certainly start the tournament as favourite. However, the run that Djokovic is on must count for something. Not only that but he's shown that he has a lot of talent on clay (he's won the three clay tournaments that he's played in this year) and I think he can challenge Nadal and be the first person who will seriously threaten Nadal's monopoly at the French Open.

Djokovic has also won all four meetings with Nadal this year and that could be playing on Nadal's mind, if the pair of them reach the final in Paris.

Nadal has won all five meetings between them at Majors though and when all is said and done, it's a completely different experience playing best of three set matches for one week in a Masters event and playing best of five set matches for two weeks in a Major.

Although Djokovic does have two Grand Slam titles to his name, Nadal has shown on numerous occasions that he knows what it takes to win at Roland Garros and remains the man to beat.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Murray will win the same number of Majors as Monty - bottle merchant!

I was a tad bevvied when posting this. A bit harsh, could be something in it though!