Nadal and Murray Cruise

Not much to say about these matches other then Nadal is really good and so is Murray. Both of them dominate and make their way into the quarters. Murray dominance wasnt really a surprise but the fact that Nadal, who came in the tournement sick, was so commanding and controlling surprised me. Nadal hasnt always fared well against big hitting power players such as Del Potro, Soderling and Cilic so for him to win like he did shows his tennis maturity. After jump, I will give some telling facts about both matches as well as a look ahead.     

Let's start with Andy Murray's straight set (6-3, 6-1, 6-1) win over Jurgen Melzer. The biggest difference between the 2 was Murray's dominance on his first serve winning 83% compared to Melzer only winning 51%. Melzer also couldnt capitalize on his chances breaking Murray only once out of 8 attempts. Not much else facts wise but just from watching this match you could tell how in control Murray was and Im really hoping to see him face off against Rafa in the semi's in whats sure to be an unbelievable match.   

Nadal played in a match that I expected, and if you read Ben's previews he did too, to go at least 4 if not 5 sets with Nadal just barley edging Cilic at the end. That was not the case. For the get-go Nadal was able to control the entire match even breaking Cilic to start the match. What shocked me the most was that Rafa serve was equal if not faster than Cilic's for most of the match. Even more shocking was he was never broken while he broken Cilic 5 times! Also, unlike his previous match against Tomic Rafa never took his foot off the gas and when he attack the net he won 16 of 17 points. Next up for Rafa is fellow countrymen Ferrer who defeated the young canadian Raonic in 4. Rafa usuallys defeats his countrymen and I dont expect anything different this time around. Which would set up a Rafa Murray semifinal which I would love to see.