Fresh off his enormous upset of World No. 3 Andy Murray the day before, Polish qualifier Jerzy Janowicz came out a little nervous for his next match against World No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic.
For starters, he served like this:
He made faces like this:
And he hit drop shots like this:
It wasn’t very long before Janowicz was down 3-0. But once Janowicz began to settle in, he managed to make Tipsarevic do some acrobatics:
The 6 foot 8 Janowicz showed off his unreal court movement, doing backward splits to defend from the backhand side (and winning the point!):
But Janowicz still trailed in the first set, 2-4. He hit a disguised drop shot that fooled Tipsarevic completely:
And then Janowicz pulled a spinning half-volley out of his bag of tricks that brought the crowd to their feet:
Tipsarevic was able to hang on and take the first set, 6-3:
Janowicz wouldn’t disappear in the second set. He held for 2-1.
Janowicz constructed a brilliant sequence to earn three break points on Tipsarevic’s serve and chose to celebrate it by doing a victory lap.
Janowicz broke emphatically for 3-1 on a Tipsarevic backhand that went long. He was back in the hunt.
The disguised drop shot from Janowicz continued to frustrate Tipsarevic.
Tipsarevic was not a fan of this development.
But finesse wasn’t the only thing that Janowicz could bring to the table. He hit a blistering flat forehand winner down-the-line to hold serve for 4-1.
The Polish qualifier could suddenly simply do no wrong.
When he finally missed a shot, this was his reaction:
But that wasn’t happening much now. Janowicz was in full control. He was reading the Tipsarevic serve better and better, much to his opponent’s disdain.
Tipsarevic pulled out some magic of his own in the second set. His wife, Biljana, kept urging him on.
But it was no use. Janowicz was unstoppable.
Janowicz took the second set at 6-1 to even things up at one set apiece.
Janowicz didn’t miss a beat between the second and third sets. He started right where he left off, hitting another dazzling passing shot.
The masterclass continued. Janowicz broke and held for 4-1. The end was near for Tipsarevic.
But suddenly, Tipsarevic had called for the trainer during the changeover.
Tipsarevic returned to the court. Janowicz was serving at 4-1. And then after three points, it was all over. Tipsarevic had retired.
Janowicz, a qualifier, had reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal, beating two of the world’s top 10 players along the way.
thanks for all the gifs! I feel like I saw the whole match! 🙂
Glad you liked them!
Excellent 😀