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Double delight
It was fitting that the mixed doubles final went to a champions' tiebreak and it produced a stunning finish. Having lost the first set, Kveta Peschke and Marcin Matkowski roared back to take the second and appeared in command when Peschke had the ball in hand and serving for the match. But Ekaterina Makarova and Bruno Soares somehow dug themselves out of a hole in amazing fashion. Makaraova showed tremendous speed to scamper and reach a drop shot, Soares then retrieved a ball and Makarova put away a volley. One point later they worked a match point, with Soares producing a brilliant reaction volley, and victory was sealed when a crisp return from Makarova forced Peschke to net a volley.

Friends reunited
Having been on opposite sides of the court for their singles quarter final the previous day, friends Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani teamed up again for their doubles semi-final and they were on a perfect wavelength as they overpowered Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3 6-2.

Delicious drop
David Ferrer and Janko Tipsarevic slugged it out for five sets and there were a host of stunning moments. Ferrer dominated the first and at 5-2 and he turned on the style, matching Tipsarevic from the baseline with some fierce drives before changing things up completely with a brilliant forehand dropshot that completely deceived his flat-footed opponent.

Mishit lob
You know things are going your way when even your mishits land flush on the line. At a set to the good, Ferrer was faced with Tipsarevic attempting to change things up by coming to the net. The Serbian made a good play, coming in behind a fierce approach. Ferrer set himself for a passing shot, but framed the ball and it spun up like a wicked topspin lob and landed flush on the line.

Backhand brilliance
Tipsarevic, at one-one in the second set tiebreak looked out of the point as Ferrer pushed him wide, wide into his backhand corner. He went for broke more possibly in hope than expectation, but the ball arrowed over the high part of the net and curled in right on the line. It really was a quite stunning effort.

The lob of the ages
Tipsarevic came up with some stunning shots during his five-set epic with David Ferrer. The backhands were good, but at 3-1 up in the fifth he produced a lob of sublime quality. He had been forced wide on his backhand wing to retrieve a ball and did well to get that. Ferrer came forward for the kill, sending the ball into the other corner. No-one would have raised an eyebrow had Tipsarevic left it, but he chased it, got there as it was about to bounce for a second time, rolled his racket up the back of the ball to produce a topspin lob that left Ferrer open-mouthed in admiration.

Sandler topples James, sort of
The late night main course was preceded by the warm-up event, namely John McEnroe and Adam Sandler taking on Jim Courier and Kevin James. It's fair to say the quality wasn't out of the top-drawer, although the two comedians did show a glimpse of ability. James served to stay in the match, but was unable to do so. Although it wasn't exactly clear who won given Sandler and James were on the same side of the net when the final point was scored.

Painting the lines
Novak Djokovic made a statement of intent on the opening point of Juan Martin Del Potro's service game. He flushed a forehand on to the forehand sideline and after the ball whistled back from the Argentinian, he did the same on the backhand wing - this time for a clean winner.

Awful drop shot, win the point
At 2-1 in the second set, a long baseline rally was interrupted by Del Potro playing a drop shot. It was an awful effort, one that suggested fatigue. Djokovic got there easily but hit the ball straight back to Del Potro who flicked the ball into an unguarded area of the court. It drew gasps of disbelief from the crowd, which was changed to cheers by Del Potro who turned cheerleader to generate support.

Knocking the stuffing out of your opponent
Djokovic led 5-3 in the second set tiebreak when he sapped energy and belief out of Del Potro. He teased and tormented Del Potro with drop shots and lobs, which the Argentinian kept tracking down, but the final drop shot proved too good. And he then produced a stunning backhand at full stretch for a clean winner to take the second set.

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