AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2015

Draws are out!

Men's - http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ms/index.html
Women's - http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ws/index.html

Plenty to chew on there. Aaaaaah I'm so excited.

Your tastiest sections: Monfils/Pouille/Janowicz/Del Potro and Wozniacki/Townsend/Stephens/Azarenka, though I suspect the latter is a tough draw for only 3 of the 4 players involved.

R1 matches of note:

Kokkinakis/Gulbis - I'll take the upset here
Coric/Chardy - I'll pass on the upset here despite Chokedy
Brown/Dimitrov - obv no upset but it'll look good
Youzhny/Nadal - now this really is a danger draw for Rafa. Veteran who's beaten him 4 times already. Youzhny's been slumping himself but these veterans can always turn back the clock in a big-match Slam situation...

Looking forward to Murray showing that twat Matosevic what a female coach can do in R2, though this would require the rare sight of Matosevic getting out of R1.

Cibulkova getting Flipkens then Watson or Pironkova might actually be more of a hell-draw than Wozniacki's, one that Domi assuredly doesn't need right now.

Bacsinszky/Jankovic - I'll take the upset here
Smitkova/Lucic-Baroni - bring helmets and protective gear
Stosur/Niculescu - bring a laugh track. Stosur's hometown shanks versus Niculescu's...everything. A must-watch
Vekic/Barthel - battle of the walking byes. Someone has to win a match!
Potential Gavrilova/Bouchard in R2 should be a popcorn match if Dasha maintains her form and the crowd get into it

I'll do my predix once qualies are done...

Good - Del Potro is back.

Azarenka's draw is giving me life

Expecting yet another tame AO for Serena tbh

Qualies was kind to a lot of veteran journeywomen who I never expected to see in a Slam MD again. Foretz, Voracova, Panova. Comebacks going well for Rodina and Maria (ex-Malek). Slam debuts for Denisa Allertova (who compiled a 55-6 record in ITFs last year, plus the Luxembourg SF at the end of it - astonishing rise), Richel Hogenkamp, Océane Dodin, An-Sophie Mestach. Also 18 yo Elias Ymer makes his debut on the men's side, as well as Yuki Bhambri (who'll face Murray) and Marius Copil. Good to see Lokoli back up his RG run to come through qualifying.

ok, predix

4R

Serena Williams d. Garbine Muguruza
Caroline Wozniacki d. Denisa Allertova
Petra Kvitova d. Coco Vandeweghe
Agnieszka Radwanska d. Venus Williams
Karolina Pliskova d. Ana Ivanovic
Simona Halep d. Annika Beck
Angelique Kerber d. Daria Gavrilova
Maria Sharapova d. Ana Konjuh

Williams d. Wozniacki
Kvitova d. Radwanska
Halep d. Pliskova
Sharapova d. Kerber

Williams d. Kvitova
Sharapova d. Halep

Williams d. Sharapova

(My fandom of Petra and Simona means I'll never be able to predict those match-ups the other way)

Novak Djokovic d. Gilles Muller
Milos Raonic d. Juan Martin Del Potro
Stan Wawrinka d. Guillermo Garcia Lopez
Kei Nishikori d. David Ferrer
Tomas Berdych d. Bernard Tomic
Kevin Anderson d. Mikhail Youzhny
Andy Murray d. Grigor Dimitrov
Roger Federer d. Nick Kyrgios

Djokovic d. Raonic
Wawrinka d. Nishikori
Berdych d. Anderson
Federer d. Murray

Djokovic d. Wawrinka
Federer d. Berdych

Djokovic d. Federer

Anything better than 'catastrophic' would be a positive AO for Maria of recent years but I dare not hope she goes that far. No feel for how Serena does. Match vs C Woz could be good.

yeah, I sort of started making the predictions thinking Serena would have an early loss based on her Hopman Cup form and last year's sundry flops but when it comes down to it you just CAN'T pick, like, Svitolina over her. And not Muguruza again. And then we're into the territory of top players she owns.

Sharapova looked in untouchable form in Brisbane and she has a draw that's just right for her. Maybe if Safarova makes R4, but Lucie is so much weaker mentally.

Deploy withdrew so Lex's are already in jeopardy

oh wtf phone

:( Pony wasn't ready physically. Couldn't hit through the backhand.

I also fear Sharapova is going to win and become #1. One can keep saying "no hardcort major in 7000 years" but... ugh.

oh nooooo Delpo :(

I love the Australian Open. It legitimises my insomnia for a fortnight. Also, tennis.

Sad about Delpo. Mostly because I'd just backed him to try to repeat my "pick an unlikely winner/finalist" ploy that has seen me make money on Wawrinka, Cilic, Nishikori in the last 12 months. And also because I love him.

seppi/istomin 5th set could def be uh entertaining

Ana looking v. likely to be the first big casualty of the tournament - two breaks down in the final set leaving Lucie Hradecka serving for the match.

And she's out. Spying Sabine as another possible upset - broke Kiki at the start of the third, but was broken straight back.

And Kiki takes it in the third.

Andy Murray appears to have fallen asleep while I wasn't looking.

What happened to Bencic in the off season? Losing to Goerges is not exactly a promising sign.

And by that scoreline, oof.

Of all the unexpected things to happen on day one (Ivanovic still flopping at Slams, and did Kerber's heroics last week kill her?) the most unexpected might be choosing Foretz/McHale as my first match to watch

Very disappointing loss from Konjuh as well.

Kuznetsova and Lisicki both go 0-3 in Australia, albeit you could have seen it coming against Garcia and Mladenovic respectively.

Good day for Young France, nice win for Océane Dodin over Riske!

McHale wins 12-10 in the third over Foretz, who - contra Young France - was, I believe, alive at the time of the French Revolution.

Li Na is pregnant! That didn't take long.

Gavrilova misses by millimetres on her two SPs…then dumps a slice into the net on Bertens' first. Ouch.

lol ana

Kokkinakis/Gulbis is pretty underwhelming. Gulbis has shaved properly for the first time in years.

Gavrilova is a very, er, emotional player...

LOL @ Gulbis yelling at the crowd to "show some respect"

Shocking loss by CSN to Witthoeft 3 and 1. Witthoeft is a decent young player but she's never had any WTA-level results of note and was not in good form coming in at all (losing to Abduraimova and Townsend in qualies...)

Wow the Kokk saved 4 MPs and then Gulbis just collapsed in the TB. This match is getting crazy

Why does Gulbis exist

Ridiculous self-destruction in that TB

Crowd are dicks

Kokkinakis down BP at 6-6, shot called out...Hawkeye shows it in by MILLIMETRES

Gulbis's returning on key points has been a disaster

Two DFs and a FH halfway up the net to end it for Gulbis

Gulbis's forehand falling short reminds me so much of Ivanovic's backhands that barely make it to the net.

The crowd were dicks. Stop bashing the sides making noise you philistines. Kokkinakis doing the Andrew Ilie-esque run around the stadium. What is he even wearing, though it's not as bad as Kyrgios' pine-lime Splice monstrosity.

Two consecutive sub-80mph Niculescu serves, Stosur dumps the first return into the bottom of the net and shanks the next into the crowd

Most matches are a handful of games in. In that time Oprandi's gone 0-6, 0-3 down to Allertova. Think we've found our "still injured but just here for the R1 paycheque" candidate.

Stosur loading every FH with topspin and Niculescu responding to every one with slice is quite weird to watch

This Almagro-Nishikori game is entertaining. Almagro alternating between amazing shot-making and atrocious unforced errors.

enjoying this lopez/kudla 5th set, not incred tennis but these guys are well matched

never noticed how much bigger lopez's left arm is than his rt

Currently enjoying woz v taylor townsend. Then I really should go to sleep.

lol @ Stephens

pretty much everything went as expected. Stosur's early troubles with Niculescu were entertaining but that was never going to be an upset. 100% expected the JaJa and Petkorazzi upsets (how Madison Brengle and her nothingy game are entrenching themselves on tour I have no idea but the results are happening). Also expected the Thiem non-upset of Princess Agut. One tight set, one easy set is an exact reprise of the Woz/Townsend match from Auckland. Azza has never been troubled by Stephens, even at the start of her own decline or at Stephens' supposed peak.

Kanepi can get in the hall of shame for losing to Falconi though, who does that. And it was a tough draw but Watson should've done a bit better than 4 and 0 to Tsveti. Jay-Z winning three games off Asian WC Chang suggests she's done in singles too :(

Rogowska entering her 7th year of being handed free passes into Slams just for being Australian. 10 WCs, of which seven have been R1 losses. Never cracked the top 100. Never been ranked high enough for direct entry. Never managed to come through qualifying. Her only other Slam MD appearance was as a lucky loser at the USO 2013, where she was promptly double bagelled by Errani. An entire career sustained by nationalism.

Getting the "bitching about the Australian media" portion out of the way - if there's one thing worse than the usual crowd of dickhead commentators... it's when they decide to give us a "treat" and let Henri Leconte in the commentary booth. THE WORST.

Pouille and Monfils both playing well :)

don't wanna be That Guy who goes on about people who've conveniently taken out slam-nation citizenship or what not, but srsly, Tomljanovic/Rogers as the last match on a prime court? GTFO, neither of these players should have any business playing a 1R match on a night session.

omg that Pouille miss at 4-4 30-30

omggggg

Pouille's volleyed so well all match and then gets broken there after fucking up two volleys and then letting one go that landed in on BP

Love Gael and that was a fabulous match but what a gutting way to lose for Pouille.

Wtf happened to Goffin??

Was dusting off all the Maria Sharaplolva gags but she came back from being served against for the match. A *lot* of stupid mistakes though.

I just dozed off for a bit, and Roger appears to have dropped the first set while I wasn't looking.

I did wonder whether Goffin might be the type to flop at Slams, where Baghdatis typically peaks...

The Sharapova match sounds as aggravating as usual, not sure whether to LOL that Panova took more than 5 games off her or to be annoyed at the two MPs missed.

Mladenovic/Mattek-Sands was a nice contrast. Mladenovic is so slow to react on the baseline though, and she absolutely ballsed up an easy SP in the second set TB. Great win for BMS on her way back up the rankings though.

Murray trashing Matosevic, delicious after his comments about female coaches.

Smyczek was really unimpressive in the fourth set. No idea how he got two sets off Rafa.

Rafa was pretty bad in set 3. Smyczek is hitting lots of lovely winners though.

Tomic-Kohli was a good match, much better than the Rafa shitfest

Bepa vs Serena yesssss no matter what happens it's all good

feel quite badly for zvonareva now, from 2 set pt chances, serenas p much broken her spirit

zvonareva nearly injured herself going for serenas return winners

LOL at the Muguruza / Hantuchova scoreline.

omg @ mannarino, looks like hes been lost in the desert

oof, pironkova bagelled by domi

Jerzy/Gael is very good so far

Surprised Vera made that much out of the match.

so Day 1 used up our surprise quotient huh? Pironkova not upsetting Cibulkova is the biggest shock to me. Also didn't expect Bepa to challenge Serena in any way.

Monfils playing well against Janowicz...

Vika / C Woz is v good, they match each other well to produce long intense rallies.

Azarenka's superior weight of shot really told in that set.

Absolutely, though Woz is almost at peak defending here and Vika's had to be fully on to get things done.

wau @ that return that won Janowicz the set. 5th set, which will surprise no one...

xp yes, given how up-and-down Vika's been since her return I'm surprised that she sustained her good play, but obv there's still time for that to change...

It didn't change.

#back

And Janowicz breaks in the fifth with a BH DTL banger

so happy for Jerzy

ughhhhhh Vandeweghe beating Stosur was NID but this clear run to R4 for Colleen is so gross

and looooooooooool @ Hewitt losing from two sets up

YESS seeya later Hewitt

Berdych has looked fantastic but he's in Nadal's quarter so it doesn't matter

Dimitrov grinding out a win with that Rasheed fitness training, still don't like all the pushing he does

xp nadal was pretty undercooked on Wednesday night, I'd be surprised if he gets much further

I hope Dimitrov and Murray can do a repeat of their awesome match from Acapulco last year. Similar playing conditions.

that match might have been the best non-slam match of the year

What's Federer doing?

losing?

Impressive mental resilience from Seppi, but lol @ Fed

That Seppi MP!!

Also Wozniacki's lack of any answers to Vika's relentless FF CCs followed by a DTL approach shot was kind of embarrassing.

I mean that was amazing

(Seppi I mean)

Hearing Sascha Bajin commentating on Serena's R2 match was bizarre

And belated lol @ Ivanovic. Last 4 slams: R3 R3 R2 R1

omg Fed. what a way to lose. I swear I've seen a ton more players lose key points via leaving balls that drop in than usual this year.

Tomic/Groth second set TB was pure comedy, both DFing for their lives on SPs. NID that Tomic got it together though.

Zarina not putting up the fight I thought she would vs Ma$ha :((((((

Baby jesus wept wtf

serena's pathetic AO performances lately. i can't. looking so disinterested. i have a dissertation to write and i'll be too depressed to do it if you lose so come the fuck on

feet like lead / no game plan / nonchalantly spun in serves. at least i'mused to it now.

lol at that. svitolina just gave in. muguruza should be interesting. serena should be motivated and hopefully gets off to an energetic start for once.

courier called radwanska "aggie-rod"

i just cant

i wish espn 2 would show lopez/janowicz

im kindof into seeing djoko/verdasco - novak will kill him but verdasco will def hit some sic winners

im really pulling for feliciano lopez this tourney for some unknown to me reason - luv'ed that backhand slice winner after a long fhand rally that he was v defensive on, this is a cool match

dam didnt realize lopez had raonic next if he pulls this out

janovicz is selling out this 4-5 game, p smart prob

so bad that lopez double faulted @ 30-15

lopez is tuff 2 break cuz his ad serve is his best shot

omg this is p sweet play here

16 point game to close out the set

that was a crazy good pt at 40-40 4-4 3rd set

lopez is playing like as well as he is able i like seeing guys get the max out of their talent

vanderwegh handed that 2 brengle

there is def like a fedora meetup or giveaway why

Giorgi played so well against Venus but totally collapsed when she had to serve it out. So frustrating.

gonna b really crushing when johnson lets this slip away

wow

steve is moving well props

jeez
so much choking from azarenka that she shouldn't have been allowed to get away with
azarenka up *3-0 in 2nd, pegged back to 3-3, goes up a break again, loses it, goes from 30-0 to BP down when serving it out and zahlavova strycova misses the eaaaaasiest putaway volley. really wanted that match to go on longer

Verdasco fiasco in the TB. That DF and that shank from a minibreak up...

Bit surprised Venus beat Giorgi. Isner out, yes! Brengle in a Slam R4 is bizarre but I'll be forever indebted to her for ensuring it wasn't Vandeweghe.

Who'd have thought Domi would make the second week given her horrid form and nightmare draw!

Serena, Garbiñe and Aga have scored bagels in each of their matches so far (Garbiñe has still been taken to three sets in two of those).

Keys hits a spectacular pass to break...Kvitova responds with a great volley, a great get of a dropshot and then Keys hits herself out of the rest of the game.

Shira :(

I don't think it's full-on Shitra, both she and Keys have been up and down but not horrifically so. She just looks a lot more stressed than Keys

meanwhile Ferrer failed to serve out the match for a third time

Keys is so bad at consolidating her breaks

Her serve is pretty terrible. She barely wins the first point of any of her service games. This set her first serve % is at 39. That's... no.

I like Keys though. Also her pink outfit is really nice.

Keys was so bad at consolidating her breaks...EXCEPT when serving for the first set then the match!

(1) Serena Williams vs. (24) Garbine Muguruza
(11) Dominika Cibulkova vs. Victoria Azarenka
Madison Keys vs. Madison Brengle
(18) Venus Williams vs. (6) Agnieszka Radwanska
Julia Goerges vs. (10) Ekaterina Makarova
Yanina Wickmayer vs. (3) Simona Halep
(7) Eugenie Bouchard vs. Irina-Camelia Begu
(21) Shuai Peng vs. (2) Maria Sharapova

6/16 is pretty bad. Serena vs. Garbine rematch! Sort of surprising to me that Venus hasn't beaten Aga in five years. Wickmayer actually leads the h2h vs Halep 3-0, all easy but all 2012 or before.

Predicting, safely: S.Williams, Azarenka, Keys, Radwanska, Makarova, Halep, Bouchard, Sharapova

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Gilles Muller
(12) Feliciano Lopez vs. (8) Milos Raonic
(4) Stan Wawrinka vs. Guillermo Garcia Lopez
(9) David Ferrer vs. (5) Kei Nishikori
(7) Tomas Berdych vs. Bernard Tomic
(14) Kevin Anderson vs. (3) Rafael Nadal
(6) Andy Murray vs. (10) Grigor Dimitrov
Nick Kyrgios vs. Andreas Seppi

Pretty proud of those Muller and Garcia Lopez predictions. 13/16! Just recalled Stan flopping for his life against GGL in the RG R1 last year...

Predicting: Djokovic, Raonic, Wawrinka, Nishikori, Tomic, Nadal, Murray, Kyrgios

lol @ isner destroying his racquet after muller wins 2nd set on that net cord, good fuckin riddance

Begu from 1-6 0-3 to 1-6 7-5. Bouchard DFed on SP :)

seems like it should be an exciting match rn but its kinda boring and terrible

there hasnt been a winner in as long as i can remember

God, yeah, this seems to have been going on forever and nothing is really happening.

Predix:

Serena vs Cibulkova
Keys vs Radwanska
Makarova vs Halep
Bouchard vs Sharapova

Djokovic vs Raonic
Wawrinka vs Nishikori
Berdych vs Nadal
Murray vs Kyrgios

(ok I know Makarova and Bouchard already won theirs but obv they would have been my predix)

Not convinced about Halep/Wickmayer or Keys/Brengle or Serena/Muguruza or Tomic/Berdych or basically any of these

Is Nadal ever just gonna be 100% over
Go Kevin!
Weird that they've only played once before. In 2010.

Nadal rolled past Anderson.

Dimitrov - Murray about to start..

jeez
grigor starting where he ended their last match. murray too tbh

what a passing shot to get a BP! then converts it

kyrgios into a 5th! good tiebreak from him

never felt like this going to a 5th set was in doubt, even when Seppi had a MP

Kyrgios is exhausting to watch, so much nervous energy

3 aces for Murray in the next: 3-3.

i regretfully report one of the local announcers just said, 'what's left in the seppi tank.'

Come on Murray!!

Totally all over Dimitrov.

Kicking this baby Fed shit into touch: one down, two to go.

you're making me root for dimitrov

Don't fucking care. He's awful.

why? he seems pretty harmless to me and his game is more watchable than, say, raonic's

9 points in a row for seppi :/ 4-1 to 4-4 in the space of like 5 seconds

Almost anyone's game is more watchable than Raonic.

I like Murray and their match at Wim was one of my worst tennis memories so excuse my enthusiasm.

Murray's second serve is not back to the levels it was at when he won US and Wim and yet Dimitrov can't take a couple of opportunities. xp

Murray breaks again!

Serving great when he finds the 1st and that gets him across the line: 3-1

Dimitrov finally breaks back!

Kyrgios's scenic route reaches its NID destination. Seppi was so passive in the big moments

When news of Kyrgios win came through the crowd disrupted the Murray - Dim match for a good min in celebration..

It was a delicate moment but Dim comes through so back on serve.

Kyrgios has to be the first player whose first two ATP QFs are both at Slams right?

Astonishing if true.

Murray was 15-40 in that.

Why the fuck am I sill watching this man!

2x more BPs..

Breaks, Murray to serve. A tie break would be a travesty.

brilliant return game

but its 0-30 in the next..

what we needed was an assured set of 1st serves. 15-40

Fucking DF...tie break it is.

pulling my hair out @ this.

Good challenge Dimitrov, then wins points after an excellent rally, on serve: 2-1

that pass!!!!

siiick passing backhand

Dimitrov to serve for the set

sigh

That Murray game where he failed to serve out the 2nd set was such a failure. Like, that drop-shot was nearly as tragic as the DF.

Two more BPs Murray

Two decent 1st serves..

Murray does break - and here we go again.

No dramas. 2-1

No way he is winning another slam playing like this but really should be more than enough for Dim.

ffs 3-0 Dimitrov

Although there appeared to be something going on with Murray's left wrist, not sure if that was a factor.

I got distracted by something else: Murray one point away, seems Dim acted like the shitty player he is.

lmao Murray you lucky bastard

And comes though, listening on radio...net cord or something. Why didn't this end an hour ago? Goran is 'happy'.

xp

Dimitrov really unimpressive - some flashy patches of play as ever but he didn't make Murray pay for any of those missed opportunities and the final choke was hilarious. Peak racquet smash though, best I've seen since Zvonareva.

Murray's purple patch at the end was welcome and Kyrgios is a nice match-up in the next round.

Peak racquet smash though

That was proper mega-tantrum lolz.

great pt by cibu to get to 5-3 3d set

serenas in srs trouble

that key second game of third set. <3 better serving in the 2nd half of that match than i've seen from her in like 2 years. muguruza was dictating like the whole match, but serena did a better job of moving her around and hitting with controlled power as the match went on and just generally BSing her way through the match and staying mentally strong despite woeful BP %/comical approach shots. PROUD.

the scheduling is just the worst. this is the second year in a row i've missed domi blowing up the draw

wow a straightforward win for Kei. I hope he can repeat his USO win over Stan now.

Domi! Finding form out of nowhere.

raonic has such a punchable face

wow, Lopez saves two MPs in the fourth set TB (after saving two MPs in R1 and one MP in R2) to take it into a fifth. Saved one with a s&v and the second on Raonic's serve with a brilliant BH pass

Aga approaches off a mid-pace short ball down the middle, Venus buries the pass in the bottom of the net

12-deuce game and Venus breaks...

Venus losing it. That smash into the back fence...

Radwanska is so useless, I love it. So close, Venus! Please not yet another close 3 set slam loss.

That smash triggered her getting it together to an extent. From a break down to 4-1 up but this is patchy tennis.

Only just got home at 1-0 in the third but if Radwanska has been playing like this how did she even win games let alone a set. My god, she has no kill shots as ever but she doesn't even have touch. Keys would just annihilate her, so might as well lose to Venus.

Aga's timing is all over the place now

Aga's approaches and volleys were terrible all night, really. Venus stemmed her UEs impressively...

amazing win for Venus! although radwanska literally was just unbelievably bad.

Predix:

Serena vs Cibulkova
Keys vs Radwanska
Makarova vs Halep
Bouchard vs Sharapova

Djokovic vs Raonic
Wawrinka vs Nishikori
Berdych vs Nadal
Murray vs Kyrgios

15/16. could not be more ecstatic about the one i got wrong!!

Women's QFs set.

(1) Serena Williams vs. (11) Dominika Cibulkova
Madison Keys vs. (18) Venus Williams
(10) Ekaterina Makarova vs. (3) Simona Halep
(7) Eugenie Bouchard vs. (2) Maria Sharapova

H2Hs

Serena 4-0 Domi
Venus 1-0 Madison
Simona 1-0 Kate
Maria 3-0 Eugenie

Venus/Keys seems like the only one that could potentially go the other way but even then I'm backing Venus. I changed my mind and put some money on her before this match - realised that she'd been physically done when she played Aga the last few times, but the day off would have helped her here. Never looked in danger of tiring.

oh wait djokovic didn't play yet lol

makarova/halep doesn't seem very set in stone to me!

I think Makarova might need to really peak to win though, Halep will expose her movement

Garbiñe gives some advice:

Q. Maria Sharapova has not beaten Serena in 10 years. If you could give Maria any advice from your experience, what would you tell her?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: [...] I think maybe improve more the way she plays to beat her. I think the way she plays is not the way to beat Serena. That's what I saw in the 10 years.

So happy Domi has managed to hold on to some of those finalist points from last year after flopping the entire rest of the year. The massive free-fall predicted has not come.

Now pulling for her or Kate Mak to win the whole thing even though this will not occur.

Garbi :D

Men's QF set. Only Fed failed to make it out of the top 8 seeds.

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (8) Milos Raonic
(4) Stan Wawrinka vs. (5) Kei Nishikori
(7) Tomas Berdych vs. (3) Rafael Nadal
(6) Andy Murray vs. Nick Kyrgios

Novak 4-0 Milos
Stan 2-1 Kei
Rafa 18-3 Tomas
Andy 1-0 Nick

yea & they commented that berdych hasn't beaten rafa since before iphones existed

stan/kei shd be a great match

wow halep is reaally off rn

i like halep but i get suckered into rooting for lefties p often

halep is struggling w/ the eKatMak serve

these girls have like the exact same game

maria does look p sick rn

wtf nadal

wow i never saw that clip of berdych sushing the crowd lmao

berdych is serving v well

whens the last time rafa served at 0-5 down

berdych like occasionally plays like this and looks terrifying, he just never does it in a spot like this

nadals serve really let him down

Oh that is a horribly disappointing loss for Halep...echoes of last year, getting whomped by a non-elite player in the QF.

Berdych, amazing way to overturn the h2h. Glad that Rafa didn't bullshit his way through the draw playing like that.

Q. Would you like a group of fans to follow your matches and sing all the way through them?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: No, I actually prefer writing my own songs and singing them. I think I did a pretty good job of that today.

Murray/Kyrgios going exactly as expected, good to see

Go Muzza

Murray just changing pace on every shot for fun now

Kate stanning for Nastya <3

Q. There was a time when Russian women's tennis was very much in the limelight with Kuznetsova, Myskina, Kournikova. Can you talk about those times.

EKATERINA MAKAROVA: My idol was Anastasia Myskina. I was watching so many matches of her when she won the French Open and when she was playing Olympics. That was a great time, yeah, when Dementieva, Kuznetsova, Safina, they were all -- like we had four girls in the quarterfinal, two of them in the semis. Now it's a little bit less of us. I don't know. I really wanted to be one of them when I was watching them and learning some things from them. I'm so happy that these tournaments I'm quite like they are.

Q. Has Sharapova felt like part of that group? I know she doesn't spend much time in Russia or play Fed Cup very much. Does she feel a little different?

EKATERINA MAKAROVA: Well, that's tough question. I just want to leave it.

Q. Out of all of those women you mentioned, why Myskina?

EKATERINA MAKAROVA: I don't know. She looked so smart on the court. She doesn't have a lot of power, but she was moving the opponent so much. Like it was so enjoyable to watch her game. When I was going on the Kremlin Cup, when I can see her live, that was amazing. They were playing against Dementieva one year in the final, and it was like crushed stadium in Moscow, so it was great feeling to sit and watch it. Now I have a, like, great feeling when I'm there.

Sharapova's camera-drawing message utterly repulsive, heinous. Kerber beating her at Wimbledon probably my favourite tennis match of the last five years (it was a truly great match too)

Wish I could watch more of this but it comes at bad times.Also I don't have my laptop rn so I will just have to imagine the pride of Cyprus crumbling in a heap

Makarova can beat her, right?

I do love watching Andy Murray swear at himself in slow motion. Eurosport are excellent at showing it.

lmao these lobs

Peak Murray lobbing to win the TB

Makarova can beat her, right?

0-5 h2h, I would say no

Kyrgios standing flummoxed at the net as he gets lobbed repeatedly is comedy gold.

^ this. He's just so eminently slappable. The Eurosport commentator (whoever it is that's not Mats Wilander) jizzing himself about how young and exciting he looks with his hair and his eyebrows and his headphones was also comedy gold, like he's never seen a teenager before.

I hope Maria beats Makarova but I was more comfortable and secure faced with Bouchard who half-assed her way to the QF.

Fond of Murray's tricks today

Beautiful BH DTL from Murray

Kyrgios is like a Monfils who cares about winning

Another lob, another break

Kyrgios standing at the net shitting himself at the prospect of Murray blasting him/lobbing him for the zillionth time = lolz galore

Amelie's new-wave hairstyle = awesome

enjoyed that attempted Kyrgios tweener that dribbled into the net earlier

FH winner to win!

why Halep why??

Berdych should beat Murray, his 2nd serve is there to be pummelled.

Serena looking boss, despite battling a cough - she could barely speak during her on-court interview. Serve was clicking.

PeakStan. Nishikori isn't even playing terribly but can't seem to get anything past him.

Gutsy stuff from Stan to seal the second set. Poor Kei. That body serve to his chest on BP was cruel.

Never seen Kei so deflated. Completely outgunned.

Holy shit just when it looked like it was all over, Kei goes from 1-6 down in the TB to 6-6

Noooo Kei why did you do thattt

Jeez... Saves five match points only to lose it through an ill-advised drop shot. Credit to Stan for not choking though.

Kei :(((((

Third year running we have a 19-yr-old in the women's SFs. As I said both last year and the year before, I like Keys' upside way more than Stephens' or Bouchard's.

Congrats to Serena on the title.

Quite like Stan to retain the title. Seems wrong for him to win one slam.

Third straight year of a Nole/Stan AO match, hopefully as good as the past two years...

(1) Serena Williams vs. Madison Keys
(10) Ekaterina Makarova vs. (2) Maria Sharapova

Williams 0-0 Keys
Sharapova 5-0 Makarova

zzz

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (4) Stan Wawrinka
(7) Tomas Berdych vs. (6) Andy Murray

Djokovic 18-3 Wawrinka
Berdych 6-4 Murray

ive barely seen murray this tourney but if berdych plays as well as he did vs nadal (huge if obv) he'll win. granted, I would NEVER bet on berdych to win

obv early, but makarova looks shook

her serve looks terrible vs maria whereas vs halep it won her the match

Keys hanging tough, saves seven MPs to make Serena serve it out. Wish she had started playing like this, like four games ago.

8th MP saved

Fun match... Second set was way closer than the score suggests. Keys keeps getting better and better.

This final again! Looking at my Saturday morning timings...I'll be in the air again but this could well be nice timing for it to start and finish during my entire stopover in Paris. Pity Paris airport wifi sucked

So...Berdych to win in four, maybe straight sets actually.

I could really with the Beeb showing Djoko - Stan tomorrow but its not high profile enough - I'll worry about that later tho'.

Embarrassing at the net from Berdych but he is already all over Murray's serve: 1-1

LOL DF -- Murray went for a 2nd serve ace.

Murray can't get near Berdych's serve right now..

In the prev Murray game he made an impossible get possible at 0-30. Berdych got him into deuce but Murray held on - great resistance.

Can't find his way into B's serve tho'.

question of when not if and so it proves. Berdych to serve for the set.

Couple of unforced errors from Berdych and Murray made him pay - break back!

Fuck is Berdych doing changing balls, playing games here.

no andy why you had him on the ropes.

This was "nonsense" Andy, yes it was..

Berdych should have made that way more harder for Murray: TB

Murray breaks racquet string to hand the mini-break back

Played great at the net to save the first set point

Ace - SP Berdych

oh dear...Berdych 1st set.

this match is pretty bad so far

Not one for the neutrals.

wtf at this early break with net cord...Berdych gone to sleep?

i would like berdych to win but have zero interest in a novak-berd final

Well Stan might win tomorrow.

sleepy Tomas is PLANK, tennis disaster avoidable!

3-0, see what this new Berdych thing is all about now..

lol @ 2x slips in a row.

new Berdych was a load of guff - double break.

I'm really glad I like Tomas for his amazing legs rather than anything else.

I admire his fiancee.

At least if he loses we'll be spared the whole "engagement spurs Berdych to AO final" crap. I avoid this stuff like the plague but as I don't live in a cave I might not be able to avoid it.

5-0 after 22 mins..

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2015 [Started by lex pretend in January 2015, last updated 6 minutes ago by xyzzzz__] 166 new answers
All That Jazz - 1979 (starring Roy Scheider, dir. by Bob Fosse) [Started by |$̲̅(̲̅ιοο̲̅)̲̅$̲̅| (gr8080) in January 2014, last updated 16 minutes ago by Nekomizu don't work (MaresNest)] 2 new answers

Berdych shirt change :D

Satorova - break it off.

Discussing with my mum who might be the best UK sportsperson of the last couple of decades. She's gone with Redgrave -_-

well Berdych had to get that right at BP.

Murray playing beautifully now

Berdych lost from 40-0 up. 2 DFs..

Murray played two brilliant points when he got the chance tho'.

with an ace: 2-1 Murray

I don't usually just watch tennis if it's Murray in a Slam semi or final btw - I just happen to be visiting my parents today.

Crucial game this

Big hold, although really a Berdych choke, which may prove terminal given how he's started the next game

Best point of the match. Murray taking charge

i like berdych but i always want murray to win.

Everybody hanging on..

Berdych not doing anything with Murray 2nd serves

Game over

Another DF and Murray breaks...to serve for the final.

YES!!!

A tough opponent looms. Hoping this run gives further credence to the Mauresmo project tho

Don't expect him to be beat Djoko or Stan with those 2nd serves but its good to see him in a slam final again.

Aw, he gives great interview. How can people hate him?

i don't know, it baffles me, i <3 him.

he's obviously a really pleasant & thoughtful person

Only saw the TB, impressed Murray turned it around! I'm at the biggest U14 tournament in the world. Junior tennis is mental.

Murray's second serve wasn't exactly a strength when he beat Djokovic in his finals...

True for Wimbledon as Djokovic was shambolic. Can't remember US open so much as it was just such a drama @ 2am type thing.

I have to say I was bloody pleased with how Murray wore down Berdych - he is pretty close to his best.

ust started streaming - stan breaks midway thru 1st

just

straight break back - apparently standard has dropped and Stand made 3 unforced errors

two BPs saved. One of which D's FH broke down. 5-5

Great improv from D to lob. 3-0 on the TB

All the unforced errors are Stan's. D wins the TB easily.

2 more BPs Djokovic straight away in the 2nd

Saves 'em - come on Stan want to see a match ffs.

Much better in the next service game. 2-1

That double fault, while the camera lovingly focused in on Stan's ass.

omg, D has been cruising on his serve and has now managed to lose his serve, 30-0, with a DF

awful smash stan

Into deuce now..so crucial

Increadible rally! Come on Stan!!

tamely into the net, 5-2...this is bizarre, that came out of almost nowhere.

Serving for the set.

6-3. Easy. Another tame one in the net in the first point of that.

Just bizarre how he sorta dropped midway through the set, like he sleepwalked into it - knew Becker was adding nothing to his game.

o.m.g stan had him..

Djoko had still to do a shit load of work to hang on.

Now two BPs Djoko..

Great defense Djoko and then Stan pulls long - he gets the break.

Djoko has no plan and he is clearly working things out in some kind of psychotic fashion.

Stan just holds, then breaks to love in the next with some brilliant tennis actually.

What a BH, smack in the corner..

40-30 then returns a 2nd serve in the net.

bah Stan could've had him in more trouble I think, so now he has to serve to stay in the set.

what a fkn rally - great get and angle at the net stan

Staggering FH from D at the net.

stupid DF and now another point later we are in deuce

Djoko taking his op - SP

wow at the net stan :-( Djoko 2-1 sets

Seems like a hq match every time I poke my head round to the big screen, happy Nole is taking care of business!

BPs djoko

going for way too much there, epic game, if Djoko takes it he wins the match i think.

Does it with some great counterpunching.

er...15-40 Djoko allowing Stan back in.

omg...crazy awful game from D

this is such a pain to watch: 0-40 with anemic play.

and then goes to play awesome shots for game point.

2-2. The circus is in town.

Stan now up a level. 3 awesome winners, now he has 3 BPs on Djokovic's serve.

Incredible, someone flicked a switch. Breaks.

Stan to serve for the set.

this is even worse than yesterday's match

2x SPs Stan

Totally unsurprised this is going five

Why is Nole netting everything

Into a 5th we go, really Stan played a flawless 10 mins to get us into that.

Not only is Djoko breaking down but then there are all weird looks between him and his box. Becker is wrecking it.

omg, that was huge

BP

And stan finally hits one long: back to deuce

All chaos with the line judges.

Djoko just hangs on but I can't see Stan keeping this up

2 DFs Stan - and so its two BPs

a break it is, but hey it was like this in the 4th.

Holds himself well: 3-0

0-30, v close to being over..

another BP, surely MP D

4-0, bollocks.

right I'm off - Murray is favourite if D turns up like this.

Well that fifth set wasn't like their others here

At the other end of the scale to all this, Michelle Larcher de Brito skipped AO qualifying to be top seed in three US 25Ks. She went R1, R1, R2, losing to #279 Samantha Crawford, #246 Elise Mertens and #303 Ipek Soylu, all in straight sets. Silver lining, she did beat unranked WC Sofia Kenin at the last of those.

wait Martina Hingis won mixed doubles?

in the final against Mladenovic/Nestor

Yeah they're having fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FGhr_FFPGQ

watching some of the djoko/stan replay -- stans hold to get to 2-2 in the 4th was so sick

1 1/4 hrs to kill in Paris airport. Get it done and dusted in that time Serena.

Ma$ha DF on the first BP. Here we go

The dropshot is Maria's most successful tactic so far

This rain is going to fuck up the perfect timing of my day, I have to board a plane in 50 mins!

Serena storms into a 5-2 lead on resumption, randomly flops serving for the set, no problem, just breaks to love to take it 6-3 anyway. No idea how serious her illness is but it seems to be making her more focused if anything.

Sharapova hits a few winners to break back and get to 0-30. Serena easily snuffs this mini-peak out with serving.

Stupid Serena, should've broken there. I have to board and I won't be able to see the end of this now -_-

Ooh, not boarding yet. Serena has hit 10 aces in her last 4 service games. Break for the championship here please.

Only seen the 2nd set but this hasn't been bad. Serena should win in the next few mins tho'.

0-15.

Do it for Lex Serena.

Pulling out gutsy 2nd serves..

DF: 30-30

Yeah the quality's been OK. Serena's illness seeme dto focus her.

what defending from Serena: CP

Didn't know she was ill.

Incredible from Maria there, no surprises she went for the line and got it.

Ha, you're def not watching on Eurosport then

What a terrible dropshot to get away with

Ordinary drop shot does the trick.

nah its live on BBC.

Maria wants more of this.

Still not boarding. SERENA GET IT DONE FFS

Not with DFs she won't

Ugh boarding. So nearly perfect timing

TB. If only you had a few more mins...you should still get to the end of this, you won't have to put off yr phone straight away.

Unless Maria wins the TB. Stranger things have happened.

Poor error from Maria to give mini break back

there there Maria you tried.

hanging on actually from 4-1 to 4-3 now

Serena pulled that: still 5-4

Pounds the 2nd serve: 2 CPs

What a FH. Serena has to serve for this.

lol no ace there, but she has another 1st serve.

haha there is your ace.

<3<3<3

what a way to win.

Tired of 'good effort, too bad' matches vs Serena ;\ Please continue to play well on HC.. really, this effort is magical after the horrors of the '14 HC season... just continue to play well and there'll be chances of Serena-less Slam finals.

umaini ‏@tumcarayol 8m8 minutes ago
Sharapova hit 18 winners and 7 errors in set two yet still lost it.
Tumaini ‏@tumcarayol 6m6 minutes ago
15 of Serena's 31 first serves in set two were aces.

Funny how Serena got so much tighter about tying Evert/Navratilova than about passing them. 19, that's incredible. 22 is certainly within reach now.

Ha, in a nice bit of symmetry...your girls' winner:

Q. Who is your favorite player on the WTA Tour?

TEREZA MIHALIKOVA: It's Serena Williams. And I hope she win today.

And your girls' beaten finalist:

Q. As you look to the future, is there anybody in particular you follow?

KATIE SWAN: On the Pro Tour?

Q. Yes.

KATIE SWAN: My two favorite players are Bouchard and Sharapova. Sharapova is in the final today. I'll be watching that. I hope in the future I can come back and be doing as well as they are.

Very well played, Kim Sears

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B8vvOPgCQAA6sYV.jpg

<3 her

Aha that pic is all kinds of amazing

Murray will be alright whatever happens huh.

They've exchanged breaks so far.

wow @ Djoko's return to M's 2nd.

From what I've seen so far its D who wins or loses this.

Serving for the set but ineptitude at the net means its 15-30

Breaks back with some excellent play.

4x breaks in a row so murray needs to stop that sequence here.

D is more disappointed, errors all over - easy hold.

Played a great service game - jekyll and hyde stuff

TB

DF then two errors D fave to win: 5-4

what a lob from D, SP

D wins on the 2nd..

That set felt like a bunch of missed opportunities for both players, momentum swings all over the place.

Dying @ that point from M, despite the lob he had the opportunity.

Ok so what is the matter with D's ankle there, doesn't look good.

15-30. he's ok.

Breaks back, tame shit.

0-30 on M's serve, after a huge rally. This is a big moment.

Carves him open.

Just nothing right now, think we are done.

Feels like Murray has lost a zillion key points despite being on top in the rallies...

slow death, 2nd serve in the net at 15-30

Brilliant depth 30-40. Really doesn't have many ops to turn this.

great point for a break.

wow.

Totally swung momentum. I am so glad to be able to type this crap out, otherwise I'd be in the chair.

the mother of all epic games

huge hold. 5-5

another epic - best period of the match, god like.

Unbelievable from Murray, to wear him down like that: 4 SPs

omg what a miss.

ok gets it. I need a lie down.

Murray Breaks, ruthlessly.

2x aces!!

D got away with a tame drop shot.

Amazing how the break for the protestors turned the momentum round!

What was that about?

2 BPs so.. :-(

horrible game from Murray.

Murray's 2-1 games to get broken back are so aggravating

What was that about?

― xyzzzz__, Sunday, February 1, 2015 11:29 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

protest against Aus treatment of refugees

thing is if Murray's expecting these dubious injuries from Djokovic why is he falling for them? Djokovic limping around doesn't make you dump routine strokes in the net

I don't know if that is having an effect really, its just swings back and forth.

D Under the cosh and and got through..

0-30, Murray screams out..

then a disaster approach to the net. 0-40

DF..loses to 15

throws his racket in disgust. too right.

Made all the errors...3rd set D.

Ugh, Murray's tetchiness and the way he threw that set away

just netted one: 15-30

total shit from Andy.

disgusted @ that pull. 2-0

Again when he was in control of the rally

right I'm done.

shockingly bad

imminent bagel?

lmao what a way to hand over a third break

Well, that was some whimper Murray slid out with there.

Well might he break all his racquets. Winning one of the last 13 games from 2-0 up in the third.

Pathetic, but also I'm really sad to see him end an otherwise very successful tournament like that because I love the Muzz/Mesmo coaching pairing :(

Your roll of honour:

Men's singles: Novak Djokovic
Women's singles: Serena Williams
Men's doubles: Simone Bolelli & Fabio Fognini
Women's doubles: Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Lucie Safarova
Mixed doubles: Martina Hingis & Leander Paes
Boys' singles: Roman Safiullin
Girls' singles: Tereza Mihalikova
Boys' doubles: Jake Delaney & Marc Polmans
Girls' doubles: Miriam Kolodziejova & Marketa Vondrousova

those last couple sets... #bestof3

murray winning would've been a nice bonus, but extreeeeeemely pleasing tournament :)

New rankings

1. Serena Williams (1)
2. Maria Sharapova (2)
3. Simona Halep (3)
4. Petra Kvitova (4)
5. Caroline Wozniacki (8)
6. Ana Ivanovic (5)
7. Eugenie Bouchard (7)
8. Agnieszka Radwanska (6)
9. Ekaterina Makarova (11)
10. Angelique Kerber (9)
11. Venus Williams (18)
12. Andrea Petkovic (13)
13. Sara Errani (14)
14. Flavia Pennetta (12)
15. Lucie Safarova (16)
16. Jelena Jankovic (15)
17. Carla Suarez Navarro (17)
18. Dominika Cibulkova (10)
19. Alize Cornet (19)
20. Madison Keys (35)
21. Shuai Peng (22)
22. Karolina Pliskova (20)
23. Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova (23)
24. Garbine Muguruza (24)
25. Samantha Stosur (21)
26. Elina Svitolina (26)
27. Svetlana Kuznetsova (27)
28. Sabine Lisicki (28)
29. Varvara Lepchenko (30)
30. Caroline Garcia (36)
...
34. Irina-Camelia Begu (42)
41. Sloane Stephens (32)
46. Madison Brengle (64)
49. Victoria Azarenka (44)
66. Yanina Wickmayer (80)

1. Novak Djokovic (1)
2. Roger Federer (2)
3. Rafael Nadal (3)
4. Andy Murray (6)
5. Kei Nishikori (5)
6. Milos Raonic (8)
7. Tomas Berdych (7)
8. Marin Cilic (9)
9. Stan Wawrinka (4)
10. David Ferrer (10)
11. Grigor Dimitrov (11)
12. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (12)
13. Ernests Gulbis (13)
14. Feliciano Lopez (14)
15. Kevin Anderson (15)
16. Roberto Bautista Agut (16)
17. Tommy Robredo (17)
18. John Isner (21)
19. Gilles Simon (20)
20. Gael Monfils (19)
21. David Goffin (22)
22. Fabio Fognini (18)
23. Philipp Kohlschreiber (24)
24. Alexandr Dolgopolov (23)
25. Ivo Karlovic (27)
26. Leonardo Mayer (26)
27. Julien Benneteau (25)
28. Richard Gasquet (28)
29. Lukas Rosol (30)
30. Pablo Cuevas (29)
...
35. Nick Kyrgios (53)
36. Gilles Muller (42)
46. Viktor Troicki (54)
48. Bernard Tomic (66)