The Inaugural Nu ILX Tennis Thread: 2007 Australian Open

the sick list so far -

JHH is out because of "personal reasons" - this oblique announcement sent the belgian press into a frenzy of guesswork for all of one day. apparently her marriage is in trouble and she's staying at home to try to save it. myskina has a chronic foot injury - she hasn't won a match since last august, tried to make a comeback in auckland last fortnight but promptly flew home. venus williams' left wrist is still injured, pierce suffered an absolutely horrific knee injury a couple of months ago and won't be back for a good half year yet. davenport is retired! well, not officially, but she's pregnant, so as good as.

molik was talking big last week but ultimately fell quite easily to sania mirza (who seems to be somewhat resurgent, which is nice, i like her). jelena jankovic is the in-form player - at the time of writing she's won her first nine matches of the year, including a well-played 3-set win over hingis and an absolute trouncing of mauresmo. however you've got to think she might have peaked too early. serena williams is, as ever, also talking big, but when you're losing to players like sybille bammer you can't blame people for not taking this seriously.

did any australians see the sydney semi-finals last night btw? jankovic v vaidisova and li v clijsters - both sounded like fantastic matches.

rafael nadal continues to unimpress - made the semis at chennai before falling in straight sets to malisse. murray and djokovic, on the other hand, are playing smartly and well. roddick is in melbourne sans coach after jimmy connors' mother died last week.

i can't wait for the draw - out in an hour's time apparently!

Sharapova plays Pin, Mesmo the even more ludicrously-named American Shenay Perry.

BECAUSE OH GOD THE BALL BOUNCES TOO HIIIIGH FOR MEEEEE HERE AND I'M AUSTRALIAAAAN THIS ISN'T RIGHT MATE COOOOOME OOOON.

I propose that everyone who rates Hewitt's chances be named and shamed on this thread, and everywhere, in fact. First up, Kim Clijsters. Kim, girlfriend, you broke up with him, you don't have the humour the tedia on his behalf.

Nadal vs Kendrick! OMG!

Yay for Sania's re-rising star. People going politely excited-cakes over Guccione should just look at his previous results and the fact that his game is rubbish and take an ice shower. As if he'd even win six games in a match against Nadal let alone a set under most circumstances. A tall, big hitter can beat Rafa, but he has to hit _well_ as well. Like Berdych.

Who knew Jimmy Connors' mother could coach?

(man I spent ages trying to make that funny but gave up in the end)

Yay for the 1st tennis thread of the year! The players to watch out for, with rankings:

15. Francesca Schiavone
28. Flavia Pennetta
31. Mara Santangelo
38. Tathiana Garbin
50. Maria Elena Camerin (yay Maria Elena!)
53. Romina Oprandi
85. Roberta Vinci
99. Alberta Brianti

43. Filippo Volandri
66. Daniele Bracciali
78. Andrea Seppi
89. Potito Starace (yay Potito!)
94. Alessio Di Mauro

Any of that lot any good, then?

i've seen bracciali play and he was really impressive but curiously seems unable to put up the results to back this up.

the two women's favourites, sharapova and clijsters, have ended up in the same half - the bottom half seems to be pot luck between fragile mauresmo, ill kuznetsova, injured petrova, tired jankovic and fat serena. opportunity for one of the teenage wannabes (shahar peer, nicola vaidisova, tatiana golovin) to step up, maybe? nothing really stands out of the first round matches though vania king v ana ivanovic could be good - ivanovic will probably win, but king is definitely the best young american player around; she's a counterpuncher with no weapons, but that could be exactly the sort of game to throw off the STILL-inconsistent ivanovic.

Sharapova v Zvonareva
Chakvetadze v Molik or Peng
Clijsters v Rezai
Li v Hingis
Petrova v Jankovic
Peer v Kuznetsova
Vesnina v Vaidisova
Schiavone v Mauresmo

Federer v Djokovic
Gasquet v Robredo
Ljubicic v Ferrer
J.Johansson v Safin
Nalbandian v Soderling
Berdych v Davydenko
Blake v Del Potro
Murray v Nadal

gosh almost all seeds for the men!

Tues and Wed are both forecast to hit high 30s, which probably translates to high 40s in the middle of Tina Arena Court (or whatever it's called), where in those conditions on the first Friday last year, Kuzzi gave Santangelo a fearful ass-whuppin'. I saw that match live at the scene, and whether the problem was heatstroke or Kim Beazley ticker shortage, the memories are enough to make me fight shy of backing MSA against anybody if the frying pan gets turned on again....even a dubiously-prepared Serena Williams.

i've also just remembered that at wimbledon 05 santangelo took a set from, but still could not beat, a serena williams playing so woefully that she would lose to craybas in the next round. hmm.

RF didn't exactly stroll to the title last year and I've a suspicion he won't win this; if not Youzhny, then perhaps Djokovic will upset him. (Of course he'll reach the quarters without being taken beyond 6-3 in any set now).

Whoever emerges from the Becker-Safin-Srichaphan segment to do Pandy in r3, I hope.

Voda kicks off with Sandshoe Face (who scores today's Age front-page beefcake shot, a sign that even the local tedia has given up on Hewitt?) v Tsonga, followed not much tlonga most likely by Craybas v Vaidisova, then Ljubicic (Looby Loo) v the impossible-to-further-ridicule Mardy Fish, then WA first-timer Jessica Moore (only confirmed as a starter on Saturday) will come up against 3rd seed Kuznetsova. Her Open involvement may not long exceed 48 hours including plane flights to and from home.

Wine Airfurs christens MCA v one Stefan Koubek of Austria, then Casey Delinquent plays Srobotnik of Slovakia, and Tommy Jo Hansen plays a Swiss whose first name is Marco and his last name has far too many l's and i's to be readable this early in the morning.

Tonight the unseeded Serena W plays the seeded Mara Santangelo in what shapes as a very close contest, and Nicolas the Massupial plays 2007 designated 'next big thing' Novak Djokovic.

Arfurs in his farewell appearance already 5-1 down. Perry broke Mesmo at her fist try but has since gone down twice herself. Tsonga staying with Rddick.

Wine broken but takes it back straight away.

Mesmo about to polish off Perry, Koubek has two serves coming to go to 2-0 lead. (EDIT: Which he does.)

Arthurs now one game away from victory. Rodge mow back on cruise control in third set after facing a set point in the first, surviving and winning next set 6-0. Apparently his opponent's name is pronounced 'POW' and they polayed each other often in juniors. Sandshoe Face also safely thgrough after early scare against Tsonga, who if he ever appeared in a cryptic crossword the clue sould have to be 'backward agnostic'. The BA did well to win one tiebreaker and contest another before running out of steam .

And at a set and 5-0 down, it's goodbye and thanks for coming Jessica Moore.

not that anyone expects that of srichaphan any more, but all the same a straight sets loss to DUDI SELA is not impressive.

most surprising women's result has to be jie zheng going down to julia schruff after falling away in the 2nd set tiebreak - though they have given us the first match to go the distance, vivi ruano pascual beating melinda czink by the unlikely score of 1-6, 6-1, 9-7.

and serena is through with ease - and she shouldn't have any trouble with anne kremer in round two either...

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/6339/capthk11401021214hongkowa1.jpg

BUSINESSLIKE.

Safin and Becker away.

Looby-Loo's demise just mentioned by the ABC crew for the first time, half an hour after the event - slack work fellas.

blowout of the day - novak djokovic making very short work of a potentially tricky opponent, surrendering just two games against massú.

(The ABC comms just helpfully mentioned that Becker Snr turns 40 this year....)

fixed! ah at least lovely marat won today. i hope he can go on an unlikely run which takes him at least past roddick. apparently roddick's behaviour towards tsonga was very uncouth.

Something new boy Novak* might like to contemplate. Nobody cares that you look like Sean Penn in 'Dead Men Walking' when you win in the first round, but some time between now and his first major (which They Say mightn't be very long) he needs to confirm that is the image of himself he wants the media to present round the world as he holds up the trophy. Still, at least he didn't follow Massu into the Rob the Slob 'dragged through a hedge backwards' fashion school.

(*Bad pun. Just in case you missed it.)

They are calling today 'Aussie day', with Hewitt, Luczak, Molik, Gooch and Sammy the Stoat, and doubtless others, all in action. Chances of any of that lot, or yesterday's line-up, still playing on the real Australia Day (ie Friday week): Negligible bordering on zero.

I went home early from work and all I got to see was the interminable Rochus Man vs Gooch. One of those matches people will go "it was really good" becuase of the scoreline (9-7) in the third. Don't listen, it was rub.

Dear Anal Elf shellacked Kendrick. Crap match, too, though did feature one moment of comedy when a ball about six miles in was challenged as being out. Tipsy McStagger had Nailbags on the ropes but had to retire. What a pisser.

The Clidge had a double bagel. Ana In The Van might as well have - two and love over Vania King - v. impressive. Glee, Hingis squashed Dechy. Sania won. Well done, Sania.

An Australian I've never heard of, Robert Smeets won. United Colours of Benneteau lost after being 2 sets to 0 up, and then won 5 more games in the match against Paul Capdeville, of whom your guess is as good as mine. Potito lost to J-Ig. Boo. Rob The Slob won. Also boo. Berdych won easily. I like Berdych, so well done Tomas.

Rub maybe, but there's something very pleasing about a geezer smacking down 45 aces against a guy 13 inches shorter than him and still losing. Gives you hope.

I hadn't heard of Smeets either. I looked up Coupe de Ville, and no he wasn't found at ther bottom of a crackerjack box (Meatloaf's Bat out of Hell, but I guess you already know that). He's Chilean, 23 and is ranked 148 with a high of 102.

Leece is in trouble on serve for the second game running, Andy the Haggis has single-bagelled Al Martino, Stose has recovered an early break and looks like taking the first set, Pratt is on top in the first set against Virginie Razzano, tennis's own Nana Mouskouri. Sophie Ferguson has a break on a Croatian Creation who most likely would rather you didn't know her name is Jelena Tossa. Or Toxic. Or something between the two.

Isn't he British until he gets beat? He's just gone 4-0 in the 2nd.

Which she signally failed to do and now she's in trouble in the tiebreaker.

Nicely done Leese.

Sammy the Stoat will soon join Leece in the second round, 4-1 up in the second. Nicole Pratt (whose body shape has been unkindly compared to Demis Roussos) neck and neck with La Nana Mouskouri.

6-0 6-0 4-0...

Stose home. Haggis 16-zippo and still counting.

But Martin has 40-love!

Woodbridge vs Ortegren, Wimb qual r3 2001
Bruguera vs Champion, Roland Garros r1 1993
Edberg vs Eriksson, Wimb r1 1987

Murray wins in a Haircut 100 stylee.

I admit to some schadenfreude when 32-seeds get walloped, whether I have any particular feeling about the player concerned or not (this time I don't). Yeah I know Nailbags got to a Wimbledon final from there, but in the main there is no need to make any special effore to help whoever's a quarter of the way down the order of merit stay in the hunt. (/editorial rant)

Mike, I'm guessing the winner is the name on the left of the 'vs' each time.

Ohmet and Lief were never heard of again. I vaguely remember the comically-badly named Mr Champion (what next? A Chelsea footballer called Smart?) as being Australian, with the first name Neil?

Ha! They both vanished in the Atlantic.

Thierry Champion wasn't that bad actually; reminds me of another Thierry - M. Tulasne, Wimbledon junior champ in 1980. Back when I was a kid and finding it difficult to imagine a Borg-less future, I thought Tulasne and Leconte would be contesting Grand Slam finals in the late-'80s, each trying to out-tank the other to avoid dancing with Jo Durie at the Champions' Ball. I wasn't even half-right.

Hewitt game in being well boring non-shocka.

Or at least he had one. Hewitt aces.

Interesting stat: Hewitt has not progressed past the second round at 5 of his 10 Oz Opens, and at 3 of his appearances at all the other majes combined.

EDIT: Russell breaks at the second attempt. He is worrying Hewitt with some bold shot selection.

this is the former jelena kostanic! now married to a table tennis player, i believe.

unsurprised that murray won so easily. when he's on he can be pretty dominant against players with relatively few weapons - remember the hapless alessio di mauro at the us open? - and he's in form right now. plus, i saw martin against roddick at wimbledon a few years ago, and this is not a player who's prepared to fight for every point. he spent a lot of time moping and whining instead of upping his game.

ha, sharapova. wouldn't write her off just yet - remember when serena williams had all sorts of issues with emilie loit (another crafty frenchwoman!) in the AO 03 round 1, but went on to take the title. anna chakvetadze's got to be feeling rather more optimistic about her QF chances though.

blake disposed rather easily of moya; am beginning to think that he could be a possible surprise finalist, given his good record against both nadal and murray, and nalbandian’s…whatever big dave is currently afflicted by.

daniilidou’s loss is shocking, especially by that score.

i note that nadal had none of his wimbledon issues with kendrick, hurrah.

go agnieszka!

Anne Kramer, apparently.

Failing that, poss Nadia Petrova in the third round.

Rosalind Russell still has Hewitt well under control.

I remember her outfitting issues making Serena W look like Katherine Hepburn, but I recall nothing whatever of her tennis.

Best of luck to La Razz. She showed a lot of heart defending half a dozen match points from JHH when I watched live last year. This came straight after the Santangelo absence-of-effort I mentioned yesterday.

Aah, Lleyton. Nice how you play your most spectacularly awful tennis at home.

Just kicked off, on Court 21 which i think is somewhere near St Kilda Junction. Apparently security is about three agents to the square yard.

A lovely image of a lovely man.

Was that a tad immodest in reference to himself and downright bloody condesceding to the other bloke, or an I picking nits again?

Of course 7 is in gloat mode big-time over getting the footy back. I'm not that surprised.

Meanwhile on Show Court 3, Mad Madison Brengle and Batty Patty are going hammer and tongs, Batty a set up and a break down. Vinegar Tits and Jelena Jankovic are both a set up,

Apparently his opponent, Zac 'Flashy' Fleishman, has very patriotic hair, reminiscent of Funky Miller's but a couple more colors.

One of Dudi's chief competitors for that title, Sam Querry of the U S of A, is edging ahead of Ayrton Serra, and SBCE (that's Ancic and it stands for Sultry Brown Cow Eyes, no it's NOT one of mine) is two sets and a break up on Bill Garcia-Lopez. All that was before the first sight of rain since Boxing Day sent everybody inside.

marat the hippo again takes five sets to deal with unheralded opposition but ultimately it's "dude where's my coat" for dudi sela, 6-0 in the fifth...

I meant to mention JCF going down. He was already in training for the Henman trick of suyrprising the pundits by bowing out, only because they'd forgotten he was ever in. Re the name of his conqueror: leave it alone Nerk, it'd be like shooting fish in a barrel.

The Pout has broken Mesmo. Most likely its only significance will be to wake her up.

Idiot commentators assumed everyone wanted Baghdatis to win. When I dislike neither player, I will root for the better looking one, so I am pleased tonight.

Lleyters didn't look a whole lot better against Dancin' Frankie, the best maple-munching tennis player since the glory days of Daniel Nestor.

Flemish Peasant Girl (that's Kim Clijsters) looked uber against Mpaperfolding today. The Rad Wanksta lost to Ana In The Van. Frowny faces. It's not like I'm dissing Ana, but The Rad Wanksta is THE FUTURE. Blake also looked very good. Our Sania lost :(

I know when I'm beaten. Kohlschlaw it is.

2) I am glad Molik won another match.

3) Them girls have big thighs.

4) Jim Courier is still the greatest commentator ever.

but killer kaia kanepi is awesome! well, i tell a lie. she was an awesome junior who has spent the last three years proving that she is not so awesome a senior. i'm not surprised she took a set off molik (who is nowhere near her best level) but neither am i surprised that she lost.

kohlschlaw!

murray through in three tight sets - he now plays chela, the man who beat him last year. revenge, i suspect, is on the cards. shazbot showing no signs of being affected by her marathon first round, thrashing lauren laverne-a-like anastassia rodionova 6-0 6-3. bad loss for mirza. worse loss for groenefeld who is playing really badly at the moment.

Sammy Stoat just dropped her serve appallingly.

As a commentator he is following the same man and inviting the same comparisons.

David Enko a set up against WC74 hero Gerd Muller. Del-Potroast 2-1 up in potential 5-set epic v Speedy Gonzalez.

Stose loses first set and not making a great fist of the early stages of the second.

Stose is playing quite amazingly badly.

MORE FRESH YOUNG MEAT PLEASE

Also, Molik plays Schnyder next, no? Hooray!

Batty Patty wins first set v Peng, who must be appreciating the novelty of playing somebody else besides Roddick as Peng seems to be every time I turn the idiot box on.

The Stoat now has two break-back points. The second of which was not required.

Which makes him Robinson Crusoe how exactly?

Australian Open Australia
SL 15 Jan 2007 to 28 Jan 2007 Entry : DA Hard (O)
128 W CHAKVETADZE v Sybille BAMMER (AUT) 6-4 7-5
64 W CHAKVETADZE v Laura GRANVILLE (USA) 6-2 5-7 6-1

Hobart Australia
WT 07 Jan 2007 to 12 Jan 2007 Entry : DA Hard (O)
32 W CHAKVETADZE v Lourdes DOMINGUEZ-LINO (ESP) 6-0 6-4
16 W CHAKVETADZE v Olga POUTCHKOVA (RUS) 7-6(6) 7-5
QF W CHAKVETADZE v Jie ZHENG (CHN) 4-6 6-1 6-1
SF W CHAKVETADZE v Sania MIRZA (IND) 6-4 6-1
FR W CHAKVETADZE v Vasilisa BARDINA (RUS) 6-3 7-6(3)

Linz Austria
WT 23 Oct 2006 to 29 Oct 2006 Entry : DA Hard (O)
32 W CHAKVETADZE v Katarina SREBOTNIK (SLO) 7-5 6-2
16 L CHAKVETADZE v Samantha STOSUR (AUS) 4-6 4-6

Moscow Russia
WT 09 Oct 2006 to 15 Oct 2006 Entry : DA Carpet (O)
32 W CHAKVETADZE v Dinara SAFINA (RUS) 6-1 6-2
16 W CHAKVETADZE v Francesca SCHIAVONE (ITA) 7-6(3) 6-4
QF O CHAKVETADZE v Maria SHARAPOVA (RUS) W/O
SF W CHAKVETADZE v Elena DEMENTIEVA (RUS) 7-5 3-6 6-0
FR W CHAKVETADZE v Nadia PETROVA (RUS) 6-4 6-4

Guangzhou China, P.R.
WT 25 Sep 2006 to 01 Oct 2006 Entry : DA Hard (O)
32 W CHAKVETADZE v Shuai ZHANG (CHN) 3-6 7-5 6-0
16 W CHAKVETADZE v Elise TAMAELA (NED) 6-2 6-7(6) 6-3
QF W CHAKVETADZE v Olga POUTCHKOVA (RUS) 7-6(3) 3-6 6-1
SF W CHAKVETADZE v Jelena JANKOVIC (SCG) 7-5 2-0 RET
FR W CHAKVETADZE v Anabel MEDINA GARRIGUES (ESP) 6-1 6-4

Nicole Pratt is commentating on the ABC and she's heavily in Stose's fan club (hasn't called her anything except Sam all match) but has yet to mention Bradtke's name.

Stosur has reeled off four straight games.

Florian Mayer did something at a slam not long ago. Damned if I can remember.

And a set.

chronic liver problems + assorted other injuries + not being v good in the first place = has come nowhere near the top 100, has not played since last june, currently ranked 369

Florian Mayer did something at a slam not long ago. Damned if I can remember.

wimbledon QF in...2004?

UPDATE: Make that one.

Another break point for Stose. Goes west. As does the game. 5-1 Kosta. 'This is a must-win for Sam' - Nicole 'Einstein' Pratt

Oh, we've all done it - the thrill and risk of the pointless 70ft drive-volley just to keep the rally going!

Courier was fortunate that Sampras bloomed a little later than him and Agassi/Chang struggled to maintain their initial teenage momentum (Edberg really had problems with Courier's game too), so that left him a little gap in which to prosper. I think of Hewitt in the same way.

We are now in serious 'Grim Reaper' country. It's a good thing he's playing at night after all the kiddies have gone to bed.

Chang? Personality-wise he was the oriental Max Headroom of tennis. He made Yevgeny Kafelnikov sound like John Cleese or Oscar Wilde.

Hewitt's camp most likely can't work out why Federer isn't aspiring to be Hewitt II.

He wasn't very interesting (and his religious convictions put me right off) but had court speed like no one else; that match vs Leconte at Wimbledon when he was 16 was astonishing at the time.

Forum favorite Frenchies Fabrice Santora!tora!tora! and Arnie Clements met, with Fab victorious, and Swiss Stan Warwick sent Paul Coupe-de Ville back to the showrooms.

Kohlschlau already broken by Nadal.

that apart, how hewitt's won a couple of matches he could well go far. gonzalez next, who hasn't been overly impressive so far and who is erratic at the best of times; blake (or ginepri?), against whom hewitt has a fairly even history. then nadal (out-of-form, won't overpower hewitt) or murray (would be his first time at that stage of a slam).

having said that, beating russell and dancevic really isn't indication of anything at all.

'Fabulous Phil' has a break point.

Raffles would not be giving Rodge any nightmares right now. But this time last night Hewitt was looking worse, albeit against a lesser player.

*perks up* show tell me more?

This set will tell whether Kohlschlaw has run his race.

Are there any Italians left?

Love Mark

Monfils v Gasquet The two hot young things of French tennis! And I mean HOTT. Both are flashy and crowd-pleasing and at their best are quite the spectacle - Monfils' forehand and Gasquet's backhand are delights to watch. Also, both can be flaky. I'm picking Gasquet.
Stepanek v Ferrer Martina the Second's newly betrothed, against a man who's quietly stayed in the top 20 for years now, and who won a title last week. I say the Hingis Curse continues and Ferrer wins.
Safin v Roddick OBVIOUSLY. There's lots of talk about how Roddick's ready to rejoin the elite this year and maybe even challenge Federer. I say bollocks to that, Safin will win in five. Again. Fingers crossed, anyway!
Berdych v Tursunov Less interesting than it was before I discovered that Tursunov had torn a wrist tendon in his last match - pity, these two are probably the hardest hitters of the up-and-coming men, it could have been good. If either get it together enough to be consistent with their power they will win Slams and be elite; if they don't they will be the new Fernando Gonzalez. I think Berdych will be the former and Tursunov the latter.
Hewitt v Gonzalez Speaking of...I pick Hewitt here, I think he's playing himself into a semblance of form.

Zvonareva v Ivanovic Former top 10 player who's on her way back versus one of the biggest forehands in the game, attached to a player who really needs to step up her results if she wants to keep that Most Promising tag. I love them both. At the start of the tournament I thought Zvonareva wuld win this - I still think so.
Molik v Schnyder How back is Molik? Schnyder has been somewhat lacklustre so far - I think this is the year she gives up her top 10 place. She should be there for the taking but getting breadsticked by Kanepi is not a good sign for Lovely Leesh. I still think LL will win though.
Harkleroad v Hantuchova The battle of the players who should be thanking their lucky stars they landed in such a soft section of the draw. They are fighting to possibly get whitewashed by Clijsters. I think Hantuchova will do it but I really don't care.
Safina v Li Gold Coast winner versus the woman who beat Dementieva and took Clijsters to a 7-5 final set last week. Li smacked an insane amount of winners in the last round - her shots have been compared to a boxer's punches - and despite her new top 10 ranking Safina can be fragile. I'm going with Li.
Petrova v Williams OOOOHHHHHH. Nadia's been speaking fighting words. She better back them up. It basically says a lot about how Nadia can STILL find all sorts of ways to choke that I'm even giving Serena a chance - still I think Nadia's learnt enough recently that she won't do it this time.
Azarenka v Jankovic Vicky A has insanely powerful shots which haven't really translated into big results yet. Jankovic should win easily - unless the past two weeks of tennis finally catch up to her...
Peer v Golovin Do you know, these two, who are the same age and who came through juniors, challengers and the WTA Tour together, who have basically been playing on the same circuit for half a decade now, have contrived never to play each other once? Both are counterpunchers who can be aggressive; Golovin can dictate play more but Peer makes fewer mistakes. I really have no idea who will win. I hope Tati G, I suspect Shahar.

I'll see some of those matches today, IF my bloody pay-cheque comes through so I can put some fuel in the car!

No Freeview, Lex? It's on every morning from 8:30am on BBCi. (Not that I've got my act together sufficiently to tape it - when would I watch the recordings?)

my best hope is if there's a important murray match and the office tv gets switched over...

HRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNN I am going to miss Safin vs Roddick :( :(

1) Register as customer of betfair.com
2) Put some smallish amount of money into betting account (I'm not 100% sure this is necessary, or, if it is, how much is required -- I believe it should be withdrawable whenever you want anyway)
3) Go to their live video section, log in and voilà!

Quality more or less as good as can be expected from web streaming.

i was right about gasquet :D
i was right about peer :(

Due to child-induced late departure this morning (haven't really slept since 2:15am), managed to catch first two games of Pandy-Sade on BBCi. The temptation to pull a sickie was almost overwhelming...

(* - little ref there for the Sinisterines. Reprazent.)

Best meme I ever invented. Suck on that, DP :)

7-6 2-6 6-4 7-6.

Though she is seeded 12 in the doubles paired with lovely Gisela Dulko!

The first three and a half hours were spent wandering around Flinders Park under an umbrella trying to find an indoor place of shelter that wasn't claustrophobically crowded. Merchandise shop? Nope. Bar across from merch shop? Yagottabekidding. Then, after sitting at a table in the main concourse alternately watching the unriveting middle stages of Kiritekanawa v Kuznetsova on the big screen and listening to the lunchtime cover band playing in the marquee next dood, I realised the brolly had become unnecessary so I went back to MCA and spent the next what seemed like a week watching the umpires, linespersons, ballkids, and sundry other minor officialdom move in not much of a hurry to resume play. Shortly after 4 pm, that duly occured and Jelena 'Wierd Al' Jankovic made very short work indeed of Victoria-somebody whose last name I could never decipher. As Vicky served to stay in the set with Janko's adoring Serbian crowd behind her, one of the Serbs called out at the psychological moment, 'Hey Victoria! Behind you!' Vicky fluffed the serve. Most likely she would have anyway, she was thoroughly outclassed, but Jelena was less that appreciative of the helping hand, waltzing off court with nary a glance in their dirsction.

Then came the bizarre Arthurs affair. Wine came out for the warm-up, went in again, came out looking as vague as anybody does with a headful of Panadeine Forte, played three uncompetitive games and retired, from the match and the sport, to a standing, chanting ovation from the now-full house. Apparently a few whingers had left. At least they didn't stay and boo.

Then came Garlic Breath At 20 Paces. Monfils was bageled in the first, and threatened to return the compliment in the second before the pair settled down to slug it out in the third. Monfils has a good power game, but he tries to serve an ace every time he tosses the ball and hit a winner every time he swings his racquet, and he got away with far too many of those smart-arsey drop shots that look great when they come off but can make you look like a right dickhead when they don't. The 'Fonz' impressions sometimes have the same effect. Good, this kid, but much to learn.

Gasquet eventually won in four after Monfils needed help from a physio to finish the match. He's also good, but doesn't have quite as much to learn and Nadal, for one, would be very happy this kid would have to get over Federer before running into him.

Caught the middle set of SBCE headlighting Herrabbitty. Then once I got home I caught the Amos (sorry, Marat) and Andy Show, which was combustible enough, but missed The Press Conference, which took it to a whole new level. Listening now, Marat (whose English has improved dramatically since his last meeting with Roddick at this event) seemed to have a good argument but with his choice of words he has managed to shoot himself in the foot without first removing it from his mouth, which takes some doing.

And re Sandshoe Face: Get used to it folks. He has improved from the dumb-jock one-pace hack that Hewitt made look so ordinary two years ago, and Baghdatis last year.

Lovely Leesh vs Batty Patty is on. Molikule up 3-0 with a break in fifteen seconds.

Molik in big trouble in second set.

It always LOOKS like the one who's just dropped the one-set lead is the one running out of steam.

The bad news: There's only one Australian left. The worse news: It's Lleyton Bloody Hewitt!

Blake has beaten Rob the Slob in straight sets. Haggis v Great Expectorations away.

Murray 1-1 Chela
There is no joy for Murray as he looks to go down the line again but whacks the ball into the net for 0-30. The Scot can't get over the net again and Chela quickly holds to love.

Murray 1-0 Chela
Murray gets the match under way and Chela's return goes wide to give the first point to the Scot. A good drop shot and pick up from Murray takes him to 40-0 but a couple of tentative strokes sees him concede 40-30. In the end, Chela nets the ball to see Murray hold and here come the first cheers of "Let's go Andy, let's go."

...and in a stroke the BBC's appaling bias is revealed once again.

Gonzalez serves two aces.

This event has been a train wreck for Australian tennis. Discuss.

Lleyton can't serve and has lost all tactical skills. Molik's not quite back in shape yet. It's sad. She's already 26 and she had to not play for ages just once she'd hit her stride. Stosur is erratic once she gets her serve in and seems flaky in singles. There are no real promising up-and-comers who are going to be taking the senior draw in the next brace of alarms. When people get vaguely excited by Chris Guccione, this is a bad thing.

wow, safarova a set up! she's one of the legion of "was good as a junior" players, smacks the fuzz off the ball, but she's been in a prolonged slump. took serena to a 3rd set tiebreak last week but i assumed that was mostly due to serena's own bad form - in light of how both serena and safarova have played this week, though, maybe not...

safarova is going out with tomas berdych! xp!

The Middle Sunday Massacre continues with Mardy Fish about to beat Jose Ferrar.

BAH to the dickhead result! and fish isn't going to be able to beat him. AAAARGHJLFVSJLAKSDKDKJDJKD i hope federer TRIPLE BAGELS him.

Roger Federer v Novak Djokovic
Richard Gasquet v Tommy Robredo
Mardy Fish d David Ferrer
Andy Roddick d Mario Ancic
David Nalbandian v Tommy Haas
Tomas Berdych v Nikolay Davydenko
James Blake v Fernando Gonzalez
Andy Murray v Rafael Nadal

Maria Sharapova v Vera Zvonareva
Anna Chakvetadze v Patty Schnyder
Kim Clijsters v Daniela Hantuchova
Na Li v Martina Hingis
Serena Williams d Jelena Jankovic
Shahar Peer d Svetlana Kuznetsova
Nicole Vaidisova d Elena Dementieva
Lucie Safarova d Amelie Mauresmo

(unless you mean chakvetadze, beth?) (it could apply to half the names left in)

Martina looks like she's well up in the second but all service games are tightly contested. 5-2 should be enough though.

Oh come on, as if Clijsters isn't winning that in two very easy sets.

hingis takes second set, anyway.

Oh come on, as if Clijsters isn't winning that in two very easy sets.

L-O-fucking-L.

for the record here is their head-to-head so far:

1998 5th Slovak Junior Indoor Tournament 16 Carpet (I) K.CLIJSTERS 6-0 6-2
1998 10th Czech International Junior Indoor Championships 16 Carpet (I) K.CLIJSTERS 7-5 6-3
2000 Antwerp 32 Clay (O) K.CLIJSTERS 7-6(6) 6-1
2002 Filderstadt FR Hard (I) K.CLIJSTERS 4-6 6-3 6-4
2003 Berlin QF Clay (O) K.CLIJSTERS 6-0 6-3
2003 Filderstadt 16 Hard (I) K.CLIJSTERS 6-1 6-1
2004 Hopman Cup 2004 Hard (I) K.CLIJSTERS 6-1 6-2
2005 French Open 32 Clay (O) K.CLIJSTERS 6-4 6-2
2005 Stanford QF Hard (O) K.CLIJSTERS 6-3 6-1
2005 Los Angeles FR Hard (O) K.CLIJSTERS 6-4 6-1
2006 French Open 16 Clay (O) K.CLIJSTERS 6-1 6-4

And so it is proving. Clidge wins the first 6-1.

Also, Annachak has thrashed Batty Patty.

Naalbandian a set up on Haas. Of course that's a position from which Nailbags cannot possibly win.

Nails now 1-1 and a break down. Which means his prospects have improved since last report.

Sharapova and Warren Zevonareva 4-4 in the first. Shara has two break points.

And she's holding her own here.

As Maria S is far too polite to tell you, SOD OFF!!!!!!

Raffles looking a tad rattled at the mo.

The key ws the slight niggling injury that affected Andy's concentration in the 2nd set - he got it back together, to his credit, but it ws back on 1-1 and Nadal ws in the match. Then Nadal started reading Murray's play at the net in the 4th to get it to a decider.

Murray had 15+ break points - only 3 converted, there were a cpl that he won but he shouted 'OUT' on the 1st and on the 2nd the ball ws going out but Murray played on it. That could've made a diff but Nadal ws playing something else in the 5th. Great match.

I think I'll support Gonzalez now.

Hard to root for him, though, as I've repeatedly heard that he's a total asshole.

Rafa was great in that last set but had a psychologically beaten opponent. I don't think he's the best person to give us a classic final vs Fedge. Think I'll cheer on Gonzalez too now. I wish I were a religious man, because I would be praying for Fish to beat Roddick, praying being about the best hope there is.

Please beat Serena Williams. The women's game will become a joke if none of you lot can muster enough consistency and shotmaking to beat someone who while quite exceptionally good, is ridiculously out of form. Also, I want Martina Hingis to win the whole thing and abouto 73,000 unlikely things have to happen for this, and your part's the more probable, frankly.

With love, Edward O.

GO SERENA (to the final, then the gym, plz plz plz)

how unlikely is this?

Listened to Murray-Nadal on Five Live while driving south from the folks. Managed to miss everything from 6-7 6-4 3-1 to 6-7 6-4 4-6 6-3 4-0 whilst stuck at Warwick services on the M40 wrangling the kids (don't use those Photo-Me digital kiosks - they're a rip-off! Tried to burn a CD-R of my weekend's photos; the thing didn't work and wouldn't give me my quid back!)

i've heard this too.

not much comment on murray v nadal - i'd actually picked murray to win it, but v well played from him anyway, learning curve and all that. now vamos rafa!

ed i think you're being slightly harsh on serena/the wta - even in her current form it was never beyond someone with serena's mental strength & talent to win the matches she has - she just needed certain cards to fall right (like most players do), and they have. an easy opening couple of rounds; a choke from petrova; jankovic was always going to lose in the 4th, whoever she played, because 3 weeks is pretty much the limit for a pro tennis player to play straight; kuznetsova and mauresmo to fall early. and there's a point at which it becomes more about how good serena is. peer won't beat her, neither will safarova. vaidisova...maybe.

Peer is up 3-0.

Now for Rodfish v Dick.

this is true, but there have always been chokers at the top of the game - mauresmo was a legit top 5 player even before she won slams, novotna obv throughout the 90s. and then blake and ljubicic on the men's side fully deserve their rankings as much as they deserve their reps of never bringing it in slams.

peer v serena sounded great. now she's got vaidisova...

Oh well, as long as he gets this stinker of a performance out of his system one round early.

1993/95 Wimbledon and 1994 Aussie - that's it, I think. In comparison, I'm not sure I've ever wanted Roddick to win a single match (2001 USO QF vs Hewitt, maybe).

I'm worried.

Jim Courier just said he was in fine form tonight. Shut the fuck up, Jim, you are wrong.

Doubles now. Why is it I kind of don't mind Lisa Raymond when she plays doubles, but I root for her to lose in singles?

Roddick may be a latecomer to vileness but he has an awfully long way to go to redeem himself. Maybe if Sly Stallone gives him an Everton scarf...

Bad news for those of us who liked the security of those two extra syllables, disguising our bad French/Belgian accents. Now we have to get nasal again.

AvocadoBoy and WavyMenko locked at two sets all in a slightly odd encounter.

no women i like left :(

sadly no tv here ed - i am at work! - though the betfair live streaming would be wonderful if i didn't have to sleep between the hours of midnight and 7am.

(i thought it was going to be tomorrow, this is annoying, i will not be able to watch it properly at work!!)

(i don't like serena or maria, but this will still be a great final.)

federer takes first set 6-4!

6-0 6-0 now please :D

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME CREAM CHEESE ON THAT BAGEL, PANDY

And an early break in the 3rd - woo-hoo!

Though obv Roddick just showed just how much variety he lacked, and how easily any game plan he had went out of the window. I think Murray or Gonzalez (in yesterday's form) would've much better.

I love the way Federer just gets on these runs of games - nine here, eleven there, etc. Kind of makes a mockery of recent tennis history: the domination of the serve, every set being decided on a single break or one error in a tie-breaker. All of that has been swept away - RF can break anyone's serve on any surface any time he likes.

federer hit 45 clean winners.

i didn't know he was that aware of how many people have noticed it!

'Serena williams is not a thinker. Serena Williams is a tennis player.' - Serena Williams.

One can but agree with the basic sentiment, but does Serena Williams need to refer to Serena Williams in the third person? Serena Williams runs a real risk of making Serena Williams sound like an A-grade tool if Serena Williams doesn't desist from this 'I'm a fading F-list celeb'-screaming habit.

Already 15-40 down on his own serve to start third set.

Please maintain your form, winning semifinalists!

Roll on Sunday.

straight after she said this she cracked up laughing and said she was quoting ricky bobby from talledega nights. it was funny and absolutely not pompous.

One thing which might get looked at in the wake of this result is the way the ratings are calculated, for that 81 ranking surely represents a blip.

No better reason then "it is ludicrous that Serena in 2007 should for evermore now be known as 'the lowest-ranked Aus Open champion since Chris O'Neill'" would be needed, to justify this review.

anyway, i hope gonalez can make the men's final interesting. otherwise this'll be a real snoozer of a championship round.

also - this is the first time i've seen her play this year (as opposed to just seeing pictures), and i've heard all the fat jibes, but i don't know wtf people are on about. she was overweight this time last year, but she looked pretty toned yesterday!

The most banal part of this soap opera is yet to come: the grovelling and the 20-20 hindsight in the papers tomorrow.

Fed is monstering him on his own serve - he's more likely to fly thru the air than break.

Goodnight, farewell and Amen. The fat lady has sung.

Gonzo was brave to the end but he was never going to bridge the gap in class.

Well, maybe, Fed is basically asking you to take chances, push the lines as far as they'll go, and for at least 4-5 sets at his first slam final...but you never know if he had won that first set.

1. Roger Federer (1)
2. Rafael Nadal (2)
3. Nikolay Davydenko (3)
4. Andy Roddick (7)
5. Fernando Gonzalez (9)
6. James Blake (5)
7. Tommy Robredo (6)
8. Ivan Ljubicic (4)
9. Tommy Haas (12)
10. Mario Ancic (10)
11. David Nalbandian (9)
12. Tomas Berdych (13)
13. Novak Djokovic (15)
14. Andy Murray (16)
15. David Ferrer (14)
16. Richard Gasquet (17)
17. Lleyton Hewitt (19)
18. Radek Stepanek (20)
19. Jarkko Nieminen (18)
20. Dmitry Tursunov (21)
21. Marcos Baghdatis (11)
22. Mikhail Youzhny (25)
23. Dominik Hrbaty (22)
24. Marat Safin (27)
25. Mardy Fish (42)
26. Robin Soderling (23)
27. Juan Carlos Ferrero (24)
28. Agustin Calleri (26)
29. Jose Acasuso (28)
30. Jurgen Melzer (32)
31. Xavier Malisse (30)
32. Nicolas Almagro (31)

1. Maria Sharapova (2)
2. Justine Henin-Hardenne (1)
3. Amelie Mauresmo (3)
4. Kim Clijsters (5)
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova (4)
6. Martina Hingis (7)
7. Nadia Petrova (6)
8. Elena Dementieva (8)
9. Nicole Vaidisova (12)
10. Jelena Jankovic (11)
11. Patty Schnyder (9)
12. Dinara Safina (10)
13. Anna Chakvetadze (13)
14. Serena Williams (81)
15. Shahar Peer (17)
16. Ana Ivanovic (14)
17. Na Li (16)
18. Daniela Hantuchova (18)
19. Tatiana Golovin (23)
20. Anna-Lena Groenefeld (19)
21. Vera Zvonareva (24)
22. Katarina Srebotnik (22)
23. Anastasia Myskina (15)
24. Marion Bartoli (21)
25. Francesca Schiavone (20)
26. Ai Sugiyama (26)
27. Samantha Stosur (27)
28. Tathiana Garbin (33)
29. Alona Bondarenko (34)
30. Maria Kirilenko (28)
31. Lucie Safarova (70)
32. Anabel Medina Garrigues (30)

Men's singles: Roger Federer
Women's singles: Serena Williams
Men's doubles: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan
Women's doubles: Cara Black and Liezel Huber
Mixed doubles: Daniel Nestor and Elena Likhovtseva
Boys' singles: Brydan Klein
Girls' singles: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Boys' doubles: Graeme Dyce and Harri Heliovaara
Girls' doubles: Evgeniya Rodina and Arina Rodionova

note - Russia sweeping the board in the girls' juniors; a British person winning the boys' doubles! (Dyce, not Heliovaara.) Do the Aussies here know anything about their local boys' winner?

Just checked his profile. He's from Perth and he turned 17 on New Years Eve. And his total prizemoney (so far) is about 4.1k$ US.

'Norman Gunston* Medal' for services to bonehead journalism and stupid questions: Jim Courier

'Andy Warhol Memorial Award' for being front-page news for about 15 minutes: Gael 'Le Fonz' Monfils, who excited us all with his exuberance beating Baghdatis, only to literally limp through his next match with Gasquet two days later

'Halleys Comet Award' for comebacks not quite living up to the hype: The 'new look' Andy Roddick, James Blake, Martina Hingis

The Perpetual Glass Half Full Trophy: Nicole Pratt for her undying belief in Sammy the Stoat v Kostanic

A good but not great Open, the memorable matches tended to be the later-round train wrecks: both mens' semis, the womens' final. Nadal v Murray was as close to 'epic' as we saw for the fortnight, then Roddick v SBCE.

Sir Roger the Inevitable was the benevolent dictator of the men's half of the event, but it might be the deeds of Queen Serena, the angry, menacing returning-exile on the 'futile' (so they said) mission to reclaim her crown, that will be better recalled in six months.

*(Non-Aussies: NG was a comedy character bad-journo in the 70s, played by Mother and Son star Garry McDonald)

Weird - those are my initals, albeit the wrong way round.

I loved this thread. Can the keener tennis fans please start one for every circuit event?

In my case, I most likely won't look at the tennis news in the paper again until just before France, and the others like Mike, Lex and Ed tend to stick to the majors as well, so I dunno about the circuits but there'll def be another thread like this for RG, and most years an even bigger one for Wimbledon.

lots of Italians in Tokyo, mark! Roberta Vinci qualified (beating Peng along the way), and Santangelo and Schiavone are already in the draw.

xp!

(yeah that's the trouble, i'd hardly get to see any of it - though I note that betfair does show a number of regular tour events. ah, to have those two years in my student houses when we had eurosport back!)

It's the lack of contact with the WTA/ATP tours that discourages it, I think (at least for those of us without Eurosport and huge amounts of free time to spend watching it). We have had a couple of end-of-year threads (one Masters Cup thread from 2003 or 2004 on which I was virtually the only poster!).

It's funny how these threads have evolved; I suppose I started the goofy nicknaming thing in 2001 or so but I just can't keep up with the giddy heights to which WBS, Lex, Ed, Fred and others have taken it, so I mostly just use their real names now!

xp!