The 2010 Australian Open (of tennis)

Hang on, why does the world #16 have to play qualies?

the stupid mess last year when she and Xavier Malisse was banned for a year for not reporting their whereabouts to the doping authorities even though neither had ever tested positive for any drug-taking, and at least in Wickmayer's case, had valid reasons for being unable to report on time.

the ban was lifted in December but she wasn't entered into the AO's main draw as a result.

Ah ok, thanks for info!

And Wickmayer still struggled in her opener - 7-5 in the third over Yurika Sema.

Screecher de Screamo lost 3 and 0 to Dzehalevich in the first round of qualies - whoa, the wheels have come off that one. Terrible results for half a year now. Maybe we won't have to endure the De Brato Era after all.

draws out!

men's http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ms/index.html
women's http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ws/index.html

Points of note:

- Fed's gotta be on point from the off. Andreev has sucked lately and is a limited player, but he took Fed to five sets at the 08 USO - can't remember when Fed got such a tough opener at a Slam
- Youzhny/Gasquet and Monaco/Gulbis are the best 1R matches, plus Blake/Clement for the memories and Cilic/Santoro for the farewell
- Such a strong, well-balanced men's draw. A golden age for the ATP.

- Sigh, WTA. Safina is a mess, Ivanovic is a mess, Zvonareva is injured, fan reports from Venus's exo matches this year have gone along the lines of "has she EVEN PRACTISED this winter?"
- Dementieva/Henin in round two, whoa. Henin's the popular pick due to Demented being who she is, but I think it's be much more Dementieva-like to win that one in an epic and fuck up in a later round

Anyway. Predictions...with the caveat that if Wickmayer ends up in some of those Q spots, she could well come through.

S.Williams d. Lisicki
Azarenka d. Dulko
Peer d. Hantuchova
A.Radwanska d. Safarova
Dementieva d. Pennetta
Clijsters d. Rezai
Jankovic d. Martinez Sanchez
Sharapova d. K.Bondarenko

S.Williams d. Azarenka
Peer d A.Radwanska
Clijsters d. Dementieva
Jankovic d. Sharapova

S.Williams d. Peer
Clijsters d. Jankovic

S.Williams d. Clijsters

Men's...

Federer d. Baghdatis
Davydenko d. Verdasco
Djokovic d. Gasquet
Tsonga d. Soderling
Roddick d. Berdych
Cilic d. Troicki
Murray d. Monfils
Nadal d. Benneteau

Davydenko d. Federer
Djokovic d. Tsonga
Cilic d. Roddick
Murray d. Nadal

Djokovic d. Davydenko
Murray d. Cilic

Djokovic d. Murray

Predictions: Nadal d. Murray. Murray makes disgruntled faces but can't find it in himself to throw his raquet. Murray hides his anger and pent up raquet throwing energy behind clenched face then fades away to the locker room

man when is gasquet gonna get a good draw?

am rooting like hell for murray

Lol is WozDEN really playing WozCAN in the first round?

Wickmayer and Malisse are both through to the main draw. :)

also Nole dude I know it's just an exo but how the fuck could you lose to Atomic Tomic 7-5 in the third?

I can't believe the winner of Vandeweghe vs. Zahlavova gets 100 points. WTA.

Wickmayer landed in the Henin/Dementieva section, naturally, with Pennetta in the second round. She could probably make the 4th round out of that.

Kulikova qualified; she's pretty good and could give hot mess Safina trouble in round two.

Thought this needed to be in here because it pretty much made my day which also just happened to be ma burfday :) - Nadal and Djokovic doing the Bryan bros chest bump:

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100117/capt.mel13101170525.australian_open_tennis_mel131.jpg

from an impromptu charity exo organised by Federer for Haiti - they raised $200,000AUD literally in one day (the announcement was made the afternoon before) and it was easily one of the most fun charity exos I've witnessed in a while. There should be clips up on youtube.

They raised $200000 AND launched a thousand slash fiction pieces. Hey, it's all our birthdays :)

Checking in for 2010.

Can't see too much happening outside Laver and the Nonsensical Arena for the next few hours unless it fines up in a real hurry.

Excited! The rude health of the men's tour makes it that much more interesting (see also: Formula One 2010).

Got my popcorn and bottle of absinthe -- ready for Maria vs Maria and many late nights (and somehow early mornings) of tennis.

hmm my beloved streaming sites don't seem to have anything on offer and I'm not sure that staying up to watch Murray play "Kevin Anderson" on the BBC just for the sake of seeing something will be worthwhile. Boo.

Suspect that the links might only appear on some streaming sites once play is underway? I use channelsurfing, fromsport, atdhe...

Though my internet connection is being so flaky and I have so little desire to see Shriekapova/Kirilenko, and none of the other televised opening matches looks promising either...maybe Safina for the comedy but it'll just be painful after a while.

Kevin Anderson is a big-serving goon in the Karlovic/Isner mould btw. Avoid at all costs.

oh and happy bday for yesterday Roz!

Not that I have anything against her but, for the good of the game: Safina, PLEASE LOSE.

Shreik already has three break points on Kiritekanawalenko

best bit of that charity game woulda been roddick's "you're seriously going to foot-fault me in a charity game? can't you see serena's sitting over there???" at some poor line judge. hysterics ensued!

Three games in, and indeed everything is on break so far. </2009joke>

Not that I have anything against her but, for the good of the game: Safina, PLEASE LOSE.

seriously. Am casting my mind back to all the horrendous Slam performances she's gifted us with over the past 12 months. Against Cornet here last year. The Sweta collapse at RG. That awful awful awful Lisicki match at Wimbledon, followed by the humilation against Venus. The Rogowska match at the USO, which may well have been the actual worst match I've ever seen. Safina needs to go away immediately.

Shreik looks dreadful - seaweed on legs. And Dame Kiri hasd a break-back point.

Rybarikova: great serve, great volleys, horribly tentative groundstrokes.

Great point by Dame Kiri to hold off second break. She's playing some goodt shots but you already feel she's hanging on for dear life....

Kiri breaks back and still playing well, first set looks bound for a tiebreaker.

they're away on the outside courts - local neophyte Jason Kubler already a set down v Ljubicic. At this stage of his career, competing against seeded players in grand slams, Kubler khan't.

...but Kiri kan! She takes the tiebreaker after being a couple of mini-breaks down and has Shreik on deuce first up in set 2.

oh and happy bday for yesterday Roz!

cheers lex!

best bit of that charity game woulda been roddick's "you're seriously going to foot-fault me in a charity game? can't you see serena's sitting over there???" at some poor line judge. hysterics ensued!

My favourite was Fed's "Rafa, vamos a la playa?"

I'm watching the golden globes and not tennis but go MaKiri! Although naturally she's alr down a break in the second. :/

Dame Kiri has second break-back point as Shreik serves for set 2 - she's not going away....

set point Shreik

YAY! Shriek lost! Ugly match in the end but Safina through :(

Clijsters up two breaks after about four seconds. Wickmayer has really struggled but will serve for the match. Didn't notice Pennetta had drawn Chakvetadze - tricky draw, even given ChkChkChk's issues and general lack of consistency, but it's a set up but a break down to Flava. Kuznetsova is playing Rodionova and if she gives up more than five games she should just give up.

Kim wraps up a bagel. Martinez Sanchez looking like getting one of those too. Slamtracker has gone fruity so relying on TV, ugh, Dickhead up two sets. Wickmayer FAILE TO SERVE IT OUT! Women's tennis.

Todd Woodbridge and Tracy Austin discussing the new series of a reality program isn't quite the new nadir of television, but getting close.

Oh here's Jim Courier and John Alexander. That'll be that nadir, then. It's raining so sod all to pick from :( Murray bashing some big server it is.

is murray rocking a goatee???

A very faint one.

lol at attempts to build up to Peter Luczak playing Nadal. He'll get liquefied and rightly so!

Murray steamrolls while getting in 32% of his first serves. Not winning any slams if he keeps that up. Only caught the very last bit of Delpo's match - lost a set, 61 UFEs in total. :/ He's had wrist tendinitis for a while and pulled out of Kooyong last week, guess it's still bothering him. Karlovic defeats Steps in 5 sets - if i cared about either player, i guess i'd call this an upset.

On the WTA side, Makiri takes out Masha, MJMS dishes a double bagel, Wickmayer finally gets it done 10-8 in the third, Flavia Flavs also wins in three.

Henin already up a break, Nadal and Luczak on serve in the first.

Most of the other matches have been suspended due to rain.

hahahahahahaha Sharapova. Didn't see that one coming. She's improved at regular Tour events but it's shocking how she's flopped at the last three Slams.

I thought Dulgheru would get massacred and it hurts so much more that she managed to push Wickmayer to 10-8 in the third but still lost :(

The Wickmayer scoreline is such a delightful "women's tennis" scoreline. 1-6 7-5 10-8. Wtf.

Nadal just went down a break after an eternity. Really weird so far, he nearly broke Luczak, then had a slew of break points which he saved, the first of which was a well-played point by Luczak where he flubbed the put away, but he lost the game anyway despite momentum having been with him. But really, surely he can break a fly-by-nighter like Luczak at will. He won't be winning slams like this either if he doesn't (Luczak can run hot for about a set, but that's all, anyway).

The Murray match, I forgot to say, was mindlessly tedious.

Nadal broke back thank goodness

Also enjoying the Peng/Zheng scoreline: Zheng won 0-6 6-1 6-2.

And just to show that the men can do that too, Petzschner won the first two sets 6-0 6-2 AND THEN LOST FROM THERE, 4-6 2-6 2-6.

Diva conceded all of three games to the Douchebag. Nadal won easily. Dokic is on. Do I care? No.

Significantly, the men went on first in the night session. Women at risk of playing on after midnight for once? Not here though, Kleybanova is pwning.

Hah! Kleybanova served for the match, and failed, and Dokic promptly goes down 0/40 on her own serve. Women's tennis!

I watched most of the boring Roddick/De Bakker match last night. De Bakker is 100% useless, just a mindless striker. Roddick started to play a little loose and give away points in the middle, but looked very strong overall. Interested to see how well he does.

Luczak played a very good first set (at least the first 12 games) and an OK-I-guess third v Rafa but was incredibly bloody awful in the tiebreaker and middle set. Dokic was just woeful.

Sam Bloody Stosur playing a qualifier who didn't even know the protocol at the toss, started with a soft double fault, follwed up by being passes off service and then lost a base-line rally.

Enough! already....

About five minutes later, Stose has the first set 6-1, finishing with a second-serve ace.

Can we just stop for a minute to note that Stosur is seeded thirteenth here? She's practically knocking on the door of the top 10! It's as if they combined brains of Mark Philippoussis (i.e. none) and the gut of Jelena Dokic (i.e. none). And yet she can sometimes play quite well, but it's never on show at the slams, that French Open notwithstanding but even then if she'd had a bit more gut she could have gone another round.

in safe points (ie with last year's points taken off), Stosur is 11th! And to be fair it is almost entirely down to her RG run + good results over the summer.

And she's got herself into a right mess again in set 2 - Ed might get this ref, Lax probably not, but Sammy the Stoat is as close as Oz tennis has to the Freo Dockers, the AFL team you follow at your peril for to develop any expectations at all of them is to risk going stark raving mad.

Han is a fairly decent player. Can hit strong shots on the run, and some really nice angles. Stosur's groundstrokes are as unreliable as ever, and she looks inhibited as well.

I get it Fred. I'm from a Geelong-supporting family - Geelong, unlike Stosur, actually win major finals, of course.

Carsten Ball, who I saw in Sydney playing doubles, is really putting on a fine show against Verdaso. He has hit 66 winners in three and a bit sets. Shame he's hit a lot of errors too, but this is overall a decent match.

Williams Jr is up a set and a break on Radwanska Jr. Quelle surprise. Monfils cruising. Davydenko pwning but down a break in the third, go figure. Querrey in some ish with the world's least deserving Slam finalist ever, Rainer Schuettler, Benneteau being a bit crap (not surprised, he was shit in Sydney) and some resumed matches are happening - Cibulkova and her white-girl-got-back frame has recovered over Vania King and such.

Boring seppo Isner about to beat boring Italian Seppi. King Kolya back a break up and will close this out sharpish. Ball just got broken, which is a pity. He is kinda goofy looking whereas Verdasco is more handsome, so, eh. JAMES FBLAKE WON A SET!

shit fed...

ARGH. seriously, Fed get that forehand in order.

have no idea how Fed won that set, sheesh

in the other match I'm watching, Gulbis/Monaco are doing their best impression of the WTA. I think it's been 5 breaks in a row now in the second set? lol these two are so useless.

Andreev complete meltdown after losing the chance to go 2 sets up, Roger finished off with a bagel. sigh.

Soderling also in trouble now, down a break in the fifth against Granoller bars.

Crunchy Granollers beat Soderling, Santiago Geraldo Riviera has knocked over 16th seed Tommy Robredo, Rainer Schuttler blasted Querry, the unseeded James Blake beat Arnie Clement (age: about 81).

Casey Delinquent also had a win today, after a horrific couple of years battling a chronic shoulder. Yay Case.

Lllllllllllllllllllllllleyon is on! Except I'm going to the pub instead because it'll be more fun.

So far Lleyts looks OK. Veteran Hewitt-watchers will notice the lack of headgear (a career first?) and a lessened predictability factor in his tactics (which will only be a first if it is still visible past about Wednesday).

Villiams about to take set 1 v Lucy Safarova. 20th seed Mikhail Youzhny in early trouble, 3-0 down v the unseeded Gasquet.

hahahahaha what, Toaderling lost to Granola and his horrible groundstrokes? LOL. And LOL, Queer Eye lost to Schittler.

Cibulkova lost to King from 5-1 up in the third. And she seemed to be coming back into form, too.

Heh, David Ferrer d. Frederico Gil 6-0 6-0 2-0 ret. Presumably the injury was to Gil's pride.

KING KOLYA marching on :D

Melanie Oudin BELIEVED her way to a three-set loss to Kudryavtseva (praise Alla, &c). She's won one match since her US Open run, over an 801st ranked Japanese wildcard in Tokyo qualifying. Think we can call this a slump now.

‘I’m no Paris Hilton!’ says Davydenko

After losing to Davydenko in London, Del Potro told him it was like playing against a Playstation character.

“I want to be fast. I want to be running fast,” Davydenko said. “Del Potro told me now I am like PlayStation 3. Everybody is thinking I am very fast on the court.

“Now I try to be faster and faster and come to level PlayStation 4. I hope I can do this. It’s very important to me.”

:D

Sammy the Stoat is as close as Oz tennis has to the Freo Dockers, the AFL team you follow at your peril for to develop any expectations at all of them is to risk going stark raving mad.

Woo! I'm going to see a Dockers game in a couple of months! Go Dockers!

Great women's tennis scoreline - Schiavone d Cornet 0-6 7-5 6-0

Molik rooting it up. Hang on, didn't she retire? GO back to doubles, Leesh.

hahaha Alize oh dear.

Gasquet/Youzhny is fairly good - Gasquet blowing his lead (and two match points) by being too passive, but the shots Youzhny hit to win the 4th set TB were pretty awesome.

Agh work I shouldn't even be watching this.

Lex, I was just about to post about that tiebreaker! Good stuff, especially for a first round match.

Youzhny wins 6-4 in the third, despite cramping and being in discomfort for much of the last set. Wussquet is so useless sometimes, Youzhny was just a lot braver in his shots.

4th set was exciting and good tennis, 5th set was boring enough that I actually bailed after 2 games to go into work.

went out all evening, so didn't see all the later matches. seems like i missed a good one with youzh/gasquet but i was gonna be happy whoever won anyway - two awesome headcases. :D

by the way wtf is up with that bile-yellow/green colour that all the adidas players (and delpo for Nike) appear to be wearing? And Venus's skirt? And Nadal's shorts? And Rezai's dress? This AO bringing some serious fug.

Yikes! Just seen a pic of Tsonga, his adidas top appears to be coated in radioactive slime.

yes that one! a few of the girls are wearing that colour too. it seriously hurts my eyes.

Caravane's dress is a JOY of tack, she really is the baddest bitch of the tour. gold lamé and lace!

http://newballs.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/aravane-rezai4.jpg?w=316&h=500

i mean really, that is like nicki minaj's idea of a tennis dress there.

The coverage is giving me the screaming shits. Sod you Foxtel for being so tightarsed and giving 7 the free run!

Watching Kimiko Date-Krumm and Yaroslava Shvedova trade breaks. Mrs. Krumm <3 <3 <3

Currently watching local Jarmila Groth (which sounds Germanic and so should really be pronounced 'Grot) struggle to stay in the first set v nordic brunette Sofie Arvidsson. Neither looks likely to frighten the Williams camp any time soon.

The Aphid finally moves to a opne-set lead, due to playing less horrible tennis than her opponent.

Heh - "local". "Aussie Jarmila" is probably even less good and less interesting to watch than "Aussie Anastasia Rodionova", even with the "local interest" angle. Arvidsson is probably the most useless player ever to have been granted a seeding at a grand slam too. I'm watching a stream of Bepa instead.

Heh, "Aussie Anastasia" is basically psychopathic.

Grot actually strings together a prob career-record 4 convincing points in a row to go to 2-1 lead in set 2. The bloody 7 satellite froze for three seconds just as she was about to hit the winner. FFS Stokes, get it right!

Now 3-1. Grot broke a run of five on end to the receiver.

More psychotic than psycopathic surely? At any rate it is the one thing making her more interesting than Grothdisova. Also: Bepa through 6-2 6-0 <3 Kucova coudln't serve for toffee!

x-post!

Can I adopt your warcry lex? WTF TECHNOLOGY? #¤!¤#%&%!!

2010: streaming still not fully alright. And I've paid (small but) real money. :/

After an excruciating 6-deuce game Groth holds serve to level.

From here she shoule win, seeing as the Aphid is as slow as treacle and has no backhand and no second serve and mostlyt stayed in that set on her opponent's mis-hitting. But we all know she probably won't.

The stats, the stats! 45 winners and 65 errors for Groth. 13/19 for Arvidsson. 65 errors in two sets. Women's tennis.

Grothdisova did not like the call on that break point. Well, it looked OK to me.

Not that I care. I'm watching Kim vs Tammy T. I love Clijsters, but watching her play such a compact, efficient player like Tammy I can see Lex's point about her "butt ugly forehand" - the comparison is stark!

Tammy T got the break back too. Lots of quality striking.

No quality striking: Groth vs Arvidsson, the latter of whom failed to serve it out from 40/15. Seriously, she's shit, but she was once a seed! How she can even be close to someone who's hit 90,000 unforced errors who sprays the ball erratically and doesn't seem to have a fucking clue when to go for a shot, and wouldn't know which one to go for even if she did... there are no words.

Clijsters vs Tanasugarn is a much better match, and the 6-3 set was really tight. Tammy returning really well in particular. Impressed with the unlazy (though I'm not sure if it's correct, but I think it is) pronunciation of Clijsters' name by the commentators in general this year - i.e. they're not pronouncing the first vowel "eye" anymore.

Tammy up 2-0 in the second!

Geelong, unlike Stosur, actually win major finals, of course.

Let's hope Stosur doesn't have to wait 44 years like Geelong did...

zing.

Please, can Safina lose, if only because, as discussed before, her opponent's name is Zahlavova Strycova and hearing it over and over again would be the best thing ever.

Ah fuck.

This Isner vs. Sorensen match is getting tense. Isner is 6'9 and an UGA grad (go dawgs) but the 5'8 Irtshman is putting up a hell of a fight and I feel myself cheering him on because he's making wild shots. (I don't think he's gonna win though - and he's already 2 sets down). *also there's not many Irish tennis champs

Damn. Stryc(ova) It Up had break points to get back on serve in the second :(

Big Gae El is down a break to a player I've never heard of who doesn't even have a portrait on the official website. 2-4. I sincerely hope this set will either turn around or be followed by some women's-tennis-esque scorelines in the next 3 sets.

LOL Strycova hit all of 7 winners against 34 unforced errors and still only lost by a break in each set - she flubbed all 9 of her break point chances. Safina is toast when she meets someone who can actually, you know, play. Except she's got Baltacha next, harumph. Guess it'll be up to Kirilenko (who isn't that good and might flub it). Or, ugh, Jankovic the round after.

Why is Safina always touched by an angel in draws?

The commentator doing the results recap on my feed has just pronounced "Szavay" as "Sza-va-vay" O_O

missed a y there, basically he said in rhyme with va-jay-jay

Monfils came back and wrapped up that set sharpish, which is good. Blake vs Del Potro. LOL. Surely even if he's got a wrist problem, Del Pony should pwn Flake for the loss of maybe eight games.

Hmm - Jimmy Blake, who every year ages another two, already looks like Kareem Abdel Jabbar and by the time he's 40 will be a dead ringer for Louis Armstrong.

But alas he still won't be much good at tennis....

CARAVANE WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT LOSS???? Moron.

Talking of morons, Korolev stopped being one long enough to beat the Berdman! Play your next match naked, please.

Disappointed in Mrs. Krumm and Chang's defeats :(

Should've seen that MJMS would lose to Zheng; despite their respective forms, if there's one thing Zheng can do well it's pass, and MJMS just can't live with Zheng from the baseline.

In yet more crassly jingoistic scheduling, Casey Dellaqua FFS (current rank 800+, highest ever ranking 39) will play Karolina 'Every Sprem Is Sacred' (current ranking 92) late afternoon on RLA tomorrow. Exactly who the firetruck dxo they think they're kidding?

Demented vs Juju is on! Yes! It's early days yet but:

1. Elena held serve.
2. There are some quality rallies, nice tactical slices on the backhand going deep into corners and some great forehands from both players. JH's backhand has already hit some errors, but so far, it's a good 'un.
3. Serious ish on JH's first service game. Some doubles though :(

x-post oh schedulingpaws.

15 minute hold there with 8 deuces! Justine hit some horrendous double faults but some sweet second serves, Diva maybe went a bit much on the forehand there.

wtf Blake won a set and is up a break in the third! Slam Champions do not, or should not, lose to James Blake! Not without a good excuse

Demented just hit two double faults!

I was gonna say before this match that Flake had a really good chance of beating Del Pony.

Blake has broken Delboy in the third....

To compound JMDP's culpability, apparently Blake is the one playing injured.

Mostly because I have very low expectations about Pony's season - I think he'll disappoint a bit - and you know, as flaky as Flake is, he's a former top tenner and the kind of player who can easily help someone over the edge into a slump.

Amazing rally!! Demented is such a good athlete.

So many double faults so far, not very acceptable, which is a pity as there have been more fantastic rallies in this match than, say, Safina's last 2000 matches put together.

Break back!

Henin is playing some good shots but these long games and long rallies will surely work against her - and she's just handed the break back.

Murray so far making short work of Giquel, 6-1 in the first.

Great volley from Demented. She's playing with confidence. Let's see how long that lasts.

JMDP breaks back yay. I'm expecting him to go out early, but it'll just annoy me if he loses to JAMES FUCKING BLAKE.

this henin-demented match is pretty good so far, can't believe it's only the fifth game.

Apparently 45 Turkish and Chilean fans have been ejected from the tournament. Turkish? Hardly any Turks in the draw - is this a Cyprus thing?

Henin's touch is sometimes amazing for someone who hasn't played since about 1986.

Marsel Ilhan, beaten by the Chilean Gonzales, is Turkish.

Gonzo's fans are scary, iirc they lit a flare inside the stadium after his 5-set epic vs Gasquet last year. not surprising at all. zp

I'd heard it was the Serb/Croat fans who caused most of the trouble? I don't get why this nationalistic thuggery has to happen every year. Ban them!

Henin played a wonderful game there to break.

There were apparently flares seized either yesterday or day before. I hope, rather than just being banned, they get fined or charged as well.

Wowowowowow... break back, Diva just runs everything down <3 <3 <3

Inspector Blake has set 3 in the bag.

Demented leads 5-4, on serve...she hit two glorious passes in that game.

Henin braeks again, and I assume the silence was us all being glued to the screen.

Henin saved two set points at *4-5.

Part of the silence was me cursing at my internet connection inexplicably dropping out.

Justine...at last!

7-5 Henin!

Oh great, Cilic vs Tomic next. GO CILIC! I heard a commentator refer to a troupe of female Australian fans as "Tomic kittens" which just made me want to kill everyone ever.

Hewitt and Hacovar took only bout 12 minutes longer to play their whole three sets.

Super bummed that one of these girls has to lose this match.

delpo/flake are on to their fifth set!

Andy M now two sets and a break up on Giggles.

I heard a commentator refer to a troupe of female Australian fans as "Tomic kittens" which just made me want to kill everyone ever.

Isn't Tomic like 12 or something.

Henin/Demented could just go on and on. It seems like every game is going to deuce, every time one of them looks like she's pulling ahead the other one matches her, and obviously both are super-fit. As Roz said, such a shame one of them has to lose. Really do hope the winner takes the whole AO. I only have faith in one of them to actually do that.

Tomic is 17 and I hate him. When I see him I completely understand how people felt about Hewitt back in the day when he ws actually good, except Tomic isn't.

Dementieva hit some super-amazing returns of serve off the backhand in that break game. And so aggressive - not waiting for bounces, just mashing the ball.

And how about that, an immediate break for Demented in the second set.

Followed by an immediate break back mit a double fault :(

I was about to say, since both of them ironed out their early DFs, there have been surprisingly few moments of idiocy in this match, and then Demented handed the break back on a double fault.

JMDP serving for the match

AND FAILS. wtf JMDP!

...unsusccessfully. 6-6

what's Flake's record in five-setters now? something like 1-10? lol Pony, if you lose this...

5-4 Henin now. I think she's got this.

...and Henin, from 2-4 down in the second set, will serve for the match.

I want another hour of this.

Oh, just fuck off with that backhand. Amazing.

DIVA BREAKS BACK!

Demented!!!!

Not doing so well on the approach now :(

Henin to serve for it.

Again, of course. This is a very very long two-setter if it ends here.

2hr 35 for two sets!

(Meanwhile Delpy and Blakey have just played their 400th point of the day).

Demented breaks back AGAIN. Tiebreak!

Dementieva = most underrated returner in the women's game?

OMFG the second point of the TB, how the hell did Demented win it!

That was like... the best lob since the last time I said that.

And Henin comes up with an incredible lob of her own.

double fault wtf

Ok, that swinging volley that was just in and immaculately disguised - on SET POINT - oh how I have missed you Justine.

Oh no, Lena. Not the drop shot.

AAARGH WHY TRY A DROP SHOT THEN ELENA

And Justine takes it with a perfectly executed serve-and-volley. Great match.

oh dear Lena. :(

Justine needs to work on her first serve and closing out matches dammit.

...And Henin's home! And OZ2010 has come alive at last!

The third last point she won was her first ace in memory. The winner was the first serve-and-volley I saw all night.

Tho I love Diva more, I am unspeakably happy that Justine is through anyway.

Well I'm exhaustewd after that. Maybe too exhausted to really give a toss what happens to Bernie the Brat in the next match....

I love Demented more too but am happier that Henin won because if Demented had won, she'd only have fucked up beyond belief in the QF or SF anyway, so it's good not to have to deal with that.

I hope Tomic loses in the time it takes me to go to the shops to buy milk.

x-post Lex otm

Tomic is winning zomg wtf bbq

i go out for a few hours and omg they're not finished yet?! wtf Cilic? or is Atomic Tomic actually playing well?

No! Look at the stats, for instance: Cilic 77 winners, 55 errors. Tomic 31 winners, 58 errors. Cilic isn't getting many serves in which has helped Tomic stay in more service games.

ugh Tomic has such pathetic groundstrokes. he's like a male wozniacki, just retrieves everything without putting much on them.

this is looking a lot like Cilic's match vs Levine at the USO last year, like "you went down two sets to this guy?!"

Also he's a cunt.

Oh god I'd blanked out the Levine match. Cilic is such a moron sometimes.

Hurray for the red button - they're showing the Demented/Henin match again (I am in the wrong time zone & job to watch anything live). It's kinda weird seeing Henin's face on the telly again! Also DUDE seconded the above comments re: that lob shot in the tiebreak. And another one! Wow.

Hahah, commentator just said 'there haven't been many women's matches as good as this in the tournament'. AHEM I think you mean 'in the last 12 months'

Awww Justine looks so happy! She signed her name on the camera and everything :D

In other offbeat news from the Open, the match between Belgian Christophe Rochus and American Donald Young was stopped for 40 minutes after a ball boy wet his pants on court 10.

"The ball kid peed on himself. It was unfortunate," Young said.

I understand Tomic had a bit of a whine about the scheduling after the match last night.

Without wanting to join the million imbeciles on blogs and news sites who'll be runnung off at the mouse, he still has a lot to learn. His tennis isn't bad but his PR is appalling.

dude needs to marry a soap star and become bogan royalty before he gets the great suatralian public behind him amirite

oh and become a racist

'Bogan royalty' as I understand it, is what you are for that fifteen minute transition period between 'nobody' and 'tabloid fodder'. The way Bernie is going he might even miss out on that.

doesn't he already have beef with chewitt?

he suuuuuuuuuure does!

Look, it would be easier to list the people that *don't* have a beef with Hewitt.

Actually, it would be harder, because there's nobody.

Tuned into Ivanovic/Dulko to first see Ana double fault at set point up, then a minute later Gisela double fault at set point down. LOL.

Wow, Chiudinelli had chances to go a set AND a break up on Djoko and now presumably is going to get pasted in four. The Rad Wanksta through in two very quickly over Praise Alla, Ivanovic took the first but blew a break in the second (this girl was #1 once yeah?) v Dulks, King Kolya kruises and...

I'm going to watch a bit of Li vs Szavay because that should be quite good! Except I'm playing the other racquet sport in 25 minutes :(

lol, Baghdatis just smashed two racquets back to back. Didn't bother taking the second one out of the wrapping.

Oh Ivanovic you are just so terrible these days. This isn't even a surprise.

her ball toss is all kinds of woeful. loool and dulko of course couldn't serve it out.

Dulko is just the worst closer ever. What the hell is this.

Finally, on her sixth match point, after Ivanovic gifted her two double faults. What a terrible set.

and right after ivanovic had finally gotten back on serve after being down 5-1 hahahahahahhaahahah

Sammy the Stoat wins in straight sets v Kristina Barrois. Yay Stose.

Thereby robbing bad newspapers all over Oz of the chance to plaster headlines like 'HOW EMBARROISING' all over their back page tomorrow.

Re: our discussion yesterday about Arvidsson - how rub does one have to be to only get five games off Hanturexia? Janko Tennis Raver a break up on Haas - yes!

A Tipsyraver win over Haas wouldn't be any great shock surely?

Arvidson may be tossage but I don't underestimate the Coathanger - unlike most tennis players, female, supremely irritating, she irritates most when she's NOT being crap.

....and speaking of irritating tennis players, guess who's just offered up a first-up break point to Young Donald Young?

...and survived. Not to worry Don, judging by what we've seen so far plenty more chances will come.

Janko has second set break on Haas

If our American correspondent (that's you Greg) is around, could you please confirm/deny that Donald Young is the brother of Charlie, Pres Bartlett's manservant on 'West Wing'?

As far as brainless ball-bashing goes, Silliams vs Kvitova's not too awful so far.

Serena seems to have found yet another colour that doesn't do anything for her, a kind of gold shock which, along with all her strappings makes her look like a rampaging half-opened chocolate coin. Rene, Rene, Rene, just swallow your pride, sod the sponsors and ask your sister nicely to pick out something appropriate for you.

oh i dunno if even venus can help since she's currently wearing what appears to be a loincloth as a skirt.

http://cache-08.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/11/2010/01/500x_enterscourt.jpg

Yeech! If that skirt were a bit more normal that would be a great outfit though.

When I went to bed both Li and Baghdatis were on the verge of elimination, so happy they both turned it round. Apparently Li saved two MPs with huge winners and then went on a seven-game rampage.

Sprem/Dellacqua as the last match is so o_0

Seriously does anyone care enough to stay late for that?

Fed is ritually dismembering Hanescu - two sets up, break in game 1 of third coming as inevitable as the sunrise

Agree re Sprem v Delgirl - ludicrous scheduling.

The way things are going with Rodge v Vic the Sprem-Dellaqua game may start well before 9.30, and even Bernie the Brat may be allowed to stay up to watch it right to the end.

Prince William!

Goodbye that's all she wrote....

Rodge 6-2 6-3 6-2

The Jim Courier comedy act has not improved.

Tomic really is a little prick, isn't he?

"I requested to play during the day, and it didn't happen, I think it's ridiculous," Tomic said immediately after his 6-7 6-3 4-6 6-2 6-4 loss.

"Name me any sport you play at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. Especially me, at my age, it's difficult.

"I have no excuses but I think if I'd have played during the day, which I requested, it could have been all changed."

And today:

Do you feel like you kind of learned a lesson as far as just being a little bit more careful in your post‑match comments?

BERNARD TOMIC: No, not really. Haven't learned anything. What's there to learn? I just finished the match and I said a thing that I was probably ‑‑ what was I supposed to say? It was 2:00 in the morning.

They practically fed him questions so he could take back what he said and he still didn't. What are the chances AO organizers stop putting him on Rod Laver Arena next year after this little bitchfest?

Like a lot of hot-housed tennis kids of both genders of the last 10 years, he's as thick as a yard of Yarra mud and has the social skills of a brick. He's also his father's son.

In five years he'll be world top 5 and we'll all be nostalgic for the well-rounded, well-mannered, interesting, articulate, companiable, down-to-earth Oz tennis players of yesteryear.

Like Lleyton Bloody Hewitt.

I'd be surprised if Tomic makes the top 5, and loathe him or find him boring, Hewitt's man enough to admit when he just didn't play well enough to close the deal. Tomic is just an indulged prick whose dad has an excuse for any occasion.

Dellacqua v Sprem was one of the worst things I have seen... ever.

Name me any sport you play at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. Especially me, at my age, it's difficult.

you know who really has trouble staying up late? teenagers. also lol all time @ tomic kittens... just no.

the only match i've managed to catch was youzhny 2nd round :/

looool Jankovic. Dear god there is no one in that quarter left to stop the Dinara implosion train.

Wait, what, Henin is down a break?

Rather, a set and a break? Unacceptable!

Okay, JH just down a set now. Similar ish with her compatriot the Wickerwoman, serving to stay in it vs Unforced Errani, but she did at least win the first set.

er, stay in the second set.

Looking very rusty.

Lol women's tennis, Kleybanova serves a double fault on set point.

Jh couldn't hold onto her service despite a few game points, and it's back "on break" in the third. Roddick up 2 sets to 1 grumble grumble hate hate hate die die die.

Henin <3 <3 was pretty awesome those last four games. Wickmayer serving for it.

Streams are being shit to me today, prob went over my download limit, so PLEASE TELEVISION can you show the last set of Korolev/Gonzalez, and NOT RODDICK. Please.

Del Pony won the first set easily 6-3 before getting bageled in the second. By FLORIAN MAYER. anyone know what's going on?

The right forearm's gone to shit apparently - he needed to get it retaped earlier and it was restricting his serve and forehand. seems to be fine again now though lol, up a break in the third.

delpo can be so frustrating to watch though, he can look half-dead for a set and then all of sudden manage to run down balls and blast ridiculous winners off the baseline before the opponent knows what hit them. While still looking half-dead.

Mayer just played damn well in the second - prob helped by the wrist thing. Del Potro seemed to hit a lot of second serves in really easy-to-hit spots and Mayer took 'em and hit a whole metric shitload of winners, and quite a lot of well-set-up net play too. He looks a bit more terrestrial this set mind you.

tbh it wouldn't surprise me if after the second break Del Pony decided not to th row good after bad and gave the set away. I mean, not only wouldn't it surprise me, I'd say it was damn near certain.

I have to admit I wasn't watching it because I was watching CAKE.

Rather, I wasn't watching the third set, I did see the second!

ahahaha i was watching monfils/isner but switched over to delpo for a bit to see what happened. seems to be serving fine now, i guess he'll be ok.

meh the tree now up 2 sets to 1 on monfils.

All the longer-than-expected matches on the same courts - 7pm start for part of the night sesh looking dodgy.

Monfils out in four to the tree :(

:( wanted to see Murray and Monfils running after everything.

Wow, Clijsters is being pwned by Petrova here.

Points won by Petrova: 17
Points won by Clijsters :5

okay what i wasn't going to bother watching but loooool. Nadia will probably choke away the second set though.

where's lex when you need him?

Petrova 6-0 in 17 minutes! Kim is playing like complete shit, it's quite hilarious, Petrova doesn't even have to do very much.

I know that Petrova's been doing a lot of training in the off-season but this is ridiculous. Also, Kim is seemingly unable to put anything in the court.

Pam Shriver on ESPN: "Maybe she bumped into Lleyton on the way to the match."

um lols

Tracy Austin helpfully pointed out Petrova has hit only 3 unforced errors. But it's hard for Nadezhda to do those when Clijsters keeps taking the initiative to slap the ball about five miles wide/long/both.

But, deuce! Hah.

And two big first serves makes it 3-0.

Also, commentators, pls to be realising that talking about getting back on serve is not really a relevant trope when Clijsters has held her serve exactly once so far out of five.

Aaaand...serving for the match. Has it even been an hour?

It's been less than 50 minutes. I really can't recall anything like this - just ineffectual, useless. 48 minutes so far.

Maybe Clijsters is secretly Jankovic too.

But, a match point saved! Come on Kim, you're going to be seeing more of those pretty soon.

Tracy Austin calls her "Aussie Kim" again. Funny. She's playing like a native, that's for sure.

Well done Nadia!

Wow Nadia! That was definitely impressive, even with Kim's awful play.

This crowd at the Wawrinka-Cilic match is giving me hives. Who knew Stanislas had such a douchey fanbase?

wowowowowow Nadia! What a completely bizarre, but very welcome, result. How on earth did that happen!

Jankovic. Why do I continue to think she'll come good? Such a good draw to reëstablish herself.

(am in Montréal now and won't get to watch anything til I'm back ;_; )

was wondering where you were lex! how long are you gonna be in montreal?

as for clijsters, she just didn't show up today. In retrospect, this doesn't seem like such a bizarre result, given her form in recent weeks - like in Brisbane when she was bageled by Lucie Safarova before winning in the third or the mental walkabout in that second set vs Henin in the final. The difference this time was that, unlike the others, Nadia-not-being-Nadia didn't give her a chance to turn it around.

Is Nadal in a bit of trouble here?

Roz (unsurprisingly) OTM. Petrova played and _served_ well, against some scrub Kim might have had time to play into that much but Nadia finished her off too fast for that. The 50 minute match time flatters it.

In other words, she was like Safina in a final, rather than Safina in round 1, if you catch my drift.

Fabulous Phil's playing the better tennis at the moment but Shirley Knott!

Rafa has a break in 4th set

I must admit I groaned when I saw this match-up on the schedule - remembering tghe snooze-fest this pair inflicted on us at the same stage two years ago - but this has been quite an interesting match.

Raf suddenly ended All This Nonsense with a break to go to 5-3 then served it out.

Now for SvetaKuz v a German quallie and a 11.30pm start - so far no sightings of Bernie the Brat in the crowd....

A+ zinging there, Fred. I hope Bernard googles his name regularly.

Sveta's down a break. Maybe she caught a heavy case of retarded from Clijsters.

And that's now a set. Women's... oh you know.

Kerber's got some game. Lovely forehand angles. Apparently her coach is Barbara Rittner, a minor blast from the past herself.

Sveta's down a break. Maybe she caught a heavy case of retarded from Clijsters.

think in sweta's case this would be a chronic disease rather than something she's just caught from anyone

Lol. She's got a.. I won't say a break.. she's up a hold in the second!

All seriousness this is a good match. Kerber just got two challanges overruled - even though the on-screen display showed the ball she challenged as out was in, it was ruled as out.. weird. Must be some kind of ish with the big screen display thing.

Neither player can hold their own serve. You know why, I don't have to say it again.

And it has to be said, the umpire let Kerber get away with a naughty challenge. She challenged a serve only after she'd hit the return out. Sveta tried the same thing and got rebuffed while serving for it! Umpires are really, really being selective with enforcement of the immediate challenge.

Well done Sveta.

Hey, Zheng has a great chance to make her second Slam SF. Hope she does!

Which means she'll lose 3 and 3 to A-Bond, of course.

can anyone find a link to a website that shows a updated ladder like they show on tv?

Watching Fed-Montanes now and, man, Federer is looking great. Hopefully he'll be in top form this tournament. Tennis is always more fun with him around.

serena is in the 13th deuce up 5-0 right now O_O

CapLorax - I'm not sure what you mean by like on TV, but maybe like "interactive draws" here http://www.australianopen.com

Ahh, there it is. I was looking in the wrong place. I honestly thought the official website didn't show a ladder. Thanks

I'm looking forward to seeing just how good Murray is (like yall say he is) during the upcoming Isner match.

Thanks tennis players for giving us a boring day when I couldn't watch you!

Last 16 finalised...

(1) Serena Williams vs. (13) Samantha Stosur
(9) Vera Zvonareva vs. (7) Victoria Azarenka
(4) Caroline Wozniacki vs. (16) Na Li
(17) Francesca Schiavone vs. (6) Venus Williams
(WC) Justine Henin vs. (Q) Yanina Wickmayer
(19) Nadia Petrova vs. (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova
(31) Alona Bondarenko vs. Jie Zheng
Maria Kirilenko vs. (2) Dinara Safina

(1) Roger Federer vs. (22) Lleyton Hewitt
(9) Fernando Verdasco vs. (6) Nikolay Davydenko
(3) Novak Djokovic vs. Lukasz Kubot
(10) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (26) Nicolas Almagro
(7) Andy Roddick vs. (11) Fernando Gonzalez
(14) Marin Cilic vs. (4) Juan Martin Del Potro
(5) Andy Murray vs. (33) John Isner
Ivo Karlovic vs. (2) Rafael Nadal

lol yeah i was glad i couldn't watch any tennis today either. tmr's schedule though, wow - would watch practically all of those matches.

Hurrah I'm drunk and infront of the telly - Isner is a hulking great lump of dude, isn't he? Murray is having to work hard to get this first set out, no problems on serve but he just seems to shut down otherwise.

God if this all goes to tie-breaks I might have to go to bed in protest.

huh, that turned into quite the hammering. It's really not gonna be worth staying up to watch Nadal, is it?

100% success with drop shots for Murray there, got to a point where Isne was looking at him like "would you just fucking stop?"

Murray has a knack for sussing out winning strategies against different types of players but I hate when he goes into passive mode and takes a bit out of every shot and waits on the misses. Unfortunately that was the perfect strategy tonight - 8 unforced errors vs fuck knows how many from Isne.

It'll be interesting to see how Isne progresses though, beast of a serve and a huge (albeit erratic) forehand. If he could tidy up a bit and cut out the wild shots he could be a top 8 player. I'm surprised he doesn't follow more serves in.

isneR doesnt follow more serves in because he probably never did it when he was younger, no one does it anymore obv. def don't think he has top 10 talent like you do but he could break into the top 20. that's about his ceiling i'd say

yeah i wouldn't bother.

quite enjoying sveta and petrova - they're both moving and striking the ball so well.

oops the first comment was supposed to be xposted to merdeyeux re: nadal and karlovic

lol sveta stop being retarded

To anybody who saw Dan Silkstone's 'Around Melbourne Park in Six Hours' report in yesterday's Age this might seem like a pretty feeble imitation, but here goes:

Friday kicked off with Peter Luczak and an Oz of Indian background called Rameez Junaid play German Phillip Marx and Slovak Igor Zelenay. The fact that Looch was the only one of the quartet I had heard of did not help: after a set and a half it was quite obvious that this was the Last Marx Brother's day at the races, and after his brave but doomed effort against Rafa on Tuesday Looch's 2010 Open was over.

Then it was off to SC2 (which Silkstone dubbed 'the court where they put the ones youy've heard of but aren't interested in) for the tail end of local veteran Rennae Stubbs and partner Lisa 'Everybody Loves' Raymond's clinical demolition of Molik conqueror Julie Coin and her Canadian partner. Both losing doubles pairs made the serious error of being caught side by side in mid-court no-man's-land far too often, about the only thing I remember from tennis lessons at high school, and Coin might not be the female John Isner (at least not while Venus and Petrove remain on the scene) but she's very much a half crown rather than a dime and her lack of mobility didn't help.

Finally, some singles action as Fernando Gonzales struggled to gain ascendancy over yet another unknown, Evgenyb Koralev of Uzbekistan, before winning in five. Half way through set 2, when Kora already a set up broke Gonzo again, I headed for Court 3 where Dame Kiri, playing well and having acquired her own Aussie cheer squad, saw off Italian Roberta Vinci in two tight sets. Back to MCA as Gael Monfils and the Incredible Hulk, John Isner, faced off, Isner may be a King Kongesque 100k and 200cm but to assume he is slow or lacks touch would be foolish in the extreme. He blasted Monfils off the court in the first set, displaying power and a surprising deftness at the net. He does play these double-stiff-arm forehands which are centimetre accurate but lack power compared with his free-swinging aingle-handers. His late-match stamina was never really tested because Monfils, always an unconvincing big-name performer, was able only sporadically to match Isner for speed or consistency and in fact was first to succumb to the conditions. He always has been a tad annoying, has the Monf - too full of the joys of spring, all Fonz impressions and beaming pearly whites when it's going well, then sulky foot-dragging petulance when it isn't. Today, seeded 12, he lost badly to seed 33, a pasty-faced 16-stone white man and first-time Oz Open entrant, in extreme heat. His career may be at the crossroads.

From there, caught in the queue outside for the end of Gonzo-Koro, I saw 'Cake' get absolutely ruined by Zheng after winning the first set, then saw JMDP's plodding progression against Florien Meyer on the big screen. Waiting for Cilic v 'My Friend Stan' Wawrinka to start on MCA after Isner's deflation of Monfils, suddenly the 37 degree heat hit me and it was time to hit the road. Clij v NoIdea started as I turned into Toorak Road from St Kilda Road; set 1 was in the bag before the Tooronga Road railway crossing, less than 5k away.

Quite an interesting day but the Silkstone court-hopping approach has its drawbacks, especially trying to get back into close matches towards the end. Getting back into Isner's match, for instance took half the third set. If I go in again tomorrow I might need to start doing what anybody with brains did a couple of years ago when Nonsense Arena was inculded in the day-pass: take up your seat and, like Gael Monfils on a bad day, just don't move.

excellent writeup fred. spot-on abt monfils, his antics on court, once endearing, are starting to annoy more and more.

sveta vs petrova turned into quite the ugly match in the end after petrova forgot how to serve halfway through the second set and sveta kept on being retarded.

only watching bits and pieces of delpo-cilic but what i'm seeing is interminable - there must have been four games in the third set there that lasted over ten minutes each. like no one could hold or break, every single game going to four or five deuces. i know they're practically twins (same gigantic height, born five days apart, near-identical playing styles) but it's ridiculous how there's just nothing between them in this match.

Watching Henin -Wickmeyer, still on serve still in first set, not a lot happening in a big hurry here either.

Don't be surprised if the Cilic-JMDP fifth-set decider goes to 12-10.

nah i think Cilic's got this now, up a break and serving better. really, if he hadn't kept being stupid on break points, he could've won this in straight sets.

Wow, I wasn't watching today but apart from Roddick currently being up over Gonzalez, GREAT RESULTS FOR TENNIS.

Safina out! OK, on a retirement. But you know. Passable final guaranteed.

I don't know, I worry about Justine's stamina which could mean...oh god. Nadezhda in the final.

Happy that Zheng looks likely for a second Slam SF!

Zheng is class. The way she took care of Cake was very impressive.

Agree the thought of NoIdea in a slam final is horrifying.

Unfortunately I'm going out for the day now so will miss the rest of Rodd-Gonzo; I'm loving Rodd's endless half-assed sorties to the net, and Gonzo's ripped passes. 3-6 6-3 6-4...go Santiago!

Amazing lob from Gonzalez, landed right on the chalk. He tried the same shot a few points before and fucked it up (and thus handing it to Roddick on a plate) but that one was just bang on.

Now Sandshoe Face is having a whinge about the crowd. Gonzo holds after a couple of break points and now SF sends a cross-court wide by about the lowest measurable margin. His level of off-piss is reaching volcanic.

Roddick takes set 4 and the momentum - now Gonzo looks ready to explode.

oh Gonzo was right though - after that out call was overturned, they should've replayed the point instead of giving Roddick the point and the set. some bullshit umpiring there.

and now Roddick has the break, baahh. get it together Gonzo.

I guess Gonzo can always fall back on a career in abstract sculpture if this whole tennis thing doesn't work out for him. "I call this piece FRUSTRATION"

BAH just seen that roddick seems to have escaped w/this match :(

How was gonz right tho? He didn't even swing for it. If the point was called correctly he would have lost anyway

On the replay, it sure looked like he stopped because he thought it was out. Anyway it's done, Roddick through. meh.

only watching bits and pieces of delpo-cilic but what i'm seeing is interminable - there must have been four games in the third set there that lasted over ten minutes each. like no one could hold or break, every single game going to four or five deuces. i know they're practically twins (same gigantic height, born five days apart, near-identical playing styles) but it's ridiculous how there's just nothing between them in this match.

― Roz, Sunday, 24 January 2010 08:27 (13 hours ago)

I've never seen a tennis match where so many points were up for grabs, no matter who was serving. Seemingly every point that wasn't an ace/service winner came down to one of them making a tremendous shot or trying to make a tremendous shot. 5 hours of tension. Amazing.

Depressing to come back to the Roddick news *and* the fact that I'd misremembered the draw and it's not 7 v 2 at the bottom, but 5 v 2, so rather than Nadal taking him out before the business end of week 2, we have to rely on Cilic. Can't see it.

you guys rly don't like Roddick huh

god fuck davydenko, most boring top ten player i can remember. roddick is a mess but imo he is a FUN mess, he's fun to root for that way. also i'm american btw

gah i forgot ljubicic! even worse!

SO RONG ABOUT DAVYDENKO.

Davydenko is unattractive but not boring in the slightest, except at Wimbledon where he is atrocious to watch, downright embarrassing really. Roddick is an outsize personality with a dull game.

Ljubicic was shit though.

And, as has been pointed out, Roddick throws the crayon-biters a few charming quips here and there, and as a result never gets pulled up in the media for some of his hammy, diva-esque behaviour on-court, and that probably contributes to the hate. That sort of stuff was almost forgiveable when he was younger (take note Monfils, your leeway is running out) but now isn't.

Official site predictions say Stosur beats Silliams in three! This isn't going to happen, now, is it? It's not some non-slam hardcourt thingy towards the end-season ffs. Is there really any sport apart from tennis where you can be a "journalist" and still be such a pinhead about it?

nah i dont give a shit about his pressroom antics or whatever, kinda hate it tbh, he's mad fake. i meant his game is an entertaining mess. loved when he ripped apart djokovic tho for faking injuries

how is davydenko's game not extraordinarily dull?

He's quite artful and accurate and efficient. In a way that few of the other top male players but some of the better women are. I mean, I don't love him like Lex does, and I'm sort of rooting for Verdasco in this set, but Davydenko has game.

also we are tennis rockists innit

lex loves him? :(

i think "efficient" is otm but that = boring to me, he doesnt really have any great shots or, uh, personality. just kind of a by-the-numbers v predictable baseliner

nah if anything i'm the rockist! you youngins with this absurd baseline play!

There's something satisfying about seeing someone wear down and subdue someone with bigger weapons and overall a bigger game. Davydenko is like a boa constrictor, or a boring critically-acclaimed record you're supposed to TAKE AS A WHOLE rather than pick apart how boring each individual track is, hence ROCKISM.

In all seriousness, he's not that much fun to watch when playing some loser, but against good players, it's all very worthy.

Davydenko: Uh, I'm so hot now! Last year I was Mr Cold, and now I hear that I am this, I don't know that this means.

Well this was pretty much exactly what was expected - nothing really in the way of rallies, Serena served damn near perfectly and probably lost no more than 10 points on it the entire match, Stosur played a few loose ones, held easily in her others and just wasn't up to it.

lol Federer up a set and break already, and guess who they've got commentating from courtside? YEs, Roger Rasheed! Hah! "Lleyton's serving at about 50% which isn't going to be enough". And during the time you worked with him, you did exactly what to help him with that? That's right, NOTHING! Fuck off you tit, don't you have Monfils' career to be ruining right now?

Frankly anyone whose serve is so shit they can't inch it above 50% deserves to lose! GO FED!

For real, you need to see Davydenko live - the speed of this guy, and the accuracy of his shots is quite something. I don't think he's predictable at all - the angles that he plays are quite unusual. edwardo otm that he's not much fun against a scrub but he matches up against the big guys very well, esp against Djokovic - they're probably my favourite current match-up in tennis. Never boring.

as for the no-personality thing, he doesn't show much oncourt but he's by far the funniest and most quotable Russian after the Safins imo.

Q. At what time did you go to sleep yesterday?

NIKOLAY Davydenko: At 3. Because I was coming at 1, do massage, one and a half hour. But if you see, I play three times the night session. That was always the same time I go to sleep. Today I sleep just seven hours, but feeling okay really. Seven hours was enough.

Q. Sleeping alone?

NIKOLAY Davydenko: Come on. I have wife. Come on, come on. What do you want, two girls, three girls, four girls?

Q. You are a Russian.

NIKOLAY Davydenko: I came Russian, but I'm not Safin (smiling).

....

Which actor would you choose to play you on screen?
Jason Statham, the lead actor in The Transporter.

When did you last spend big with your prize money?
I don’t – my wife spends it. That’s why I’m still on the tour (laughs).

Who’s the nicest guy on tour?

They’re all really nice: Federer, Nadal. All of the guys in the top 100 are cool. But if you asked me which one was the best looking I’d say Feliciano Lopez. Everyone thinks he’s gorgeous, with his blue eyes and curly hair.

like lolwut?

I'm not David Enko's biggest fan though I am slowly warming to him I suppose. I used to call him the Grim Reaper with those sunken cheeks and the general lack of animation. I also gave him a bit of a reaming out a few years ago when he skived off a match against Brydon Klein (Oz whiz kid, not here this time, shares FOAT status with Tomic but possibly even more of an obnoxious shit) because it was too hot.

He's been a bit more forthcoming this time, and his media offerings make me think of the unintelligible Swedish chef in the Muppets. I can see him developing a cult following with his mumblings, a bit like Bart Cummings. Or Peter Sellers in 'Being There'.

For real, you need to see Davydenko live

Damn right. Not that I can really talk, having seen since precisely one top-flight men's singles match in the flesh in the last five years, but it was Davyd vs Nadal in London in November and Kolya was amazing. Everyone was buzzing about it on the Tube on the way back into town - I heard at least two people say, "he's going to win this, isn't he?"

Oops, glitch in Fed masterclass... Hewey breaks back in set three.

Rodge is having a bit of a mid-match siesta here, and Lleyts may hacve built up enough steam threaten the set.

Buit then again Fed has another break point and if he wins it he'll serve for the match....as so shall it be.

The ABC scribes are predicting this could be the end for Hewitt, as in goodbye farewell and Amen.

Two more break-points!

And that's that....

I doubt he'll retire. But he should. He's become the Wile E Coyote of tennis, since falling from the top around 2005, he's tried absolutely everything.. while being oblivious to the fact that if you don't get first serves in, it doesn't matter how much you run, how well you return, you won't hold your serve against the top echelons. Any other player would be on the practice courts for a week trying to get more serves in, but Lleyton really believes his llegs and gguts will get him through against top competition. That's batshit insanity, and I wonder how many more mashings he will take before he realises.

"He's become the Wile E Coyote of tennis,"

There's even a bit of a physical resemblence.

I agree he should pack it in but that leaves the Great Unanswerable: What is he remotely qualified, or has he shown any ability, to do for a career instead? I'd be surprised if he could coach or commentate his way out of a wet paper bag.

Take up golf.

He could then continue being A GREAT STRAYAN HERO but we wouldn't have to look at him anymore.

It was almost a little sad at the end, the way he really started to compete on Fed's level for the last four games or so, and the way the crowd got into it. It was like Wimbledon in the mid-'90s with Chris Wilkinson or someone giving it a bloody good go vs Sampras or Becker. Except this guy used to be #1.

ooh just noticed Li Na beat WozDen! Awes.

I like Kolya lots and am looking forward to his match with Fed, but again, I really wish Verdasco had gutted it out there after he won the fourth set. I have no idea how many times last year where he managed to play well enough to force a decider against a top ten player only to fail right at the very end. It's actually ridiculous how consistent he is at his current ranking - he will beat everyone ranked below him and no one ranked above him.

I LOVE KING KOLYA, he is soooo not boring, he's just small and balding and ~unglamorous~ and doesn't care about the anglo media so gets written off - even to the extent of being falsely characterised as a counter-puncher or a grinder (trans: boring, dull) when he's actually a super-aggressive player.

and i hate roddick BUT i still really want to bone him

and i LOVE that li beat wozniacki - the latter could only hit three winners over two sets, now that's a boring pusher game for you. i mean i'm not exactly enamoured of the stupid ball-basher style - i like radwanska for heaven's sake, and she's about the most woefully weak player ever, girls in the 1940s could probably overpower her - but wozniacki needs to follow safina in Going Away Right Now tbh.

^^if bits of that make no sense it's b/c i've just had a 7=hr red-eye flight and no sleep and am literally swaying back and forth on my chair, but if i go to sleep now my body clock will be even more fucked than usual :(

two chinese women in the last 8! :D

i'll go out on a no-sleep limb and take li over venus AND cilic over roddick in the next round!!!

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/9196/davydenkoblog1bc1.jpg

lol i was totally gonna post that pic!

more pics of the boring guy:
http://cowbell.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83423e30253ef0120a5f147be970b-pi

boring guy dancing for his wifey:
http://newballs.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/dancing-davydenko.jpg

His wife is pretty, too!

Tuning in to a Bepa match as she leads 6-4, 4-3 is JUST the cue for a choke, isn't it.

I was out this weekend and didn't watch any tennis or see any results but, man, this is an awesome slate of men's quarterfinal games!

can i just point out that i got ALL EIGHT MEN'S QUARTER-FINALISTS CORRECT in my predictions upthread?

admittedly only one, maybe two, of the women's, but never mind!

lol of course Vika would take the second set. Oh Bepa.

Greg yep - ridiculously strong men's QFs. The top seeds really do perform well all the time now, 6 of the Top 8 are there plus the number 10 seed and Cilic who practically everyone has tipped to crack the top 10 this year (looks like it's gonna be sooner rather than later).

Predicting the performance of WTA players is pointless though, unless it's picking Serena to win everything.

can i just point out that i got ALL EIGHT MEN'S QUARTER-FINALISTS CORRECT in my predictions upthread?

Has anyone else ever done this in the history of ILE tennis threads? Well done, sir!

(Though the true benchmark is how many of the last 16 you got, and, hilariously, you only scored 9!)

yeah tbh the only real call I had to make was Cilic (given that Tsonga is more of a legit top 8 player than Soderling), and then just avoid getting light-headed with potential upsets

do you still think Kolya will beat Fed? He looked a bit iffy today vs Verdasco, plus I think Fed loves his semifinal streak too much to lose.

I thought he would at the start and have lost faith :(

Bepa losing eight games in a row from 6-4, 4-2 up. UGH.

So not watching that match, two of the biggest WTA drama queens ever. Any tears yet?

That would be 10 games in a row. Oh Bepa. You're useless.

omfg henin/petrova is a horrendous fucking match

Yeah :( Unacceptable stupidity, BAD BAD SERVING and too many errors, probably a few more from Nadezhda but Justine is not looking too flash either.

I was completely baffled by turning back to see a victorious Henin, since I'd been watching for about half an hour all along thinking she'd lost the first set. Bedtime? Ya.

lets get this match over with plz

Zheng well on top of Dame Kiri - up a set and a break and playing very steadily.

Zheng was awesome! Justine won't beat her without serious raising of game.

yeah v impressive

mary carillo is very anti challenge limits

loooool cilic is so tall the crouching lineswoman went right between his legs as he ran into the back wall!

they keep playing commercials through roddick's massage breaks :(

heh.

man cilic, roddick is HURT. stop being a moron, it's bad for both of you.

cilic choking bad now. think this might be one five-setter he might not be able to win. :/

i think roddick's feelin those painkillers

http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/photos/mraz/rock-hyrax-05a26056.jpg
http://tennisworld.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451599e69e2012875da687b970c-320wi

I trust that is the decisive break...because I have to leave for work in 10min and I don't want another Gonzo-style collapse!

Roddick serving at 1-4 15/40...I can manage one more point but the 07:53 beckons...

good lord, cilic survives his third 5-set epic. glad that's over though - bring on murray/nadal!

she hasn't even turned fully pro yet but dammit i do love Laura Robson. got through her junior girls' first round match. :)

and she had some fightin' words for her Hopman Cup partner, Andy Murray:

"(Andy) gets tight occasionally," Robson said here in Melbourne yesterday. "I've seen it. He just chokes big time. Just like he did at the Hopman Cup. And you can tell him I said that."
...

"I was a bit disappointed, I have to say," said Robson, straight-faced. "But I think he will get me something, because he was joking, saying he's got me a Subway bag and stuff like that. He's definitely going to get me something. And then he also offered to give me a lesson in Doodle Jump. Very generous."

lol she's cute.

Rafa sderving to stay in first set

I was exhausted just watching that first set.

Watching this via BBC text updates :( - don't think I can get away with having a wee tennis window open somewhere at work.

How many break points did Murray have to save in that set, 7 or 8? You have to take Nadal for at least a set if he keeps that up then it's anyone's guess what happens next.

yes nadal has had a lot of break points. He's also had maybe one comfortable service game.

Yes, saved seven and the rallies are just brutal. Just sneaking a look every now and again...

YES! slept for 10 hours and woke up to some beautiful results. second slam SF for Zheng, I believe. She rules. Wouldn't mind her beating Justine, because on current form Justine just won't be able to beat Serena in the final.

loooool cilic is so tall the crouching lineswoman went right between his legs as he ran into the back wall!

would go through Cilic's legs too.

Murray/Nadal now! On a proper TV not shitty internet stream for the first time this tournament.

Ooh, fireworks break.

Play randomly being stopped for 5-10 minutes for fireworks. Australia, what are you playing at.

Commentators say they're changing their shirts and yet the TV shows the fucking fireworks. BBC, what are you playing at.

Hello Flavia Flavs is cheering on Rafa?

Nadal breaks in the second set...

This could go on for a while. What I've seen has been fairly evenly matched.

and murray breaks right back.

dropshot-lob-smash combo from Murray :D :D

Nadal's volley on break point omg omg

Took a sneaky peak at that 11th game. Huge hold for Nadal - the kind of thing that often leads to Murray easing off his own serve at a crucial time...

this match is so fucking intense.

Both playing with amazing power - 2nd set into a tienreak

Yes, it seems like every point is huge.

So tired of this win-point/clench-fist/look-up-to-coach thing everyone does.

Murray doing the walk-all-the-way-to-the-net-to-inspect-imaginary-mark before challenging thing that Nadal did in game 11...

And that's five set points for AM.

And there's the set for Murray!

Nadal's knee appears to be flaring up again...

...and he immediately gets broken.

And that should really be that. Nadal obviously struggling.

Murray always seems to get his aces in everytime Nadal is about to break, right?

Nadal retires. Shame...the second set was pretty great though.

Nadal probably thinking about a long spring ahead and a hell of a lot of points to defend; there was no earthly way his knees would last another three sets and even staying out there another hour might, I suppose, be the difference between a couple of weeks' rest and the sort of enforced break he had last year.

poor Rafa. :(

Okay did anyone else notice that Venus was not wearing panties in her match against Schiavone?

(How did I notice this? The helpful slow-mo analysis of her serves that clearly showed her skirt flipping up over her completely bare naked ass.)

You're not being serious, are you?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jan/26/venus-williams-flesh-coloured-pants

WHY MUST YOU RUIN EVERYTHING

loool

that rafal murary match left me dead inside and I will now be completely disconnected from tennis. I just couldn't care less about guys like murray.

Chorizo-chomping surrender donkey Rafa Nadal "does an Andy Murray" and wimps off court when beaten to hand the Brit a place in the Australian Open semis

ugly brit at that

i was more shocked when venus took her warm-up jacket off and was like HOW FUCKING LOW IS THAT DRESS CUT?????!!! then i realised it was actual fabric so was prepared for the pants

So Venus failed to serve out the match in two sets at 5-4 in the second and has just gone down 6-7 to Li, sending it to a third. She seemed to forget how to serve - esp the ball toss but Li was hitting lovely flat groundstrokes on cool angles. This is actually a match!

So weird that Li has such awesomeness on the baseline, esp off the backhand but she's curiously not that good at putting away the short ball and gets a bit lost when she moves forward. But she's doing a GREAT job at returning Venus' serve (her double-faults are helping). From 0-2, she broke back, had trouble holding, finally did in an epic game and now will SERVE FOR THE MATCH at 5-4. I mean, Venus is OK by me, but this is potentially so huge and exciting for tennis, you've got to root for the upset.

Commentators insisting the difficulty holding is because of the positoin of the sun and the side of the court, but this is balls because both of them are struggling from both sides. Looks to me like Li is doing SO WELL on Vene's second serve that she's going for more than she's capable of at the moment.

Okay, Li, you do not just drop your serve to love. Women's tennis!

Wow, Venus then dropped her bundle and Li has another shot.

<3 <3 <3 <3 ! She wins it with two glorious forehands down the line. She was so fearless, jerking Venus around from side to side, well aware a severe angle shot might come back, but she was fast enough to get to everything. A few too many unforced errors to make her the favourite against Serena but this is HUGE. Choky Russians could learn from this.

Li's non-responses to Todd Woodbridge's inane courtside interview questions are A+++.

After one game of Vika/Silliams I decided to turn the sound off. The burgeoning unforced error/winner ratio is making me consider turning the picture off too.

After one game of Vika/Silliams I decided to turn the sound off. The burgeoning unforced error/winner ratio is making me consider turning the picture off too.

― everything my hat desires (edwardo), Wednesday, 27 January 2010 03:40 (2 minutes ago)

I'm mainly focused on azarenka's skirt/legs.

It's all very well hearing that in the off-season Azarenka has been working on her power and speed, but could she _please_ work on not lowing like a cow being stabbed slowly to death when she hits the ball?

yeah i actually like vika these days (thanks entirely to twitter) but i just can't watch her play. the grunting, the anger outbursts, the dumb errors... too much. also for someone who hits the ball so hard on her groundies, it amazes me that she has such a *weak* serve.

Her ability - still on show here despite the scoreline - of serving her way out of trouble aside, Serena is tanking badly on the big points. And Azarenka's returns are putting her into Serena's service games big-time.

wow a set and two breaks down

Hah, not that I expect it, but it could happen, but the idea of the media trying to enjoy an Azarenka/Zheng final makes me intensely happy.

an all-Chinese final would be totally rad!

Totally! A Li/Zheng final would be easy to promote.

Oh women's tennis. Azarenka loses her second break on a double.

loool 4-0 to 4-4 oh god wta

A couple of extremely ill advised and poorly executed drop shots from Serena on consecutive points in this 2nd set tiebreaker match.

Followed by some good serving, and some timid capitulation from Azarenka.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo_O

fucking hell vika

Truly pathetic choke there.

Made more appalling by the presence on Australian TV of a fucking pinhead who doesn't realise that her name is "Azarenka" and kept calling her "Azarenko".

lol that's one thing i'm glad i don't have to go through anymore after moving from aus - clueless channel seven commies. oh and channel seven cutting away from tennis for Home and Away.

roger pulling a serena here

kolya is playing well yes but dear god this is super sloppy from federer

He's still getting some ops on service games but is blowing the important points.

haha i can't believe i passed out drunk before i even managed to get the li/venus match up last night, woke up pretty much passed out on my laptop :(

lol @ vika's choke - this is becoming A Thing with her now. she exceeded my expectations in going so far up in the first place though. as for Li, I pretty much saw that one coming. Two CHN girls in the SF! I'd root for an all-CHN final if it wasn't for Justine.

Wow Federer turned it on a bit at end of set 2. Pwned Kolya's second serve, though was curiously punchless even on his own.

Bad error to go down a break in the third there for Kolya.

I have watched a disgusting amount of tennis in my life, but I have never seen a men's tennis match like this before.

Bet you've seen a women's match like it.

haha yes of course.

Another one I'm going to miss during my commute - but has RF just won 9 straight games? From facing points to be a double-break down in set 2?

seriously what the hell with the momentum swings today

Yes, that's what's happened. Davydenko hsa been an error machine and he's getting no traction on serve.

Can't even catch a break - easy putaway forehand bounced off the net and out! Poor Kolya.

it's truly uncanny, Federer started playing ok, and then within 5 minutes he's absolutely ROLLING in all aspects, and Davydenko is completely out of sorts.

This game, Davydenko's hit an ace, a graet body serve, a double fault, one of the worst backhands ever witnessed... and might lose again.

if any of you guys knows a sports psychologist who speaks Russian, you may be able to get a finder's fee.

11 in a row.

12 in a row :/

davydenko wakes up now that he's down 2 sets and a break.

wowowow Kolya breaks back!

lol and now Kolya has 3 BPs, this match is so silly.

wow. 5 massive serves in a row for fed to dig himself out of that one.

and now Fed will serve for the match...

unbelievable. so fed somehow rallies from 0-40 to hold and then Davydenko chokes away a service game (losing break point with a double).

haha what, two amazing returns then a fantastic pass for Kolya to save MP and break back :o

oh for chrissakes

of course the next game goes to deuce...

ffs aargh

lol mirka looking so pissed off

omg federer to serve for the match again

the.fuck.

mirka and irina both looking like they could die right now

and no mistake that time!

just your everyday 4 set win for fed. lol

people will talk about this match for years and years.

Fed secures the number 1 ranking and the semifinal streak lives!

hilarious. ok done semifinal streak intact. Now lose.

being a tennis wife would be the most fun thing -- which ATP events aren't played in an awesome locale?

speaking of rankings, i didn't realise nadal would lose the no. 2 spot by losing last night. dude can't catch a break these days. :/

I'm presuming the tsonga-djokovic match will have 34 service breaks and an interruption in the middle when a parachutist lands in the stadium.

we should be so lucky

It's really amazing how GOOD Davydenko was here. Federer would have to be at his absolute best to even compete with the Davydenko of the first set.

But somehow, he loses in 4 by losing every big point.

that's how good kolya is usually. Just not in best-of-five Slam matches. Federer was dead right in his post-match interview, in a best-of-three Kolya's unbeatable, but he goes through enough phases and mental lapses during a match that it's easy to take advantage of him when there's a lull.

yeah, that's pretty much it - plus he has a deceptively high-risk game that doesn't leave a great deal of room for error.

I'm presuming the tsonga-djokovic match will have 34 service breaks

haha two already and it's the 3rd game.

this is the first time i've managed to watch djokovic play here and wau, shiny shirt.

Tsonga takes the TB 10-8. Djokovic STILL playing too passively, not entirely sure what he's trying to do here.

i'll go out on a no-sleep limb and take li over venus AND cilic over roddick in the next round!!!

― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, January 25, 2010 11:45 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

u rock

Not really been following this - is Djoko going to pack it in here? AGAIN?

Just caught the last two games - Tsonga played some great shots to get that break but Djoko had to run off and throw up just now, so god knows.

Jebus Djoko, a double faults and a crappy drop shot into the net to give Tsonga ANOTHER break :(

bloody hell i checked out a few games into the third set b/c a) Djokovic seemed to have it under control b) it wasn't terribly inspiring tennis, wtf is going on!

oh ffs stop moping Nole

wow this is sort of dreadful :/

No, it's not great tennis, but there are sparks of great points here and there. Highlight reel of this match is going to be amazing.

And it won't include any of Tsonga's "volleys"

Wow. 3 basic errors and a DF by Nole to concede another break.

what the hell happened? went out for dinner and came back to that scoreline. Nole had to throw up? what is it with australia and making him sick?

eagerly awaiting scornful remarks from Federer about Djokovic retiring yet again.

Li will break the top 10 with this showing! :D

And Zheng returns to the top 20. Surely she must be one of the only players to have made multiple Slam SFs as a non-seed (and to have never reached the top 10)...

Surely she must be one of the only players to have made multiple Slam SFs as a non-seed (and to have never reached the top 10)...

― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Wednesday, January 27, 2010 11:17 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

TRIVIA FTW

Q. To be top 10, the first top 10 in China, what kind of satisfaction is that for you?

NA LI: So exciting. Maybe I take the beer tonight.

:D :D :D

Okay, so seriously, I love Henin so much, but can we have that all-Chinese final now? Whichever one wins will be ridiculously excited that they won't suck up to the sponsors or spout lame platitutdes during their winning speech, and it will be full of endearing things like ^^^

i love henin am glad shes back but her winning this tournament wld be deeply depressing imo

Li vs Silliams has just got really great. Li got broken in the first game - nearly lost the set in fact, but Silliams hit some wayward shots and gave the break back.

ANd now it's 15-30! FOCUS, LI!

Serena, up 4-1 in the tie-break, on serve, mishit a backhand so badly it bounced BEFORE the net, and then double-faulted.

Second-serve ace wins the set for Serena. Li is not going to go away, though. More fight than all the Russians put together on evidence here.

6-6! Second set tiebreaker. The way Li keeps hitting those wide forehands to wrong-foot Serena is fantastic to watch - she's so damned accurate. It really is like when she gets into the rallies, she can put Serena on a strong. NEED THIRD SET K THX BYE

well that's about gonna do that

obnoxious screaming from serena.

bummer - i thought she was terrific saving all those match points, it's too bad she couldn't do the same in the TB.

yeah :(

and yeah the screaming! love how pam called it a scream / howl

Henin is looking good! Lost the first game, then won the next six. Clinical, you'd say.

Li really should have won that match. Terrible mental errors on crucial points.

Henin trying to match Federer's 12 straight games from yesterday.

^^^ true this. She was so good against the wall, but when she had opportunities to go ahead, there was that backhand into the net. And one of her biggest weapons to boot!

dayum Justine.

Trying to imagine what Clij and JH have done happening in the men's game. Like Borg deciding he was going to take this thing seriously again in the spring of '83, playing (and poss winning one of) Monte Carlo and Rome in prep for Roland Garros and getting all the way to a final vs Noah or Lendl (of course, he couldn't string two wins together on his various half-hearted comebacks). Or McEnroe, after his seven-month sabbatical, immediately winning the '86 USO (in fact he lost in r1 vs Annacone). Very different siutations but it just seems impossible.

to be fair, i think the women's game is particularly bad right now, and i'm pretty sure that both Kim and Justine looked at the assorted weaklings and chokers who moved into the elite ranks in their absence and thought well, hell, may as well bolster that legacy a bit! especially Kim - if she'd stayed in retirement she'd have gone down as a one-slam wonder and choking dog, now she's a multiple Slam champ and one of the most mentally strong players around, lol.

am fretting about the final so much - on the one hand it's great to finally have a Serena/Justine Slam final - a few more of those would've made this decade so strong. I'm just terrified that Justine isn't ready to take on Serena yet, in just her second tournament back and after struggling against Wickmayer/Kleybanova...and suddenly this match MATTERS in terms of their rivalry in a way it wouldn't had they drawn each other in the second round. AARGH. is it going to be a night match this year? trying to work out how i'm going to watch it now...

I'm gonna cheer Murray on (mostly because it would suck if he couldn't beat Cilic given that he could beat Nadal). I guess he deserves 1 grand slam title

also, previous comebacks haven't done quite so well - Graf in '98 and Capriati in the late '90s both took a while to get back to Slam-winning form. Hingis beat top 20 players off the bat in '06 but never made the top 5 or came close to winning Slams.

And both Clijsters and Henin did luck out somewhat. Clijsters lost to Safina and Jankovic in her first two tournaments back, but the USO draw falling apart assured her an "easy" final - really didn't expect her to win the Serena match though. And here, the only elite player Justine's beat is Demented. Petrova in a QF and Zheng in a SF is pretty sweet draw.

GET IN - the women's final is a night match, so all i'll have to do is wake up early rather than try not to pass out post-leaving party.

Murray hasn't started well - a few nervous mishits, a few moments of pure Champagne Charlie arrogance not remotely justified by the scoreboard. Now 0-30 serving to stay in set 1 and last couple of ghames hasn't got within a bulls roar of Cilic's serve.

Cilic a set up

wau Cilic. Isn't this kid dying yet? He's played 3 five-setters but he's still somehow outplaying Muzz in long rallies, and crucially, on big points. Helps that Muzz isn't serving as well as he was against Nadal.

Right now if M<urray tried to hit a tennis ball off St Kilda Pier he wouldn't hit water....

this tweet from a tennis journalist:

@MiguelSeabra My co-commentator is a coach, said the former Marin Cilic girlfriend, a player, said she abandoned him «bcoz he was too aggressive with me»
30 minutes ago from web

:o

am having thoughts of cilic getting aggressive with me

HOLY FUCK DID YOU SEE THAT POINT

seriously. he ran down a net cord, stabbed a reflex volley, ran all the way back down to retrieve a lob and flicked a perfect backhand pass.

Amazing shot by Myrray running down a lob to brek in second set = starting to look much better. Now HOLD!!

some ridiculous shots in this match.

okay that tweet about Cilic is o_O

let's hope he was just trying to ace her on the practice court

HOLY FUCK DID YOU SEE THAT POINT

Bit behind here, but yes wau awesome etc. First instinct, gibberingly phone my dad "OMG WOW AWESOME DID YOU SEE THAT POINT", then I thought I should find this thread and see who else is watching.

and Murray takes the set, looking really good now - that drop volley to get to SP was soooo sweet

Murray takes the second set 6-4. Only point lost on serve last 4 games was that smart-arae drop shot at 40-0 in last.

I have a day off work! So this is terrif for me. Been watching this so far curled up in bed with Lulu on the portable (I did actually dress/feed/take older sister to school first, haven't been a complete waster). Murray pretty good in a tight opening first half-hour, a little unlucky with the net-cords, then totally went on holiday to Skye for 10min. The WAU point has changed everything; Cilic now struggling with his first serve, snatching at groundstrokes, visibly drooping. Should be a four-set win for AM.

well, that was a sloppy game from Murray to give the break back...

great pass at the end by Cilic though

Ah, AM's back on the Mallaig ferry again. Can't write off this Cilic dude.

yeah wouldn't count Cilic out just yet considering his record in five-setters - kid is tenacious.

You know if Murray wins this, it'll be that Grace Jones Slave To The Rhythm stretch-mouth photo that adorns the back pages tomorrow.

it's so unpleasant to look at, and this is coming from someone who basically finds murray smashable these days

xpost MJ:

Oh hell no - well in thast case come on Marin, pull your finger out!

Cilic gives away break with a bad double, both missed by a metre - as one of Amdy's more haggis-brained fans gets the bums rush from the stadium

omg another amazing BH pass

The ABC commentator had called the Cilic shot as a winner. Murray's playing some amazing shots now.

and that last point was the very defn of full stretch

!!!! forehand pass !!!!!

Murray another break point

murray just cruising to the finishing line now

haha massive FH winner around the netpost!

Ok, ridiculous stuff now.

and there it is. well done muzz. and well done cilic for not dying.

Murray's last game as emphatic as any from the match - his last set was better than Federer's yesterday, he could be a show on Sunday

pending fed's performance tomorrow, i'll take murray to win the final

Now it's Laconte and Rafter v Arthurs and Cash in a match of slightly lesser standard...

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47198000/jpg/_47198980_ind_getty_282.jpg

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/2046/muzzer.jpg

That image will never die. On the sydney morning herald homepage rn:

http://images.smh.com.au/2010/01/28/1075574/andymurray-300x368.jpg

It's the stillness of it that gets me. It's like he's waiting for someone to throw him a grape.

I like his raiders of the lost ark pose.

he looks like a furious turtle

terrifying

Just realised Murray's going to grow up into this guy
http://media.flother.com/apps/files/uploads/originals/malcolm_tucker.jpg

Roger seemingly not having any problems with Tsonga. and well, Tsonga keeps making stupid errors (at least from those few points that I've seen thus far)

Onimo OTM!

Fed 6-2 5-2 but I did love that drive volley flub just now. Memories of Harrison Park when I was 15. "Can we have our ball back?"

wow, 2 dbl faults in a row for Tsonga. He clearly isn't in the game.

And Tsonga flubs a volley to give the 2nd set to Fed.

:-(

And broken in the beginning of the third set, Fed leads 2-1.
:-( indeed but I never really expected Tsonga to win. I'd like it if he could at least win a set.

Tsonga has only won 11 points against serve in the entire match so far.

yeah i don't think Fed is having to do all that much today, Tsonga just seems like he's a bag of nerves. he needs to get it together and just blast away.

aaaand down a double-break. sigh.

If only he could you know get a few of his first serves in too. In the past two years, he has reached the final and the QF at the Australian Open, so wake up J-Wilfried, you have no reason to be a bag of nerves!

According to the stats thing on the official site Fed's at 45% receiving points won in this match! How much of this is Federer on top form and how much is Tsonga having an awful day?

I've only seen two of Fed's matches so far and he was looking like the Fed of old, just brushing people aside regardless of how well they play.

Lovely Yannick Noah backhand smash from Tsonga there. But that's that.

From the little I've seen today, Tsonga really wasn't in the game. He kept hitting easy fh and bh a meter out.

yeah never believed Tsonga had a chance, but it's weird to see him choke like that when he used to be known as this kind of crazy maverick type.

From the games I've seen him play in the AO, he has kind of lost that crazy maverick game. He tries less of those crazy shots that sometimes fail and sometimes spectacularly succeed. I dunno, on dirait qu'il s'est assagi.

Tsonga's odds yesterday were 19/1 to win the tournament, which I thought were crazy high for a guy who only had to win two matches. I'm glad I didn't tell anyone about that.

lol gotta love bitchy Fed. nice piling on murray-hype there.

I think Tsonga was prob tired coming off back-to-back five-set matches. Esp since none of his matches have EVER gone to five sets before this week.

still a nice run from Tsonga - second Slam SF backing up his final run a couple of years ago.

yeah I'm happy he got there, although I wish even more that Djokovic had not lost to an upset stomach. :/

serena looking uncharacteristically nervous out there. taking a million years to serve btw points.

yeah, esp in that first game - she's had break points in both her service games. then again her serve is on and she's won them both. literally no idea who will win: it'll prob come down to a couple of points :/

oh justine what the hell was that game :(

MUCH better now - justine breaks back w/some great hitting.

henin it would be nice if you could hit some first serves in more often. :/

yup she's been like this all tournament comeback career, kinda figured it'd be this match's deciding factor. still, FIGHTING~~ hold there.

it's a pretty weird match. neither playing well or badly, as likely to shank a shot wildly as to hit a great winner.

come on justine come on come on come on come on

gorgeous volleys to break serena again - now HOLD YOUR DAMN SERVE justine

YES LIKE THAT :D

Man I love one handed backhands down the line. Such a beautiful shot

suddenly justine's on fiyah baby

that was so weird and out of nowhere! struggling to hold serve at *2-3 down, wins that game and suddenly races to the finish line of the set. reeling of at least the last 10 points. <3 <3 <3

*off

i love it

think justine won at least 15 points in a row there <3

This is awesome - lets see how that if that break affects the rhythm

i'm actually so much more nervous now that justine seems to have a shot at winnig

FIGHTING~~ hold from serena...

Serena serves really well at 15-40 down. could this be the turning point for her?

ah fuck 15-30 come on justine

serena with the first break

the momentum shifts in this match are ridic

goddamm henin handing some breakpoints back here

YES! breaks back, killing the serena 2nd serve

but breaks back phew

LOB <3

haha

fuck

where was the backhand magic huh?

gnnnghhh

women's tennis, much? :/

what a second serve ace to hold!

If Henin doesn't hold you can look back to that point there

:(

ohno

double break and this is as good as over

FUCK

all over...well played by Serena, and terrific that Justine could play at that level so soon in her comeback. hopefully we'll get some more Slam finals like that - the best women's final in, god, years and years and years.

That's right. Great to see Henin back, women's tennis really needed her.

even though i wanted justine to win that was a great game.

Murray win tomorrow to make up for this :-)

First two sets were of a high standard, last set was a bit timid, and the backhands wasn't really there towards the end from. But it's absolutely true that Serena had to play well to get there unlike waiting for some scrub to explode.

from Henin duh

Murray? LOL

er, given what both players have shown here so far Murray is the favourite

not too pleased that my body decided I'd had enough after the first set and made me fall asleep. Sounded like a good match from the bits I heard when half-awake / that which slipped into my dreams, though!

holy LOL @ the insanity of this article. these poor kids.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/jan/30/andy-murray-australian-open-jane-austen

Tennis is the only sport that is really all about sex. There is nothing new or controversial in this. As a popular sport tennis has its roots in hair-oiled country house flirtation, its rhythms perfectly suited to the honeyed repartee of romantic pursuit. You can tell it's all about sex because the English spend most of Wimbledon tittering and giggling. Plus it's the only professional sport where men's and women's competitions are unquestioningly bonded at the hip. A solely male grand slam would be deathly and, like an unrelentingly men-only Friday night in the pub, oddly pointless.

For Murray, this conjoinedness has expressed itself most recently in his winching into place alongside Laura Robson as a furnished and burnished and excessively giggly boy-girl public relations figurehead for the labouring juggernaut of British tennis. It has become standard at this point to say that Robson is "good for" Murray, a scenario that paints Murray as a seductively stifled all-court Mr Darcy, raw with unrelieved tension. There is something vaguely Jane Austen-ish about the pair of them together, jousting their way through another press conference, the courtly Mr Murray suddenly boyish beside free-spirited Ms Robson. And let's just say it right now. If you don't, on some level, want to see Murray and Robson one day get married and live in a big house in the country where they keep horses, then you're barely human.

Dear god. Surely they mean Jane Eyre?

er, given what both players have shown here so far Murray is the favourite

Surely not heavily so. I still expect Federer to win comfortably.

Plus it's the only professional sport where men's and women's competitions are unquestioningly bonded at the hip.

"No tennis occurs apart from the Slams, as far as I'm aware."

lol serena couldve written that

And we're off! This is the earliest I've been awake on a Sunday for about 10 years.

go murray!

is jordan s gonna give us the outsider perspective like last year?

Great backhand from Fed - break point ALREADY. It's just like the dream I was having about half an hour ago where Murray had lost the first set. Hmm.