AUSSIE OPEN 2016

draws are out

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ms/msdraw.pdf
http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ws/wsdraw.pdf

pospisil/simon is a really good rd 1 match

lol tomic just ret'd to gabishvilli in sydney

he has istomin rd 1 not that easy

Exciting stuff. Wonder what Vika will do.

assuming Tomic's injury was (weather, couldn't be arsed with the tournament any more).

Djokovic/Chung and Murray/Zverev - AO so tough on the youngsters.

Serena/Giorgi ooooohhhhh, not that bashers are the types she struggles with. Could be lots of young talent in her path, Ostapenko then Kasatkina, then BFF Wozniacki, then in the QF...really hope we finally get the Bencic/Sharapova R4 match to decide that (well...I hope Sharapova loses R1 to Hibino, but you know).

Venus/Konta! Their match in Wuhan last year was so good. Neither of them have won a match in 2016 yet...

Azarenka/Muguruza scheduled to meet in R4, and their section has Svitolina, Garcia, Crawford and Lucic-Baroni as well.

Kohlschreiber/Nishikori looks like a great R1 too...

Ostapenko/Hsieh and Gasparyan/Errani should be nice stylistic contrasts in R1.

tbqh I haven't done my predictions carefully yet but I can't see anyone keeping Azarenka from the final. I wonder how bad Muguruza's injury really was.

Notable losses in qualifying for

- injured 45yo Date-Krumm :(
- Schiavone, who lost to Razzano and now fails to tie Ai Sugiyama's record for most consecutive Slam MDs played
- 17yo Frances Tiafoe - came through an all-US teenager Q1 vs Donaldson but then lost tamely to Gojowczyk
- deaf 17yo Duckhee Lee, playing his first Slam qualies, lost to Roca Batalla
- Naomi Broady (as if that Hobart run wasn't a fluke)

Still alive in the final round

- NAOMI OSAKA! My favourite huge-hitting Japanese-Haitian 18yo who never played juniors. Coming for the WTA this year
- Resurgent Tamira Paszek
- Former junior #1 Ivana Jorovic
- Anastasija Sevastova continuing her stellar comeback
- Michelle Larcher de Brito in her first event since Wimbledon

- 18yo Taylor Fritz, who's won three Challengers since the US Open and looks sort of unstoppable at this level
- 19yo Karen Khachanov, who made that splash in Moscow a couple of years ago

SveKuz

More in the "Sydney International tournament organisers are a bunch of dickwads" - defending champion Troicki wasn't placed on centre court until the final and he's pretty pissed about it, and fair enough. Like, sure, not a big name, but when someone is the defending champion, they deserve to be plonked on centre at least once before the final. Not quite as shabby treatment as Pironkova not even getting a WC as defending champion that year, but believe me, despite Everyone's Attempts To Make Dimitrov happen, and his bing touted in the local press etc as the second fucking coming, which he isn't - nobody cares about him in particular either here.

KUMKHUM QUALIFIED AND DREW KVITOVA AGAIN LOLLLLLLL

Naomi Osaka making her Slam debut as well :D Taylor Fritz too.

didnt realize they slotted fritz v sock o_o

i watched some of di wu qualifying, looked good but idk couldve been playing sum chump

Wu has a nice game but it's a bit low-wattage.

I was going to go to Melbourne next weekend and see some of this live again but ugh finances took a hit because of wisdom teeth surgery fml so I might try to come to Wimbledon instead

lololololol "tennis" "expert" "Jon" Wertheim has picked Tomic to make the semifinals

lmk if you do come to Wim!

predix!
(1) Serena Williams d. Daria Kasatkina*
(16) Caroline Wozniacki d. (WC) Océane Dodin
(12) Belinda Bencic d. (23) Svetlana Kuznetsova**
(5) Maria Sharapova d. (26) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska d. Monica Puig
(24) Sloane Stephens d. (Q) Tamira Paszek***
(10) Carla Suarez Navarro d. Monica Niculescu
Daria Gavrilova d. Dominika Cibulkova****
(7) Angelique Kerber d. Johanna Larsson
(19) Jelena Jankovic d. Katerina Siniakova*****
(14) Victoria Azarenka d. (Q) Naomi Osaka******
(32) Caroline Garcia d. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni*******
Johanna Konta d. Denisa Allertova********
Julia Goerges d. (21) Ekaterina Makarova*********
(Q) Anastasija Sevastova d. (15) Madison Keys
(2) Simona Halep d. Varvara Lepchenko**********

S.Williams d. Wozniacki
Sharapova d. Bencic
A.Radwanska d. Stephens
Suarez Navarro d. Gavrilova***********
Kerber d. Jankovic
Azarenka d. Garcia
Konta d. Goerges
Halep d. Sevastova

S.Williams d. Sharapova
A.Radwanska d. Suarez Navarro
Azarenka d. Kerber
Halep d. Konta

S.Williams d. A.Radwanska
Azarenka d. Halep

S.Williams d. Azarenka

*the 1997-born generation is the best in some years; there are five representatives in the draw and three of them have ended up in this section. It'll be interesting to see Ostapenko and Kasatkina (or possibly Konjuh) go up against Serena
**I know how good Kuznetsova looked winning Sydney last week, but I have no confidence that she can do it two weeks running and I've seen Bencic totally dismantle her before
***Wouldn't it be something if Paszek could finally put together a consistent year of her best tennis? She was dominant in qualies and has a 2-0 H2H lead over her R1 opponent Vinci
****yes, I fully expect Kumkhum to reprise her hilarious 2014 win over Kvitova, but even if she doesn't Gavrilova will grind the No 6 seed (who is ill AGAIN) out
*****Bacsinszky seems to have turned into a walking bye; 19yo Siniakova backslid in the second half of 2015 but I expect her to resume her rise this year
******The 18yo Japanese-Haitian Osaka is COMING for the Tour this year. Best Newcomer award awaits in 10 months. Huge, huge game, great temperament. Interestingly, she completely skipped junior tennis, and it doesn't seem to have done her any harm
*******Not sure how serious Muguruza's injury is but this is a bit of a nightmare section of hard hitters who can randomly peak
********Venus vs Konta R1 decides the QFist, I think. Bit of a toss-up - they played a thriller in Wuhan a few months ago when they were both in top form, but Venus now has an injury cloud over her while Konta seems to have fallen off a bit; neither won a match in the warm-ups
*********I don't trust Pliskova in Slams
**********Halep's quarter is so soft, full of seeds who are injured or in terrible form
***********Feels strange picking CSN to actually do something in a Slam after she flopped in every one last year but she has made the QF here before

(1) Novak Djokovic d. (28) Andreas Seppi*
(14) Gilles Simon d. Federico Delbonis
(9) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. (17) Benoît Paire
(7) Kei Nishikori d. (Q) Daniel Brands
(3) Roger Federer d. (27) Grigor Dimitrov
(19) Dominic Thiem d. Kyle Edmund**
Borna Coric d. (24) Roberto Bautista Agut***
(29) Nick Kyrgios d. (6) Tomas Berdych
(5) Rafael Nadal d. Andrey Kuznetsov
(23) Gaël Monfils d. (11) Kevin Anderson****
(13) Milos Raonic d. (21) Viktor Troicki*****
(4) Stan Wawrinka d. (Q) Taylor Fritz******
(WC) James Duckworth d. Aljaz Bedene*******
Jerzy Janowicz d. (Q) Daniel Evans
(16) Bernard Tomic d. (20) Fabio Fognini
(2) Andy Murray d. (32) João Sousa

Djokovic d. Simon
Tsonga d. Nishikori********
Federer d. Thiem
Kyrgios d. Coric
Nadal d. Monfils
Wawrinka d. Raonic
Janowicz d. Duckworth*********
Murray d. Tomic

Djokovic d. Tsonga
Kyrgios d. Federer**********
Nadal d. Wawrinka
Murray d. Janowicz

Djokovic d. Kyrgios
Murray d. Nadal

Djokovic d. Murray

*Between the Djokovic/Chung and Murray/Zverev R1s, the AO hasn't exactly been kind to the ATP's young guns this year
**sort of expect Edmund to finish what he started against Goffin in the Davis Cup final
***time for Coric to make some noise in a Slam, he beat Bautista Agut in Chennai and he can outgrind his more erratic countryman Cilic
****neither of these two are in great form but this is a very soft section
*****meanwhile, two of this year's titlists get each other in R3
******18yo Fritz's rise looks pretty unstoppable right now; that's a very intriguing R1 for The Future Of US Tennis against Sock, who was The Future Of US Tennis in 2013. I saw Fritz at RG last year in juniors and he has a confidence bordering on arrogance about his abilities
*******It'll be an inevitable and tedious five-setter obviously but Duckworth should FINALLY, at long last, end Hewitt's career for good
********I feel like Nishikori hasn't quite recovered from losing that ridiculous RG QF against Tsonga last year
*********this is the "well, someone has to come through it" section
**********on the basis that if a clay novice Kyrgios could beat Federer in a third-set TB in Madrid last year, I don't see why he can't do it in front of his home crowd this year. Yes, it's a Slam - and Kyrgios clearly peaks at Slams

Some pessimistic fans say Maria's on MCA because she might retire like USO. Hopefully not.

GOOD LUCK SERENA LOVE U

**********Halep's quarter is so soft, full of seeds who are injured or in terrible form

she's losing r2 to cornet tho <3

nice timing for match-fixing stories to arise again

eurosport player lasted two (2) games before freezing

fucking useless

had no idea that Swiss Slam debutante Viktorija Golubic had a 1H BH, and she's playing CSN now too! sadly the match is otherwise not up to much

wtf coric

lol Stephens

lol Wozniacki. That last set was as pure comedy as you could hope for, and I'm glad I got home from work nice and early to see it. Basically, Woz's forehand was hilarious, her movement was probably hampered and she was run ragged by Putintseva drop-shotting constantly, even when it wasn't a good idea. Like, she actually returned a rapidly descending Woz moonball with not a smash but a drop-shot without it bouncing. If her actual game was 50% as feisty as her temperament then she would have won that set 6-1 instea of 6-4.

PUTINTSEVA!!!!!!!!!! Amazing. Gonna have to watch highlights of that.

wtf happened to Coric? terrible scoreline, terrible loss.

multiple women's seeds (Pavlyuchenkova and Errani) losing after winning opening-set breadsticks - when I went to bed Gasparyan was hitting through Errani more and tbh Pavs getting ground down by Davis is no shock. lol @ Slam Stephens striking again. Wang Qiang is a good ball-striker but so one-dimensional.

Kyle Edmund lost 16 76 46 63 61 to Dzumhur - second consecutive five-setter he's played a blistering start and totally faded by the end, this is no way to make up for the DC final

Paire is wearing a popped collar, one black shoe and one pink shoe, and is playing tragically against Noah Rubin

I know Melbourne bills itself as a cosmopolitan, almost-European city (it's not, fuck off), but Paire would only have to get a train about 20 minutes away from where he is to be in serious danger of being beaten up for wearing what he's wearing.

Bouchard is wearing the shortest dress I have ever seen on a tennis court and I lived through the Golovin era

The dress is probably shorter than the actual Golovin era itself

Konjuh just came back from 06 03 down to win the second set 64 over U-Rad

Tried to watch Jasika/Marchenko, lasted 5 minutes because Australian fans are unbearable at 9am

@BenRothenberg 22m22 minutes ago
"Not a good player, but I was very bad today...Yes, he's not a very good player. I was worse than him today" -Benoit Paire onRubin. #AusOpen

Paire is correct that he was very bad today

the shiny back zip on Dimitrov's pink tank top is the gay cherry on top

oh and Konjuh completed her comeback from 06 03 down in style

KrisPlis trying her best to choke against Stosur but it's impossible to do that in Australia. Some of the shanks in the TB...

Baghdatis has a man bun and the commentator for that match is fucking Henri Laconte. My TV is either going to get switched off or punched.

Hopefully this works - here's the preposterous dropper off moonball from Putintseva:
https://youtu.be/kg0KMzb1qaQ?t=70

Hon and Inglis get the AUS women's WCs off to their usual sparkling start: three games won and a bagel eaten by each. Hon losing like that to BECK is particularly bad.

Keys/Diyas played an abysmal first set. Like, imagine the worst stereotype of a retriever hitting everything back to the centre of the court vs the worst stereotype of a basher whaling everything long. Keys got lucky to win it, she was three SPs down and her shanked smash just clipped the line.

Kuznetsov dragging Harrison with some lovely flat shots, another unlucky draw for Ryan??

venus is getting destroyed

this ernie/chardy 5th set is wild

FeVerrrrr

fucking amazing performance!

fuck, I thought Verdasco was gone down 0-2 in the fifth. Got home just in time to see him win the 4th in a breaker, then.. wow.. Nadal dropped a bit, served not so well but some of those winners were just ridiculous. That 179km/h forehand was swoon-worthy

Zhang Shuai, whom you might know is 0-14 in Slam matches, is up 4-0 over Halep.

(I predict a 7-5 6-1 win for Halep anyway)

Gulbis/Chardy is the first match to make me hate AO time zones

Venus was sort of a sitting duck given how hampered she looked in Auckland

VERDASCO! Turned that clock all the way back. That clean return winner on MP must have gone a long way to exorcising the demons of the DF down MP in 2009. THE DECLINE CONTINUES TO BE REAL. Monfils's draw has tumbled open as a result

Very heartbreaking watching little Misaki Doi push another seed all the way but fail to put her away

Pretty happy that Dan Evans got trashed

meanwhile, Jovanovski's 2016 so far has gone:

06 36 vs Friedsam
06 06 vs Cepede Royg
16 06 vs Cornet

lmao Zhang Shuai finally wins a Slam match at her 15th go and it's over HALEP. Takes it with a FH DTL winner!

Shuai is crying, what a way to break that terrible record

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING WAWRINKA I CAN'T MY EYES OH GOD

Vika double bagel

Those perfect dropshots from Kerber in that amazing game. Breaks for 4-2 on her 5th BP

Drop-shots, getting down to return the ball super-low, Kerber is Peak Radwanska come a round later.

Here's where I go underground for 20min and Serena wins 7-5 by the time I have a signal again.

Kerber to serve for the title...

Serena has never lost a three-set Slam final before...

That wasn't predictable at all

MP KERBER

OH MY GOD

Aw Serena goes over to the other side of the net to hug her.

Well, how about that.

that was incredible

I mean, it was one thing to be blindsided by Sharapova at Wimbledon or blown off the court by Stosur in New York, but who's ever won such a dogfight v Serena? Maybe Capriati back in the day, but in a final like that?

also Kerber now has a slam and Wozniacki doesn't :D :D :D :D

Petkovic on Facebook:
2 mins · Darmstadt, Germany ·
Angelique. Du bist der Wahnsinn. Ich möchte dich heiraten.

That means "I want to marry you".

That's the first ever three-set Slam final loss of Serena's career

She was 1-11 against Vika and Serena combined coming into the tournament

And she was MP down against Misaki Doi in R1!!!

I had the feeling that if she didn't take that MP she'd have crumbled - in fact, if she didn't win those 3 points in a row facing the Williams serve - amazing

that was unbelievable

Andy staying up til 1am to see Jamie win, Jamie tells him he should be in bed!

Jamie - it won't matter what time Andy goes to bed.

Awesome Kerber. Thanks for linking to that point.

Just lose already Andy. Jamie has done the business.

Saved 5 Deuces (lost count) prev game. Djoko wins his game in a couple of mins. Back on Murray.

Lets finish off plz

Comedy overhead flub from Novak, live for those. But please win in 3 anyway.

There there

break back points - so not happening

jesus

break back P

why am i posting here I've got to stop

I just want my life back

Deuce now, from 40-0

plz not like this

lol

the joke is on me

I'm a broken man, can't imagine what Murray is feeling rn

LOL DF from Novak - what is this guy on

Just lose already Andy. Jamie has done the business.

― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 31 January 2016 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

called it

when Djokovic serves two consecutive DFs you just CANNOT MAKE THOSE ERRORS!!!

Glad I am listening to this on the radio

Kim plz pop

this thing still on

back on level what's the point

kim plz pop now

That damp squib of a TB. It was probably closer than anyone expected. Slightly surprising that this was Djokovic's first straight-sets Slam final since the AO 2011!

Second time he'll be going for the Nole Slam at RG...

Roll of honour:

Men's singles: Novak Djokovic
Women's singles: Angelique Kerber
Men's doubles: Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares
Women's doubles: Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza
Mixed doubles: Elena Vesnina & Bruno Soares
Boys' singles: Oliver Anderson
Girls' singles: Vera Lapko
Boys' doubles: Alex De Minaur & Blake Ellis
Girls' doubles: Anna Kalinskaya & Tereza Mihalikova

and also highly hilarious

MEN'S WOODEN SPOON: RAFAEL NADAL

That's hilarious. Getting the wooden spoon at a Slam when you've won a Slam, that's the sort of indignity normally reserved for someone like Ivanovic.

Can't feel too bad for Murray, he didn't put up a better fight than Federer and had he been seeded 3 and got it in the semi-final not much would have changed. Lack of aggressive intent on the FH, attackable second-serve. 9 slam finals is damned impressive but the Big 4 doesn't exist - he trails the "big 3" in terms of career and Novak blasts him aside just like he does everyone else - except, lol, Simon. Djokovic is too good, even with lapses he seems unstoppable. I think he gets the Nole slam this year.

It's really strange at this point to think that Djokovic still hasn't won RG. It's not even like his game is unsuited to it. I think it's def become a mental thing with him so I wouldn't write him into that title yet.

Murray is a bit of a hollow No 2, it's pretty much due to Federer's reduced schedule. I'd have favoured Federer had he been drawn in Murray's half. There's def getting to be a Novak : Andy/Roger :: Serena : Maria/Vika feel about how the men's top 3 match up to each other.

Most stupid debate yesterday must have been comparing Wawrinka and Murray's careers. People actually arguing that 2-0 in Slam finals is better than 2-7.

New rankings!

1. Serena Williams (1)
2. Angelique Kerber (6)
3. Simona Halep (2)
4. Agnieszka Radwanska (4)
5. Garbiñe Muguruza (3)
6. Maria Sharapova (5)
7. Flavia Pennetta (8)
8. Carla Suárez Navarro (11)
9. Petra Kvitova (7)
10. Lucie Safarova (9)
11. Belinda Bencic (13)
12. Venus Williams (10)
13. Karolina Pliskova (12)
14. Victoria Azarenka (16)
15. Timea Bacsinszky (14)
16. Roberta Vinci (15)
17. Svetlana Kuznetsova (20)
18. Caroline Wozniacki (18)
19. Jelena Jankovic (22)
20. Ana Ivanovic (23)
21. Elina Svitolina (21)
22. Sara Errani (19)
23. Andrea Petkovic (25)
24. Madison Keys (17)
25. Sloane Stephens (26)
26. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (28)
27. Samantha Stosur (28)
28. Johanna Konta (47)
29. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (29)
30. Kristina Mladenovic (30)
...
31. Ekaterina Makarova (24)
33. Daria Gavrilova (39)
39. Annika Beck (55)
41 Barbora Strycova (48)
42. Margarita Gasparyan (58)
52. Anna-Lena Friedsam (82)
58. Eugenie Bouchard (37)
65. Shuai Zhang (133)
100. Anastasija Sevastova (113)
108. Naomi Osaka (127)

1. Novak Djokovic (1)
2. Andy Murray (2)
3. Roger Federer (3)
4. Stan Wawrinka (4)
5. Rafael Nadal (5)
6. David Ferrer (8)
7. Kei Nishikori (7)
8. Tomas Berdych (6)
9. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (10)
10. Richard Gasquet (9)
11. Milos Raonic (14)
12. John Isner (11)
13. Marin Cilic (13)
14. Kevin Anderson (12)
15. Gilles Simon (15)
16. David Goffin (16)
17. Gaël Monfils (25)
18. Roberto Bautista Agut (21)
19. Dominic Thiem (20)
20. Bernard Tomic (17)
21. Benoît Paire (18)
22. Feliciano López (19)
23. Jack Sock (22)
24. Fabio Fognini (23)
25. Viktor Troicki (26)
26. Ivo Karlovic (24)
27. Guillermo García López (27)
28. Grigor Dimitrov (28)
29. Jérémy Chardy (31)
30. Steve Johnson (32)
...
41. Nick Kyrgios (30)
52. Andrey Kuznetsov (74)
73. Jerzy Janowicz (56)

The most striking thing when you post the Monday rankings after a Slam is how little movement occurs inside the men's top 20, or even beyond. Double the points available vs any other event and everyone just settles into the same old roles.

It's really strange at this point to think that Djokovic still hasn't won RG. It's not even like his game is unsuited to it. I think it's def become a mental thing with him so I wouldn't write him into that title yet.

idk, it was Nadal (whom Djoko despatched with ease last year) but then Stan played an incredible match to beat him last year.

Expect Novak to win RG but not the slam, the pressure will be very high and he could unexpectedly lose.