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TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

• TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

• TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

  RussyRover > 12/01/2014, 23:52

  It's that time of year again when the new Tennis season kicks off in earnest with the Aussie Open...
  Here's the Official Website if you want to check what's going on Aussie Open 2014
  
  For the Men
  Seeded 1 is Rafa Nadal and he'll play Bernard Tomic of Australia first up, good one for the local fans here but it'll probably be over all too quickly, but he'll have to wait until Day 2, when he's the first match of the evening session on Rod Laver Arena.
  Seeded 2 is Djokovic and he'll play Lukas Lacko of Slovakia - and he'll be the first match of the evening session, on Rod Laver Arena on Day 1.
  Seeded 3 is David Ferrer and he'll play Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia - and he destined to be 2nd match on the Rod Laver arena on Day 1.
  Seeded 4 is Andy Murray and he'll play Go Soeda of Japan, on Day 2 and he gets the short end of the stick, as he'll play on the Hisense Arena with a start time of not before 5.00pm local time.
  
  
  Where's Federer? Well, he seeded 6 and will play James Duckworth, another Aussie on Day 2 as 2nd match, on the Rod Laver Arena. Doesn't make sense does it, but oh well, I suppose the Aussies would rather see Federer on their main show court than Murray...
  
  
  For the Women
  Seeded 1 and no surprise here is Serena Williams, and she'll play Ashleigh Barty of Australia on Rod Laver on Day 1, following the Djokovic match.
  Seeded 2 is Azarenka and she'll play Johanna Larsson of Sweden, first match on Day 2, on Rod Laver Arena.
  Seeded 3 is Maria Sharapova and she'll play Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US on Day 2, following the Nadal match on Rod Laver.
  Seeded 4 is Li Na and she'll play Ana Konjuh of Croatia on Day 1 on the Hisense Arena as 2nd match on...
  
  That all makes sense eh!!!
  
  
  What about our other UK hopes, well there aren't many.
  
  Heather Watson will play 31st seed, Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in just over an hours time as first match on Show Court 2.
  
  Laura Robson is also in action in just over an hour as she'll play the Belgium and 18th seed Kirsten Flipkens on Show Court 3.
  
  So two tough matches for the girls, let's hope they're up for it and give us a reason to cheer on for more than just Day 1 (not counting Andy Murray).

• RE: TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

  RussyRover > 13/01/2014, 14:50

  How did the 'Sheila's Get on?
  
  Not a good start for UK fans as Laura Robson looked pretty woeful in the 2nd set after showing a few sparks in the first, but she lost in straight sets to Flipkens 3-6, 0-6 in about 50 minutes.
  It was a tale of unforced errors as Laura stacked up an impressive 32 against just 4 for the Belgian.
  Hour 1 into the tournament and 1 already out...
  
  It took until hour 3 before the 2nd of our slim hopes in Heather Watson also ran out a loser in 3 sets, 5-7, 6-3, 3-6 but his was a much closer match and she could have beaten Hantuchova but alas let crucial points slip.
  
  and the rest?
  Well Serena won as expected against the Aussie Ashleigh Barty 6-2, 6-1 but the 17 year old put up a good game, showed a lot of spunk you might say... Unfortunately that spunk didn't help her get her first serves in more or make more winners as Serena's 31 to 5 outright winners stats tell the tale...
  
  Serena's sister Venus didn't fair so well as she lost out, as the Russian Makarova went through in 3 sets 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
  
  
  and there were a few other upsets as well;
  7th seed Sara Errani lost to Julia Georges 3-6, 2-6
  
  but the biggest one was 6th seed Petra Kvitova losing to little known Thai Luksika Kumkhum 2-6, 6-1, 4-6 , and that earns her a 2nd round match against German Mona Barthel...
  
  Errani's doubles partner and 12th seed Roberta Vinci also fell in straight sets to Chinese Jie Zheng 4-6, 3-6 , not a good day for Italians either it seems...
  
  So that's the top of the draw done, the bottom half play on Day 2. Not expecting any real upsets as on Day 1, but you never do know do you?

• RE: TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

  RussyRover > 13/01/2014, 17:35

  How about the Brucies? Good Game, Good Game, no, not that kind of Brucie!!!!
  
  Djokovic was rather perfunctory in a 3 set win over Lacko 6-3, 7-6, 6-1 as was David Ferrer with another 3 set win the Colombian, Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
  
  Hot tip and future Slam Champion Jerzy Janowicz came back from 2 sets down to win 1-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 over the Aussie Jordan Thompson.
  
  In fact there was no big surprises for the men on Day 1. Does this mean we'll see them on Day 2???
  
  Andy Murray will be due on court sometime around or after 6am if you can be arsed to set your alarms....

• RE: TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

  RussyRover > 14/01/2014, 18:47

  36C / 97F was what the temperature read when the double defending Champion Vika Azarenka walked out this morning to play the sole Swede in the draw Johanna Larsson, and it would get hotter as the day wore on.
  This though seemed hot enough for Vika, as a very strange 1st set ensued which Larsson could have and should have won, but lost it in the tie break and then seemed to lose hope as Vika sailed through 7-6, 6-2.
  
  Sharapova also have a straight forward win 6-3, 6-4 over the American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, as did the ex #1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-0, 6-2 over Spains Lourdes Dominguez Lino.
  
  Agnieszka Radwanska though needed 3 sets against the Kazak Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 5-7, 6-2
  
  3 further seeds disappeared today, the first being 19th seed Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova losing to 47th ranked Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine 3-6, 3-6, and 24th seed Kaia Kanepi losing to Spains Garbine Muguruza 2-6, 6-2, 2-6, who? exactly, though apparently she is currently ranked 38.
  Also losing out was 21st seed Romanian Sorana Cirstea, goping down 4-6, 6-7 to Marina Erakovic of New Zealand.
  
  No real troubles expected for the girls in Round 2, but then again Round 1 should have been easy enough for some of them, so spin the roulette wheel for tomorrow....

• RE: TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

  RussyRover > 14/01/2014, 20:11

  Yawn... I did wake up this morning to see some of Andy Murray's match against Japan's Go Soeda, and when Go served up a couple of aces to take the first service game, I was thinking we might have a match on... However Murray then took the next 9 games in a row to effectively have little more than a hitting practice session to win 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 in just under 90 minutes...
  I dare say he was thankful he didn't have a tough gruelling match in the heat, unlike his next opponent, Vincent Millot of France who had a 3.5 hour 5 setter 7-5, 4-6, 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 against the American Wayne Odesnik.
  
  
  Rafa also had a very quick match, as Bernard Tomic pulled his groin in the first game and hobbled on to complete and lose the first set 6-4, before calling it a day and shaking hands...
  
  
  Federer only needed 3 sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to see off another Aussie James Duckworth and he managed to survive the heat, although it wasn't so good for some others 'Inhumane Treatment'
  
  
  Yet another Aussie, and crowd favourite Lleyton Hewitt lost in 5 sets 6-7, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, 5-7 in a match lasting 4 hours 20 minutes against 24th seed Andreas Seppi of Italy.... Not going too well for the Aussies is it??? never mind, they still have the cricket!!!
  
  
  Again no major upsets for the men's seeds so it's only the women who have fallen off so far...
  
  Day 3 beckons in a few hours time...

• RE: TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

  RussyRover > 15/01/2014, 16:54

  Day 3 and Round 2 starts...
  
  Li Na was first up on Rod Laver and she made short work of the Swiss qualifier Belinda Bencic 6-0, 7-6, followed by Serena who made even shorter work of Serbian Vesna Dolonc 6-1, 6-2 in just a shade over an hour...
  Local hope Sam Stosur was not to be outdone as she saw off Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova almost as quickly 6-2, 6-0
  
  First up on the Margaret Court Arena was Sabine Lisicki; now Sabine can't do too much wrong in my eyes as she is one fine piece of ass, but that ass needed a damn good spanking as she didn't play like a #15 seed and went out 6-2, 2-6, 2-6 to Monica Niculescu of Romania...
  
  and she wasn't the only one to feel the pinch as Laura Robson's victor, 18th seed Kirsten Flipkens went out in straight sets 6-3, 6-0 to Aussie lass and ranked 120th, Casey Dellacqua...
  
  Thai Luksika Kumkhum who sent Petra Kvitova out, did not do so well this time, losing 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, but she managed to pocket an extra $20000 dollars ($50000 for 2nd round exits).. German Mona Barthel who beat her can look forward to at least $75000 though for Round 3...
  
  Another German Julia Goerges who ousted 7th seed Sara Errani also fell late evening 5-7, 6-2, 4-6 to American Lauren Davis...
  
  No other big upsets for the ladies, but it's only Day 3 and quite a few have fallen already......

• RE: TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

  StrumSolo > 15/01/2014, 16:57

  How old exactly are the Williams sisters?
  
  Must be getting on for 20 years of playing professionally.

• RE: TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

  RussyRover > 15/01/2014, 17:11

  (15/01/2014, 16:57)ScottyRampant Wrote: How old exactly are the Williams sisters?
  
  Must be getting on for 20 years of playing professionally.

  
  Serena will be 33 in September, as she is the younger and the 'looker' of the two, while Venus will be 34 in June...
  
  Although it does seem they've been around forever...
  
  With her win today, Serena by the way equalled the great Margaret Court with 60 match wins in the modern Open era in Australia.. and there doesn't appear to be any stopping her at the moment....

• RE: TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

  StrumSolo > 15/01/2014, 17:15

  (15/01/2014, 17:11)RussyRover Wrote: Serena will be 33 in September
  Venus will be 34 in June...

  
  Is that a Kanu/Taribo West/Obafemi Martins 34?

• RE: TENNIS - 2014 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

  RussyRover > 15/01/2014, 17:21

  (15/01/2014, 17:15)ScottyRampant Wrote:

  (15/01/2014, 17:11)RussyRover Wrote: Serena will be 33 in September
  Venus will be 34 in June...

  
  Is that a Kanu/Taribo West/Obafemi Martins 34?

  
  lol, Venus Ebony Starr Williams
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