Fabrice "the Gnome" Santoro, What a Player, and causing torment Third Round Report

Trying to get these reports done isn't easy, though I am not about to fail to deliver something.

Gaudio vs Santoro : This match had a lot of potential to be something good and it didn't disappoint and the only thing that was disappointing was the end result and there is a very simple reason as to why Santoro won this match and it isn't rocket science as to why.

Both players were hitting the ball very well, albeit very differently as no one is like Santoro and the full variety of junk, slice and spin was revelling and Gaudio was there doing it differently. The games were close initially and Gaston had some break points, but he was not able to convert and Santoro was able to do it and was in control with winning the first 2 sets and having a break in the 3rd.

The interesting thing about this match was that even though Gaudio was behind, he didn't seem to be tanking and was interested in playing to the end and had every reason to be, as he was far from being out of this match and was in a lot of the rallies, just not converting.

It was a very entertaining match for sure and the angles and defence that Santoro was producing was outstanding and Gaudio has improved his forehand for sure and he decided to be more aggressive with his shots and forehand as well and was able to take the next 2 sets with his excellent play.

There were many memorable shots in this match and two in particular stand out and one for Gaudio and the other for Santoro. The Gaudio one was off a great rally between them that had dropshots, angles, lobs and then two "hotdog" shots and then Gaudio pulls off the no look drop volley going the other way and then Fab bowed to him.

The next one was even better, though very cheeky. Gaston hits a short second serve and then Santoro gets on one leg, takes his hand off the racquet and then hits a backspinning dropshot that bounces once and then hits the net and he wins the point.

Coming into the last set Gaudio gets the early break and is being aggressive and then afterwards, he retreats in his shell and then Santoro decides to make more of the play and gets the break back and then after all the break points that Gaudio has had, he all of a sudden can't get close to Santoro's serve and Gaudio has to fight so hard to hold serve.

While serving to stay in the match at 4-5 down, he gets tentative and hardly makes a first serve into court and on hardcourt his second serve is fairly weak and can get attacked and he can't live off this and Santoro makes him pay for being tenative when it counts and takes out the victory in this highly entertaining match.

The basic lessons are in tennis are these 3 things.

1. Only the W or L counts in the results.
2. Once a player breaks serve, it's not a break unless it's held.
3. Though shall take advantage of break point opportunities.

In this match number 3 was very important, especially as Santoro had 8/14 and Gaudio had 7/25 that's the essential difference.

Ancic/Ferrer: For this match big Sammy was the reporter and as a Croatian unlike most of the others he has realistic expectations for Ancic and doesn't expect him to be the next Ivaniseic unlike many others. Ferrer was very solid and it's clear that he has improved from what I have seen already, especially on the backhand side and the work ethic is something that is never in doubt with him.

Tactically Ancic was at a loss here, he didn't seem to know which particular one to use unlike the Calleri match. He wasn't being as aggressive as he could be and he can't outplay from Ferrer from the baseline especially when Froggy is in the groove and he wasn't getting into the net as much as he should. There is a touch of Henman about Ancic, he is a nice enough guy, but the hopes in him could be unrealistic and at times he seems to passive to win the big points and big matches, but this was a very good win for Ferrer and he makes the 4th round for the first time in a hardcourt Slam.

Nieminen/Nalbandian : Nalle and the Shark don't have easy one sided matches and this one was no different. When I saw this draw, this one had the potential 5 setter written all over it. At the same time I felt disappointed for Jarkko as I would like to see have seen him gone further, though Nalle has a better chance in the tournament, so that's why I wanted Nalle to win.

The first set Nieminen was playing very well and hopefully he can continue to be more aggressive now, as this adds to his very good tennis brain and also his excellent defensive skills. He took it easily 6-2 and had a break at 2-0, then Nalle digs in and in their matches there is always going to be a lot of service breaks, especially as they are both good on the return, it's just when they happen that is the key.

Nalle lifts his game and starts to dominate the rallies from the back and is moving around the Shark and takes the next 2 sets quite easily and then Jarkko steps it up in the 4th set and gets the break and thinking here we go time for a 5 setter between these two and at least I can cheer for both guys which makes it easier. There was one game that had at least 15 deuces and then Nalle gets the break back and was able to break again and then serve out the match, he is ready to take this title, it's just a question of whether he can maintain it for 7 matches.

Ljubicic/ FLopez : The best thing about this match was that Ljubo gave dickhead LaLo a bagel and as a match per se it wasn't that great. LaLo served well this is true for the first two sets, but Ljubo was better all round and all he had to do was play his game and that would have been good enough to win and it was.

The best thing was the fans giving it to LaLo in the last set and he is such a pretty boy and a prick, but great to see him lose a set to love. After the match point when he went off the court, he looked at these group of fans and gave him "the son of a bitch' insult in Spanish at least twice, you look so pretty when you pout LaLo.

Mathieu/Horna : Lucho started out very well in the heat and had total control of this match, that is why this result is so surprising. He was hitting very well and keeping good length and controlling the rallies and takes a 5-2 lead with two breaks and then plays an Acasuso game and then gets broken again and ends up in a tiebreaker. It shouldn't happen in mens tennis leading with 2 breaks in a set and end up losing, but Paulo played with freedom and stepped it up and Lucho was making the errors.

After belting ball out of court, then Lucho continues in the same way as in the first set, he was dominating the rallies with the forehand and running Paulo around and then the same thing happens as in the 1st set, a combination of meathead play from Horna and Paulo going for it more, he got the break back and ended up in the tiebreaker again. In this tiebreaker Horna had a set point, but Paulo saved it. The turning point in this one was at 7 all and they were having a big rally and then Paulo hits a great dropshot and then forehand pass and wins the set.

Lucho calls for the trainer at the start of the 3rd, but if he won those 2 sets, then there would be no trainer there at all, this Paulo gets inspired and only hits 2 unforced errors in the set and runs away with the match. All in all a good tournament for Lucho, though this result is disappointing and as for Paulo he came into this tournament with nothing in the way of performances and made the 4th round at worst.

Hrbaty/Andreev: The Dominator and Andreev this one had 5 setter written all over it. Didn't get to see all of this match, but basically what it came down to is that the Dominator's superior conditoning got him over the line in the extreme heat and there were plenty of punishing rallies in this match and this told on Andreev in the end. The thing I noticed that Igor was more backhands than usual and this is a sign of tiredness as he didn't have the energy to run into the corner to hit those heavy forehands.

In the 5th set, he had a huge chance to go 5-1 up after having a break point, but couldn't convert it and then Hrbaty just focused and used his superior fitness against a tiring and wilting Andreev and was keeping Igor running around and at the end, the match point was a letdown as Dom just served one down the middle and Igor couldn't move and another fine win for Hrbaty, this is all good physical fitness training for him.

Healey/Davydenko: Plenty of pissed Aussies in the crowd gave this one a bit of atmosphere and PMK was a bit irritated with it, but he just did what he needed to do to win. Healey was trying to match it from the baseline and he had no chance of winning from there, but the question for him was whether he could get to the net on anything good and couldn't do that often enough, as for the PMK, he just keeps going on and on, he hasn't been near his best, but he is getting the job done and will be tough for Hrbaty.