Well it's Masters Series time and I call the Indian Wells and Miami the useless TMS events, well one they are a 96 player draw. 64 is sufficient, but no these need to be different. The indoor events with 48 well this makes sense to an extent, not enough courts for these indoor event for 64 players. The best thing about this is that the Bye makes a comeback to the ATP tour and his legion of fans will be impressed.
They have played some 1st round matches and there will be some 2nd rounders played today as well. Gaudio vs the Bye was a brutal match 7-6 6-7 7-6, the tiebreaker was 35-33 and the Bye saved 31 match points in total but Gaston was too tough this time.
Rain mucked up some of the schedule so that's why some matches are overlapping and I hope that someone new can win this event, then again as long as Agassi,Hewitt and Roddick don't win, then it's all good. These events don't lead anywhere, unlike the other 7 TMS events which prepare the players for Roland Garros, the US Open and the Masters.
Jose Acasuso plays Roddick in the 2nd round and vamos Chucho. Roddick isn't in great form and if Chucho can make enough returns and serve reasonably well then he has a huge chance he can get the right result here. Chucho started slowly against Salzenstein, but this is first match on hardcourt for a while and it does take time to adjust from the clay to the hardcourt. The last 2 sets were promising and hope he takes out the Duck.
The all Russian battle between Tursunov and Andreev could be very close and while Igor has won both of their matches and both of these have been very close. Andreev does the best with his talent, whereas Tursunov does everything but, to be fair he has had some injury problems.
Berdych and Henman looks like it has potential to be a good match and the Berdman has been a bit slow at the start of the season and Henman has had his problems, though if Berdych doesn't serve well he could struggle with attacking game of Henman, though Henman is having his back problems these days.
Some first rounders that are of interest for myself anyway are Calleri vs Massu, Seppi vs Mathieu and Santoro vs Malisse. Hope Lucho Horna can get through as well and luckily I will have some coverage and when it's on and I am around I will watch it and as long as there isn't WTA mixed in, then that's a good thing.
12 comments:
Good to see Bye back! Would be nice to see an exclusive interview with him here one day soon:-))
Weather had created havoc in Indian Wells this year. But at least it's at the beginning of tournament, not like 2003 where Guga had to play his SF match on Sunday morning and then the final in the afternoon.
The weather should be OK for the rest of the tournament.
True that the rain has decided to play with everybody's nerves. Anyway, short coverage and rain delays haven't stopped me from seeing some live tennis.
Saw the last 3 games of Wawrinka/Rusedski, not enough to comment on it I'm afraid. All I can say is that Rusedski was pretty frustrated, especially when he was making errors. The end is near...
Saw the entire match between Blake and Querrey. Well, will it make sense if I say it's almost always been one way? The 1st set, there was 1 good player, making good shots, thus winning points. That was Querrey. Blake was totally outside the match. The 2nd set has been the same, although the good player was Blake. He simply had lifted his game level, which wasn't that hard, considering how bad he had played in the 1st set. Querrey having some trouble with moving, Blake just fastened the rhythm. Easily won the 2nd set that way. The 3rd set, well, Blake started giving points again, but all in all managed to keep the set under control and finally took the match. Not a great match to see, and certainly not the Blake who's just won Las Vegas.
Lets hope acasuso beats that pathetic little duck! It should be an easy task considering the ducks recent form :)
A shame this match isnt on in the evening, as sky sports wont show it.
It was tough for the Bye and this weather is irritating, though they should get it on track.
Seppi is in a good position at the moment, just hope he can come through and win.
Good to see Horna and Youzhny showed their true inconsistent nature, at least Horna lost to Bracciali who has some talent. Misha losing to Kevin Kim that is fucking poor for sure.
Big chance for Acasuuuuuuuuuuuuso, just hope he doesn't blow it.
I agree with Choupi's comments on Rusedski/Wawrinka. We saw the whole match here on British TV and Greg was appaling - really slow and sluggish. Stan did what he had to do - but he was helped a lot by Greg's lack of movement. He is over 30 now with a new baby and a whole new life - his priorities have obviously changed (and rightly so) - as Choupi says - I think the end is near for him.
Good Luck Chucho tonight:-))
As usual, great commentary.
Buena suerte a Chucho esta noche...good luck tonight to Chucho. As much as I'd like to see him in Sunrise, I'd rather him take out the Duck.
If anyone gets the Chela-Bennet match and watches, could you post a little commentary here? I'd appreciate it BUNCHES!
It's good to see that there is a lot of sanctimonious bullshit with Andre Agassi and I love this.
Of course he pulls a dodgy stunt to buy some time and put the opponent Goldstein off and change momentum in his favour. It happens, but since he is St Andre the Great, then it must be fine.
In regards to this Tommy Haas who is not one of my favourites, but he has the Swede Tomas Hogstedt as a coach and he is a good bloke. It seems to be working well and Haas was very calm in his match with Agassi.
He did the right thing and took out Agassihole and thanks for that I have to say
Not too disappointed about this result, especially with Gaston's current mental state. Marcos is a very talented player and had a very calm demeanour out there and lifted his game in the last 2 sets at a level that Gaston wasn't able to compete against the better player today.
Good for Gaston to take a set, but got to love this comment " lo mio no es normal " . Which means something like "what happens to me is not normal".
Congrats to Marcos and well played. The thing about this was that Marcos never looked like losing this match at all even when he went down a set.
He plays now Berdych, good to see Tomas play to his potential and take out Hewitt, who will lose a lot of points in the rankings, though can make them back pretty quickly as he didn't play in Miami.
Berdych served well and the key was that he moved well and took advantage of the short balls Hewitt was offering and gave the treatment they deserved. Hope it's a close match between them.
Federer, Nadal and Blake in the semis. Not unexpected. The pleasant surprise this tournament has been Paradorn.
Watched every single one of his matches from the 1st round to the QF (he's StarSport's darling afterall). Enjoyed watching him grow in confidence as he progressed through each round. Saved a few SPs against Gineprick in beating him, which is always nice to watch. ;)
Didn't expect him to play the way he did against Nieminen. He didn't go for power and pace on most shots, as he did in his previous matches. Instead, he adjusted his game against a crafty opponent. Used more topspin (than I've ever seen him use) to create angles, played a lot of deep slices and showed great feel at the net. Jarkko himself was awesome at the net. Excellent match from both players. :D
Blake beating Nadal again It seems Blake has the right game for Rafa at the moment but Rafa is more beatable on this surface I don't see him troubling Fed too much in the final.
Marcos and the Srich payed very well this tournament, and it's good to see.
Marcos had a very good tournament, i got the impression that Rafa sensed that Marcos didn't believe in himself after the 1st set, with the result we all saw. Still, this is very much a matter of experience, Marcos will improve there as well. Rafa did well to reach the semis, he lost again to James, his shots landed short again, as in the U.S. Open. It is a good challenge to improve against match-ups like James, he needs to vary his game and develop his slice more. James had his best TMS result ever, but he didn't stand a chance in the final. Honourable mention to Marat, who has performed horribly in these TMS historically, Paradorn and Nieminen.
By the way, George, your argument about the size of the draw is right on the money, the first round in Miami sees Berlocq versus Donald Young and i can bet we would not see this pair at another Masters Series.
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