Chucho, Koubek, Lucho, Seppi show at Day 1 of the Aus Open

Finally after all the pre qualifying and the business has begun and overall apart from one result today with Chucho losing in 5 sets, but more of that later and at least it wasn’t carnage like there was for me last season and that is a bonus.

I saw the start of the Nieminen and Dancevic match and Jarkko was handling business very well and won the 1st set very easily, so I decided to wander around the grounds as you do to get some atmosphere of the place as you do and it was fucking packed initially, but such is life.

So on my wanders I saw a bit of Paul-Henri Mathieu playing against Lurch Hanescu. Luckily the few bits I saw of the match were close, but Mathieu was just too powerful and showed his greater degree of skill on the surface.

On the adjacent court was big Boris Pashanski and Mardy Fish, not two of the most likable guys on tour, but from what I saw it wasn't a great match as Boris definitely doesn't like the hardcourts, though his game shouldn't be too bad for it, it's not like he hits massive moonballs like Vassallo Arguello who was very poor against Levine. Boris lost in 4 sets and in the 2nd set he had a break, then loses serve twice, best thing about Pashanski is Voinea.

As I was on my way back to the other side I passed Lucho Horna and Mastelli, the old man Mastelli who happens to coach Monaco, looks like the guy who is in the corner of the cafe having a cigarette and playing cards and has forgotten more than most people know about tennis.

Then I saw Safin and Nalbandian training together and I paused for a little while, which pretty much confirmed what I knew. These courts were packed and Safin has a ridiculous amount of fangirls, most of them would spell forehand like 4hand and that is being kind. Nalbandian was quite popular as well, but the majority of people who appreciate tennis weren't there to watch Nalbandian.

After that I saw arse picking Nadal hitting with Calleri and was more interested in seeing how Calleri was hitting the ball than Nadal. It's funny Gordo walks through the crowd hardly being hassled and then there is bicep boy who has to push his way through.


Went back to the other side of the complex to see the Nieminen vs. Dancevic match and I thought what the fuck this has gone to the 5th set. I found a place to stand next to these Finnish fans and then all of a sudden Nieminen starts playing well again and is making Frankie look ordinary. From reports Frankie started to lift his game and Jarkko had one of his lapses, but as soon as I turned up again for the 5th set, he was in good form from both sides, he only hit one of his 10km/h second serves. Good result there and never in doubt.


Decided to go and watch the Pavel vs. Andreev match, this one could have gone either way, because with Pavel while not at the peak of his powers can pull off a good performance now and then, plus Andreev has had a shocking start to 2008.


This match went to the expected pattern with Andreev hitting massive off forehands and Pavel trying to get to the net and using his backhand. They split the first 2 sets and it's good watching these players in isolation, it's like Andreev just throws the ball straight up when he serves and sacrifices power for spin. The 3rd set was the key here, while Andreev was dominating the rallies, he still wasn't playing that well and Pavel was still in the match and the tiebreaker was the key and once that was sorted then you knew who would be the winner of the match and it proved to be Andreev.


One funny moment this silly Russian girl who was the whole time saying "davai Igor", even if he farted, she'd have said that. There is cheering and then it goes over the top and Voinea watching Pavel came out and told her to "shut up". She was holding up play and Pavel just stopped. He said something like "hey I am blinded, I can't play , I am in love" looking at the fangirl and she handled it well enough. He had a foot problem before match point and called the trainer and Igor thought what the fuck was going on here, but they were waiting and waiting for the trainer, so after 5 minutes they decided to play and then Andreev closed it out. It might be last time I see Pavel in Australia as a singles player for the last time.


Acasuso vs. Mahut : This match had tough one written all over it and it was that for sure and a very frustrating result under the circumstances. There was the contrast in styles, with big Acasuso hitting hard from both sides and Mahut just scrapping in the rallies, but moving to the net as often as he could behind the big serve.


The first 2 sets were split and Mahut played a very good tiebreaker, serving big when he needed to and Chucho who was mistiming a lot of shots throughout the match, did it quite a lot in the tiebreaker, but was able to not to dwell on the lost tiebreaker and finally take a break point chance and win the second 7-5.


Instead of maintaining his level, Acasuso went off to Chucho land with the fairies and was down a double break and that set was a write off. Chucho is there trying to play tennis and all Mahut is doing is just serving and getting the big one when it counted, Chucho stopped misfiring and took the 4th set.


Mahut started serving in the 5th set and Chucho had break points in the 1st game, but failed to capitalise and after that Mahut was never troubled at all on serve and Chucho was just hanging on. Then at 6-5 I had to duck off and do some business, then I thought to myself he will lose this 7-5 and when I get back I hear the dreaded Game set Match Mahut. In a way it was good to miss the end of the match, as it was frustrating to watch Acasuso lose, but if you can't get a bunch of 1st serves when serving to stay in the match and not take your chances then this will happen sadly.


Seppi vs Levy : Seppi starts like an arse clown or someone who only won 3 points in a set against Hugo Armando and was down 4-0. Then I decide to go courtside and tell Seppi to lift his game and then he started to do so and won the next 6 games in a row to take it 6-4. He actually seems to be hitting the ball harder than usual, sure it's not Tursunov hard, but for Andy an improvement.

After the 1st set, then Seppi just cruised the last 2 sets and it started towards the end of the 2nd set of the Acasuso match and it finished before the end of the Acasuso match, though this result was better.

Horna vs. Calleri : While I was watching the Chucho match, the Horna match was on the next court, where I could see the score and from reports the 1st set was a very tight affair, with Calleri hitting his big backhands and Horna being his usual aggressive self and Lucho played one bad game and got broken.

Got there at the start of the second set and this kind of match is difficult in one way and good in another. Difficult in the context that it's hard to cheer for anyone as I like them both and good in the context that at least one of them will make the next round.

Horna had a multitude of break points and was hitting his forehand well, but wasn't able to take advantage of this, whereas Calleri wasn't making too many errors, but wasn't able to impose his game in the 2nd set. It went to a tiebreaker where Lucho had 4 set points, but took it on the 5th and I was content that it was going to be a 4 setter minimum.

The rest of match was a fairly good standard with some big hitting from both guys, as usual Calleri with his big backhands down the line and Horna with his crazy sliding on hardcourts and launching into forehands. The main difference was that Horna played 2 poor service games, one in each set and hardly was able to get a first serve in and Calleri punished that and was able to break and run out a comfortable winner in the end.

One hilarious moment in the match was they were rallying and Calleri hit a short ball and Lucho ran in and drilled it right at Calleri and Gordo stuck his racquet in the way to protect himself and it went over Lucho's head at the net. Lucho was just shaking his head and Calleri couldn't believe it himself, it was one of those very funny moments, especially as they get along quite well. The good start to the year for Calleri continues and Lucho needs some good results soon.

Koubek vs. Moya : This was a very winnable match for Koubek and he believed it as well, as he has said that he enjoys playing Moya and his game suits his very well.

Moya served for the 1st set, but Koubek broke and took into the tiebreaker and was able to take it. I started watching from the start of the 2nd set and Stef was hitting the ball very well and his defensive skills were very strong when they needed to be, getting the ball back into the corners and then not being passive and stepping into the court to crack winners of both sides.

The 2nd set was a strange one as Koubek lead 4-3 with a break lost it, then broke again for 5-4 and couldn't serve it out and lost the tiebreaker easily. Moya probably should have won the 1st set and Koubek the 2nd, but they are 1 set all.

The third set the pattern continues with Moya running around his forehand and trying to dominate and Stefan defending very well and then hitting clean winners, when he got the chance, this was not a get the ball back and hope he misses like Mahut did against Acasuso. When Koubek had the chance to step in, he took it, especially in the last 2 sets with the backhand down the line Rios style with the leg in the air, he nailed about 4 of those in a very short time.

He took the 3rd set and had quite a bit of crowd support and was able to use that to keep his intensity level up. Koubek when he is concentrated on his game, is fun to watch and yes, he has the explosive side, but we are wired all differently.

Koubek continues on from the 3rd set in the same vein and in Moya's face it was clear to see that he knew it was done for him and Koubek was the better player and this was a very high quality match, with some good hitting, defensive skills and now he plays Calleri in the rematch from Sopot.

Sorry for the delays, but the King's report will be done later.