Aus Open reports Day 1 Qualies

Aus Open report qualies Day 1

Yes, it's that time of the year again, where I front up to the Aus Open qualies, of course it took me a while to discover the benefits of going to qualies, besides it being free. Once the trick is learned that you need to stock up on the food as there are very limited options then it's a good thing.

One thing that is noticeable at qualies is that the players are pretty much next to the court waiting to go on after the next matches. It's not like they have many people around at the best of times. Ran into Peta and Kristen, which is never a bad thing. Peta or Petea as her beloved Andrei Pavel calls her, was a very happy little vegemite when she saw Andrei there and he is now Romanian DC captain and playing for fun, hope he can draw some gimp like Volandri or Junquiera, then he will win a round for sure, and yes there has been some Carlos Ramos appreciation from her. Kristen was very happy to see Oli Marach who disappointingly has decided to give the singles up and just going to play doubles with the Kubot.

It's always a more relaxed atmosphere during this time and yes there are certain players not down this year, that I would have like to have seen, but there are enough to keep me entertained and amused, so that's always a good thing. Then the funny moments from qualies always come back. Baghdatis qualifying and only 10 people watching his matches, then Simple Simon making it as well and then beating Massu in 5 sets in the first round and had to be carried off court, seeing Djokovic making it through as well. Koellerer's antics among other things.

The man, the legend, and one of the bloggers all time favourites Felix Mantilla was there and what a pleasure to see the man. I haven't told him that I wrote his Wikipedia page yet, hehe. He is there in his role of coach for the AIS when it comes to Aussies on clay. He had the special hat for him, to guard against skin cancer, but it was good to speak to him, though mostly it was about how well Barcelona are playing.

Now onto the tennis part.

Ventura vs Huta Galung : Jesse Ventura was just good for Huta Galung, he played a solid match, without being spectacular, but that's reallly it all takes sometimes, hope he makes the MD.

Sirianni vs. Soeda: Saw a bit at the start of the match and then came over when Sirianni was down 0-5 in the 3rd set and he stepped up his game, was more patient and varied the pace of shot as Soeda was just pushing the ball back, doing nothing, except running and being very passive. Then Sirianni started to get some momentum and that backhand down the line which is his signature shot was firing big time and most importantly he was playing it at the right moment, instead of waiting for the ball, he stepped into it and bang down the line winners were flying everywhere. Once he got it back to 5-6 on serve, he had to save a few match points, he played some good tennis and Soeda helped by not making a second serve return on one of the match points. The crowd were getting behind the local boy and he managed to pull it through, this should free him up and hopefully make the MD.

I spoke to Joe after the match and asked him about what was going on with the 0-5, he was just pissed off with things around him. He wasn't happy about missing out on the WC to the main draw, though not just for himself, also for his friend Peter Luczak, who really should have got a wild card after what happened to him this season and they give it to a no hoper cockchimp like Klein.

Marc Lopez vs HT Lee : Surprising result for Lopez beating Lee on this surface, though the courts are really reacting to the heat and Marc was able to get the ball to jump out of Lee's hitting zone especially on the backhand which helped him win this match, this an there was a huge service game at the start of the 3rd from which Lopez was able to hold, then from there got the confidence from his recent win in Doha and was able to pull the upset here.


Luczak vs Coelho: This was a hideous performance from Luczak, but he got the W and that's all that counts. He was never in trouble on serve at all, and then he played a dumb game to lose serve at 5-4 and give the set to Coelho, who was playing a bit better. Luczak was making errors off normal rally balls and bad ones as well, backhands hitting the bottom of the net. The turning point was at 3-3 when Luczak was serving he was down break points, through serving 4 double faults, but a second serve ace on break point down and also a forehand that was clearly on the line, but the lineswoman called it early and corrected herself after that. Once Peter held, he then relaxed a bit and hit a backhand winner finally and then was able to get through against a player he has struggled against.


Montcourt vs. Lopez Jaen: Got to love hard fought matches, they are good for the game and this one was. Montcourt was his prick self to the ballkids, he hit a ball back with the back flick and hit the kid in the face and said nothing. Lopez Jaen was giving him the huge fistpumps, but at 6-6, he called for the trainer as he was only able to hit backhands, the magic spray couldn't work for the blond Spaniard and Adam's fave Frenchman le Montcourt was able to make it through this one.


Dlouhy vs. Fleischman : Dropshot Dlouhy had an excellent conversion on break points, but had this match in control, even though he had a couple of poor service games, but he controlled the tempo, kept Fleishmann off the balance and then moved the net to execute the volley, good performance and will need to be at this level against Delic.

Sela vs. Posposil : Never in doubt this one, the biggest highlight was seeing sexy Snobel at this match.

Gio Lapentti vs Matosevic : Didn't see much of this and I am disappointed not to, because from what I saw, it was an intense and good match. Gio will always be known as Nicolas Lapentti's brother and he does play a similar style of game, except not as good and Matosevic was very expressive and fiery, but Lapentti's experience got him through, one thing about Gio he has Mr Tenis Pro Marcaccio as his coach.

Malisse vs Ram : Rajeev played quite well, but Malisse had the extra class to get through. Malisse was bitching about everything people walking around, the ballkids orange shirts, a speck of dust that came across the court, he'd have seen it and whined, but he got through it.


Capdeville vs Middelkoop : This was on late and that Capdeville was grunting very loudly, though not to Massu level and this Middelkoop was trying to salvage an average day for the Dutch players. I saw Van Gemerden around seems like he is coaching one of the players, but he was around for the Dutch matches, only saw bits of it and heard more through the sound effects of Capdeville and Middelkoop. A surprise that Capdeville lost.

Olejniczak vs Cipolla : Lucky this was a tennis match and not a boxing match. Olejniczak is in the wrong sport, he should either be a nightclub bouncer, playing for the Polish rugby team or chopping wood for something. This being said glad it was a tennis match, Cipolla basically took the piss with this lack of pace and short slices and moved the big Polish tank around the court, then drop shotted him. The bouncer did well to get a game, maybe he intimidated Cipolla at the change of ends and told him to give him a game, or he'd beat him up.

Kubot vs Roger-Vasselin : Only saw a bit of this as I was about to leave, Kubot had turned it around and was hitting very good length and was able to move Roger-Vasselin around and then knock off the volleys.

Amitraj vs. Devvarman : The battle of India, this was a good quality match, the clash of styles made it so. Big Dev was running and running everything down and Prakash was waiting for the right chance to come into net, he had some very good approach shots, but Somdev was able to either hit the passing shot and make some quality lobs. I remember one point towards the end of the 1st set, Prakash hits an excellet drop volley and Somdev is about 2m behind the baseline, he just makes it and is pissed off that he didn't get it over. Somdev has a great attitude and fighting spirit, which can't be taught, but he definitely needs to get stronger physically to progress further and get a bit more power on his groundies.

Sela vs. Posposil : Never in doubt this one, the biggest highlight was seeing sexy Snobel at this match.

Gio Lapentti vs Matosevic : Didn't see much of this and I am disappointed not to, because from what I saw, it was an intense and good match. Gio will always be known as Nicolas Lapentti's brother and he does play a similar style of game, except not as good and Matosevic was very expressive and fiery, but Lapentti's experience got him through, one thing about Gio he has Mr Tenis Pro Marcaccio as his coach.