Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dani Koellerer is entertainment, Seppi dumping an easy backhand and Hajek back in Down Under 1st Round Reports

Kavcic vs. Odesnik

Kavcic started the match well in these trying conditions which were windy at times in amongst the showers, which were on and off. It would drizzle, then shower down for about 10 minutes and the court would need time to dry and once they started they had to go off again. Kavcic took the first set as he was able to keep Odesnik on the back foot and got him to make errors on the backhand side.

Odesnik did the usual toilet break thing after the 1st set and with the delays stuffed up Kavcic's rhythm. Odesnik used his experience in handling the conditions better and was able to turn the match around using his forehand to dominate and Kavcic was just running and pushing the ball back and lost the mental battle. Especially after the 3rd set where on Odesnik's set point at 40-30, big Wayne hit one wide and long and it was missed.

Russell vs. del Potro

Brutal draw for Mike, but he didn't let that phase him. He started well and broke early, but he wasn't able to hold the initiative and was broken back immediately. He made a few more errors than usual because of the pressure of the Tandil tower's shots keeping the ball play just wasn't going towork.

The second set was similar as he pressed more on his serve than usual, because if he didn't hit a good second serve, then he was going to be fodder for del Potro and this happened more often than not. This lead to more double faults than usual.

Russell hit some excellent returns, there was a screaming backhand down the line winner as del Potro smacks an off forehand and Russell just redirects down the line for the winner. Mikey served out the 3rd set and deserved to win a set and he had a high first serve percentage and good serving as well.

Del Potro will be better for the workout in this one and as they say luck of the draw as Russell would have beaten a lot of players on this showing. The key is for guys like this to try and keep playing well when the draws become a bit easier.

Isner vs. Seppi

Slow start Seppi was at it again, he hates the morning matches and playing against the tree Isner isn't going to help get rhythm to wake up. The first two sets Seppi just gave up his early service game and Isner was dropping the bombs and able to hit the big forehand when the returns came back.

Isner's serve starts to go off a bit as Seppi is able to get more returns into play and once he does this, he is naturally the much better player. Seppi broke for the set, which given his record of serving out sets was beneficial.

The fourth set continues in much the same pattern with Isner serving huge, but Seppi is getting a better read on the ball and able to engage in rallies and breaking down Isner's weaker backhand side. Seppi steps it up and breaks to take the fourth set where he is serving first.

At this time it was the turning point of the match. Seppi misses a few first serves, but dumps 4 forehands halfway up the net with not much pressure on and after that lapse of concentration gets broken. He has a massive chance to get back on serve at 30-40. Isner rips a serve and Seppi returns it as Isner comes into the net bluffing and frames a shot which ends up being a mid court mishit and Seppi has an easy backhand pass but fucks it up. After that boom,boom, the match is over.

Got to say even after losing a match like this Seppi was very good with the fans he posed for about 5 or 6 photos after he lost, which not so many of them do.

Koellerer vs. Veic

Crazy Dani called for the trainer after one game and he has had some injury problems. Initially it was a stomach problem and then it was the lower back, but these things tend to get worse when one is losing.

Veic and Koellerer played only once in a Futures event and there was almost a fight. Veic is a small guy with a bit of stubble and the Björn Borg headband, he runs a lot and fights hard but doesn't have great weapons. These two had long rallies with Koellerer trying to vary the tactics and Veic defending well.

This match was put on Court 4 which is standing on one side and 3 rows on the other side, needless to say the rows were filled as were the aisles on that side and on the other side it was 10 deep and people from Court 6 at the Gulbis/Monaco match wanting to have a look,in addition to them clapping points in the Dani match and that interfered in the Monaco match.

Dani got a warning for audible obscenity and then said why didn't Veic get the same and a code for smashing the racquet. He bitched about the linecalls, when Veic said something it was along the lines of from Koellerer "shut up it's 8-1 to you in the line calls". He kicked a ball and then after Veic broke in the 5th set, he bitched about all the luck Veic was having.

Good win for Veic, but Koellerer and Monfils would have been all about the antics. Lots of players were watching this Darcis, Chris and Oli Rochus, Melzer, Nyström, Lapentti among them.

Giraldo vs. Robredo

Excellent stuff from the Colombian who was hitting very cleanly and flat, so this took time away from Robredo and he struggled to deal with it. It was similar to when Youzhny chopped Boredo at the US Open. Giraldo obviously isn't in that class, but he does have some ability and if he could get some consistency should be able to make the top 100 on that showing.

Koubek vs. Ram
Rajeev Rampras isn't a bad first round draw and Koubek improved from his qualifying performances against an opponent that plays differently from the ones he faced earlier.

Ram started well and was getting into the groove on serve and took the first set. He was serving and volleying well, but Koubek was playing a bit closer to the baseline than in previous matches and hitting the ball better so he was able to take the 2nd set.

Stef played a poor game and Ram was able to capitalise on it to take the set 7-5. Koubek got a bit of frustration out, but was able to read Ram's serve quite well and able to keep him away from the net and expose the lack of mobility on the baseline. The last 2 sets were comfortable for Koubek and he wasn't too passive and a big chance for the third round here.

Hajek vs. Ginepri

Good to see Hajek back in Australia after his bad experiences here last time. He had a great year last year almost cracking the top 100.

I thought he was a good chance to take this match against the robotic Ginepri. Hajek was having a problem with foot faults and getting called regularly, but he was outhitting Ginepri from the baseline off both sides. His forehand worked the angles and he used the backhand down the line to give it to Ginepri from all sides.

The first two sets were close in scoreline but Hajek had a bit more in the tank and tank is what Ginepri did in the last set, well that and Hajek raised his game.

One funny incident at the start of the 3rd set, the umpire says "Hajek to serve in the 3rd and final set" and Ginepri is bemused and says "hmm, the final set". The umpire had the vision for sure in this and Hajek was too good.

Hernandez vs. Montañes

The match of the best friends which is never easy at the best of times, especially since the King has a lower back problem something to do with the disc. He was getting a lot of treatment for it, but the first set they played was quite good tennis with Montañes being the more aggressive and using the sneaky serve to stretch the King out of court. It went to a TB and there was a forehand that the King had a chance to nail, but he pulled off the stroke and missed it. From there Montañes stepped it up and did the business.

At 2-1 in the second set the King took an injury timeout for the back problem, completed the next game won it and then retired. Naturally he was disappointed and Montañes showed his concern for his friend, but Oscar is still a man of the people and appreciated the support. Yes, he is aware of the Facebook group that honours him.


Istomin vs. Chardy

There must be something wrong with Chardy, as in off the court. I am not a fan of his and think he is just a ballbasher, but as much as I don't mind Istomin this was a very poor and useless showing from Chardy.

Youzhny vs. Gasquet

Richie was involved in another long epic match that he ended up losing from 2 sets up. The forehand doesn't seem as technically deficient as it was before and the backhand was working well and took the first two sets.

Youzhny was a bit slow to start, but not absolutely hideous, he starts to improve his game by being aggressive, there is a difference between ballbashing and being aggressive. Basically the difference was that Youzhny stepped it up when he needed to by being aggressive and didn't get down on himself too much when he went down a break in the 5th. He must have a thing for Frenchies coming back from 2 sets down. He should win against Hajek, just hope Jan is competitive in this one.


Yes, it's a bit late as there were so many matches on Tuesday, but should be on track soon.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Aus Open Day 3 Qualies

Millman vs. Marchenko

Not much to say here except Marchenko has clearly improved and thumped Millman. Johnny didn't get enough depth on his shots and Marchenko owned the baseline and pushed him around and punished the short balls from Millman. This match showed where he is at currently, needs to step into the ball more and give it some more power it will help him make the next level as he has the fighting spirit.

Koubek vs Sweeting

Stefan started well here and was down an early break, but got it back and was playing the better tennis to take the first set. Sweeting has improved his level, but Koubek still has the advantage with the backhand working well. He manages to get 4 match points but plays them poorly either missed returns or passive shots that get dealt with from Sweeting. After all the match points Koubek ends up losing the second set in a tiebreaker.

The last set was full of drama, some good shots and some big misses as well. Koubek breaks and then loses the break straight away, he was not hitting the forehand at all, it was just rolling the ball in and Sweeting took the initiative. Same thing happened again to make it 7-7, then Koubek fires up and breaks and was able to serve the match out. Afterwards it was more relief than overt happiness that he got the cash.

Kavcic vs. Devvarman

This one was full of long rallies with Somdev playing not to miss and Kavcic being patient but unlike Devvarman decided to go for his shots when the opportunities arose.

With this play Kavcic was able to take the first set. The forehand was doing most of the damage. He then had an early break, had chances for the double break but was unable to so. Then Kavcic lost concentration and Somdev continued not to miss and found himself up 5-3, then got broken easily and Kavcic held for 5-5.

Then the fun and games started as Kavcic called for the trainer, wasn't sure what for at the time, but I found out later it was something to do with him seizing up literally with the pins and needles. It took ages for the trainer to come out and assess it. He gets that done and Somdev is pissed off big time.

It's get to the TB and Kavcic going for his shots got him into the main draw. Somdev refused to shake his hand and said when they went off "Looks like he is dying out there now".

Kavcic had a class celebration as well when he won and has a big chance against Odesnik.

Louk "no neck" Sorensen was struggling but always had too much for King-Turner. It was great that Zelmja beat his demons and made it through to the main draw of qualies after the choke last year against Sela.

AO Qualies Part 2

Przysiezny vs. Okun

Przysiezny wasn't playing well at all at the start. In the 2nd set He was started to move the ball around well and coming to the net to finish the point off. It was obvious that he was better than Okun in the rallies, but he was making some mistakes and let Okun hang around. The last set was better and Okun was crushed mentally and Przysiezny finished well.

Zemlja vs. Devilder

Devilder is just coming back on tour and is very much at his best on clay. Zemlja had the greater weight of shot and was comfortable in this match for the whole time and was never in danger of losing this one.

Sorensen vs. Yani

Big "no neck" Louk Sorensen the Irish player who lives in Germany and speaks excellent German against the flat hitter Yani. From the parts of the match I saw there were some long rallies with Yani trying for the flat shots with very little margin for error and Sorensen defending well and using his forehand to move Yani wide. It was a hard fought match as it should be at this stage of the game, but "The Neck" Sorensen's consistency was the key factor here.

Brown vs. Rufin

Rufin had an excellent serving day and didn't do much that was memorable from the baseline, he was just getting back. The 1st set didn't have many chances and Brown started off awfully in the tiebreak and lost it easily.

He didn't give up but wasn't playing his usual variations of spins and dinks, both were holding comfortably. He stepped it up in the tiebreaker and hit a wonderful forehand slapshot down the line to get him to set point and took it.

The 3rd set was more of the same from both, but Dreddy got the break at 4-3, but as we know the most important time to hold serve is after they have broken. Brown has a big serve and he missed every first serve that game and Rufin was able to break back. Brown was down match points and saved one with a diving volley and his head almost hit the cement. He lot due to some poor play at the wrong moments, but he wins at life.

Millman vs. Oswald

Millman started well and was able to break Oswald early and move him around the court, as he is a big guy able to expose his lack of mobility. The second set Oswald was serving better and able to get short returns and bossed the points around and was making Millman do a lot of road work and took out the second set.

The third set was similar with Oswald serving big and hitting good shorts and Millman fighting hard, but getting pushed behind the baseline very easily and losing ground. Millman lost his serve easily and Oswald is up 5-3 and then he calls for the trainer for cramp. The umpire says wait for the next change of end and Millman breaks Oswald as he serves for the match. The change of ends the trainer comes out and Oswald says he doesn't want the trainer. This changed the momentum and Millman breaks again and takes the match, this was won on fighting spirit.

Bogomolov Jr vs. Machado

Machado started slowly and lost serve early and that cost him the first set as both guys were holding fairly comfortably after that. Machado was trying to use the big forehand and Bogo used his backhand down the line to catch Machado out when hitting off forehands.

The 2nd set was close, but Bogmolov was taking his chances when he created them. He had a chance to serve for the match and Machado played a good game and broke, then he lost his serve with some errors and then Bogo held on to win. Machado was not impressed with the umpire known as the "French Peacock" Pascal Maria and had about a 3 minute dialouge with him after the match.

Kavcic vs. Tosic

Kavcic was much better after that nonsense first match. He was hitting the ball cleaner and moving well, whereas Tosic after his big win against Bozoljac looked flat and couldn't move his feet at all and was just fodder in this one.

Koubek vs. Im

Koubek always had this in control, but was dozing off at times. Once again he had the advantage and didn't drive it home, being passive and rolling the ball instead of hitting the thing, but it was clearly good enough against this opponent.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Australian Open Day 1 Qualies

AO Qualies Day 1

Yes, here it is the reports for the Aussie Open have started again. How much sense this will make is dependant on the persons individual tastes, state of alertness and whatever other random condition.

Got to get the important stuff out of the way first. The AO fashion gurus have decided to deck the umpires out in lime green, well allegedly it's lime green but in fact it blends with the tennis balls, so it's tennis ball green and Malisse would have another reason to get annoyed on court. The ballkids are wearing hot pink well they will stand out for sure, though any potential homophobes wearing this does have a certain humour value.

There was a firecracker that went off from these random Aussies who were cheering on Santos against Kindlmann, they didn't last long after that.

Koubek vs. DeHeart

Koubek isn't as fashionable as before, but he has hall of fame status with the yellow shorts. He started out making too many mistakes initially, but was able to keep holding his serve easily enough. Then at 4-4 15 all deHeart says "hey these balls are flat", then tosses them to Koubek who has that usual half asleep expression and then agrees. After that Koubek is defending well and pressing deHeart into going for more shots and in the process making more errors. Koubek hits a forehand down the line on his set point to take it 7-5.

The second set continues on the same path as the end of the first, extended rallies with deHeart hitting some average slice backhands and Koubek some cannon fodder dropshots, he manages to get the break early in the 2nd.

As he pressed for the double break he started the very loud grunts, the grunting sounded like a Mercedes but had the power of a Lada, then deHeart gets into the act as well with the over grunting he is trying to be a Harley and ends up being a Vespa. Koubek had the chance for the double break but was too passive, at the same time deHeart was generous after an elongated rally he has Koubek on the back fence and misses a volley that even Andreev would have put away. He eventually breaks back, but Koubek stepped it up and played some excellent passing shots along with good defence broke at 5-4, then served it out easily.

Dimitrov vs. Kendrick

Tough match for the Bulgarian and didn't get to see much, just from 2-3 in the 3rd set. It was basically Dimitrov hitting a winner, then an error with Lundgren having a bemused look but still encouraging him. Kendrick wasn't being too mouthy this time and when he had the chance, he came forward to the net to finish the points off. His extra experience was the main thing that got him over the line in this one.

Phau vs. del Bonis

Phau the guy who lost to cockchimp Klein in the 1st round last year and one of the fastest guys on tour against the Argentine. Del bonis wasn't playing too badly, hitting some heavy shots but had a concentration lapse in the 2nd set to go down 4-0, and ended up losing that one 7-5. Phau the little running machine just got too many shots back into court.

Millman vs. Vagnozzi

One of the few Aussies players I genuinely like and he is a very good man. The conditions had been very changeable with the gusts of wind coming up at various times and forcing the players to adjust mid stroke. Millman always had this match in control and Vagnozzi today played like Cipolla, except he had a topspin forehand and also his touch volleys were successful. Millman didn't serve to well, but was solid from the baseline in so much the conditions allowed at times he was a bit too passive waiting for the ball to come to him when it was short, but he defended well when Vagnozi could use his forehand.

It was one of those matches where it was clear who was going to win, but at this time of the day it was very difficult with the wind and the sun making an appearance as it started out cloudy.

MaChado vs. Klein

Both were holding serves fairly well and Machado had one break point at 4-4, but Klein saved it. From there Machado stepped it up and was using his forehand to dominate the rallies and was able to break then serve out the set at 7-5.

Klein glares over in our direction a few times after Machado has won a point. Once the 2nd set started Klein dropped his bundle and with that the forehand breaking down, which Machado was exploiting with his greater weight of shots. Klein starts whining about "stopping missing sitter forehands", which he does the next point afterward.

Peta Pan who was there as well, was cheering Machado on, she clapped a bit louder than usual and cockchimp Klein was seething. Some of the other Aussie qualie players were standing near us watching the match and were quite satisfied that Machado gave Klein a good beatdown in the last set. The "kaffir" comments definitely have not endeared him to his peers, which is surprising I guess.

Kavcic vs. Soeda

This match had the Silver Fox Sanguinetti coach of Soeda and the first match of the year for the animated Slovene. This was a very hard fought match with extended rallies. Kavcic didn't play a very smart match, he was always hitting to the open court and Soeda runs everything down always leaning to that side, yet Kavcic only went back behind him once in the whole match and won the point while doing so. Kavcic was using his forehand to set the play up and move Soeda around and he was trying to make the play for the majority of the match. Soeda kept getting everything back and frustrating the hell out of Kavcic who was commentating on every point. He had the break in the 1st set and was unable to hold onto it, a mix of passive play when in the lead and his dogged opponent. Soeda plays a better tiebreak and wins it, while Kavcic is getting pissed off. Soeda calls for the trainer and gets a massage on his legs, allegedly it was an injury but it was cramps.

Kavcic tries to make him run, but struggling to get the balance right between the dropshots, lobs and the drives as Soeda keeps making shots. Kavcic keeps his cool long enough to get the 2nd set. The 3rd set is more of the same plenty of grinding with both guys trying to dominate off the forehand. Kavcic creating the chances to break, but can't hold the break losing it straight away. Kavcic through some quality defensive skills and errors from the tiring Soeda breaks for 5-3, but plays a clown game to get broken. The self commentary gets louder and louder, but Kavcic manages to hit a winning shot to take the match, which he came close to blowing badly.

There were only about 5 Kavcic fans and most of the crowd were Japanese and Kavcic's coach wrote at least 25 pages of notes on this match.

Dustin Brown vs. Klec

Dreddy had enough money to afford the plane ticket as it has not been easily financially for him on the tour. The hair was immaculate and the game was very varied, there were some chip shots, a few dinks, then some big forehands and lobs, then some of the biggest and easiest misses. Dustin was getting a bit fired up there and he was doing his swearing in German. It was one of the matches, just happy to get it over with. At times he served well, then at others the big serve went missing as he and Klec traded breaks, but Dustin was able to focus long enough to get the win.

He was doing well off the court as well, but that's no surprise.

Malisse made the 2nd set harder for himself against Kuznetsov, he really should qualify comfortably here and it's a relief to him that he is back out there playing on the proper court and not the law court.

Nadal was around watching Marc Lopez play, it was the time I left that match, but there is evidence he was there as Peta took pics. Big Sam Querrey was watching DY and personally I love the fact he just lopes around the place and doesn't get pegged for a tennis player. Matosevic as well smiling the whole time I saw him, but maybe I should have mentioned Seppi's serve that irritated the hell out of him.

Last of all the regal one "The King" Oscar Hernandez was there in all his splendour and showing his caring nature watching as many of his countrymen as possible.