Friday, January 20, 2012

Kohli, Almagro and the festival of slice steal the show Day 5 reports

As there are less singles matches going on and normally the singles guys taking the piss while playing doubles have lost, but there are enough things to keep you amused.

Kohlschreiber vs. Falla

Falla did the tennis world a favour by knocking out that clown Mardy Fish who was on his best behaviour as usual. Falla is a funny one raises his level at Grand Slams but doesn't do much on tour. The guy has the legs of those hams hanging off the hooks.

Kohli is a shotmaker with a moody temperament, when he is on it's fun to watch especially the single hand backhand which was working very well today. Falla had treatment after the 3rd game of the match, but he continued on plus he got treatment for a muscle problem couldn't have been cramps but who knows.

First two sets Kohli was working the angles moving Falla around finishing him off with a backhand winner, volley on one occasion a drive backhand volley at knee high. Falla improved his level in the 3rd set, but it wasn't enough to take the 3rd set. Kohli was in a different class today and this is one time when the rankings didn't lie.


Philipp Kohlschreiber

Funny thing about this match a whole bunch of Aussie bogans went to the court for a match of no interest, then it transpired that the Luczak/Hewitt doubles that they had been waiting for was moved to this court. Andrew and myself wanted out so we could see the other match with Almagro.

Almagro vs. Wawrinka


Nicolas Almagro

Wawrinka really looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, seemed like the shoulder was bothering him or somewhere near that region.

Almagro was playing well hitting some fine backhands and Stani miscued one like Federer at his best. Yes, he still has a better backhand than Federer. Disappointing that he couldn't really show what he is capable of today.

Dolgopolov vs. Tomic

Haha, this match had plenty of comedy with the amount of slices, it was like an episode of Iron Chef with the dicing and probing. It actually makes a change from the usual ballbashing types that are on the ATP, well luckily it's not the WTA which is even worse.

Tomic's improvement can be seen as he was able to solve the riddle previous matches. Dolgopolov at the moment has more ability to increase the power and is faster around the court whereas Tomic's anticipation is so good that it's hard to expose his lack of mobility which is improving along with other facets of the game.

This was an impressive win for Tomic, especially when Dogs Balls blew his chances in the 3rd set. Would rather see Federer and Dogs Balls, that was all Dolgopolov's fault.

3 comments:

GM said...

What a joke Almugro again winning matches in a tournament he shouldn't ever pass the first round. It helps being a seed - gives you a joke of a draw, I guess.

Too bad I was too tired and couldn't stay awake for Dolgopolov-Tomic. Love the unorthodox styles.

Marc said...

Dolgopolov had the match on his racquet, some poor decision making in the 3rd set cost him.

Almagro hasn't been that bad, as for easy draws not like he drew Serra, de Voest or another clown. Berdych should handle him comfortably though.

Martine said...

Too bad for Stan the Man :(