Thursday, January 16, 2014

Fognini owns the universe

Yes, it was another cold day at the tennis complex known as Melbourne Park. This is why the writing on here isn't more regular due to my lack of appreciation for deadlines and keeping hydrated tends to take precedence.

Dzumhur - Dodig

The all Bosnian battle though Dodig plays for Croatia. The Bosnian fans were there trying to create some atmosphere in the shitty conditions.

Sure, it was one match but in reality there were two different things going on here. In the first two sets it was a good quality match with Dodig showing his extra experience and looked like he'd win this comfortably. However this changed fairly quickly as Dodig took a medical timeout and forfeited the game to do so. Dodig is not a guy who uses tricks to put the opponent off and his body decided to shut down in the heat.

While this is a great win for Dzumhur making the 3rd round of a Slam after qualifying and the Bosnian fans were loving this win it truly sucks for Dodig.

Chardy - Dolgopolov

Numerous occasions I have referred to Jeremy Chardy as a ballbashing buffoon and will still use this term when needed. Today though Chardy was excellent in this match, serving huge and placing it well and slamming big forehand winners against one of the fastest players on tour.


Jeremy Chardy

This is not to say Dolgopolov didn't have his chances but they were few and not converted. It's obvious to see why Murray and Djokovic handle Chardy quite easily, in the former he is able to absorb the pace and place shots that gets Chardy off the baseline and into the court to exposes his weakness and the latter defends too well that Chardy can't hit through him. Can see why he beat del Potro last year on this performance.

Dolgopolov competed very well which is something that hasn't always happened. After taking the 3rd set TB, in the 4th set buster he was up 5-3 on serve and went for an off forehand that didn't need to be that aggressive and lost it. Chardy then served some bombs and took out the match at the end Dolgopolov gave the racquet a huge smashing.

Anderson - Thiem

One match too far for Thiem as Anderson won this comfortably. Big Kev was hitting huge from both wings and serving well on this basis he was able to push Thiem further and further back from the baseline.

Thiem is on the verge of the top 100 which is impressive considering how hard it is for younger players to break through these days. He was foot faulting big time, it seems to be a habit he has that his foot starts on the line then he moves it back in the service motion. Can't believe the foot fault judge was missing it, as it was more than blatant.


Fognini - Nieminen

The Fog was in full peacock strutting mode out there, but the play on this occasion backed up the strut. He is a strange guy to watch, hardly moves his feet but is one of the fastest players on tour. Some good extended rallies but the Fog was slapping forehand winners for fun out of nowhere.

Nieminen was a bit off but not that much, there were still opportunities for him to get back into the match. The Fog was having one of his moments and this is when Nieminen should have seized the initiative after taking the 3rd set.


Fabio Fognini

After failing to convert some break chances early in the 4th set something strange happened and came out of nowhere. Nieminen was up 40-0 and then got broken, it was all because of errors and nothing Fognini actually did to earn the break. Once he lost that, then Nieminen mentally checked out of the match which was strange in itself and the Fog saw an opportunity to finish the deal which he managed to do easily in the 4th.

Interesting match with him and Big Sam the tourist for a place in the 4th round.

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