Better late than never 1st round reports

My apologies for these reports being a bit late, so they will be done by rounds instead of days. Not the ideal but better than a kick in the head. I will seperate the headings with Day 1 and Day 2, might make it long to read so those with a short attention span should go do something else.

Once I saw Benneteau walking around in casual clothes half an hour before the match I knew something was up and he was withdrawing from his match against Monaco, so he ended up playing Greul instead.

Day 1

Gil vs. Cuevas

This was the first match that I decided to start the 2011 Aus Open viewing with. Once the schedule came out it wasn't a real surprise that I'd be at this match. I thought that Cuevas with his better weight of shot off both sides and serve would be advantageous over the man who retired at 6-0 6-0 3-0 down to avoid a triple bagel against Ferrer.

Cuevas starts off this match fairly passively, not really attacking the ball at all with this backhand and playing from about 3m behind the baseline. Gil looked like he wanted to be there this time and was just scrapping and retrieving like hell and this was getting to Cuevas, who wasn't bothering to do any different. He plays a poor service game and gets broken, so Gil takes the 1st set.

The next 2 sets Cuevas is playing a bit better than he was in the first set which wouldn't be too hard. He was using his backhand down the line a bit more and Gil was just running and running. There was still the feeling that Cuevas wouldn't lose this match, the extra class would tell.

In the fourth they were going at it, and Cuevas was getting shitty with the line calls wasting energy and Gil fighting hard manages to break to take it to 5.

Cuevas's head drops down and he ran out of legs, starting to cramp and gas up. Well this is what happens when you want it to be a battle of running and not using your groundies effectively. Gil scrambling hard, loving the moment, getting everything back even the mishits are going in landing on the lines. This is pissing Cuevas even more in addition to the cramping of the leg and wrist.

Gil outfought him, outran him, had a better break point conversion. He was going crazy when he won as he was not expected to win a main draw match here.

Montanes vs Brown

Got here halfway through the 1st set as I was at Gil- Cuevas match. Dreddy was erratic, and Montanes was being his usual steady self, but having a go when he the chances were on the offer. He took the 2nd set easily.

Someone asked me why didn't I sit down, thought well not exactly sure how long the match was going to go for. Dreddy was getting into extended rallies with Montanes, not exactly the smartest tactics and Albert was picking on his backhand, which was just getting the ball back.

Brown starts to take some more chances and they are coming off, in addition to the fact he starts serving better. The low ball toss makes it hard to read, then out of nowhere Brown breaks with a combo of huge slapped forehands, excellent volleying and dropshots.

At the start of the 4th, the crowd is building up. It was only a third full when I arrived, there were some players there like Ramirez Hidalgo, Junaid, also Patrik Kuhnen was watching it. Brown is getting fired up big time, continuing with the momentum he got from taking the 3rd and forcing Fat Albert into errors, hitting slice forehand winners with pace.

Funniest part of this match and the one not on MTF. There were these lasses sitting across from me, once Brown won the 4th set, they started showing some more cleavage. Looked like they want to be down with the Brown. Yes, he noticed this as well.

My friend never seen him play before and thought I was only talking up because of his hair, but he was turning on the style. Crowd started to build up, there were quite a few ladies there some for Albert no doubt, though one was getting a bit excited when Brown won the 4th set.

Court is almost full the stands were and the walkway very hard to get through. Montanes is steady and serving well, Dreddy going for a lot, neither of them are troubled on serve. Then the 11th game, where Dreddy trying to stay in the match at 30-30 all, he takes a chance and fucks it.

Good serve from Brown which Montanes returns well. Brown tries to sneak into the net, but doesn't hit a great shot and Fat Albert rips a forehand down the line winner to take the match on his only match point.

Great effort from Brown to come back, he was there for ages signing autographs and taking pics as was Montanes. Very entertaining match played in good spirit.


Andreev vs. Volandri
This was on the court next to us. Just had to have a quick look at this match, cause I have to admit I enjoy watching hardcourt hacks in action.

Andreev was never losing this, though it counted for shit when he was down a break in the 2nd as he was going to get some presents along the way with that Volandri serve.


Malisse vs Andujar

Saw Malisse not long before the match and said to him "man you have the dream 1st round draw, this guy is a gimp on hardcourts". He tried not to laugh, but said "you still got to get it done". This was a mismatch and some good training for Malisse, though Andujar wasn't too bad in the last set not as poor as he was last time against Simon.

Luczak vs. Ljubicic

Had to see some of these old guys, yes they are younger than me. Good chance they won't be around for too much longer.

The weather helped Ljubo for sure, as Luczak would have loved it very warm as big Ivan isn't a great player in the heat at all.

It wasn't the greatest match, but Ljubo was just too good all round being able to hold serve easily for the most part. Whereas Luczak was fighting hard on serve to hold. The forehand wasn't hit as well he could have and it's great to sit right behind the play and see how excellent Legenda's backhand preparation is. The forehand can be smothered regularly, when he has to move wide especially.

Brave fight from Luczak, but there is a reason Ljubo is the Legenda.

Day 2

Kavcic vs. Anderson

Mass surprise here, that I started with this match on Tuesday. However with Russell starting at the same time, that match will be done by someone differently. A combo of Mike and a few others as to how the match went.

Not the worst match to get for Blaz, but it wasn't a gimp like Dabul, so make the best of it.

At the start of the match Big Kev was serving from the tree in the 1st set. Just boom, boom, boom, game. Then when Kavcic could get a rally, he was hitting too short with no intent and Anderson was ripping the backhand crosscourt most of the time and then putting the short shit away. First set gone very quickly.

Then he starts missing a few 1st serves. His second serve isn't too bad, but Kavcic is able to get into the match a bit more extending the rallies and hitting more to the Anderson forehand. Kavcic is able to convert on the only chance he had in the second set and took it thankfully.

The 3rd set is vital in this match especially given the way the last one went, there weren't too many serving foibles from Kavcic, no doubles hitting the tramlines behind the court. In this set, Kavcic ripped his shoes and didn't have any extra, so he looks at Voinea and says "give me the shoes". Voinea gives them to him and watches the rest of match in his socks.

Anderson broke and then a huge turning point in the game to confirm the break at 30-30, there was a ball from Anderson that tanned the line and it was called out. Kavcic was able to break back and take into the tiebreaker. Where he decides to play a bit more aggressively and reading Anderson's big serves quite well and placing them in good positions. Takes the 3rd and there is a bit of belief around the upset is on, which it wasn't before the match.

Kavcic loses concentration, bitching a bit about the calls and he finds himself a double break down in the 4th set. Anderson seems to have it under control and then Kavcic relaxes and starts fighting like hell, breaks back and holds to get it to 4-5*. Now Blaz is handling Anderson's serve quite easily and hardly being aced and manages to break again, going to a tiebreaker.

This was definitely not the classic tiebreaker at all, it was like they were hitting a medicine ball. Mishits, a bit of pushing, both had some big errors off the backhand. Kavcic had 5-2 and 2 serves and couldn't handle it. At 5-5 after an extended rally, Kavcic hits a great dropshot which Anderson just gets to and he gets passed.

Took his first match point and the upset. He was loving it and as promised when he won I did the Ayatollah dance, watch from 56 seconds



Russell vs. Ebden

Not a bad draw for Iron Mike. He started well, no doubt that Ebden was nervous as hell, but at the start Russell was able to take advantage using his experience and superior game. This and Ebden making a lot of errors lead to Mikey taking the first 2 sets comfortably.

Russell was still tight and wound up, knowing this is a match that he really should win and a lot of time they are the hardest ones to win. Ebden starts playing a whole lot better than before, the crowd is helping him along as a good local crowd should do. Takes the 3rd set and Russ can't settle letting the crowd to get him up.

Goes up a break in the 4th and then plays a donkey game to lose it, lots of scrapping and they are into a huge 4th set tiebreaker. Mikey was able to pull through, the extra experience helped for sure and as they say in the classics. Well my own version, it isn't ski jumping no points for winning in style.

Next match against Ferrer, they will probably cover 260km in this one.

Giraldo vs. Machado

Didn't get to see all of this, though saw quite a bit. The bookies were having fun with Giraldo starting at 1.12 here, hell I like Santi but 1.12 is hilarious especially with that second serve.

It was quite entertaining this match, plenty of Colombians there supporting Giraldo and a few Portuguese supporting the "Scottish number 2". There were plenty of extended rallies in this, with Giraldo hitting the ball fairly cleanly and MacHado grunting up a storm trying to dominate with his forehand.

The result was not in doubt, but Machado was definitely good enough to take a set and deserved to do it. He punished some of those cannon fodder second serves from Giraldo. As you may have noticed the second serve hasn't improved too much, but the groundies are in excellent shape at the moment.

He is just outside top 50 at the moment, if he could get some more meat on that second serve then it will be an extended stay there.

Sweeting vs. Gimeno-Traver

There always has to be one thing that ruins a perfect day and this match was definitely it.

Not the worst draw for DGT, as Sweeting doesn't have that much to his game. The serve for his height should be better and the forehand is jerky as hell, even then it was good enough to do here.

DGT copied his game on Moya, yes even down to the backhand which was the one thing you shouldn't have copied. He wasn't serving too badly, and had plenty of break chances in the 1st set which he did nothing with. Either it was a shit return or an error, so naturally Sweeting was smart enough to keep the ball in play and deep enough to let DGT make the errors.

Sweeting took the 1st set with his only break chance. The pattern continued in the second set with lots of break chances created by DGT but with no finish. Then the one time he decides to break, he loses it fairly soon after with some poor play, especially the backhand which was div 5 village level.

Frustration levels are going overboard as he loses the 2nd set in the same way he loses the first. DGT takes off his shirt and there are these 2 chicks behind him drooling, fuck haven't we had enough floods in Australia at the moment. I caught them perving, gave them the thumbs up hahaha.

The comeback wasn't on at all in the 3rd, as DGT was too pissed off with the nonsense that was happening in this match. He wacks a ball out of the court and gets a warning for ball abuse. My mate Sammy said he should get a warning for "backhand abuse". Truer words were never spoken.

Just hell frustrating to sit through when you know the guy is capable of better.

Seppi vs. Clement

After the rubbish that passed as a DGT match, then walked around the grounds, saw some people training. It was off to see the Seppi/Clement match.

Seppi has a good record against Clement and I was just hoping that he wasn't going to lose to the munchkin.

Seppi was being a clown early in the match on the break points especially, hardly taking any of them, whereas Clement did . I was there shaking my head at a set and 5-0 down thinking how the fuck do you get bagelled by Clement, but he managed to break and avoid the bagel.

Once he did that, he was able to use the momentum to turn around his fortunes. Seppi eventually broke, lost it and then broke again. He stepped up the play and for the most part actually decided to have a go with his forehand which was paying off for him. It was nice to see Seppi not being passive, man Clement might be past it but he can still run around well and has great hands. Now onto the usual Clement stuff.

Clement was being usual cockhead self.

Lets see the usual having a go at ballkids for not having the towel the right way, only taking balls from one side and not the other. Then bitching about the trains, that it should stop just for him so he can serve. Come on, if they did that Metro trains would even better later than they are. They are as efficient as Italian bureaucracy. Having a go at us, giving the glare as there were supporting Seppi. Don't think he appreciated the ole ole chants.

Seppi is starting to play well and has chances in almost all the games to break the Clement serve. He got a bit tight there at the end, but the better player came through and the crowd were pro-Seppi. Maybe a few Italians, randoms and gamblers there hehe.

At the end of the match, these guys who sat next to us, had Seppi in a multi bet in the last leg. So after the match when the munchkin lost and pissed off back to the lockers, this gambler showed Seppi the betting slip that he won and "the South Tyrolean sex machine" just burst out laughing.

This and the fact Nalle took out Hewitt made the perfect day 1 and 2.