Tommy Robredo winning friends and Roddick bundled out with such ease from the other Swiss

Yay, there is going to be an extra Aus Open entry, which fills me with glee and somehow this thing comes together. It will be random thoughts on the latter round matches that I watched, though not in the greatest detail, though the necessary points will be made.

Almagro vs. Ljubicic

There are always matches that can split fans in two, sometimes because you both love them and other times cause you dislike them both, that neither progresses through to the next round.

The Ljubo/Almagro match is a case of the former for the woman known as Peta or Petea in Romanian. The match was close enough, in the 1st set there were few chances, but Ljubo plays a sloppy 10th game and gets broken for the set.

It’s good watching these guys at close level, especially for their backhands and serves. Ljubo is definitely not moving well these days, not that he was Usain Bolt beforehand. It’s just easier to see it now and needs his serve even more to cover this weakness. Big Head is moving a lot better, but shot selection will never his strength.

This match was decided in the 2nd set in the tiebreaker. Which Ljubo had the advantage, but the old problem on the forehand where he gets too close to the ball and smothers it when he is coming over the shot, proved to be the weakness again. Almagro was able to take the tiebreaker and run out the match comfortably.

Berdych vs. Gasquet

Poor Gasquet, yes he was poor in this match. At least the ridiculous overhype seems to have stopped about him now, more like the fact that he is wasted talent and other labels.

It’s not his fault, that these expectations were so high. The French media still looking for that hero that can win a Grand Slam title, then the backhand which gets drooled over and yes it’s better than Federer’s. The other problems are too big, the forehand and most of all the mentality.

Berdych after a tight couple of games in the 1st set was able to dominate this match with clean hitting and in reality Gasquet was the gimp while Berdych was the dominator. The Berdman has such sweet timing on the ball, yes he lacks variety at times and this can be exposed by the best players, though this was a solid performance.

Robredo vs. Stakhovsky

Stakhi took the 1st set, but sadly was making too many errors against Boredo who kept doing what he does. Running, getting the ball back, a bit more running and his usual bullshit antics, more on that on the next paragraph. Stakhovsky had chances and was pressing, but the winner to unforced error rate was too poor to trouble Robredo in this match.

Onto the Boredo antics, which make him such a loved figure, though not as much as say Spadea, Pashanski or Koellerer. At the change of ends, Boredo decides to call Stakhovsky “puto da madre”, thinking the Ukrainian wouldn’t understand it. Stakh understands and says “say that again and I’ll break your neck”. Too bad he didn’t say it again, sure Stakhovsky would have got a suspension, but he wouldn’t have to buy a drink for the rest of his life.

Isner vs. Cilic

Classic match here, well depends on how you define classic of course. Isner, I still remember when he played Santoro a few years ago at the AO, fuck that was ugly. He was playing baseball hitting the back fence, if not then it was bouncing three times before it reached the net.

Cilic does look like “Sam the Eagle” and Isner has improved since that funny day. It was a close match for sure, but it was good that Cilic got over the line in this one, he is the superior player whereas Isner is the serious server.

Big John will always be remembered no matter what he does in the tennis world after the 70-68 at Wimbledon and he was the crowd favourite.

Raonic vs. Youzhny

Big Raonic with “El Caballo” Galo Blanco in his corner continued his great run with an excellent win over the Colonel. The 1st set was tight, but the Colonel did the cardinal sin when playing a massive server, when they are on. Not concentrating fully, getting broken once and losing the set.

The next 3 sets were a mix of big serving from Raonic, some good groundies as well. The most annoying thing about this match was that the Colonel broke regularly in the last 3 sets, he just dropped serve pretty much straight away on all occasions, so it was a bit like a WTA match in that way.

Huge future for Raonic, as long as he works hard, doesn’t have too many injury problems and have the same mentality he does now. His talent is easily comparable to Isner and Querrey, just need to be patient with the development.

Ferrer vs. Berankis

Berankis got a lesson in this match, this is what he needs to learn and improve upon to make it to the top 10 in the future.

Ferrer was returning Berankis serve easily and once they were able to get into the rallies. Ferrer wasn’t missing at all, and forcing Berankis into error. After the 1st set, Berankis didn’t believe he had a chance and it showed in his play and Ferrer made sure there were no opportunities for him.

Round 4

Roddick vs. Wawrinka

Best match of the tournament for me, not because of the quality of play more the murderation of Roddick the fraud in this match was too funny.

Peter Lundgren has worked well with Stani so far, he still needs the long hair to come back. The old metal look was much better for Peter. Wawrinka played him perfectly, he managed to block returns which is something that he is not known for, but it was the commonsense approach.

Once Wawrinka was able to use the pace of the Roddick serve and get into a neutral position to start the rallies, then he was able to use his superior groundstrokes, especially on the backhand side.

Also Wawrinka outaced Roddick and it wasn’t close, this in addition to killing Rawdick from the baseline lead to the murderation in straight sets. Roddick didn’t even have time to stick around for the poker tournament at Crown, as he had a 9am drop off at the airport, hehe.

Never a bad day when Rawdick loses.


Berdych vs. Verdasco

The Berdych Army were out in force as usual, which is always a good thing as they provide colour to the crowd with good chants, plus also Tomas appreciates the support.

He continued on his good form in this match and really sodomised Verdasco in this match. Usually when there is sodomy around and Verdasco is involved then LaLo isn’t too far away

Berdych was on his game again, clean hitting from both sides and he was serving well. He was able to impose his game on Verdasco and this match didn’t last long. Good old Verdasco he has maximised his abilities on court, though not off court.