Yes, it's that time of the year where the tennis circus comes to town and this blog actually some action.
Was debating whether I was going to do one this year. A combination of tiredness, the corporatisation of the event and a case of Idontgiveafuckitis definitely happened, but we all have our battles to deal with.
Before we get into the tennis action of today. Probably the most notable things from the past 2 days were the Nard Dogg aka Bernard Tomic who lost easily in the 1st round. B'Nard was never the quickest around the court and the funky forehand, but he was moving in quicksand. As for Tomic it's admirable, that he is still trying, but in the case of those great philosophers a case of too much too young for him. The other was Cruz Hewitt getting a wildcard, well the case for nepotism is legit, but at least he will learn a lot from this experience, there were so many people. They must have thought that Lleyton was playing.
Dellien vs. Kasnikowski
Dellien the Bolivian hope who is very much a clay court specialist who is coached by the great man Andres "Gringo" Schneiter who is also working with Federico Coria. Schneiter is a well respected coach and has had success with various players and that will come into significance later.
First set Dellien played one poor game, a double fault, 2 cheap errors and lost an early break. Kasnikowski was serving well and holding comfortably and took the 1st set without too many issues. Gringo is a very passionate coach and you want to play for someone like that and no bullshit either.
Dellien was able to able to extend the rallies and once they went over 13 shots, he was winning a lot of them more so in forcing the Pole into error as Dellien does not have a massive weapon. In the 2nd set Bolivian was able to create break point chances but Kasnikowski was able to save them with a decent serves and the odd passive return.
Towards the end of the 2nd set Dellien decided to vary his returning position and was able to create doubt in the Polish player who was missing more first serves. Dellien finally breaks to take the 2nd set and was working with the Pole around the court with his forehand.
At the end of the second set both took a toilet break, it was funny as Dellien took his 2-3 minutes later and came back before the Pole. It was ludicrous how much time Kasnikowski took, he must have had a shower and the search party ready. Once the play resumed, Dellien kept his focus, saved some break points and Kasnikowski was struggling physically and the Bolivian comfortably took out the 3rd set.
Garin vs. Djere
Two former top 30 players who have been injured and struggling to relive their glory days. It was a very interesting atmosphere and lot of up and down play, sometimes there are just bad match ups, then there are moments where the luck favours you.
Djere was serving for the match in the 3rd set but was unable to close it out. Garin holds serve and Djere serving to stay in the match. At deuce, Garin gets a dead net cord to get to match point and the breaks for the match.
Garin got out of jail here, he was also holding his quad during the match. He plays Dellien for a place in the main draw. It's interesting cause Garin beat Hugo's brother in the first round an in addition when Garin was at his peak his coach was Gringo Schneiter, that just adds some extra spice to the match.
Landaluce vs. Trotter
Trotter had beaten the combative Daniel Evans in the first round. Trotter represents Japan and yes he has a Japanese mother. Has an aggressive game and always looking forward to come to the net, also he is a member of the single hand backhand club.
Landaluce, if you weren't aware of him you'd think it was a Spanish Denis Istomin lookalike. I mean the blond fro, the headband and the sunglasses, The young Spanish lad has trained at the Rafael Nadal academy as well.
The key difference in this match was Landaluce was more stable from the baseline, used his serve and forehand very well, Trotter while trying to push forward had made some errors at the big moments and Landaluce took it out in straight sets.
After the match the coach of Landaluce starting singing Happy Birthday and the crowd joined on the serenade. Making his first main draw would be an excellent birthday present.
Other stuff
They have added another bar by Court 16. There is some very silly art as well, it looks like a bit Yellow Submarine artwork, though without the Blue Meanies. It's not really a tournament these days, but it's more an event where most of the people don't know the difference between forehand and forehead.
Final round of qualies tomorrow and that's always fun.
