Before talking about the highlight of Day 5 of the Australian Open, let me just wish all the best to my fellow countrywoman Anabel Medina Garrigues. A great professional, funny person, and amazing Tennis player. She waited all day long for her match to start, and when she finally stepped on Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, her match was over after 15 minutes. She sprained her ankle and shed many tears on the court. It's not her first injury she sustained in Melbourne in her career. Let's hope she recovers quickly. Animo Anabel !
Just before her match, spectators all aorund the world were treated with one of the highlights of the tournament. Two youngsters who will surely dominate the Tour in a couple years clashed in the night session, providing a superb 5-set thriller (as everyone including yours truly expected). German-born Australian Bernard Tomic faced Alex Dolgopolov from the Ukraine. In today's world of power tennis, it is rare to see one player with their game style, let alone two. Slice the ball till you drop. Take the speed of the ball. Work the angles. Accelerate when the right moments comes. Run for your life, and if needed make the magic shot every spectator wants to see.
Especially Tomic had the local crowd on the edge of their seats, and his victory was quite logic, given his constant progression in the last years. He's 19 and has a glorious future in front of him. However, I am not yet quite sure that he is an upcoming No.1 player, as many people say. He plays almost as cleverly as Martina Hingis did back in her days, but I believe that soon opponents will come up with a solution to his playing style enigma.
The next player who will have to cope with Tomic's "funky" style is no other than Roger Federer himself. Some are already comparing that match to the one Roger played in 2001, when he beat the legendary Sampras in Wimbledon, announcing the changing of the guard. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Tomic is NOT going to win this. Federer may be 30 years old but he still plays like he's 25.
Federer himself was a bit lucky in his first set yesterday. He faced Croatian Giant Ivo Karlovic, the one with the service bombs and not much else. We all knew how the match would turn out well in advance. Roger would dominate from the baseline, while Dr. Ivo relies on his service games.
The first set tie-break defined the rest of the game. At 5-5 in the breaker, Federer conceded a mini-break after LOSING a long rally from the baseline. Surprise. 6-5 to Ivo on his own serve. The Croat steps up, second serve, plays a lousy volley. Federer has the chance to pass him, hits the ball to the centre of the court, Ivo get his racket on the ball, and it drops like a tomato. Federer rushes to the net, and gets to the ball just in time to play a LOB, of all things, against the2-meter monster from the Balkans. Ivo, surprised, jumps and tries to get to the lob, but his racket barely touches the ball. What a chance, what a disappointment for the Croat. That's the one point that decided the game. At the next point, Roger played a sensational backhand return off Ivo's FIRST serve, and the set was over. Ivo is such a funny guy, especially on Twitter he's one of the best and wittiest out there. In Tennis, he's doing his best, but seldomly he gets past the first week of a Grand Slam. There's just no more in him, especially no more luck in those defining moments.
And even if he had won the tiebreaker, Fed would have won the match. Of course.
What else happened on Friday? Nadal knocked down the very talented Lukas Lacko from Slovakia, but it is worth re-watching the very first point of the match.
Feliciano Lopez powered past another Giant, marathon man John Isner, in five sets, felicidades crack!
Del Potro had no problems with Lu, and WOW Nicolas Almagro won in straight sets against Wawrinka in the battle of the one-handed backhands. Big surprise, and Nico deserves this win after some disappointments in 2011. Let's not let Tomas Berdych out of our sight, he's slowly progressing through the draw without raising an eyebrow. Very dangerous !!
On the ladies' side, Vika Azarenka was a bit rude to a linesperson at the end of her match, but she later apologized. She should really look into the mirror, because the way she wasted some of her challenges was ridiculous. She should have her vision checked.
Germany's darling Julia Goerges made it to the fourth round for the first time, Glückwunsch ! Many doubted her current form, but she has true grit. Same for Philipp Kohlschreiber. Well done !
The tournament is not entering a very exciting phase. Almost every player who's still around can deliver.
Let's see who that Raonic vs Hewitt dish tastes on Saturday. I believe Raonic will go through in 3 sets.
Ok. Time to catch up with some sleep...
No comments:
Post a Comment