AUSTRALIAN OPEN GRAND SLAM, 14-27 Jan 2013 (draw 23.00hrs Thu 10 Jan UK). Discussion thread

[Sallydaisy]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Cgu1cdJD5ng/TUZJBg3xEyI/AAAAAAAAAlI/ntBZExJZekQ/s1600/Aussie+open.jpg
Melbourne Park, Batman Avenue, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
WEB SITE: www.AustralianOpen.com (http://www.australianopen.com/)

SHOW COURT WITH RETRACTABLE ROOF
SURFACE: Plexicushion
BALL: Wilson Australian Open Ball

Monday 14th - Sunday 27th January 2013
Qualifying draw: Tuesday, January 8, TBA
Main draw: Friday, January 11, TBA
Men's doubles draw: TBA
Mixed doubles draw: Wednesday, January 16, 4:00 p.m.

1 Djokovic, Novak SRB 1
2 Federer, Roger SUI 2
3 Murray, Andy GBR 3
OUT Nadal, Rafael ESP 4
5 Ferrer, David ESP 5
6 Berdych, Tomas CZE 6
7 Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 7
8 Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried FRA 8
9 Tipsarevic, Janko SRB 9
10 Gasquet, Richard FRA 10
11 Almagro, Nicolas ESP 11
12 Monaco, Juan ARG 12
13 Raonic, Milos CAN 13
14 Isner, John USA 14 - will be replaced by a LL, see below.
15 Cilic, Marin CRO 15
16 Simon, Gilles FRA 16
17 Wawrinka, Stanislas SUI 17
18 Dolgopolov, Alexandr UKR 18
19 Nishikori, Kei JPN 19
20 Kohlschreiber, Philipp GER 20
21 Haas, Tommy GER 21
22 Querrey, Sam USA 22
23 Seppi, Andreas ITA 23
24 Verdasco, Fernando ESP 24
25 Youzhny, Mikhail RUS 25
26 Janowicz, Jerzy POL 26
OUT Fish, Mardy USA 27
28 Mayer, Florian GER 28
29 Melzer, Jurgen AUT 29
30 Klizan, Martin SVK 30
31 Stepanek, Radek CZE 31
32 Chardy, Jeremy FRA 32
33 Bellucci, Thomaz BRA 33
34 Granollers, Marcel ESP 34
35 Benneteau, Julien FRA 35
36 Baghdatis, Marcos CYP 36
37 Anderson, Kevin RSA 37
38 Troicki, Viktor SRB 38
OUT Roddick, Andy USA 39
40 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 40
41 Nieminen, Jarkko FIN 41
42 Andujar, Pablo ESP 42
43 Istomin, Denis UZB 43
44 Davydenko, Nikolay RUS 44
45 Fognini, Fabio ITA 45
46 Goffin, David BEL 46
47 Paire, Benoit FRA 47
48 Dimitrov, Grigor BUL 48
49 Matosevic, Marinko AUS 49
50 Ramos, Albert ESP 50
51 Robredo, Tommy ESP @50
52 Lacko, Lukas SVK 51
53 Tomic, Bernard AUS 52
54 Llodra, Michael FRA 53
55 Falla, Alejandro COL 54
56 Zemlja, Grega SLO 55
57 Haase, Robin NED 56
58 Giraldo, Santiago COL 57
59 Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA 58
60 Lu, Yen-Hsun TPE 59
61 Soeda, Go JPN 60
62 Baker, Brian USA 61
63 Hanescu, Victor ROU 62
64 Malisse, Xavier BEL 63
65 Lorenzi, Paolo ITA 64
66 Becker, Benjamin GER 65
67 Berlocq, Carlos ARG 66
68 Muller, Gilles LUX 67
69 Sijsling, Igor NED 68
70 Harrison, Ryan USA 69
71 Gimeno-Traver, Daniel ESP 70
72 Mayer, Leonardo ARG 71
73 Dodig, Ivan CRO 72
74 Rosol, Lukas CZE 73
75 Kubot, Lukasz POL 74
76 Phau, Bjorn GER 75
77 Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 76
78 Monfils, Gael FRA 77
79 Kuznetsov, Andrey RUS 78
80 Ito, Tatsuma JPN 79
81 Bautista-Agut, Roberto ESP 80
82 Donskoy, Evgeny RUS 81
83 Nalbandian, David ARG 82
84 Hewitt, Lleyton AUS 83
85 Bolelli, Simone ITA 84
86 Zeballos, Horacio ARG 85
87 Devvarman, Somdev IND @85
88 Bedene, Aljaz SLO 86
89 Russell, Michael USA 87
90 Volandri, Filippo ITA 88
OUT Zopp, Jurgen EST 89
92 Rochus, Olivier BEL 90
93 Ramirez Hidalgo, Ruben ESP 91
94 Rufin, Guillaume FRA 92
95 Darcis, Steve BEL 93
96 Kavcic, Blaz SLO 94
97 Cipolla, Flavio ITA 95
98 Montanes, Albert ESP 96
99 Pella, Guido ARG 97
100 Kamke, Tobias GER 98
101 Ungur, Adrian ROU 99
102 Karlovic, Ivo CRO 100
103 Sousa, Joao POR 101
104 Roger-Vasselin, Edouard FRA 102
105 (Q)
106 (Q)
107 (Q)
108 (Q)
109 (Q)
110 (Q)
111 (Q)
112 (Q)
113 (Q)
114 (Q)
115 (Q)
116 (Q)
117 (Q)
118 (Q)
119 (Q)
120 (Q)
121 (WC) Duckworth, James AUS
122 (WC) Millman, John AUS
123 (WC) Mitchell, Benjamin AUS (TA Playoff champion)
124 (WC) Ouanna, Josselin FRA (FFT)
125 (WC) Saville, Luke AUS
126 (WC) Smith, John-Patrick AUS
127 (WC) Williams, Rhyne USA (USTA Wild Card Playoffs champion)
128 (WC) Wu, Di CHN (Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-Off champion)

Alternates
IN Stakhovsky, Sergiy UKR 103
IN Levine, Jesse USA 104
IN Ebden, Matthew AUS 105
IN Hajek, Jan CZE 106
1 Kukushkin, Mikhail KAZ 107 (after Nalbandian confirmed his withdrawal)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Any further withdrawals from the Entry List will be replaced by a LL drawn at random from the 4 top-ranked losers in the Final Qualifying Round.
1. Isner
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Mahut, Nicolas FRA 108
3 Sela, Dudi ISR 109
4 Andreev, Igor RUS 110
5 Bemelmans, Ruben BEL 111
6 Haider-Maurer, Andreas AUT 112
7 Berankis, Ricardas LTU 113
8 Petzschner, Philipp GER 115
9 Jaziri, Malek TUN 116
10 Sugita, Yuichi JPN 117
11 Serra, Florent FRA 118

[Sallydaisy]

Mardy Fish right out of the Australian part of the season:


@SI_BTBaseline (http://twitter.com/SI_BTBaseline): Reuters: Mardy Fish will miss the Australian Open.
Still recovering from health issues related to his heart surgery. http://po.st/1IMqCV

[Caro]

Ooh, the final is on my birthday!! Hope my pressie will be watching Andy win his 2nd GS

[cazza99]

10sballs (http://www.10sballs.com/2012/12/03/the-2013-australian-open-will-be-hot-in-more-ways-than-one/) - The 2013 Australian Open Will Be Hot In More Ways Than One


Australian Open 2013 should be the warmest tournament since 2009, with a few days near or above,” said tournament weatherman Bob Leighton. “At this early stage, summer is forecast to be slightly drier than normal with the possibility of just a few days of rainfall during the two weeks.

[rouges]

Can't wait for it anymore, Tennis withdrawal symptoms is damaging my good health. Bring it on.

[-J-]

Can't wait for it anymore, Tennis withdrawal symptoms is damaging my good health. Bring it on.fairly sure you have no option, but il check and see if anyone has invented a time machine while i wasn't looking. if not would you be willing to considered suspended animation?

[cazza99]

The Oz Open printed program is now done


Australian Open ‏@AustralianOpen
Look what arrived today! :-) We'll give away a copy to a lucky follower if we can get 50 RT's of this tweet. #ausopen https://twitter.com/AustralianOpen/status/278035687855501314/photo/1

[Alis]

The Oz Open printed program is now done

I'm annoyed that Andy isn't on the cover of the programme - they have the three top women's seeds but Andy's place is taken by Rafa. I know Rafa is a former champion but that's no excuse in my book!

[Sallydaisy]

Australian Open Wild-Card playoffs are in progress already!

[harmans]

i want Andy vs Federer in finals

[harriet]

i want Andy vs Federer in finals the day after playing nole in the semi? how about the other way round?

[Caro]

i want Andy vs Federer in finals

I don't care who Andy beats in the final ;)

[RoastLamb]

I want Andy and Rafa in the final. I can dream...

[Linda]

Sorry but I really don't think that Rafa will be in the final. He's said much about playing more on clay . . . which I interpret as less on hard courts. He won't want any more 5 hour matches on hard court - it was probably the match against Nole last year that did the damage - so I expect him to lose to the first Spaniard he meets in the draw. He'll be concentrating on the clay season and Wimbledon.

[RoastLamb]

I don't think he will be in the final either but it's my dream that the two of them are in a GS final together. In this particular case: ABF.

[Linda]

Maybe they will be in the Wimbledon final together :)

[pabbers]

I can't honestly see Rafa dropping out on purpose. These guys are way too competitive - it's in the blood.

[LC the fan]

I m with you Caro...I don't care who Andy beats in the final either

[clancy]

I too am getting withdrawal symptons from no tennis for a while; someone mentioned Tennis TV on here a while ago - do you have to have Sky/Eurosport to get it? - I live alone so don't really want all the sports that are on but I would like to access more tennis!

[Linda]

No - TennisTV is a stream that you get on your computer, you don't need a TV at all. Here's a link: http://www.tennistv.com/

[clancy]

Thanks Linda; must say I've had a depressing weekend as did feel Andy deserved 2nd place in SPOTY and then was most surprised when Louis walked off with the SCD trophy! Ah well, a new year beckons!

[Maza1987]

I'm need help with dates so I know what days to book off work.
The final is on 27th and semis are on 25th, I know that.
But when is the quarters for the men's? Do they play them all on Weds 23th, or are they split between weds 23rd and 24th?

Thanks.

[Madeline]

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/tournament.html

Semis are split between Thursday 24th and Friday 25th evenings (local)according to this; quarters are split between Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd. I hope you have plenty of holiday spare!

[Maza1987]

Boy, that's the worst possible scenario. haha.

I'm going to have to gamble as to whether what days Andy will hopefully be playing. I bet I choose the wrong half of the draw as well.

[harmans]

I don't care who Andy beats in the final ;)


hmmm don't count Feddy out..He may win AO:sled:

[Caro]

I have booked the Weds, Thurs and Friday off work for the AO. This means I will only have one of the quarters days off so just have to keep my fingers crossed it's the right one!

They used to play both semis on the same day but it's been split for a couple of years at least now. The good thing is that they are daytime matches in the UK .... then again I guessit's a bad thing if you have to work!

[Linda]

Rafa won't be there :crying:

[Madeline]

Nope. BBC report here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/20859522 Must be a very severe stomach virus to affect him so far in advance.

[Sallydaisy]

Nope. BBC report here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/20859522 Must be a very severe stomach virus to affect him so far in advance.

*sigh*

A number of media outlets are reporting this wrongly.
Rafa has a stomach virus so cannot play in Abu Dhabi (now) or Doha starting next Monday.
He expects to be over the virus but won't have had ANY match practice or done any 'training' for several days.

On that basis he's pulled out of the AO because the virus has interfered with his planned practise and training ahead of the Oz Open. It isn't because he think the virus will still be present and prevent him competing at Melbourne Park but he was going to use those 2 tourneys to assess how he felt physically ahead of the Grand Slam and 5 set matches. Per this tweet from Neil Harman:

Neil Harman ‏@NeilHarmanTimes (https://twitter.com/NeilHarmanTimes) Nadal told me in Majorca last week his knees not 100%, would use Abu Dhabi as practice and if felt bad would not play AO. Then virus struck



Quote from Toni Nadal:

"It is simply not conceivable that his first event is a best of 5 sets event, he wouldn’t be ready for that"

Just wish the news people would report things accurately.
:grrr:

[LC the fan]

Poor Rafa - have a feeling that 2013 Clay Court season and Wimbledon may be the last we see of him in competetive tennis.
He is obviously worried how his knee will hold out and I cant see him doing the US swing at the end of the summer. What a shame for us and tennis.....what a dreadful situation for a 26 year old

[Linda]

Rafa has stated that he will continue to play until the 2016 Olympics. But I think he will try to reduce the amount of tournaments he plays on hard courts. I'm sure we'll still see him during the clay and grass season for the next four years, but I think it could be a possibility that he won't want to play the AO and USO any more because of the long matches on hard courts (that is just my speculation, he certainly has not said that he won't play them any more).

[david1610]

I feel for Rafa as well and don't forget we are likely to see him ranked lower down the top ten if he only plays part of the year.
But in the interests of 100% objectivity you have to question some of the decisions to play he and particularly the team around him made in previous years and especially when his body was trying to tell him differently.

[Mike Dewar]

Agreed. I am sure andy would like that too, however, for that to happen andy would need to be in Nole's half of the draw and hence a tough semi final going in. Of course Federer will get the favourable schedule; he always does especially in australia.

[RoastLamb]

Rafa has stated that he will continue to play until the 2016 Olympics. But I think he will try to reduce the amount of tournaments he plays on hard courts. I'm sure we'll still see him during the clay and grass season for the next four years, but I think it could be a possibility that he won't want to play the AO and USO any more because of the long matches on hard courts (that is just my speculation, he certainly has not said that he won't play them any more).

Well if Serena Williams can pick and choose which tournies to play I don't see why Rafa shouldn't. He's always said being number one is not his goal.

[harmans]

Rafa chickened out...:nativity:..

[Linda]

How odd to put a picture of the WISE men with such a STUPID statement.

[Sallydaisy]

Haven't set up the Ladies side of this tournament yet but there's bad news for one of them.


TENNIS.com ‏@tennis (https://twitter.com/tennis) ICYMI: Andrea Petkovic is out of the Aussie Open after injuring her knee in Hopman Cup: http://ow.ly/gswSj (http://t.co/SuHxE7CB)

[RoastLamb]

Feel so bad for Andrea, just coming back from an injury and now another one. :crying:

[JAMES4578]

Indeed very frustrating for Andrea!

[Linda]

I'm so sorry for Andrea; she's one of my favourites - and of course it's always terribly sad when any player can't compete due to injury or illness.

[AussieAndyFan]

So so so so so keen!!

[Sallydaisy]

So so so so so keen!!
Are you going to Melbourne Park to watch???

[JAMES4578]

So so so so so keen!!


Are you going to Melbourne Park to watch???

I think that's a given :big grin:

[cazza99]

So so so so so keen!!


Are you going to Melbourne Park to watch???

And shout I hope :):)

[VamosVixs]

So so so so so keen!!

Any new songs this year? :)

[cazza99]

The BBC coverage looks reduced this year - the mens semis and finals and the women's finals will be shown live on BBC2, but they do not mention the red button anywhere, so I guess earlier matches will not be shown. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/16660418

[pabbers]

:grrr:

[AussieAndyFan]

Any new songs this year? :)

Indeed! Been a bit slack, haven't even organized the singlets yet!!

A few new ones in the work too!! :)

[VamosVixs]

Indeed! Been a bit slack, haven't even organized the singlets yet!!

A few new ones in the work too!! :)

Nice one, looking forward to hearing you on the tv!! :thumbup:

[Jan]

The BBC coverage looks reduced this year - the mens semis and finals and the women's finals will be shown live on BBC2, but they do not mention the red button anywhere, so I guess earlier matches will not be shown. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/16660418
not good

[lynne]

This is the Australian Open Promo focusing on Andy Murray..............from Eurosport........(just click on Andy's face)




http://vimeo.com/56118395

[Madeline]

Right. I'll get Eurosport player for a month again, then. I seem to remember it was pretty good for the AO last year (but rubbish for the USO)

[harmans]

Agreed. I am sure andy would like that too, however, for that to happen andy would need to be in Nole's half of the draw and hence a tough semi final going in. Of course Federer will get the favourable schedule; he always does especially in australia.


I think draws and schedules are made on the basis of rankings......:dance:...But i love your punch drunk love with federer:boogie:

[harmans]

This is the Australian Open Promo focusing on Andy Murray..............from Eurosport........(just click on Andy's face)




http://vimeo.com/56118395


Andy is great he will win many gs...but this is really stupid stuff by eurosports by showing andy in chains

[Sallydaisy]

It's coming round really quickly .......

The draw for The Australian Open will take place on Friday 10.00hrs Melbourne time.
That's 23.00hrs Thursday 11th January in the UK and 18.00hrs Thursday NY time. [/URL]

Not sure how it's being done but here's the AO twitter moniker [URL="https://twitter.com/AustralianOpen"]@AustralianOpen (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23tennis&src=hash)

[Nina]

This promo is useless! Another pressure on Andy??

I just want to wish Andy to believe in himself and play his own game. Win will come.. cheers

[Reef]

Andy is great he will win many gs...but this is really stupid stuff by eurosports by showing andy in chains

Couldn't agree more. Andy must surely hate watching this over and over just as we do.

[harriet]

well, it's not a flattering likeness, but it's the same sentiment many of us have voiced - he broke the shackle, first GS gained, ready to leap out and win more

[Sallydaisy]

There's a summary (http://www.lta.org.uk/fans-major-events/Australian-Open/News/2013/2013-Australian-Open-Preview/) on the LTA website of which Brits are playing in the Australian Open this year.
Here's an extract giving details, by event, from the main article.

Over the next day or so I'll set up separate threads for the Ladies and Doubles events.


Men’s Singles
British No.1 Andy Murray will be arriving at a major championship for the first time as a Grand Slam Champion after his historic US Open victory. Following a career best season, the 25 year-old Olympic champion will be confident of a successful campaign having performed impressively in Melbourne in recent years.


Women’s Singles
Britain’s top two players Heather Watson and Laura Robson will both be seeking to make an impact this year at Melbourne Park.
Anne Keothavong and Johanna Konta will be aiming to win through three rounds of qualifying and seal a main draw berth.

Doubles Draw
Britain will be well represented in the doubles draws with a number of teams ready to impress in the Melbourne heat.

Wimbledon champion Jonny Marray will be making his second Australian Open appearance when he and Brazilian partner Andre Sa line up in the first round. (Joan? Marsa?)
Colin Fleming will be pairing up with Jamie Murray in Melbourne. The duo have played in a Masters 1000 and a Davis Cup previously and will be a dangerous partnership in Australia. (Flemray or Murring?)
Dominic Inglot enjoyed a terrific 2012 season with partner Treat Conrad Huey from the Philippines. The duo lifted their first ATP World Tour title in Washington as well as reaching finals in Houston and Basel. Inglot will be making his Australian Open debut. (Ingluey)

Jamie Delgado and Ken Skupski (Delski) will be making their first appearance together at Melbourne Park after an excellent twelve months that saw them reach ATP World Tour finals in Eastbourne and Los Angeles.

In the women’s doubles, Heather Watson and Marina Erakovic (? Hevina? Watovic?) will be continuing their blossoming partnership. The British/Kiwi duo won WTA titles in Stanford and Dallas in 2012 with Watson reaching two further finals with different partners.

Laura Robson will be partnering Timea Babos also. (Robos!)

Juniors
Katy Dunne will be making her second appearance in the girl’s singles and will arrive in Melbourne at a career high 20th in the ITF junior rankings.

Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart will be making their Australian Open debuts when they appear in the qualifying draw.
In the Boy’s singles, Warwickshire’s Tom Hill will be making his junior Grand Slam debut when he lines up in the qualifying draw.

[david1610]

If the draw is reasonably kind to them, Heather in the doubles might be an interesting one to follow for a possible deep run.

And I do so hope Laura and Heather get good draws in the singles! It is so important to push on to get up to a ranking to become a seed to get a kinder draw to keep the seeding to .......

[cazza99]

There are some interesting players, just outside the seedings. There could be some interesting 1st round matches this year.


35 Benneteau, Julien FRA 35
36 Baghdatis, Marcos CYP 36
37 Anderson, Kevin RSA 37
38 Troicki, Viktor SRB 38
OUT Roddick, Andy USA 39
40 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 40
41 Nieminen, Jarkko FIN 41
42 Andujar, Pablo ESP 42
43 Istomin, Denis UZB 43
44 Davydenko, Nikolay RUS 44
45 Fognini, Fabio ITA 45
46 Goffin, David BEL 46
47 Paire, Benoit FRA 47
48 Dimitrov, Grigor BUL 48
49 Matosevic, Marinko AUS 49
50 Ramos, Albert ESP 50
51 Robredo, Tommy ESP @50
52 Lacko, Lukas SVK 51
53 Tomic, Bernard AUS 52
54 Llodra, Michael FRA 53

[DaveArneRiise]

Tomic is the one to avoid there, always raises his game here.

[cazza99]

Tomic is the one to avoid there, always raises his game here.

And Davydenko and Dimitrov are on form and Baghdatis is a former finalist so can play well here.

[david1610]

I think there are definitely players to avoid in the first round and others to avoid later on, with Andy tending to be vulnerable early on and some players able to cause an upset in any one match but not necessarily go on a run of several wins.

[cazza99]

Christopher Clarey ‏@christophclarey

The big question for this week's #AO13 draws? Which half do the No. 3 seeds end up in? That would be #Murray and #Serena #tennis

[Madeline]

I've just paid over my £4.99 for Eurosport player. I'm set :thumbup:

[Caro]

I see what cazza means about interesting players just outside the seedings.

Only 5 days to go now :boogie:

[cazza99]

Now that there have been several withdrawals another 4 will get seeded, which means that Benneteau, Baggy, Anderson and Troicki should get seeded now.

[LC the fan]

That could be useful - but there are some very dangerous players as floaters in the draw.
Still, i always think andy is better when he knows he has to concentrate from the beginning. Its the qualifiers and 100+ rankers that he sometimes takes for granted

[pabbers]

That could be useful - but there are some very dangerous players as floaters in the draw.
Still, i always think andy is better when he knows he has to concentrate from the beginning. Its the qualifiers and 100+ rankers that he sometimes takes for granted

I tend to feel the same way.

Busy limbering up for the sleeps on the sofa next week.

[Sallydaisy]

AO might have it's first withdrawal ... but this is NOT definite.

TENNIS.com ‏@tennis (https://twitter.com/tennis) John Isner may not play the Australian Open due to a bone bruise in his right knee.
More on the American's injury: http://ow.ly/gFRVr (http://t.co/ytV0CEuq)


There are others who might be in doubt having picked up various injuries in the first week of the year
Tipsarevic - elbow
Simon - back
Stepanek - ?
Nishikori - knee problem caused him to retire v Andy Murray in Brisbane
Zemlja - ret'd from match in Auckland this week
Bautista-Agut - ret'd R1 match in Sydney

[hfwardhouse]

Not good if they're dropping like flies at the start of the season! Although I sympathise with big John - hope it doesn't take him as long to come back from bone bruising as it has for me!

[daveollie]

Time for slam No. 2 Andy, Tiparevic in the 1/4, Federer in the semi if you're lucky. But probably be Del Potro and Djokovic, either way it's yours Andy.
:no worries:

[Sallydaisy]

John Isner has officially withdrawn from the Australian Open.
Article here in (http://www.tennisgrandstand.com/2013/01/09/john-isner-withdraws-from-australian-open-due-to-knee-injury/) Tennis Grandstand.


On Wednesday, top-seeded at the Sydney tournament, Isner went out to qualifier Ryan Harrison, 6-4 6-4, hinting at continued issues with his knee.

“I have been feeling some discomfort in my knee and have recently learned that I have a bone bruise,” Isner said. ”Doctors have told me that continuing to play on the knee could result in a more serious injury.”

[Linda]

Sorry for John, hope he's soon better.

[Sallydaisy]

For anyone asking if a player withdraws from the AO Entry List e.g. Isner
Now that the Qualifying Draw has commenced (removing a lot of the potential Alts from the Entry List) the Lucky Loser will be selected by a random draw amongst the 4 highest-ranked FQR losers.

[Jan62]

Loving the optimism! Definitely think it could really be his time to shine in Oz, even brighter than in previous years. BUT...... he would be the first player in the open era to win slam straight after his first slam win. None of the other greats - Fed, Rafa, Borg, McEnroe, Mr Lendl etc etc - managed to do that. Most won their first slam then had wait a while till their next. However, most were younger when they got their first slam and I do think Andy can do it. Would just be another sweet record for him. :thumbup:

[cazza99]

AO might have it's first withdrawal ... but this is NOT definite.

There are others who might be in doubt having picked up various injuries in the first week of the year
Tipsarevic - elbow
Simon - back
Stepanek - ?
Nishikori - knee problem caused him to retire v Andy Murray in Brisbane
Zemlja - ret'd from match in Auckland this week
Bautista-Agut - ret'd R1 match in Sydney

Hadn't some of these players already withdrawn? It could affect the seedings if some are announced late.

[Sallydaisy]

Hadn't some of these players already withdrawn? It could affect the seedings if some are announced late.
Nope. They've only retired from matches in Brisbane, Auckland, Chennai, Doha or Sydney.
The only official withdrawals from the AO Entry List are Nadal, Fish, Roddick, Nalbandian and Zopp (per the list in the first post of this thread) and now Isner (which I'm about to edit).

Everyone is currently IN until they say otherwise to the TD in Melbourne.

[Elenive]

Loving the optimism! Definitely think it could really be his time to shine in Oz, even brighter than in previous years. BUT...... he would be the first player in the open era to win slam straight after his first slam win. None of the other greats - Fed, Rafa, Borg, McEnroe, Mr Lendl etc etc - managed to do that. Most won their first slam then had wait a while till their next. However, most were younger when they got their first slam and I do think Andy can do it. Would just be another sweet record for him. :thumbup:

Need to add to that trophy cabinet :thumbup:

[JAMES4578]

Loving the optimism! Definitely think it could really be his time to shine in Oz, even brighter than in previous years. BUT...... he would be the first player in the open era to win slam straight after his first slam win. None of the other greats - Fed, Rafa, Borg, McEnroe, Mr Lendl etc etc - managed to do that. Most won their first slam then had wait a while till their next. However, most were younger when they got their first slam and I do think Andy can do it. Would just be another sweet record for him. :thumbup:


Need to add to that trophy cabinet :thumbup:

Whilst it is a tough ask to two slams in a row and Djokovic is probably the favourite, with the right attitude and game plan Andy certainly has every chance. Let's hope it goes Andy's way!:thumbup::cheer:

[Alis]

Is Sky covering the Aussie Open or is it only being show on ESPN and the Tennis Channel?

[Linda]

Latest betting:

Novak Djokovic 11/10
Andy Murray 5/2
Roger Federer 4/1
JMDP 14/1
David Ferrer 25/1
Tsonga, Berdych 33-1

Is this the first time that Andy has been above Fed in the odds?

[cazza99]

Is Sky covering the Aussie Open or is it only being show on ESPN and the Tennis Channel?

Eurosport. You'll also be able to get multiple channels on Eurosport player on-line.

[Alis]

Eurosport. You'll also be able to get multiple channels on Eurosport player on-line.

Thanks cazza.

[Sallydaisy]

Wish they'd cut the cackle and get on with the draw!!!
:grrr:

[lynne]

:laugh:He's to busy calling Victoria....Vickers.....eh!:laugh:

[supergran]

Where can I see the draw please?

[Sallydaisy]

Where can I see the draw please?
Nowhere just yet SG; they're still waffling in Melbourne.
Hang on and I'll find the AO website link for the livestream for you.

[supergran]

Nowhere just yet SG; they're still waffling in Melbourne.
Hang on and I'll find the AO website link for the livestream for you.Was relying on you!!:thumbup::skippy:

[Sallydaisy]

Supergran, and others, here is the link to the livestream age on the AO website.
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/video/live.draw.html

FYI they're now talking to Pat Cash!

[Manaus]

Bleh, women's draw being done but the picture is so small that you can't see the names. :(

[ljs]

https://www.youtube.com/user/australianopentv?v=jTTc-L4OVSo&feature=g-user-lsb

[RoastLamb]

I wish the commie would just stick to saying who's playing who in the first round. Terribly confusing as you can't see the board properly.

[Sallydaisy]

LADIES ROUND ONE

Laura Robson WR49, GBR, age 18 v. Melanie Oudin, WR84, USA, 21
Winner gets winner of Kvitova-Schiavone
:shocked:

Heather Watson WR47, GBR, age 20 v Alexandra Cadantu WR74, ROU, age 22

[Sallydaisy]

There is now a load more waffle going on. I'm watching Fleming/Soares doubles.
:p

Azarenka & Serena drawn into same half, Sharapova & Radwanska in the other.

WTA other R1 matches .....

Wozniacki v Lisicki

[Jane]

Andy in same section as Federer

[Sallydaisy]

The IBM machine has randomly placed the unseeded players ...

Here we go with the seeded players - sorry, can't catch all the information.

Seeds 1-8
Nole v Mathieu
Federer v Paire
Murray v Haase
Ferrer v
Berdych v Russell
Del Potro v Q
Tsonga v Llodra

Seeds 9-16
Monaco v Kuznetsov
Hewitt v Tipsarevic
Baghdatis v Ramos
Cilic v Marinko

[Sallydaisy]

Seeds 17-24

Querrey v
Verdasco v
Youzhny v Ebden
Janowicz v
Seppi v
Dolgopolov v Monfils
Haas v Nieminen
Kohlschreiber v Qualifier

[Sallydaisy]

Seeds 25-32

Stepanek v
Benneteau v Dimitrov
Granollers v
Mayer v WC Rhynne Williams
Belucci v
Klizan v

[Sallydaisy]

Tomic in Feds Quarter,

This system of drawing is useless, they need to show the drawsheet whilst waffling.

Federer v Paire in R1 and then possibly to play Davydenko.
:facepalm:

[JAMES4578]

Hasse not ideal opener as we know he can be tricky on his day,but hopefully Andy won't give us as many scares this time. Overall think it's pretty tough with Del Potro lurking too. However, sure Andy can rise to the challenge Maybe preferable to be in Fed's half's though. Think Laura and Heather have reasonable openers at least!

[Manaus]

Doing this quarter by quarter

Top left quarter

Djokovic[1] - Mathieu
Harrison - Giraldo
Qualifier - Lopez
Troicki - Stepanek[31]
Querrey[10] - Qualifier
Qualifier - Baker
Kamke - Cipolla
Qualifier - Wawrinka[15]
Monaco - Kuznetsov
Anderson - Lorenzi
Malisse - Andujar
Goffin - Verdasco[22]
Melzer[26] - Kukushkin
Fognini - Bautista Agut
Qualifier - Ruffin
Russell - Berdych

[Sallydaisy]

Argh! Can't believe Andy has got Robin Haase; bad memories of their last early round meeting.
Otherwise Andy has 7 winnable matches.
;)


Stuart Fraser ‏@stu_fraser (https://twitter.com/stu_fraser) Andy Murray’s Australian Open route – R1: Haase, R2: Sousa, R3: Mayer, R4:
Dolgopolov/Simon, QF: Del Potro, SF: Federer, F: Djokovic

[ljs]

think its a pretty good draw for Andy up to quarters

[Sallydaisy]

Delpo has to get to R4 first .........
;)

Summary from a forum member on twitter:-

Chris P ‏@scoobschris (https://twitter.com/scoobschris) So: Nole got the cupcake draw with sprinkles, Roger got the draw from hell.
Ferru's quarter is weak, Andy's is okay.

[supergran]

Off to bed now. Just hope Andy is firing on all cylinders against Haase. Bring it on.....can't wait!!! Go Andy!!:skippy::no worries:

[Manaus]

Bottom left quarter

Ferrer[4] - Rochus
Karlovic - Qualifier
Millman - Ito
Ramos - Baghdatis[28]
Youhnzy[23] - Ebden
Donskoy - Ungur
Qualifier - Berlocq
Hanescu - Nishikori[16]
Almagro[10] - Qualifier
Gimeno-Traver - Kubot
Phau - Devarrmann
Bollelli - Janowicz[24]
Benneteau[32] - Dimitrov
Roger-Vasselin - Qualifier
Lacko - Muller
Hewitt - Tipsarevic[8]

[Manaus]

Top right quarter

Del Potro[6] - Qualifier
Bedine - Becker
Chardy - Qualifier
Zemlja - Granollers[30]
Seppi[21] - Zeballos
Sijsling - Isomin
Garcia-Lopez - Qualifier
Matosevic - Cilic[12]
Simon[14] - Volandri
Robredo - Levine
Lu - Ramirez-Hidalgo
Monfils - Dolgopolov[18]
Mayer[25] - Williams
Qualifier - Stakhovsky
Sousa - Smith
Haase - Murray[3]

[Manaus]

Bottom right quarter

Tsonga[2] - Llodra
Soeda - Saville
Duckworth - Mitchell
Kavcic - Belluci[29]
Haas[19] - Nieminen
Dodig - Wu
Ouanna - Falla
Montanes - Gasquet[9]
Raonic[13] - Hajek
Qualifier - Rosol
Qualifier - Pella
Darcis - Kohlschreiber[17]
Klizan[27] - Qualifier
Tomic - Mayer
Qualifier - Davydenko
Paire - Federer[2]

[Manaus]

So the route to the title for Andy:

R1: Haase
R2: Joao Sousa or John Patrick Smith (WC)
R3: Florian Mayer[25]
R4: Gilles Simon[14] or Alexander Dolgopolov[18] or possible Monfils(unseeded)
QF: Del Potro[6] or Cilic[12]
SF: Federer
F: Djokovic

[Manaus]

Djoko's route:

R1: Mathieu
R2: Harrison or Giraldo
R3: Radek Stepanek[31]
R4: Sam Querrey[20] or Stanislas Wawrinka[15]
QF: Tomas Berdych[5]
SF: Ferrer[4]
F: Fed or Andy

Fed's route:

R1: Benoit Paire
R2: Davydenko
R3: Martin Klizan[27]
R4: Milos Raonic[13]
QF:Tsonga[7]
SF: Andy
F: Djoko

[Linda]

Andy is in Federer's half! :cheer:

Funny to think that is something to cheer about now; a few years ago Fed would have been the one to avoid.

[Jennan]

Pleased Andy is in Fed's half, I will worry about round 1, and very wary of Delpo. Unusual Federer got a harder draw this time. However dare say there will be a few surprising results along the way.

[harriet]

tsonga can beat fedX, has done from time to time - and tsonga has played in the final here too - djo's first slam i think, when he knocked andy out in first round

[Golden Lady]

I'm very optimistic about Andy's draw, I certainly think it's ok and he's had much worse let's face it. The seeded quarter final (if it works out) would be very interesting. I know Andy hasn't played Potty for over 3 years but Andy has a great record against him and I've always felt that Andy's game really frustrates him. Round 1 will be a good match to get out of the way and I know Andy will certainly rise to the challenge. Andy's not the same player he was in 2011!

[Elenive]

Very happy to see Andy in Feds half, little wary of Potty though, glad to see Nole has Berdy and Fed has Tsonga, would have been annoying if they had Tipsy in their quater

[Linda]

There are some difficult matchups in R1 - matches where I would like to see both players progress further than R1, such as Monfils/Dolly or Hewitt/Tipsy or Benneteau/Dimitrov. Whereas you also get two Aussie wild cards drawn against each other - so one of them is guaranteed to progress to R2. Could be a few seeds going out in R1.

[david1610]

All in all I think I would have taken that. There are people I definitely wanted Andy to avoid early on. Yes Andy has got a tricky first round match, and if he is not on song at the outset he could struggle for the first set or two before he imposes himself but in the long run that might not be a bad thing. Better to lose a set to Haase than some qualifier.

Del Potro is a worry, but as has already been mentioned, he has to get there first. The only time I have ever seen Andy play was losing to del Potro a few years ago in Madrid and what was frightening was he seemed to serve better and better as the match went on, so became more and more difficult to break. I would not put money on him strolling through to the QF though, so a bridge to be crossed when it comes.

I personally feel there is a very strong chance of a Milos v. Andy SF if all goes to plan on Andy's side of the draw. I certainly think if Roger does get through to the semi he might have had quite a bit of the stuffing knocked out of him by then - to me this is a new paradigm - for whatever reason in the past, he strolled along to his semi -now he has to fight to get there and it will take its toil - which is why I think Milos might get him along the way.

Very importantly, I hope Andy gets his share of night matches, and he plays the less troublesome matches in the heat of the day.

Good luck Andy!

[Sallydaisy]

A short sharp summary of where we are in the AO.

Piers Newbery ‏@piersnewbery (https://twitter.com/piersnewbery) Overnight @AustralianOpen (https://twitter.com/AustralianOpen) basics - Murray to play Haase, Watson-Cadantu, Robson-Oudin,
Baker & Ward into qualifying R3, Konta out. Hot.

And news on the OOP ...

Piers Newbery ‏@piersnewbery (https://twitter.com/piersnewbery) .@andy_murray (https://twitter.com/andy_murray) & @laurarobson5 (https://twitter.com/laurarobson5) to play on Tuesday @AustralianOpen (https://twitter.com/AustralianOpen), @HeatherWatson92 (https://twitter.com/HeatherWatson92) on Monday. Schedule out by 6am UK on Saturday.

[Jan62]

Well I have seen worse draws for Andy. Haase could be a tricky customer to overcome in R1 but I'm fully confident that Andy will be able to deal with him. A match with DelPo in the QF would be interesting and could be highly entertaining (although might give rise to a lot of hiding behind the sofa and definitely calls for wine to see us through). Fed in the SF and and Nole in the final would be just fine!

SO excited for play to get started, just not sure how I am going to squeeze in actually seeing any of the action, given that I do need to sleep at night and go to work in the day.

Good luck to Andy for Tuesday.

[Sallydaisy]

There's some photos here (http://www.gettyimages.ca/Search/Search.aspx?EventId=158742637&EditorialProduct=Sport)of the AO Player Party arrivals ......

Nice one of James Ward and AnneK (http://cache3.asset-cache.net/gp/159301555.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=3&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QXYhTECs3GCAuOwG%2bvs0tItPCw 7sUrQ5fBFKPcluM4Vb)
Heather Watson (http://cache3.asset-cache.net/gp/159303353.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=3&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QRXXmUs9brsdwC9rB%2bJUQBKFLJ C33m81CRLYHs78lQ%2fo)

[hfwardhouse]

Jamie has just put up on facebook that he's playing with Flembo :cheer:

[Linda]

Hooray! :cheer:

[lynne]

Jamie has just put up on facebook that he's playing with Flembo :cheer:



Australian Open 2013


883

[JAMES4578]

Good news,though had heard that already.

[Sallydaisy]

Jamie has just put up on facebook that he's playing with Flembo :cheer:
erm, the Forum knew before Facebook did ...
:whistle:

I posted up the Doubles Entry List on the 8th January here. (http://www.andymurrayfanforum.com/forums/showthread.php?1565-AUSTRALIAN-OPEN-GRAND-SLAM-14-27-Jan-2013-Tournament-information-%28locked-thread%29&p=116395&viewfull=1#post116395)

[AussieAndyFan]

So, so close now!!

[scrapaddict]

Well done Jamie Baker for getting into the main draw. Interestingt that he now plays Lukas Rosol, pseudo conqueror of Nadal

[JAMES4578]

Fab Baker qualified,will be interesting to see how he does against Rosol.

[supergran]

Excellent news re Jamie Baker.....wish him all the best.

[nolesfan2011]

I think he is partially lucky that he got Fed, in that Fed is gonna have a brutal draw in route to the semis, that may wear him down some.. Paire, Davydenko, Tomic, Kohlschreiber/Raonic are all tough customers at the moment.

Murray meanwhile gets an out of form Haase, should have no issues with Smith/Sousa, Berankis in the 3rd round could be tricky, but he is a streaky young player, meanwhile he has beaten Dolgo before and shouldn't have much issue (same with out of form Simon or quasi injured Monfils). Del Po could cause trouble.. but again he is a bit more inconsistent than Andy.. so yea he has a good shot at winning in the semis, but Djokovic, who has kind of a cupcake draw, is gonna be formidable in the final.


I'm very optimistic about Andy's draw, I certainly think it's ok and he's had much worse let's face it. The seeded quarter final (if it works out) would be very interesting. I know Andy hasn't played Potty for over 3 years but Andy has a great record against him and I've always felt that Andy's game really frustrates him. Round 1 will be a good match to get out of the way and I know Andy will certainly rise to the challenge. Andy's not the same player he was in 2011!

[harmans]

Pleased Andy is in Fed's half, I will worry about round 1, and very wary of Delpo. Unusual Federer got a harder draw this time. However dare say there will be a few surprising results along the way.

some people are taking federer very lightly hmm..:i hope andy and fed meets in sf
:dance:
...Though hell of a draw for mr Federer

[Sallydaisy]

There's only one British player in action on Day 1:-

Heather is 3rd (after midnight GMT) on Court 13, so probably 3 or 4 am in the UK.
I don't know if this court is televised.
Does anyone have any TV coverage information please?

[AussieAndyFan]

There's only one British player in action on Day 1:-

Heather is 3rd (after midnight GMT) on Court 13, so probably 3 or 4 am in the UK.
I don't know if this court is televised.
Does anyone have any TV coverage information please?

I believe that's the court we will be at for Alize Cornet's game which is 2nd on.

It is one of the bigger outside courts with a big Grandstand, but I don't believe they televise games from there. Could be wrong though.

[Sallydaisy]

Thanks Shane! Hope Alize comes through for you - am sure she'll appreciate the cheers!!!
I've asked on a couple of boards to find out which courts ARE televised.
Obviously it'll be RLA, MCA and Hisense but usually at Slams there are 2 or 3 others that are covered by TV.

Hope you guys have a fantastic time - say hiya to Judy for us when you see her!

[cazza99]

Which letter will you be this year Shane? Y?

[Katie]

Thanks Shane! Hope Alize comes through for you - am sure she'll appreciate the cheers!!!
I've asked on a couple of boards to find out which courts ARE televised.
Obviously it'll be RLA, MCA and Hisense but usually at Slams there are 2 or 3 others that are covered by TV.

Hope you guys have a fantastic time - say hiya to Judy for us when you see her!

I think the other televised courts are courts 2, 3, 6, and 8.

[Linda]

Well, I've just subscribed to the Eurosport Player. I hope they show the matches I want to see this time - last time they only showed the women's matches and some matches of the lower ranked men, but none of the top men's matches, so I complained and got my money back.

[Jan62]

Well done Jamie Baker for getting into the main draw. Interestingt that he now plays Lukas Rosol, pseudo conqueror of Nadal

So happy for Jamie B, he has worked so hard after a torrid couple of years and I really hope 2013 will see him rising in the rankings again. He trained with Andy in Miami in December so hopefully Andy and team helped him. Rosol in R1 will be a tough match, but Jamie should be feeling full of confidence after getting through 3 rounds of qualies - and Donald young is no slouch.

And just realised that it means Scotland has 4 players in the main draw at a Slam! Andy, Jamie B in singles and Colin & Jamie M in the doubles. Who would ever have thought it?:dance:

[cazza99]

And just realised that it means Scotland has 4 players in the main draw at a Slam! Andy, Jamie B in singles and Colin & Jamie M in the doubles. Who would ever have thought it?:dance:

There may even be an all Scottish Davis Cup team for the next tie.

[Jane]

There may even be an all Scottish Davis Cup team for the next tie.

Magic!!:dance::thumbup:

[cazza99]

Jonathan Overend ‏@5livetennis

Day One: Australian Open!!! Updates on 5 Live from 1030pm, uninterupted tennis from 6am including the return of Tennis Breakfast...

[david1610]

I believe that's the court we will be at for Alize Cornet's game which is 2nd on.

It is one of the bigger outside courts with a big Grandstand, but I don't believe they televise games from there. Could be wrong though.
Hope you enjoy every second of the tourney Shane! You guys are living legends to the Andy Murray Community. If you can stay and support Heather, even better!

Have a good one!

PS And a reminder to myself. Local Melbourne time is.... take UK time, change p.m. to a.m. (or a.m. to p.m). Add one hour to starting time of a match e.g. match starts 11 o'clock Melbourne = 12:00 UK time.

Say it enough times David and you just might remember.....

[cazza99]

I have just subscribed to eurosport player for the tournament and they are covering

British Eurosport 1
British Eurosport 2
Rod Laver arena
Hisense arena
Margaret Court arena
Court 2
Court 3
Court 6
Court 8

[david1610]

I have just subscribed to eurosport player for the tournament and they are covering

British Eurosport 1
British Eurosport 2
Rod Laver arena
Hisense arena
Margaret Court arena
Court 2
Court 3
Court 6
Court 8
Oh well... Heather is on court 13. Preceded on the same court by her playing partner.
I just looked through the OOP. Anyone think there is a remote chance of Michael Russel causing an upset and defeating Birdy?
PS And first on that untelevised court is Benneteau (seeded 32) and Dimitrov..... that would be a very watchable match and I can see five sets written all over that.

[Linda]

Yes, I wish I could watch Benneteau v Dimitrov!

[scooter]

They will meet in the semi, that's if they both make it through....

[xenon21]

I think he is partially lucky that he got Fed, in that Fed is gonna have a brutal draw in route to the semis, that may wear him down some.. Paire, Davydenko, Tomic, Kohlschreiber/Raonic are all tough customers at the moment.

Murray meanwhile gets an out of form Haase, should have no issues with Smith/Sousa, Berankis in the 3rd round could be tricky, but he is a streaky young player, meanwhile he has beaten Dolgo before and shouldn't have much issue (same with out of form Simon or quasi injured Monfils). Del Po could cause trouble.. but again he is a bit more inconsistent than Andy.. so yea he has a good shot at winning in the semis, but Djokovic, who has kind of a cupcake draw, is gonna be formidable in the final.

True... Federer has probably got one of the toughest draws he has had in a GS or at lest recently
Delpo will be a toughie for Andy but hopefully Andy will have built up momentum by then

[Hawkeye]

Heather looking like dropping the first set at 2-5*

[JAMES4578]

Unfortunately Heather drops the first 6-2 and down a break at 2-1 in the 2nd. Now with it all to do here! Tight match with Youzhny and Ebden but the Russian now up 4-2 in the decider.

[Jan]

ah, just posted on Hev's thread!

Hev 5-3 up in second.

MTO earlier for Hev, plus ITO for her opponent.

Come on Hev - hope she can start to feel better and get through this.

edit: 3sp for Hev

first one gone with df

YES set to Hev 6-3 :cheer: come on Hev!!!!

[banskogirl]

Come Hev :) 5-2!

[banskogirl]

Did anyone see jerzy's look at the bananas they gave him, looked like he agrees with Andy, useless fruit!

[lynne]

Well done Heather....good fight back....2-6, 6-3, 6-2 :boogie:

[banskogirl]

And she did it, well done Heather!

[Alis]

Well done Heather - onwards and upwards!!!

[banskogirl]

Off to work now! Enjoy the rest of the matches everyone :)

[pabbers]

Great news - well done Hev!!

[Caro]

That's great news for heather froma set and a break down!

Was watching Youzhny v Mat Ebden before I left for work. Ebden was 2 sets to 1 up and had a MP then dropped the 4th set. I fear her may have lost his chance. Did anyone see the end??

[Sallydaisy]

I didn't see it but Youzhny came through 4'6, 6'7, 6'2, 7'6, 6'3.

22 other Mens Singles results so far today:-
Djokovic d Mathieu
Verdasco d Goffin
Berdych d Russell
Kuznetsov d Monaco
Almagro d Johnson

Berlocq d Authom
Nishikori d Hanescu
Wawrinka d Stebe
Melzer d Kukushkin
Harrison d Giraldo

Donskoy d Ungur
Devvarman d Phau
ERV d Bemelmans
Lopez d Brugues
Benneteau d Dimitrov (in straights - lol)

Rufin d Reister
Malisse d Andujar
Smyczek d Karlovic
Baker d Bogomolov
Gimeno-Traver d Kubot

Kamke d Cipolla
Youzhny d Ebden

[Caro]

Thanks Sally. Shame, I like Ebden.

[cazza99]

Jonathan Overend ‏@5livetennis

Andy Murray commentary on 5 Live tonight. Midnight start. (Here in Oz we need to finish Day1 first and maybe get some zzzzs)

[Sallydaisy]

FULL RESULTS - in draw order (so you can check your Pick'ems!)

Djokovic d Mathieu
Harrison d Giraldo
Lopez d Brugues
Stepanek d Troicki

Querrey d Munoz de la Nava
Baker d Bogomolov
Kamke d Cipolla
Wawrinka d Stebe

Kuznetsov d Monaco
Anderson d Lorenzi
Malisse d Andujar
Verdasco d Goffin

Melzer d Kukushkin
Bautista-Agut d Fognini
Rufin d Reister
Berdych d Russell

Ferrer d Rochus
Smyczek d Karlovic
Ito d Millman
Baghdatis d Ramos

Youzhny d Ebden
Donskoy d Ungur
Berlocq d Authom
Nishikori d Hanescu

Almagro d Johnson
Gimeno-Traver d Kubot
Devvarman d Phau
Janowicz d Bolelli


Benneteau d Dimitrov (in straights - lol)
Roger-Vasselin d Bemelmans
Lacko d Muller
Tipsarevic d Hewitt

[cazza99]

Neil Harman ‏@NeilHarmanTimes

It is one of those cloudless Melbourne mornings, a top of 29C forecast so it's going to be warm work today for Andy, Jamie and Laura

[Linda]

The pick'em on the AO site won't let me log in :grrr:

[Sallydaisy]

Seppi leads Zeballos by 2 sets, as does Rynne Williams v FloMayer.
Istomin v Sijsling 1-1,
Berankis serving 5-6 in 2nd, leads Stak by a set
Kavcic leads Bellucci by 6'3, 4'1 and serving.

Jao Sousa leads WC Smith 6'4, 4'1. Winner to play Andy Murray or Robin Haase.

[hfwardhouse]

Jamie B lost in straights 7-6 7-5 6-2 :crying: :crying:

[JAMES4578]

Yes a disappointment for Jamie B as he served for 1st 2 sets against Rosol Still a decent performance.

[Jan]

What a shame - Jamie did so well to come through qualifying. But a promising start to the year - hope he can keep up the good work!

[Linda]

This should be a great match - Monfils v Dolly! Shame I have got to go to work so can't watch it :sad:

[Sallydaisy]

Jamie B lost in straights 7-6 7-5 6-2 :crying: :crying:

Yes a disappointment for Jamie B as he served for 1st 2 sets against Rosol
Awwww, what a shame - especially since those first 2 sets could have gone either way.
:sad:

Still, he's had a decent run through qualifying, picked up some points to lift his ranking and perhaps that'll give him a boost to now go for Challenger places (instead of Futures) where the money/points are better all round.

[hfwardhouse]

He was up 5-2 in the 2nd when I got up and then when I checked the score he'd lost the set :sad:

Hopefully lots to build on for the new season!

[Sallydaisy]

2nd Half results so far today - there's a few Pick'em mess ups here methinks!!!

(6)Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) vs (q) Adrian Mannarino
Aljaz Bedene (SLO) vs Benjamin Becker (GER)
Jeremy Chardy (FRA) vs (q) Menendez-Maceiras
Grega Zemlja (SLO) vs (30)Marcel Granollers (ESP)
(21)Andreas Seppi (ITA) vs Horacio Zeballos (ARG)
Igor Sijsling (NED) vs Denis Istomin (UZB)
Guillermo Garcia Lopez (ESP) vs (q) Rajeev Ram
Marinko Matosevic (AUS) vs (12)Marin Cilic (CRO)

(14)Gilles Simon (FRA) vs Filippo Volandri (ITA)
Tommy Robredo (ESP) vs Jesse Levine (CAN)
Yen Hsun Lu (TPE) vs Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP)
Gael Monfils (FRA) vs (18)Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 3'2*
(25)Florian Mayer (GER) vs (WC)Rhyne Williams (USA)
(q) Ricardas Berankis vs Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)
Joao Sousa (POR) vs (WC)John Patrick Smith (AUS)
Robin Haase (NED) vs (3)Andy Murray (GBR)
------------------------------------------------------------
(7)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs Michael Llodra (FRA)
Go Soeda (JPN) vs (WC)Luke Saville (AUS)
(WC)James Duckworth (AUS) vs (WC)Benjamin Mitchell (AUS)
Blaz Kavcic (SLO) vs (29)Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)
(19)Tommy Haas (GER) vs Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)
Ivan Dodig (CRO) vs (WC)Di Wu (CHN)
(WC)Josselin Ouanna (FRA) vs Alejandro Falla (COL)
Albert Montanes (ESP) vs(9)Richard Gasquet (FRA)

(13)Milos Raonic (CAN) vs Jan Hajek (CZE)
(q) Jamie Baker vs Lukas Rosol (CZE)
(q) Philip Weintraub vs Guido Pella (ARG)
Steve Darcis (BEL) vs (17)Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)
(27)Martin Klizan (SVK) vs (q) D Brands
Bernard Tomic (AUS) vs Leonardo Mayer (ARG)
(q) Dudi Sela vs Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)
Benoit Paire (FRA) vs (2)Roger Federer (SUI)

[Caro]

Work - I hate you :grrr: Wish I could watch Monfils v Dolly :sad:

[Elenive]

Didn't notice it before, but just glancing again at the draw above, Tsonga vs Gasquet would be an interesting match up in the 4th round, I would really love to see that, hope they both get though (no reason why they shouldn't looking at their opponents and the fact that Tommy Haas has been knocked out!)

[xenon21]

Gutted for Jamie B but a great win for Laura1 :) Real solid! :)

[Sallydaisy]

Work - I hate you :grrr: Wish I could watch Monfils v Dolly :sad:
You'd need some sort of sedation if you were hoping Monfils would win; he's just been broken serving for the match at *5-2 in the 4th set.

EDIT: Dolly over and out; LaMonf breaks to win the match 6'7, 7'6, 6'3, 6'3.
Did anyone have him to win in their Pick'em?

[lynne]

Just caught the end of the Monfils match. Monfils won 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3...looked a good match so look forward to the re-run& a good display from "Shane & the Andy Boys" with their "GAEL" singlets.....well done lads!!!:thumbup:

[cazza99]

You'd need some sort of sedation if you were hoping Monfils would win; he's just been broken serving for the match at *5-2 in the 4th set.

EDIT: Dolly over and out; LaMonf breaks to win the match 6'7, 7'6, 6'3, 6'3.
Did anyone have him to win in their Pick'em?

Maybe we should call Monfils a MEG, a GEM gone backwards. I had Dolly down to meet Andy later.

[Caro]

You'd need some sort of sedation if you were hoping Monfils would win; he's just been broken serving for the match at *5-2 in the 4th set.

I like them both but thought Monfils would probably win. He just has more weapons doesn't he?

[jaysee]

You'd need some sort of sedation if you were hoping Monfils would win; he's just been broken serving for the match at *5-2 in the 4th set.

EDIT: Dolly over and out; LaMonf breaks to win the match 6'7, 7'6, 6'3, 6'3.
Did anyone have him to win in their Pick'em?
Yes, quite a few of us (Hawkeye, Jambon, Manaus amongst others) have LaMonf beating Simon in R3!:sofa:

[Linda]

Really sad that Dolly is out :sad: although I like Monfils too. It was such rotten luck that they were drawn against each other in the first round.

[JAMES4578]

It was a tough draw but prefer Monfils and glad he came through, looks like it was an entertaining match!

[banskogirl]

Most annoyed I had recorded this match only to find Eurosport switched channels after 2nd set! Really glad Gael got the win :)

[RoastLamb]

Very entertaining match between Dolly and Monfils. I like both of them so was neutral but so much flair. Too bad one had to lose. It's been really weird seeing 90% of the players wearing yellow and white. Milos had on a really GHASTLY outfit with green slashes and a different shade green shoes - bilious!

[david1610]

Very very interesting OOP today - Laura is last on Margaret Court in the evening. They must be anticipating a humdinger.
Quite an honour really!

[Sallydaisy]

Very very interesting OOP today - Laura is last on Margaret Court in the evening. They must be anticipating a humdinger.
Quite an honour really!

That could make it easier for those in Europe and the UK to watch too!
Federer will probably despatch Davydenko in 3 sets (H2H (http://tennis.matchstat.com/Compare/19/568/7205) is 17-2) and 2hrs so Laura to start approximately 21.00 in Melbourne which is 10.00 in the UK.

[Sallydaisy]

A lot of other forums are speculating as to whether a resurgent Davydenko could catch Federer on the hop in their R2 match (and Bernard Tomic would be delighted ...).

Federer has a 17-2 H2H (http://tennis.matchstat.com/Compare/19/568/7205) over Davydenko which is impressive by any standards!
They've met twice at the Australian Open, at the Quarter-Final stage in 2006 and 2010.
Both matches went to 4 sets but apart from that Federer has won in straights.



2006 ATP Aus Open (http://tennis.matchstat.com/Event/3765) (AUS)
Roger Federer (http://tennis.matchstat.com/Player/Roger Federer)
Nikolay Davydenko (http://tennis.matchstat.com/Player/Nikolay Davydenko)
6-4 3-6 7-6(7) 7-6(5)
1/4




2010 ATP Aus Open (http://tennis.matchstat.com/Event/7205) (AUS)

Roger Federer (http://tennis.matchstat.com/Player/Roger Federer)
Nikolay Davydenko (http://tennis.matchstat.com/Player/Nikolay Davydenko)
2-6 6-3 6-0 7-5
1/4




Davydenko has come into this event in strong form but it did take him 13 attempts to notch up a win against the #1, finally achieving this in the RR sessions of the 2009 ATP WTF in London (which he subsequently won). Davy followed it up with a win over Federer next time they met at the 2010 Doha event in the Semi-Final. Then Fed beat him in Oz.

[Linda]

Djoko has nearly played his whole match in the time it took for Nando to play the third set.

[Sallydaisy]

Lacko has levelled the match against Tipsarevic. 2 sets all and now 2 games all in the 5th.

[Linda]

against Tipsy, you mean. Tipsy now receiving treatment - hamstring?

[Sallydaisy]

against Tipsy, you mean. Tipsy now receiving treatment - hamstring?
Yes, against Tipsy. Not watching it as trying to work so following on livescores.
He pulled out of Kooyong didn't he? So maybe not quite fit enough to cope with a 5-setter?

[Linda]

Drama. Lacko serving on match point to Tipsy. Called out. Hawkeye shows it's in. But on replaying the point, Tipsy wins it anyway. That match could have gone either way right up to the last point.

[pabbers]

Davydenko has come into this event in strong form but it did take him 13 attempts to notch up a win against the #1, finally achieving this in the RR sessions of the 2009 ATP WTF in London

I was there and shouting my head off for Davydenko - drowned out as you might imagine by the oppo!

[RoastLamb]

I see Andy's on second which is a bummer for me coz no tv coverage for four hours into the day. Livestream yet again. Wish he'd get the night match.

Watched all of Sam Stosur's match and very disheartened to see her lose when she was up a break in the third.

[Hawkeye]

I was there and shouting my head off for Davydenko - drowned out as you might imagine by the oppo!It was the semis because I was there too!

[pabbers]

It was the semis because I was there too!

Yes I thought it was - in fact I even thought it had been the final.

[Hawkeye]

He beat DelPo in the final IIRC...

[cazza99]

thetennisspace ‏@thetennisspace

Janowicz goes nuts! Video. http://www.thetennisspace.com/video/

[RoastLamb]

I watched the first three sets of the Jerzey-Somdev match and he was behaving OTT. I thought he might even physically hurt the female umpire.

[banskogirl]

He even over reacted when they gave him a bruised banana a few days ago!

[Madeline]

thetennisspace ‏@thetennisspace

Stupid clot. It was very close, I thought it looked in - I could be wrong but it was so close there is no way an Umpire can over-rule a call on the far line when it is so close. He needs anger-management classes.

[RoastLamb]

Woo hoo! Milos beats the dude who last played Rafa 7-6 6-2 6-3. :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

[Sallydaisy]

Woo hoo! Milos beats the dude who last played Rafa 7-6 6-2 6-3. :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:
Rosol hasn't quite matched anything like his play on that day when he beat Rafa.
;)

[Sallydaisy]

A-tomic has just broken Brands (who had AD at one point for the game to lead 6-5) and will serve for the 2nd set at *6-5 himself.

[Sallydaisy]

Quick round-up before I go back to bed ...

Through to R3:-
Kohlschreiber, Berankis and Tsonga join Murray and Raonic in R3, all of them winning in straights.
No-one wants to be out in that heat any longer than necessary!
Seppi bucked the trend and took 5 sets (4hrs) to beat Istomin 7'6, 6'7, 6'7, 7'6, 6'2. Nutter.

Matches in progress:-
Tomic leads 6'7(4), 7'5, 7'6(3), 3-3 vs Brands
Cilic leads 7'5, 1-1 vs Rajeev Ram
Kavcic leads 3'6, 6'3, 6'4, 6'7(3), 2-1 vs WC Duckworth
Levine leads *5'2 vs Simon
Chardy leads 6'3, 1-3 vs Granollers

To Play:-
Federer v Davydenko
Lu v Monfils
Del Potro v Becker
Gasquet v Falla
Nieminen v Dodig

[Sallydaisy]

Still awake ... Jamie Murray will be on 5live Sports Extra today.

DavidLaw ‏@DavidLawTennis (https://twitter.com/DavidLawTennis) Tennis Breakfast on air on @BBC5LSX (https://twitter.com/BBC5LSX) with special guest @jamie_murray (https://twitter.com/jamie_murray).
Thrilling matches everywhere. #Federer (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Federer&src=hash), #Robson (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Robson&src=hash) vs. #Kvitova (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Kvitova&src=hash) to come.

[Sallydaisy]

R3: Fedex v Atomic. Game on ...


Australian Open ‏@AustralianOpen (https://twitter.com/AustralianOpen) #Federer (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Federer&src=hash) on playing #Tomic (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Tomic&src=hash): "It's a similar situation as last year. Just a round earlier.
Nice to see Bernard playing better." #AusOpen (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AusOpen&src=hash)


:laugh:

[Elenive]

Fed vs Tomic match on Saturday should be interesting for Feds fanbase in Australia

[Sallydaisy]

I hadn't known Kavcic needed treatment for a whole body cramp after his match today against Australian Jack Duckworth ...

Stuart Fraser ‏@stu_fraser (https://twitter.com/stu_fraser) Respect. MT @cbfowler (https://twitter.com/cbfowler) This is the Winner of a 5 hr match in 104 degree heat.
Blaz Kavcic after a full body cramp.


From his Facebook:

VAMOOO!!! win after 5 hours on 40 degrees.. collapse afterwards, but morphine works well, i feel happy http://imgsrv2.tennisuniverse.com/mtf/images/smilies/smile.gif)

[supergran]

I was there and shouting my head off for Davydenko - drowned out as you might imagine by the oppo!I was there when he beat Federer and shouted my head off also. Loved it especially seeing all the disappointed fans around me.:yahoo::boogie:

[harmans]

Brace yourself to see mighty Federer crushng overrated kangaroo :dance:

[Linda]

I think you may be right, harmans. It would be nice to see either Tomic or (preferably) Raonic give him a bit of a fright, though it looks like it will be up to Andy to stop him.

[harmans]

I think you may be right, harmans. It would be nice to see either Tomic or (preferably) Raonic give him a bit of a fright, though it looks like it will be up to Andy to stop him.

Tomic does not look like that he can beat federer..Raonic or murray, off course are threats

[david1610]

I think Milos needs to serve lights out and put out any feelings of intimidation about Roger to have any chance. Having said that, I was worried about Raonic when Andy played him in a slam, but Andy did a wonderfully professional job of containing him and that really is the match to go to for clues as to how to beat Milos - though it involves being able to return pretty well!

[banskogirl]

Hi everyone :) didn't get to stay up for Andy yesterday as knew I had to be up at 4 this a.m. to get daughter off to uni. She is travelling from Stranraar to Penrith today in this weather! Anyway I saw this wee poem today and though it was appropriate for us! We could change 'cats' for 'Andy fans'


Cats Sleep Anywhere
Cats sleep anywhere, any table, any chair.
Top of piano, window-ledge, in the middle, on the edge.
Open draw, empty shoe, anybody's lap will do.
Fitted in a cardboard box, in the cupboard with your frocks.
Anywhere! They don't care! Cats sleep anywhere.

Eleanor Farjeon (1881 - 1965)


I slept for over an hour in the car in tesco car park yesterday while waiting for daughter to meet me. Thought I should grab it whilst I could!

[david1610]

Interesting that in the top half of the draw that has already played the 3rd round, 7 of the 8 players through have justified their ranking. The only acception Juan Monaco who was knocked out in the first round. All 8 of the top sixteen seeds in the other half of the draw are still in with a chance of qualifying for the last 16.

[RoastLamb]

That was kind of a boring day of tennis but it was saved by me able to watch some of the doubles matches in bed. The only singles match of interest was Djoko vs Steppy and that's only coz Steppy was very entertaining. Looking forward to tonite.

PS I don't think Milos stands a chance against Federer. I don't even think he'll get past Kohli. Federer all the way to the semi. He's looked outstanding this tournament (of course, he's fresh so why wouldn't he?). But I think Djoko and Andy all look just as good, if not slightly better.

[banskogirl]

I had recorded Jurgen and Berd but was hoping for a shock, it didn't happen off course:/

[cazza99]

Eurosport UK TV ‏@EurosportUKTV

We will be showing the @laurarobson5 (BE2) and Andy Murray (BE1) matches live and in full tomorrow AM. Coverage starts @ 2am. @BritishTennis

[banskogirl]

I take it this means to talk before hand? Andy wouldn't start as early as 2am would he?

[cazza99]

I take it this means to talk before hand? Andy wouldn't start as early as 2am would he?

It will depend on how long the ladie's matches take before him. It could easily be 3 or 4 when he gets on court.

[banskogirl]

It will depend on how long the ladie's matches take before him. It could easily be 3 or 4 when he gets on court.

Yes that's what I thought, just wondered why Eurosport were advertising beginning from 2am
Thanks

[Sallydaisy]

Yes that's what I thought, just wondered why Eurosport were advertising beginning from 2am
Thanks
Would the 02.00hrs be CET European time? Which is 03.00 GMT in the UK?
Eurosport do this quite often and when people look up coverage times they assume that it means UK times when in fact it's for mainland Europe.

[banskogirl]

Could be Sally ;) think I will set record for 2am if it shows that and set my alarm for 3! It's easy to catch up during breaks etc. If I'm not on here then I've slept through the alarm!!

[Linda]

I've set my alarm for 2.45.

[Hawkeye]

Would the 02.00hrs be CET European time? Which is 03.00 GMT in the UK?
Eurosport do this quite often and when people look up coverage times they assume that it means UK times when in fact it's for mainland Europe.Other way around Sally!

[Sallydaisy]

Other way around Sally!
Oops, so it is. 02.00 CET is 01.00 here.
That messes up that theory then.
:doh:

[cazza99]

This estimate looks a bit more realistic

Piers Newbery ‏@piersnewbery

Morning/evening, another cooler day here around 22C (sorry Britain). Estimated time of Murray - 3.32am, Estimated time of Robson - 5.14am.

[Sallydaisy]

This estimate looks a bit more realistic

Piers Newbery ‏@piersnewbery
Wishful thinking more like ...
;)
... predicting the length of WTA matches is a seriously non-exact science!!!
As for Cilic v Seppi - it might as well be the muppet show!!!

[Sallydaisy]

Gasquet is through to R4 after beating Ivan Dodig in 4 sets.

Del Potro, already 2 sets down, is serving at *3-4 after Chardy held his serve.

[Sallydaisy]

Chardy just held to love again for 5-4 in the 3rd set; DelPotro to serve to stay in the match.
Cilic and Seppi are one set apiece.

[Sallydaisy]

Chardy holds to 15 to lead 6-5 in the 3rd set. If DelPo holds it'll be a tie-break. The Frenchman might rue his missed chance to break the Argentinian earlier in the set because he could still come back to win this.

[Linda]

DelPo takes the 3rd set on a TB

[Hawkeye]

Delpo wins the tie-break, and Cilic goes 2-1 up.

[Sallydaisy]

DelPo takes the 3rd set 7'6(3) but is still 1-2 in sets to Jeremy Chardy.
Come on the Frenchman!
:swingin:

[traveller7]

DelPotro has a mountain to climb to get through his match

[Sallydaisy]

Tsonga off to a good start; has broken Kavcic already and held his own serve for 3-1.

Delpo 2-1 on serve; he's got the advantage in the 4th set by serving first.
Hope Chardy can keep holding and get an early break in this set.

[traveller7]

DelPotro leveled score 2 sets all

[Linda]

Tsonga now up 6-2 4-1. He's the only seeded player to be having an easy match tonight (so far).

[Sallydaisy]

Seppi has just levelled the match again at 2-2 against Cilic.
They're keeping Laura waiting!
:grrr:

[Linda]

At least her match hasn't clashed with Andy's, so we can watch them both - if we can stay awake.

[Hawkeye]

Cilic up a break in the fifth set.

[Sallydaisy]

Tsonga now leads Kavcic 6'2, 6'1.
Cilic has an early break in the 5th set against Seppi and is serving at 2'0.
Chardy 2-2 v DelPo and going with serve.

[Hawkeye]

Seppi breaks back so still time for Andy to finish before Laura comes on!

[Hawkeye]

And now it's Seppi up a break!

[Sallydaisy]

Yes! Chardy gets the break and will serve for the match against DelP

[Sallydaisy]

Seppi serving for the match at 5-2.

[Sallydaisy]

Chardy has beaten Del Potro!