Sallydaisy
17-01-2013, 04:44
For those who weren't able to get up in the middle of the night .....
Andy came on court to win this as quickly as possible and conserve energy in the heat. He produced confident and positive tennis to dominate the match throughout giving Sousa NO breakpoint chances and mostly keeping the points short.
The 1st set set the tone for the rest of the match. Andy broke Joao in the 3rd game for a 2-1 lead before holding off a challenge on his own serve with a brilliant backhand pass and then making another love break to go ahead 4-1. A couple more service games and set in the bag 6'2 in just half an hour.
The 2nd set seemed to be heading for a bagel after Andy broke Sousa twice to forge a 4-0 lead but the Portuguese player produced some better play to hold his serve, as did Andy who went on to win the set 6'2.
Play in the 3rd set was a little more competitive but Andy broke in the opening game and held onto his lead to win the set 6'4.
He didn't need to produce his A game but won with ease in just 101 minutes; just what's needed at this stage of a Grand Slam and especially in the searing heat of the Australian summer.
Andy served up 14 Aces, no DF's a 58% first serve % with 88% of his first serve points won. When he came to the net he won 9/9 (100%) points.
Other match stats can be found here (http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/stats/day9/1224ms.html) - will update with presser links later
14
Aces
3
58%
1st serves
62%
Double faults
1
28
Winners
17
22
Errors
33
80%
1st serve win %
63%
66%
2nd serve win %
45%
44%
Receiving pts won
26%
5/8
Break points
0/0
BBC match report here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/21054929)
Andy came on court to win this as quickly as possible and conserve energy in the heat. He produced confident and positive tennis to dominate the match throughout giving Sousa NO breakpoint chances and mostly keeping the points short.
The 1st set set the tone for the rest of the match. Andy broke Joao in the 3rd game for a 2-1 lead before holding off a challenge on his own serve with a brilliant backhand pass and then making another love break to go ahead 4-1. A couple more service games and set in the bag 6'2 in just half an hour.
The 2nd set seemed to be heading for a bagel after Andy broke Sousa twice to forge a 4-0 lead but the Portuguese player produced some better play to hold his serve, as did Andy who went on to win the set 6'2.
Play in the 3rd set was a little more competitive but Andy broke in the opening game and held onto his lead to win the set 6'4.
He didn't need to produce his A game but won with ease in just 101 minutes; just what's needed at this stage of a Grand Slam and especially in the searing heat of the Australian summer.
Andy served up 14 Aces, no DF's a 58% first serve % with 88% of his first serve points won. When he came to the net he won 9/9 (100%) points.
Other match stats can be found here (http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/stats/day9/1224ms.html) - will update with presser links later
14
Aces
3
58%
1st serves
62%
Double faults
1
28
Winners
17
22
Errors
33
80%
1st serve win %
63%
66%
2nd serve win %
45%
44%
Receiving pts won
26%
5/8
Break points
0/0
BBC match report here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/21054929)