BOTP: WTA Pick 'em - Aus Open 2012

[super8]

Hello,

Just to let you know that there will be a WTA predictions comp being run for the Australian Open. I think that this is BOTP now in its 4th year!

Hopefully those of you who have taken part before will take part again..

And maybe we could interest a few folk who would like a WTA element to their Australian Open predictions?

I shall post an entry form onto this thread for download as soon as I can after the main draw has taken place. So, that will be the one prior to completion/ placement of qualifiers.

There will then be another form on this thread when the qualifiers have been placed.


Closing time for entry is more or less when the first ball is hit in the tournament - but usually there is some latitude for late entrants if it is shortly after the tourney has started.

If you have any queries about this, then please pm me - or simply post them onto this thread.

Should be an interesting tournament, I would think!!

[Sallydaisy]

Brilliant ... thanks for letting us know Super8.
:thumbup:

[JAMES4578]

Look forward to it Super8!

[Linda]

Thanks Super8 - looking forward to it! :thumbup:

[super8]

Hello again

This is my first attempt to upload a file onto a thread in the new-ish forum - see how it goes!

Edit - well, that seemed to work!! (go me)

Anyway.

The attached file is the a BOTP entry form containing the draw, pre-qualifiers.

Instructions on how to take part are included in the first worksheet of the file.

UPDATE: Qualifiers have now all been placed - so I have removed the pre-Qualie version - and replaced it with one including qualifiers

331

[-J-]

worked :)

[super8]

worked :)

Excellent - thankyou for confirming that. :)

I would think that the qualies might well be placed on Sat night/ Sun morning, UK time? So will get a revised one out to everyone when the qualies are known and placed.

If you would prefer to submit prior to that, then please do so.

We've had some notable withdrawals - Venus Williams, Andrea Petkovic - and some that have been a little touch and go for this, but are playing - Clijsters and Sharpie being notable examples - but otherwise, no major news.

Oh - if anyone does withdraw after the main draw has been finalised - and a final BOTP predictions form is issued - then please check this thread for any updated forms. In the past, this has been a judgement call, especially if a withdrawal impacts a 'swing' prediction..

Hopefully this won't happen though..

[RoastLamb]

Hmmm whom shall I go with this time? I've never been right as yet. This is my chance. :lol:

[super8]

The qualifiers have been placed much earlier than I thought that they would be!

The BOTP entry form has therefore been updated to inlcude the qualifiers. The previous form uploaded onto this thread has been removed and replaced with an updated version. If you downloaded the previous one and have been using it, then you can still use that one to submit your predictions.

I have also attached the form to this post too. If you have any queries about this, then feel free to pm me, or add them to this thread.

333

[Linda]

I've just submitted my entry by email :thumbup:

[super8]

I've just submitted my entry by email :thumbup:

Excellent!

I meant to add - if anyone does choose to e-mail them, then they will receive an email to confirm receipt.

Also - if anyone does this via e-mail, then please put your username in either the e-mail header or in the text of the e-mail.. Thanks!

[RoastLamb]

I've sent you an email, Super8, because I was unable to type my W's onto the draw sheet.

[super8]

I've sent you an email, Super8, because I was unable to type my W's onto the draw sheet.

Hmm - strange! I have replied to your e-mail - hopefully what I have emailed you will help?

[JAMES4578]

Just posted mine on CC, thanks Super8!

[Lizzim]

Done - posted over at cc :)

[super8]

Excellent - glad that you are both able to take part! :)

Still time for other am/jm folk to take part if they wish to do so...

[cazza99]

Sent mine :)

[super8]

ALRIGHT!!

Here is the main draw for the Australian Open BOTP:

Big Al
Cazza99
Dark Necrofear
fah51
IconA
Linda
LivLuvLaf
Jack NG
James4578
Liam Valid
lizzim
mojoworking
nevets
Northernlight
RoastLamb
tabbles
tlim
T01
Wolf

That will be about 30% am folk and 70% cc folk..

I think that everyone in the list has taken part before - good to see you all taking part again!!

Welcome back in particular scolios, wolf, T01 and tabbles - and liam & jack too.

Stats to follow - then will try to get a day 01 table posted by the end of the night/ before day 2 starts..

[super8]

Here are everyone's predictions - in alphabetical order:
Q1
342
Q2
340
Q3
341
Q4
343

[RoastLamb]

When I click on them it says "invalid attachment".

[Linda]

When I click on them it says "invalid attachment". Me too. That's always happening to me on here :sad:

[super8]

When I click on them it says "invalid attachment".

I'm trying to find a valid attachment for this forum. png, jpeg and pdf don't work so far.. :(

[super8]

Well - it would appear that the technical gremlins are getting me here again..

I can upload them onto this thread - but they are tiny!! There is some sort of autofit in terms of memory size.

They are on CC here:

http://www.cctennisworld.com/tennis-forum/21-fun-a-games/19636-botp-australian-open-2012.html?limit=15&start=30

I shall pm a mod for assistance... Unless someone who reads this can help me?

[Linda]

Well Super8, it seems that you and I are the only ones with Kim beating Serena in the final!

[KnightOwl]

I'm trying to find a valid attachment for this forum. png, jpeg and pdf don't work so far.. :(

I'm not sure - unfortunately because you've edited the post a couple of times, I can't see what the originals were - when I first looked you had attachments 334-337 and they didn't work, but the latest versions are 340-343 and they do. If you let me know what the file types were for the first and final attempts, I may be able to advise further.

Unfortunately, although vB does provide an "attachment manager" where in theory mods can go and look at all the attachments people have loaded, the one feature it doesn't offer is searching by attachment number, so I can't see on that which attachments are which :sad:

One think I can say is that, as far as file types go, we're set up to accept .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .png & .pdf - among others. It's possible it's not actually working, but it's certainly set up to allow all of those. There is a maximum filesize associated with each - not sure what happens if you go over that - I would hope it would tell you, but if it doesn't could that be the issue?

[super8]

I'm not sure - unfortunately because you've edited the post a couple of times, I can't see what the originals were - when I first looked you had attachments 334-337 and they didn't work, but the latest versions are 340-343 and they do. If you let me know what the file types were for the first and final attempts, I may be able to advise further.

Unfortunately, although vB does provide an "attachment manager" where in theory mods can go and look at all the attachments people have loaded, the one feature it doesn't offer is searching by attachment number, so I can't see on that which attachments are which :sad:

One think I can say is that, as far as file types go, we're set up to accept .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .png & .pdf - among others. It's possible it's not actually working, but it's certainly set up to allow all of those. There is a maximum filesize associated with each - not sure what happens if you go over that - I would hope it would tell you, but if it doesn't could that be the issue?

Hi - thanks for your reply :)

I have tried .jpeg, .png & .pdf - and whilst png works - it automatically shrinks the file size - so the attachments are tiny!!!

Here is an example:

344

It looks as if it has been shrunk to 20 kb when originally 80 kb.

I would have thought that 20 kb is a small limit. Is there a possible workaround?

[super8]

Until the attachment issue is resolved here - the BOTP table for day 01 is available for viewing at CC:

http://www.cctennisworld.com/tennis-forum/21-fun-a-games/19636-botp-australian-open-2012.html?limit=15&start=30#19858

Will write a wee report tomorrow - which at least I will be able to post here..

[super8]

Well Super8, it seems that you and I are the only ones with Kim beating Serena in the final!

I had noticed that too!! It is quite an open tournament, I think.

As a result of that, we have about 6 different winners predicted - as follows:

Kvitova
Stosur
Clijsters
Azarenka
Serena Williams
Na Li

No-one has gone for Wozniacki or Sharpie. I am impressed at the number of people picking Azarenka. She was such a good Junior player (was world number 1). Maybe her time has come, esp with BOTP blessing ;)

[RoastLamb]

The ESPN commies all think Azarenka will win this time around. I'm not so sure.

[super8]

The ESPN commies all think Azarenka will win this time around. I'm not so sure.

I think I had her reaching the semis of the Aus Open about 2 years ago! I somehow keep thinking that the Aus Open is the best place for her to break through - then she reached the semis at Wimbers, so what do I know..

[super8]

Ok - I think I might be struggling to post predictions, % picks - they are all however available for you to see at CC.

Thanks to KnightOwl's input (much appreciated!!), I think that I can post the daily tables, at least.. Here is the table after day 01:

[super8]

btw - that image is using the maximum size of a .jpg attachment that can be uploaded! Ah well - at least it is a. bigger than a postage stamp and b. legible..

My plan this evening is to write a little report to accompany that - and then post a day 02 table. Hopefully I can manage that.

[super8]

BOTP: Day 01 Roundup

As previously mentioned, the plan is to make these reports a lot shorter than usual, as I have to admit to being a little pressed for time. Or – put it another way – I will try to write a report as long as time allows.

So – onto day 01. Top half of the draw. Round 1.

“In Seeds We Trust (100% Picks)”

(1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 62 61
(3) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Heather Watson (GBR) 61 60
(5) Li Na (CHN) d. Ksenia Pervak (KAZ) 63 61
(8) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 67(10) 64 62
(10) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Laura Pous-Tio (ESP) 61 63
(11) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (Q) Maria Joao Koehler (POR) 75 61
(16) Peng Shuai (CHN) d. (WC) Aravane Rezai (FRA) 63 64
(22) Julia Goerges (GER) d. Polona Hercog (SLO) 63 76(3)
(26) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. Eva Birnerova (CZE) 63 63

Nearly all very straightforward wins here. The big guns are rolling! Aga’s win over Beth Mat Sands probably the closest match here – should have been more of a round 3 match, I think.

“Nearly all..”

(13) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (Q) Laura Robson (GBR) 62 60 (89-11)
(20) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. (Q) Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 46 63 62 (95-5)
Iveta Benesova (CZE) d. Mathilde Johansson (FRA) 63 26 64 (95-5)

Had Varvara managed to beat Dani, then James would have picked a good upset. A few patriotic picks for Laura – who made more headlines for political aspect re: her multi-coloured headband than her game. Or in a nutshell: Pastor Maggie Court has been gay-bashing again..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/australianopen/9018707/Laura-Robson-makes-equal-rights-statement-at-Australian-Open.html

“Majority Picks (in descending order)”

(32) Petra Cetkovska (CZE) d. Ayumi Morita (JPN) 36 61 75 (79-21)
Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (AUT) 62 64 (79-21)
Marina Erakovic (NZL) d. (Q) Irena Pavlovic (FRA) 75 76(4) (74-26)
Mona Barthel (GER) d. Anne Keothavong (GBR) 60 ret. (GI illness) (68-32)
Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) d. Sania Mirza (IND) 64 62 (68-32)
Alberta Brianti (ITA) d. Irina Falconi (USA) 62 75 (74-26)
Anna Tatishvili (GEO) d. (WC) Ashleigh Barty (AUS) 62 76(4) (63-37)
Romina Oprandi (ITA) d. Anastasiya Yakimova (BLR) 64 61 (58-42)

These might well be translated into matches between lower-ranked players, hence the split in votes! The pick of these was Pironkova v Mirza. Tsveti seemed to bring a bit of her Wimbledon form with her to Melbourne.

“Minority Picks – again in order”

(WC) Casey Dellacqua (AUS) d. Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) 63 62 (47-53)
Pauline Parmentier (FRA) d. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 63 57 63 (32-68)
(Q) Chang Kai-Chen (TPE) d. Petra Martic (CRO) 64 62 (32-68)
Eleni Daniilidou (GRE) d. Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN) 63 62 (16-84)
(31) Monica Niculescu (ROU) d. Alizé Cornet (FRA) 57 60 63 (16-84)
Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) d. Arantxa Rus (NED) 76(4) 61 (16-84)
Christina McHale (USA) d. (24) Lucie Safarova (CZE) 62 64 (11-89)
(Q) Paula Ormaechea (ARG) d. Simona Halep (ROU) 61 36 75 (11-89)
Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) d. (28) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 75 62 (5-95)
Stéphanie Foretz Gacon (FRA) d. Elena Baltacha (GBR) 62 64 (5-95)
(WC) Olivia Rogowska (AUS) d. Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 63 61 (5-95)

Previous slam success for the likes of Cornet, Rus, Halep, LucieSaf and Wicky meant that most of us picked them – but all are in poor form right now – and it showed.

How did Bally lose to journeywoman Foretz Gacon? Surely the most winnable match for a Brit outside Andy Murray’s match?? A good pick for LivLuvLaf, who, being North American probably didn’t feel the patriotism in this one!

Well done also to Jack NG in being the only person to pick youngster Rogowska to beat a seasoned pro in Arvidsson. In another blow for the youngsters, Christina Mchale had a great win against an off-colour LucieSaf – and picked only by LivLuvLaf (American Patriotism, this time?) and nevets.

An excellent pick by DN and Tabbles for Paula Ormaecha to beat Simona Halep. A big result for the 20 year old Argentinian.

Who was the only BOTPer to pick Galina to beat Wicky? Erm – well – yours truly. Wicky looked in dire form , pre AO and Galina is a talented player – well, in my opinion!

‘The First BOTP Blank”

(Q) Nina Bratchikova (RUS) d. (19) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 63 16 62 (0-100)

The word on this is that Bratchikova has been in unfeasibly good form recently – and Pennetta had damaged her shoulder. Obviously a bad result for us lot.

Summary

Really just the early skirmishes. LivLuvLaf is the early leader after a few inspired early minority picks. Poor IconA is propping up the first version of the table.

At just 63% it was a very low first-day score overall – usually, it’s in the 70-80% range. I think that this is down to the top half of the draw being quite competitive, with some tough matches to predict.

Hopefully we will fare better with the lower half of the draw!!

[super8]

...and here are the BOTP scores after day 02:

Again, report to follow. I shall complete the report tomorrow - but will aim to produce table AND report for day 03 at same time..

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 02

Well, I had been due to start this report about 4-5 hours ago – so am running a little late! Anyway – moving on..

Well, Day 02 saw the 32 round 01 matches in the bottom half of the draw take place. And of those 32 matches, we all correctly picked a whopping 16 of them. I'm sure that this is a BOTP 'first' - go us!

Here are the successful picks:

(2) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Vera Dushevina (RUS) 62 60
(4) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Gisela Dulko (ARG) 60 61
(7) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) 76(4) 67(5) 63
(9) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Virginie Razzano (FRA) 75 60
(12) Serena Williams (USA) d. Tamira Paszek (AUT) 63 62
(14) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. (Q) Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 62 46 64
(17) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) d. Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 63 61
(18) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 63 36 60
(21) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. Lourdes DomÃ*nguez Lino (ESP) 60 63
(23) Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. Alexandra Cadantu (ROU) 60 61
(25) Kaia Kanepi (EST) d. Johanna Larsson (SWE) 62 64
(29) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. (Q) Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) 63 36 60
(30) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. (WC) Bojana Bobusic (AUS) 61 63
Shahar Peer (ISR) d. (WC) Isabella Holland (AUS) 62 60
Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (WC) Madison Keys (USA) 62 61
Sara Errani (ITA) d. (Q) Valeria Savinykh (RUS) 62 61

Really not too much to say about them really! Bepa had a tight match against talented Romanian Alex Dulgheru. Lisicki had a bit of a shocker against young qualifier Voegele, but squeaked through. Lots of breadsticks and bagels, showing the difference between players in thse matches - and justified the 100% pick rate.

In fact – there were only 5 matches where only a minority of BOTP Folk picked successfully. These were as follows:

Greta Arn (HUN) d. Rebecca Marino (CAN) 64 62 (42-58)
Michaella Krajicek (NED) d. Kristina Barrois (GER) 63 76(13) (42-58)
Stéphanie Dubois (CAN) d. Elena Vesnina (RUS) 64 16 64 (16-84)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. (6) Samantha Stosur (AUS) 76(2) 63 (5-95)


Of course the big shock was Sorana Cirstea’s win over big home favourite Sam Stosur. The only BOTPer to successfully pick Sorana was IconA. What an excellent pick – well done sir!!

I’ve borrowed IconA’s post about this result on CC:

She's (Stosur) a player that generally seems to need a few matches under her belt to get into rhythm, which she hasn't had this year. She seems to have felt the pressure worse than ever down under, which is perhaps not surprising.

Seems a good reason to pick the upset!

Did anyone read Anne Keo’s tweet about the result? She commented that Cirstea did not need muscles to hit the ball hard to win the match. It seems that Anne copped a bit of flack for that, with it perceived as a slight against Stosur! Miaow..!

Spare a thought for poor lizzim, who has now lost her pick to win this tournament :( I am thinking that this sort of thing has also happened to a few of us in recent BOTPS?

If fact, Jack NG pointed out a bit of a trend with slam winners. In the last 4 slams, the holder of the previous slam completed has now been knocked out in the first or second round. Kvitova at US Open, Na Li at SW19 and Kim at RG. I'm sure that a few of us had picked Kvitova for US Open..

Also – it’s been feast or famine for Sam in the last 3 slams. Out in Round 1 at Wimbledon, won US Open, and out in round 1 at Aus Open. She's basically a predicter’s nightmare right now!

Should mention a good win for long time slumpsville resident Krajicek over the more fancied Barrois – that one seemed to split the field – as did another useful slam win for Greta Arn over the big hitting Canuck Beccy Marino.

Otherwise – the remaining 12 matches were all majority picks to some degree. Here are said results:

(15) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 76(5) 61 (95-5)
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) d. Iryna Brémond (FRA) 60 64 (95-5)
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 60 26 60 (89-11)
Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) d. (WC) Zhang Shuai (CHN) 63 63 (89-11)
(Q) Jamie Hampton (USA) d. Mandy Minella (LUX) 61 61 (79-21)
(27) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS) 64 62 (74-26)
Lucie Hradecka (CZE) d. Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) 63 61 (74-26)
Jelena Dokic (AUS) d. Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) 62 61 (74-26)
Vania King (USA) d. Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 76(3) 63 (68-32)
Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) 61 75 (63-37)
Sloane Stephens (USA) d. SÃ*lvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) 64 62 (58-42)
Urszula Radwanska (POL) d. (Q) Alison Riske (USA) 64 16 62 (53-47)

The last 2 matches in that list were pretty much 50:50 splits again, with varying fortunes for the 2 young Americans. USA has 3 youngsters in round 2 – Hampton, McHale, and Stephens. A sign of good things to come for US tennis again, perhaps?


BOTP Day 02: Summary

Well, we certainly did fare a whole lot better with the bottom half of the draw – with a pick rate of 82% for the day. Top pickers for the day were James, lizzim, T01 and Wolf, who all correctly picked an impressive 28 out of 32.

As a result they all pretty much zoomed up the BOTP table – as did DN and tables/[b] who both also scored well. Whilst [b]Icona remained in the BOTP basement, his high scoring on day 02 closed the gap on those above him.

LivLuvLaf maintained her early pole position – but a good day’s scoring from Northernlight/ Super8 brought her lead down to the solitary point.

With a pick rate of 72% after the 2 days, we’re pretty much back on track with pick rates. Here’s hoping that we can do well with the round 02 matches from the top half in day 03!

[super8]

Hello again,

Here are the scores after Day 03. Due to my late start on writing up day 02, I will have to leave today's report until tomorrow again. If I can get an early start on it, then I will try to do 2 reports tomorrow..

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 03

Hello again!

Once more, I am running behind with reports – it will be a struggle to get 2 written this evening – see how things go!

Day 03 was the top half of the draw again – and this time the first wave of the round 02 matches, and of course the stakes upped to 2 BOTP points per correct pick.

So – firstly the ones where everyone picked up the 2 points:

(1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Anna Tatishvili (GEO) 61 76(4)
(3) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (WC) Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 61 60
(5) Li Na (CHN) d. (WC) Olivia Rogowska (AUS) 62 62
(8) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (Q) Paula Ormaechea (ARG) 63 61
(11) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. Stéphanie Foretz Gacon (FRA) 60 61

It’s fair to say that 4 of these matches were right royal thumpings. The Aussie Wild Cards of Dellacqua and Rogowska were sent packing in double-quick time by Vika and Super Na. Casey’s thoughts on Vika after the match? ‘She’s a Bloody Good Player’.

As for Caro, the scoreline does not show that she was 1-4 down in the second set, and fought off a break point at 4-5. She served 9 aces – a sign of more aggressive play maybe? However, reverted to the more passive type. In her post-match interview, Tatishvili even criticised Caro for having no weapons, and stated her aim to become world number 1. She’s no shrinking violet, then! Caro needs to at least make the quarter finals to have a shot at remaining number 1 after this tournament.

”Dissenters in the BOTP Pack”

(13) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (Q) Chang Kai-Chen (TPE) 64 62 (90-0)
(20) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 46 64 63 (95-0)
(22) Julia Goerges (GER) d. Eleni Daniilidou (GRE) 62 20 ret. (neck injury) (90-0)
(26) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. Olga Govortsova (BLR) 61 60 (95-5)

Well, nearly all of us were of the same thinking here! Pretty routine wins for seeds again, with the notable exception of Dani H, who really had no right to win her match. After losing the first set, she was a break of serve down 3 times in the second set – 6 consecutive breaks of serve in the first 6 games of both the first and second sets! An Unforced errorfest, 2 and a half hour struggle. Kudos to Dani for showing the resolve to get through, but she will get taken to the cleaners by Kim in the next round if she doesn’t up her game dramatically.

Monority Picks? (sorry!)

(31) Monica Niculescu (ROU) d. Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 46 64 61 (60-0)
Mona Barthel (GER) d. (32) Petra Cetkovska (CZE) 75 63 (25-65)

Well done to Mona Barthel - another impressive victory for the Hobart champion - 7 wins in a row for her - and picked by an impressive 25% of BOTPers. 60% of BOTP folk picked "Backspin" Niculescu to win - the rest picked Alla Kudry or Alize Cornet.


Results going against the BOTP Grain

Christina McHale (USA) d. Marina Erakovic (NZL) 36 76(4) 63 (10-0)
Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) d. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 64 64 (0-20)
(Q) Nina Bratchikova (RUS) d. Alberta Brianti (ITA) 62 61 (0-5)
Iveta Benesova (CZE) d. (16) Peng Shuai (CHN) 62 64 (5-95)
Romina Oprandi (ITA) d. (10) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 64 63 (0-100)

Well, these results pretty much blotted the BOTP copybook! In these 5 games – with 200 collective points to gain, we accumulated a measly 6 points. Ouch!!

Only 2 people predicted Christina McHale’s impressive win over the handy Marina Erakovic. Well done to LivLuvLaf and nevets!! The rest of us had of course picked the wildly inconsistent Lucie Safarova. From seeing McHale play, she probably compares to Heather Watson – gets a lot of balls back and fights hard. She won even hitting 15 fewer winners than Erakovic.

Speaking of winners, Iveta Benesova seemed to hit winners at will against Peng Shuai – she hit 20 clean winners off her forehand alone. Only one BOTPer predicted this win – bravo Wolf – an excellent pick! Iveta will play Bratchikova next, who beat another Italian to add to her win over Pennetta. Had Brianti won, then LivLuvLaf would have picked up more valuable points. However, none of us picked the Russian qualifier – the rest of us had of course gone for Flavia.

Another BOTP blank was Voskoboeva beating Tsveti. My faith in her clearly hadn’t stretched beyond round 2 – I picked Tsveti, as did RoastLamb, LivLuvLaf and IconA. The rest of us had gone for Wicky.

Oh, and finally, a very bad day at the office for Fran Schiavone, who was off-colour in the sweltering heat against compatriot Romina Oprandi. None of us saw that one coming..

BOTP Day 03: Summary

Well, not a great day at the office for the BOTP crowd. A pick rate of just 61% for the day, with Big Al, LivLafLuv and nevets top-scoring for the day with 11 correct picks out of 16. The number of correct picks were all clustered around the 8-11 mark, with James and IconA shoring things up with 8 picks apiece.

LivLuvLaf extended her lead over [/b]NL/ Super8[/b] to 3 points, with Big Al and nevets gaining ground on USO BOTP champion lizzim in 3rd place.

Handy leaps up the table for RoastLamb, Liam and Mojo just showing the benefit of the odd extra pick with the points increasing. But of course, all very early days yet.

[super8]

Hello again!

Scores on the doors after day 04 as follows:

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 04

Trying to squeeze another report into the evening! This might be a short one..

“Seeds Roll On, Once Again – 100% Picks�

(2) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) 62 26 64
(4) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (Q) Jamie Hampton (USA) 60 61
(7) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 61 76(3)
(9) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Jelena Dokic (AUS) 63 62
(12) Serena Williams (USA) d. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 60 64
(18) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Sloane Stephens (USA) 76(6) 75
(21) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. Michaella Krajicek (NED) 62 63

No surprises here – apart from the fact that Petra Kvitova lost a set against slumpsville resident Carla Suarez Navarro, and was actually 2-0 down in the deciding set.. With 40-50% of BOTPers picking Petra to win this tournament, it was certainly a bit of a scare!

Bepa had a bit of a fright against Hradecka, but fought back from a break down in the second set to secure the win. Kudos to Sloane Stephens for giving Kuzzy a pretty testing workout too.

Congratulations to Serena on her 500th match win. Here’s a quote from Serena about her partnering Andy Roddick in the mixed doubles at the AO:

"I'll let Andy serve first. I was thinking I should, but I'll let him feel like a macho man and let him start serving."


Majority Picks

(27) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 64 16 62 (75-0)
(30) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. Stéphanie Dubois (CAN) 75 61 (75-0)
(14) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. Shahar Peer (ISR) 61 62 (85-15)

A couple of Canucks exiting the tournament – both Wozniak and Dubois fought well against their higher-ranked opponents, but weren’t backed by a solitary BOTPer – not even RoastLamb! Maybe BOTP absentee Viva would have opted for a patriotic pick here – who knows..

Fans of Sabine will be pleased to know that apparently she played much better in her round 2 match – setting up a spicy little 3rd round match against Kuznetsova..


50-50 Split

Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (23) Roberta Vinci (ITA) 64 62 (55-45)

Well this match certainly split the BOTP crowd! And another Italian exits – a fine win for little Jie.. Jack NG will be happy about this, for sure!


The Lone Mavericks Ride Again!

Sara Errani (ITA) d. (29) Nadia Petrova (RUS) 62 62 (5-95)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. Urszula Radwanska (POL) 16 62 63 (5-0)

Only 1 person picked either of these results. Kudos to nevets for being the only person to foresee Sara Errani’s surprisingly emphatic victory over Petrova. Nadia had a poor match really – she started the match by falling over during the warm up – and with 33 UEs out of 120 points played, plus an MTO for her back, things didn’t really improve. A bad result for her – and the rest of us – but a great result of course for nevets and Errani, equalling her best slam performance.

Cirstea’s win should of course have been SuperSam Stosur. It was however another handy 2 points for IconA, who of course had been the only one to pick her in the first round!


BOTP Blanks

Vania King (USA) d. (15) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 57 63 64 (0-90)
Greta Arn (HUN) d. (17) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 62 36 108 (0-100)
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. (25) Kaia Kanepi (EST) 62 75 (0-100)

Well, we all crashed and burnd here, didn’t we!!

I really don’t know what to say about Kaia Kanepi. Makarova is a dangerous player, for sure, but still, after her Brisbane title win, she was supposed to have momentum! She had her serve broken 7 times in 10 service games.

Well done to Vania King, reaching the 3rd round of a slam for the 4th time – and the first time in Australia! Vania also reached the 3rd round at the US Open and French Open last year. She puts this improvement in singles down to her working on her doubles game - a refreshing approach.

The Greta Arn v little Dom match was possibly the best math of the day – an epic 2 hour 43 minute nailbiter, including an 88 minute final set! Greta fought back from 3-1 down in the final set – and Dom even served for the match at 8-7 in that set. It is the 32 year old Hungarian’s second appearance in the second round of a slam, with her first at SW19 in 2010 – which I think also caught all of us out in the BOTP then too!

Anyway – whilst all 3 are pretty interesting results – and to be fair, all 3 seeds lost to handy opponents – it was bad news for all of us.


BOTP Day 04: Roundup

We all prett much hovered around a 65% pick rate for the day. No-one picked fewer than 9 correct out of 16, and no-one picked more than 11. 6 folk picked 9, 8 picked 10 and 6 picked 11!

It was a good day for LivLuvLaf, who extended her lead to 5 points. It was a good day also for big al and T01 who moved up to joint 2nd and 4th respectively. RoastLamb climbed 4 places for the second consecutive day to 6th. James and Jack both zoomed up the table together from 18th to 10th (jumping Jack?), and Mojo also moved up 5 to 10th.

Poor IconA remains in the BOTP basement – but has fine company in the shape of tlim and scolios. However, as we move to Round 03, with 3 points per win, it is worth noting that there is just 6 points between 19th and 5th!! So - there is plenty of opportunity for more zooming up and down the table !

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 05

I do find it intriguing that, in the first 4 days of a 14-day slam, 96 matches are played – yet in the last 10 games, just 31 are played. The field thins out pretty quickly! Similarly, after the first week, 112 matches will have been played, with just 15 matches taking place in week 2.

Ahem. Anyway.

Day 05 saw the commencement of round 03 – with the 8 matches of the top half of the draw being played. Not too many to feature in this report then..


100%ers: Top Seeds find their Mojo

(1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. (31) Monica Niculescu (ROU) 62 62
(5) Li Na (CHN) d. (26) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 30 ret. (right ankle sprain)
(8) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) 62 62

Surprising factoid about SuperNa’s head to head with AMPusherG. They had played each other 4 times prior to this match. Each and every one of these matches had been won by the Spaniard.

However, a heavy fall early in the match meant that AMG could not continue, in spite of heavy strapping put on her ankle during a length MTO. Shame for her, but handy for both the RG champ and the BOTP crowd who all predicted that Na would secure her first win against her tricky opponent.

Well, after indifferent matches in earlier rounds, both Caro and Aga earned comprehensive and impressive wins over Forehand slicer Nigglesescu and Voskoboeva.

The big shock was that Caro hit 23 Winners in her match. 23!!! Mind you – Niculescu is even more of a pusher. Galina hit 21 winners to Aga’s 10 – both had 6 break points. Aga converted 5 of them, Galina converted none.


UberMaverick Alert!!

(3) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Mona Barthel (GER) 62 64 (95-5)
(11) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (20) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 63 62 (85-15)

It is safe to say that Kim and Vika would be pretty safe bets to win their round 03 matches. However, a few renegade BOTP folk decided to go for big upsets – go them!

So, who predicted that the Auckland champ would beat the Sydney champ? Well, the young German had won 10 matches in a row up until this match – maybe that was what prompted Dark Necrofear to take a wee bit of a gamble?

Mind you, Vika took 10 minutes in the final game of the match to finish things off, prompting some very choice language at line calls going against her – she had ran out of challenges – ad even prompted booing from the crowd when she finally converted her 5th match point. Little Miss Grumpypants.

The 3 Mavericks picking Dani to beat Kim – IconA, Jack NG and tlim – might have been onto something as Kim played a poor match. However, Dani was even poorer, and played her own part in a bvit of an UnforcedErrorFest.


Majority Vote for Lady Ja Ja

(13) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Christina McHale (USA) 62 60 (70-0)

Jankovic always seemed to be one of those players that hated being in the spotlight when she was number 1. She went from being the smiling Serb to the surly Serb. She seems to be ghosting her way through the draw nicely though – beating the American youngster by the same score in their first meeting last year. The other 30% of BOTP folk had picked LucieSaf.

A higher profile match for JJ in the next round though – against Caro Wozniacki.


Second Week Debut for Goerges!

(22) Julia Goerges (GER) d. Romina Oprandi (ITA) 36 63 61 (10-0)

Julia Goerges reached the 3rd round of all 4 slams last year. However, she has never reached the 4th round of a slam before – until now. She fought hard to overcome an ordinary start and losing the first set. Well done her! Prandi’s exit means that Errani is the only Italian left in the draw.

Well done to liam valid and tlim who were the only BOTPers to predict the young German’s win. The rest of us had thought that Fran Schiavone would be occupying this particular last 16 berth.


BOTP Double Bagel Alert!

Iveta Benesova (CZE) d. (Q) Nina Bratchikova (RUS) 61 63 (0-0)

Well, you could say that Iveta earned her round 4 place by beating Shuai Peng in the previous round. Iveta once again played well, pretty much outclassing her opponent in all areas, and won pretty comfortably. She is the only non-seeded player left in the top half of the draw, and deservedly in the last 16.

Well, this was a double bagel – ie no-one predicted either player to win this match! For all us, it was going to be a face-off between Pennetta and Shuai. Zero!


Day 05: BOTP Roundup

Today was mostly a case of either ‘great minds think alike’ or ‘fools seldom differ’. We were either right or wrong en masse about these matches!

65% of BOTP folk picked 6 out of the 8 wins. 30% picked 5 wins – and the remaining 5% was IconA with 4 picks, with possibly the Dani pick being the difference there.

As such, there was very little change in the BOTP table – the top 7 remained as was – but there was jostling aplenty mid-table – with 4 BOTPers moving up 4 places and 4 BOTPers dropping 5 places – pretty much swapping places with each other – BOTP musical chairs?

So – onto the other 8 matches of round 3 tomorrow – and 24 points to play for.

[RoastLamb]

Urgh, I don't believe it, three of my picks went out: Kuzy, Bartoli and Vera. ARGH!!!

[Linda]

Me too :sad:

[JAMES4578]

Thanks for all the fab reports Super8! I've lost 2 of them today but I did pick Lisicki to go through and had her putting out Sharapova in the last 16. However, I don't think that likely now somehow! I had Bartoli going through to the quarters so not going to plan and I thought she had looked pretty good against Dokic,though Jelena's serve was a weakness. Unfortunately she can't be too confident with Vera sometimes and she did have a real battle in the opening round. It could've worse if Kvitova had gone down to Suárez Navarro as she really was misfiring in the early stages of the 3rd but she steadied herself just in time ans she was challended by the spaniard who showed promise previously.The disappointiNg result in the tourney for me was Sam going out in the first round to Cristea, though I didn't think she'd have that great a run. Hopefully she can do well here some day, though of course pressure can be immense aka Mauresmo at the French. The match between Kim and Li Na could be a swing one for quite a few!

[super8]

Hello again,

Here is the BOTP table after day 06..

Report to follow..

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 06

Hello again!

Well, I am a bit behind in BOTP – so will press on with getting this done and dusted – and then move onto day 07’s matches..

100% picks: Sets 6-0, games 31-5

(2) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. (27) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 60 10 ret. (left leg muscle injury)
(4) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (30) Angelique Kerber (GER) 61 62
(12) Serena Williams (USA) d. Greta Arn (HUN) 61 61

Well, these were all pretty comfortable wins for the high-ranked seeds., and very impressive performances all-round. I think that Serena’s win moves her up to 4th in most Grand Slam wins in the WTA. She has 211 now - behind Steffi Graf (278), Chris Evert (299( and Martina Nav (306).


50:50 Split

(14) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. (18) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 26 64 62 (40-55)

Well, more or less 50:50! What a battle this match was. Sabine was actually 6-2, 3-1 down in this match before fighting back superbly to prevail. A handy pick indeed for those who picked the young German! Pretty extensive highlights here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDBoZ56hNrw&feature=related


Ana Sets Up Showdown with Kvitova

(21) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. Vania King (USA) 63 64 (45-0) (45-0)

Another good pick for about half of the BOTP folk! Ana’s working relationship with Nigel Seaars seems to be going very well, with the Serb pulling out a handy victory against a useful opponent. It was a closer match than the scoreline suggests, with both players having 9 break points on each other’s serve. Ana has never lost to Vania – and ultimately had too much in the locker.

Those of us that didn’t pick Ana had gone for Annie Pav – with the exception of nevets, who had picked Kat Bondarenko.

As mentioned, Ana will play Petra Kvitova next.


Two Top-Tenners –A-tumbling!

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. (7) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 76(7) 61 (0-40)
Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (9) Marion Bartoli (FRA) 63 63 (0-100)

After giving Kaia Kanepi a bit of a hard time in losing to Ekat Mak, well, this match showed how perspective of such a result can change. It was a very tight first set – Bepa had a set point when up 7-6 in the first set tie break – but after that, it was all about the Russian leftie. It was too much for Bepa who left the court in tears.

Of course, no-one picked Makarova – 40% had picked Bepa, and the rest of us had gone for Kaia..

The Australian Open is little Jie’s favourite tournament. She was a surprise semi finalist in 2010, with her run finally stopped by Justine Henin. As with Makarova, she has also taken out the first seed in her section – Roberta Vinci.

She was just too good for Bartoli today, continuing her momentum from winning Auckland. Jie raced to a 4-0 lead in the first set, and, barring the odd wobble, didn’t really look back. She pretty much dictated the match.

Another zero for us though. We had all picked Bartoli!


BOTP Double Bagel in the battle of the Seed Slayers

Sara Errani (ITA) d. Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 67(6) 60 62 (0-0)

Had things gone by the way of the seedings, then this was meant to have been a tricky match between Sam Stosur and Nadia Petrova. However, not to be!

This was a really absorbing, blood-and-thunder battle. Cirstea’s back injury at 7-6 0-2 sadly had quite a bearing on this match – she had aggravated a disc in her back, apparently.

A great win however for the 24 year old Italian, who, as with Goerges has now reached the 4th round of a slam for the first time in her career – after having made the 3rd round 5 times previously.


Day 06: BOTP Roundup

Well, it was not a good day for BOTP folk, with a pick rate for the day of just 48%. Given that everyone picked the Sharpie, Kvitty and Serena wins it actually did not get any better than that for several of us. Everyone picked between 3 and 5 correct results out of the 8.

Those that did pick 5 were Dark Necrofear, Scolios, James4578 and Wolf, who all motored up 5-6 places inthe table as a result.

T01 and lizzim both picked 4, which enabled them to move into 2nd and 3rd place behind front-runner LivLuvLaf, who has now extended her lead to 6 points.

And that wraps up round 03. Round 04 sees perhaps a few swing matches on their way, including Clijsters v Li. How will that pan out, I wonder?

[super8]

Here are the scores after day 07.

Quite a changearound!

Report to follow.

[RoastLamb]

Ooh fourth place. Highest I've ever been. Fingers crossed. I was kicking myself when Li Na had four match points in the second set last night. Held my breath till I was blue in the face. What a comeback from Kimmie and saved my bacon in the process.

Having said that, I was kinda hoping Jelena would also make a comeback even though I had Wozza winning.

And I don't have Kimmie in the final but if she gets there and wins I don't care if I come last in this comp.

[super8]

Well, Clijsters has declared it her last Australian Open - so would be a fitting way to finish.

This may sound cliched, but I think that whoever wins this tournament will really deserve it. There are several contenders who will fight tooth and nail for this - Clijsters, Serena, Sharapova, Azarenka, Kvitova. It is still a difficult one to call.

I am away just now, so will probably have to write up both day 07 and 08 tomorrow night.

The matches to be played on day 08 are:

Ivanovic v Kvitova
Makarova v Serena
Lisicki v Sharapova
Jheng v Errani

Should be some good tennis amongst all of that, I would think.

[RoastLamb]

Well who would have thunk Serena would be defeated in straights??? Not me. And Shazza was *this* close to getting the boot as well. Good stuff! I have to say I absolutely cannot stand the noise emanating from that woman. I want so badly for someone to shut her up, same for Azarenka.

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 07

Hello again!

Having been away over the last day, I have a bit of catching up to do!

Well, the Middle Sunday of the tournament showcased 4 round 04 matches from the top half of the draw.

With the stakes rising, and the likelihood of top 16 players playing each other, this might technically be the time when the relatively straightforward wins could not be so easily predicted. None of these matches had a 100% pick.


The Headline and BOTP Swing Match of the Day – and what a dramatic match!

(11) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (5) Li Na (CHN) 46 76(6) 64 (40-60)

I am sure that this match will have caused some pondering when folk were putting together their predictions!

And the difference between victory and defeat was so narrow. At 6-4, 6-6 and 6-2 up in the tie break, you would probably back either of these players to close it out. Remember how well Na Li played in that tie break against Fran Shiavone at RG last year?

Add to that Kim’s ankle injury. And yet, she pulled this one out of the bag. Stunning fightback.

And it certainly was a ‘swing’ match in terms of BOTP. It was 2 of the BOTP picks for the title against each other. Sadly for Jack and fah, they lost their winner. Poor nevets had originally picked Kim to win this one, then changed his mind and resubmitted with Na going all the way to the final. It really was a tough pick.


Caro wins the battle of Number 1s

(1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. (13) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 60 75 (85-10)

This could have been a decent match – but only really got going in the second set, when JJ remembered how to put a ball in court, and the newly aggressive Caro reverted to type at the first sign of challenge by drawing errors from her opponent to finally stumble over the finishing line.

Caro saw a match point go at 5-4 up in the second set – and admitted that she had thought back to losing that match point against Na Li at the Aus Open last year. It can indeed be a fine line between victory and defeat.! Not so much here, where JJ drew level at 5-5 from being 1-4 down, only then to surrender a break of serve again, and the match.

Caro was the popular choice of the BOTP crowd at 85%, even if not everyone’s favourite player at either CC or AM.com! The picks for Lady JaJa were Jack and LivLuvLaf. There was also an ubermaverick pick of LuciaSaf by Liam


Vika outhits Iveta - again

(3) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Iveta Benesova (CZE) 62 62 (90-0)

This was the 4th time that Iveta and Vika have played each other. Iveta had not even won more than 3 games in any set against Vika in their previous matches, and unfortunately for her, this proved to be the case again today. Vika outplayed her in every department.

This showed in the 90% support for Shrieky Vicky. The other 10% - DN and Linda – had picked Flavia Pennetta . Flavia’s participation in the doubles ended toaday when she and Gisele were knocked out by Bepa/ Kuzzy.


Aga Cruises as Jools Forgets how to get a ball in court

(8) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (22) Julia Goerges (GER) 61 61 (60-0)

This was a shocker of a match! Initially, Jools struggled to get the ball in court. She then struggled to get the ball into the doubles court. No foot movement, nothing. A shocking advert for the Women’s game.

Or how about some numbers. Jools hit 9 times (NINE!) more unforced errors than Aga (27-3). 27 out of 72 points played.

It was however a handy result for 60% of BOTPers who picked Aga for this one. Aga seems to have carried her form from last year, when she bagged a brace of titles in Beijing and Tokyo during the Asian Swing. The other 40% had gone for Fran Schiavone.


BOTP Roundup: Day 07

Well, today was a good day if you had picked all players seeded to make the quarters, and then took a gamble on Kim beating Na. This was indeed the case for T01, Northernlight/ Super8, Scolios, RoastLamb, Wolf and Cazza, who all moved up to very healthy positions in the BOTP table as a result.

The BOTP table-topper LivLuvLaf had a bit of a disaster today, picking only Vika out of the quarter finalists, and tumbled 6 places to 7th. Previously LLL had opened up a 6 point lead at the top. Now things had tightened up considerably, with 6 points now separating the top 9! The top 3 all featured the people who had maximum points for the day. T01 was now in pole position, with NL/S8 2 points behind, and Scolios just 1 point behind in third. Scolios was near the BOTP basement just a few days ago, so has been timing her run well here!

Add to that the US Champ lizzim, wolf and RoastLamb just 2 more points behind in 4th – and we have a very tight top of the table.

How will things pan out on day 08, I wonder?

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 08

How to sum up today’s 4 matches? Well, in spite of the plan to make today’s report a shorter one, each match tells a different story, both in terms of the match itself and the BOTP scoring.


First Up – the Expected

(2) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. (21) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 62 76(2) (100-0)


The only 100% pick of round 04 – and Petra won, as expected.

She did have a second set wobble when serving for the match at 5-4. Ana then won 8 points in a row to briefly threaten – but a solid tie break from Petra (helped by a few errors from Ana) put paid to that.

Oh – Martina Nav has been talking about Kvitty again:

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/articles/2012-01-23/201201231327295824563.html


Second Up – The Wholly Unexpected!

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. (12) Serena Williams (USA) 62 63 (0-90)

What did I say about Ekat Mak’s win over Kaia Kanepi put into context by her win over Bepa? Well this result certainly puts it even further into context, I guess!

Mind you, has Serena played a worse match at the Aus Open in recent years? How about 4 double faults in 1 game?

Serena had a 33-0 record against non-top 20 players at the Aus Open. So, easily her worst defeat in Melbourne.

She did fight though – saved 5 set points and 3 match points.

Oh – and I think that this is the first time in the Open Era that there are no Americans in the AO quarter finals of either WTA or ATP. Eek.

Anyway. 90% of us picked Serena for this. It was handy damage limitation for lizzim who had picked Bepa – and for tlim, who had picked Kaia.

The match could have quite a significant outcome for BOTP, as quite a few folk had predicted that Serena would go a long way in this tournament. Those who bet against her might fancy their chances of picking up a few big points in the latter stages.

It was also the loss of another BOTP pick for the title – nevets and DN had now lost their picks for the title.


Masha survives Boom Boom Sabine Challenge!

(4) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (14) Sabine Lisicki (GER) 36 62 63 (65-15)

I didn’t see this – but by all accounts it was a crunching encounter, with Sabine racing through the first set, and Sharpie eventually prevailing by sheer grit and force of will.

It was of course a rematch of the Semi Final at Wimbers last year. Thankfully Sabine was able to put up more of a fight this time.

And last year, Sharpie was knocked out in the 4th round by another German – Andrea Petkovic. She wasn’t going to allow that to happen this time.

Post –match quote from her:

“If you played her strengths, if you give her time, she gets a good strike on the ball and can hit a good winner from any side of the court,” Sharapova said. “But if she can do that for three hours straight, at the end of the match you end up losing and that's just too good. But obviously I was trying to create those opportunities where, maybe she had to go for a little bit more and force the errors out of her.”

Anyway – good result for 65% of BOTPers. Wolf, tabbles and James had picked Lisicki. The remaining 20% had picked Kuznetsova.


Errani and Jie serve BOTP another Double Bagel

Sara Errani (ITA) d. Zheng Jie (CHN) 62 61 (0-0)

Well, Errani certainly won this match pretty convincingly! Little Jie won 44 points in total – but made 47 unforced errors – so was always going to be up against it with those sort of stats.

Errani is therefore through to her first ever slam quarter final, so a major breakthrough for her.

Zero points for us though. We had all picked either Bartoli or Stosur.


BOTP Day 08: Summary

Well, we all crashed and burned in 2 of the matches played today! Therefore, whether anyone did well in the BOTP table pretty much boiled down to the picks for the Masha v Sabine match, given that everyone picked Kvitova’s match.

If you didn’t pick Masha, then you may have tumbled a place or two. If you did, then you may have held your place, or moved up depending on others not picking Masha. Or something like that.

So , that completes the women’s quarter final lineup. First of those 2 matches taking place in just a few hours’ time..

[super8]

BOTP Report day 09 – Quarter Finals (1)

Well, today saw the completion of the 2 quarter final matches in the top half of the draw. Here is how things went, and their impact on BOTP.



Kim Prevails over Caro – again

(11) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 63 76(4) (35-10)

The first part of this match almost felt like a follow on from Caro’s match against JJ. Towards the end of that match, Caro went into her shell somewhat, trying to force errors from JJ. That time, it worked. This time, however, her loopy/ moonbally shots were returned early, on the rise, and with interest.

Kim should probably have won this 3 and 2. However, she seemed to go walkabout when serving for the match at 5-2 and eventually got through on the tiebreak.

Kim has won all 3 of her matches against Caro. It was however her first ever win over a current World number 1 in a Grand Slam match. Previously she had gone 0-5 in such encounters.

Who will now become top-ranked player? Caro will become either 3rd or 4th, depending on how the remaining matches pan out.

Anyway. Good result for 35% of BOTPers. It would have been a handy 5 points for lizzim and wolf had Caro won. Everyone else opted for SuperNa.



Vika beats Aga in another 3-setter

(3) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (8) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 67(0) 60 62 (90-0)

These two had recently played each other in Sydney. Vika won in 3 sets.
They also played in Toyko, late last year. Aga won in 3 sets.

It was therefore not a great surprise to find that this match went to 3 sets too.

It wasn’t exactly a match where serve dominated. There were 15 breaks of serve in 28 games! Vika was broken when serving for the first set at 6-5. However, she had too much firepower – hit 39 winners to Aga’s 16.

I liked the New York Times summation of this match:

Azarenka eventually slugged (and shrieked) her way free of the traps laid by Agnieszka Radwanska, the feather-footed Polish counterpuncher.

Vika certainly gets frustrated by the crafty counterpunchers – she stated as such, referring to Aga as the type of player that can make her a ‘a little crazy’.

And the shrieking. The crowd kept mimicking Shrieky Vicky, to which she responded by thanking everyone for coming along. Good comeback, I guess?

Aga was asked about the shrieking in the game. Her response was not exactly objective:

To be honest, I'm kind of used to it, you know, especially with Vika. We know each other for many years. About Maria, I mean, what can I say? For sure that is pretty annoying and it's just too loud. Yeah.

So Vika is ok, and Masha not? Apparently the WTA are ‘looking into it’.

Ho hum.

Anyway, Vika is through to her second slam semi final, following SW19 last year – and Aga is still yet to make a slam semi. She now has 3 QF appearance to her name at the AO and 2 at SW19.

90% of the BOTP crowd picked Vika. The minority dissenters were DN and Linda, who both picked Franny Schiavone.



BOTP Day 09: Summary

Not too much to say about this really! The 35% of BOTPers who picked Kim to win also picked Vika to win – this included all of the folk in the top 4, so no change there, with T01 retaining pole position.

Cazza and Liam also scored maximum points, moving up 1 place to 5th and 3 places to 8th respectively.

DN had the dubious accolade of being the first peron to lose all of their picks in the top half of the draw, and slipped towards the BOTP basement to accompany tabbles and IconA.

So, later today the 2 quarter final matches of from the bottom half of the draw will be played. Who will join Kim & Vika in the last 4?

[RoastLamb]

So happy Kimmie beat Caro in straights. Yippee!!! And now we can have a REAL number one. ;)

[JAMES4578]

Yes fab Kim is in the semis, even though I picked her to go out earlier and once again it proved Caroline still has a bit of work to do to win the biggest prizes. Wozniacki was in a bit of a dilema and it was Kim who was dictating the match. When she tried to be more aggressive she tended to err whilst if she held off was always on the back foot. Must still be some question mark over how well Kim's ankle she reall on song but of coursey has been impressive firstly in thwarting Li Na and then convincingly outplaying the now former no1. Pity that it looks like this definitely will be her last year on tour. I would have picked her to go further, but wasn't sure about her fitness, as indeed was the case with sharapova. However,Maria came through a tough battle with Lisicki and beat Makarova (Serena's conqueror which I'm sure took everyone by surprise)comfortably. Kvitova has upped her level from the early rounds but still not looking quite at her best yet, whilst Azarenka for the most part has been on song but of course has yet to reach a slam final but of course her time may well come. Certainly an interesting final 4!

[Lizzim]

Have I even got any players left?!

[RoastLamb]

I have three out of the four semi-finalists. Chuffed. But then I have Az beating Kim and Kvitova beating Serena. I hope Kim beats Az, don't care how many points I lose. And I really hope Kvitova beats Shazza but I don't think she will.

[super8]

Have I even got any players left?!

You have one pick still in the draw - Shrieky Vicky (your other SF picks were Caro, Vera Zvonareva and SuperSam).

[super8]

BOTP Report, day 10 – Quarter Finals (2)

Hello!

At this late stage in the evening, this really will be a shorter report! And so, onto the quarter final matches in the bottom half of the draw.


Petra Outlasts Sara

(2) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Sara Errani (ITA) 64 64 (95-0)

It might look like a routine 4 and 4 victory, but this was one l-o-n-g match, with more deuces than you could shake a stick at! Twenty games played in about 2 hours – roughly 6 minutes per game.

At the beginning of the match, Kvitova looked as if she’d obliterate Errani with her power – but Errani played some wonderful, smart tennis to claw her way back into the match, and made Kvitova look quite wretched at times.

Kvitova was like a grumpy teenager during this phase, and was 1-4 behind in the second set. She then got her act together, and won won something like 14 of the last 17 points to secure the match.

The result wasn’t a surprise, of course. The shape of the match certainly was. This was mainly down to the enterprise and sheer determination of Errani. Certainly the most whole-hearted performance in the tournament so far.

However, Sara had been 0-24 against top 10 players going into this match – and when Kvitova’s game was ‘on’, the difference showed. Great tournament for Errani though. Later in the day she and Roberta Vinci won their doubles semi against Hrad/ Hlav. They will play Kuzzy/ Bepa in the final.

95% of us picked Kvitova to win this one, so was a good result for us. The lone dissenter was lizzim with Sam Stosur.


Sharpie despatches Mackie

(4) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 62 63 (5-0)

I wonder how glad Sharpie was that she didn’t have to face Serena in the quarter finals?

The SiberCalifornian was simply too strong for EkaterMak - whose game did not reach the levels that it did against Serena.

In Sharpie’s post-match presser, the Grunt debate came up again, with the press just stirring things up a bit. Here’s an extract from the transcript:

Q. A bunch of players this week have made comments talking about how they think the noise that you and Azarenka in particular make is excessive.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Who?

Q. Radwanska was one player that said she thinks the noise you and Azarenka make is excessive and she'd like to see the WTA change the rules to prohibit that.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Isn't she back in Poland already?

Q. Yes.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: When did she get a chance to say that?


Q. After she lost her quarterfinal.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: She lost the match?

Q. Yes.

I guess that this will be Aga crossed off Sharpie’s Christmas Card list, then!!

Anyway. Only 1 BOTPer picked Sharpie the Screeching Harpie to make the semis. tlim, please take a bow!!! Bravo! The rest of us had all picked Serena.


BOTP Day 10: Summary

Well, 80% of BOTPers picked just the 1 winner out of the 2 matches – ie, Kvitova. tlim was the only person with 2 correct picks, and therefore topped the scoring for the day. By contrast, poor lizzim was the only person with zero picks for the day.

Thankfully, everyone still has at least 1 player still left in the draw. No-one picked all 4 semi finalists. Had Serena reached the semis, then I think that we would have had plenty with all 4. Ifs, buts and maybes and all that.

So, pretty much all movements in the BOTP table were the result of lizzim taking a wee tumble, and tlim rising a few places. No change at either the top or bottom of the table though. That will certainly change with the completion of the semi final matches tomorrow.

[Linda]

No more points for me - my last player (Kim) just went out :crying:

[JAMES4578]

Looks like that was Kim's last appearance at Melbourne park and pity she couldn't quite do enough but it least she went down in a close 3 setter 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. I've got Azarenka still but my pick for the title Kvitova went down 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to Sharapova. This was a tight match but Petra really looked to have the edge in the decider when she broke for 2-1 but she didn't have a great service game and Sharapova came right back. However, the russian wasn't totally secure on service but Kvitova couldn't capitalise. (10 doubles in the match with half of those in the 3rd) A Hawkeye challenge at 4 all and 0-30 on Shazza's serve proved significant and a combination of a bit of frailty and good returns finally gave Maria the win. Think I would favour Vika to take the title though.

[RoastLamb]

I can't go any further either coz I had Kvitova beating Azarenka. Boo to that!!!

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 11 – Semi Finals Day

Well, today was of course Semi Finals day. 2 Matches with 6 BOTP points riding on each of them.

In that respect, everyone had a chance to pick up some points. How did everyone fare?


Sharpie Avenges Wimby Defeat

(4) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (2) Petra Kvitova (CZE) 62 36 64 (0-55)

Well, this was quite an epic match, including a 53-minute, tense, final set. It was a case of what might have been for Petra, who was up a break of serve in the final set – and was a hair’s breadth away from 3 bp’s at 4-4 in that set.

You could also say that Sharpie played the big points better. She won all of her 5 break points at the first time of asking. In contrast Kvitova won 3 of her 14 break points.

Sharapova’s serve remained a concern for her throughout the match. 10 double faults in total and 5 in the final set alone. Petra hit more winners, but also more UE’s. She just didn’t play as well as at Wimby, and Sharpie fought well, as ever.

This was a bad result for many of us at BOTP. No-one picked Maria to reach the final here! No surprise really – she had no form to speak of, no match practice.. It would have been such a handy 6 points for the 55% who predicted that Petra to reach the final. It was damage limitation for those of us who picked Serena (40%) and SuperSam (5% - lizzim) to reach the final.

In addition, we lost a BOTP pick for the title. Petra was the choice of Big Al, Cazza99, James4578, mojoworking, RoastLamb, tabbles , tlim, T01 and Scolios.

Quite a lot of folk, then!!


Maiden Slam Final for Vika

(3) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (11) Kim Clijsters (BEL) 64 16 63 (55-15)

This was a strange match, full of swings in momentum. Kim fought hard including fighting back from a break down in the final set. However, Vika recovered well from her second set wobble to close out her advantage in the deciding set.

Just to show what a funny game tennis can be, Kim hit more winners, won more points overall (well, ok – it was 91 to 90 - one more point!) and converted the same number of break points as Vika (4) – yet still lost.

Well, this time, it was a good result for the majority of BOTPers, with 55% picking Vika to prevail. The 15% who picked Kim were cazza99, Linda and Northernlight/ Super8. The remainder of the picks were 25% for SuperNa and 5% for Caro (lizzim again!)

This match also saw the loss of another BOTP pick for the title, Kim being the choice of Linda and Northernlight.

And that was that, really. 2 pretty competitive semi finals! And whilst the results were very mixed for the BOTPers, the fact that 90% of folk still had 2 or 3 players in the semis was pretty impressive!


BOTP Roundup

Well, this summary is a pretty straightforward one. If you picked Vika to reach the final, then you went up in the table, or stayed in the same position. If you didn’t, then you almost certainly tumbled a few places!

No change at the top – still T01 in pole position. Scolios and RoastLamb moved into 2nd and 3rd place, whilst NL dropped to 4th. LivLuvLaf also moved back into the top 5 at the expense of Cazza who fell to 6th.

At the other end of the table, tabbles moved 3 places away from the BOTP basement. IconA picked up 6 points to share residence in the BOTP basement with Dark Necrofear.

So then – 1 match to go – Saturday’s final between Vika and Sharpie. There are still BOTP points riding on this result. How will the final table pan out?

I shall finish things up on Sunday evening, as I will be away for the weekend. I hope that it is a decent final – Australian Open finals rarely are though – hopefully it will buck the trend..

[super8]

BOTP Report: The Final!

Hello once again,

Finally, here is the BOTP report for the last match of the ladies singles tournament – a little later than planned due to really not having much time at a computer this weekend.

I have also just watched a recording of the final, so, with it fresh in my mind, here goes..


Victoria Victorious in Victoria!!


(3) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (4) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 63 60 (20-0)

Ahem – in the state of Victoria, that is.

Well, if anyone had stopped watching this match 2 and a half games into it, then they might have had quite a surprise at the final outcome! Vika started really nervously, with a few double faults, and promptly had her serve broken. Maria held pretty easily and was then 2-0 and 30-0 up on Vika’s serve.

It would have been easy to think that Vika was going to freeze and roll over, a la Safina (for example).

But no, Vika was able to focus, held serve, broke back, and held serve again to go up 3-2. Maria then held serve to make it 3-3.

It looked like a competitive final was on the cards – maybe a 3-setter?

But it was not to be. Vika just reeled off 9 games in a row to pretty much outplay her opponent.

It had similarities to the US Open final, in that Vika executed her gameplan perfectly (as did Sam at USO). It had similarities to SW19 last year, in that Maria had limitations to her game exposed – except this was even more of a stark exposure of her limitations. Vika just played better than her in all areas.

A highlight of the match was Vika’s use of the drop shot and lob. More of that, please!!

Anyway, Vika was a deserved winner. The first world number one to leapfrog over the number 2 slot on her way to becoming number 1 – and outdid her friend and neighbour Caro Woznicki by winning a slam on her way to becoming number one. Excellent!

We now have different winners for the last 5 slams, with 4 of them being first-time slam winners. It has made predicting the winner in BOTP a very tricky task – but 20% of BOTPers actually correctly predicted that Vika would win this!

IconA, liam valid, livluvlaf and wolf should all take a collective bow for picking the first Belarussian slam singles title holder. Bravo!!

The rest of us of course had no points to gain for this match, with no-one having picked Sharpie for the title. We had all gone for Kvitova (45%), Kim, Na Li, Serena (all 10%) and SuperSam (5%).

So, how did that leave the final BOTP table?


BOTP: Final Roundup

Of course, the pro-Vika group all moved up the BOTP table. Early BOTP leader livluvlaf regained some of the lost ground to move up 2 places into the top 3. Liam Valid and Wolf also moved up 2 places to 5th and 6th respectively. IconA finally got the keys to move out of the BOTP basement, moving up 4 places to 15th!

However, those who picked Vika were too far off the pace to dislodge T01 who is therefore the Australian Open BOTP Champion for 2012 – his first BOTP slam title. Well done T01 !

Just 3 points behind in 2nd place – and I am pretty certain that this is also a highest position for scolios – who had a fabulous BOTP, top-scoring in 4 of the last 5 rounds. Well done scolios!! Given that she was 15th after day 04, that is an excellent finish.

Following livluvlaf in 4th, we also have RoastLamb, who had her highest BOTP position since the US Open in 2009. Bravo!!

And – as already mentioned liam and wolf both finished strongly to round out the top 6. I think that wolf has had a few decent AO performances now…

At the other end of the BOTP table, Icona had been sharing the BOTP basement with Dark Necrofear – but with IconA’s pick of Vika, he has now left DN all on his tod – but with fah51 and jack in very close proximity.

Well, that just about wraps things up for the Australian BOTP. Many thanks to all of you who took part in this little pick ‘em! I hope that you enjoyed it - and I also hope that you enjoyed a few of the matches in the tournament too.

[RoastLamb]

Oh yay! Fourth!!! Instead of last like usual. Woo hoo!

Can't wait for French. Take yer pick as to who will win there. Could be anyone.

[JAMES4578]

Thanks for all your efforts Super 8! As I said elsewhere previously thought it was a disappointing final but Vika really was impressive after the edgy start and after sent went against Sharapova she just couldn't find her way back into the match and seemed to lose heart. Agree that Azarenka demonstrated she had much more variety. We didn't have the drama of the semis but we certainly had one player very much in form! Would have liked a Vika-Petra final as think that would've been more of a contest but of course we may well get that in future slams! Well done to all those who picked the winner!

[RoastLamb]

I still don't like Azarenka. Shame none of my faves won this year (except Leander Paes in the dubs). Disappointing tbh. But she does deserve to be number one, that's for sure.

[cazza99]

Well done TO1, scolios, livluvlaf and Roastlamb :clap: