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Running Australian Open Thread (2010 version)

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Point of Order, Jan 17, 2010.

  1. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Kirilenko was in the top 20 a couple of years ago and played Sharapova something like 7-5, 7-6 in the Aussie Open. So, yeah, she can play. Not the luckiest of draws for Sharapova, but still shows how far she has slipped since winning it in 2008.

    But, still, NO WAY a women's match should need 3 hours, 20 minutes.
     
  2. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    Federer gets past a first-set hiccup against Andreev and had to go to a tiebreak to win the third, but he's rolling now -- on his way to a bagel in the fourth -- and moving on. Not an impressive opening, but it'll do.
     
  3. MacDaddy

    MacDaddy Active Member

    Looks like Soderling is about to make his exit. Won the first two sets, and is now a game away from losing.
     
  4. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    As long as Roger and Rafa are healthy, does anyone else really have a chance. NO!
     
  5. GB-Hack

    GB-Hack Active Member

    Who won the last major of 2009?
     
  6. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    I forgot that DelPotro upset Federer.
    But I stand by my statement. Anyone other than Roger or Rafa is a major ujpset to me.
     
  7. Point of Order

    Point of Order Active Member

    Mary Carillo?
     
  8. Point of Order

    Point of Order Active Member

    Question of the night: will Melanie Luring ever equal her U.S. Open run?

    All signs point to 'no'.
     
  9. hidden order

    hidden order Member

    How dare you. Everybody knows Mary doesn’t watch non slam tennis. Especially if chicks are playing.

    Interesting coverage decision for ESPN here to go mainly with Venus/ Safarova over Oudin/ Kudryavtseva. That Venus match looked interesting on paper since the last two times she played Lucie it went three sets and Venus hasn’t played well since she got injured last summer. Looks like she’s taking care of business at the moment, but it’s Venus... at the AO. Nothing would surprise me. Nothing.

    Oudin should get past Alla, but then faces Radwanska the Elder in the next round who is exactly the kind of player who troubles her most and brings out her tendency to hit a million UEs. Good retriever, low UEs. Alla not so much, she’s a UE machine herself and won't win this unless she gets hot.

    Maybe at some point with a good draw? Since the US Open Oudin’s crashed back down to earth and won exactly 1 match. Going 1-4 (I think), including losing in Tokyo qualifiers to old lady Craybas and first round in Beijing qualifiers to Glatch. Then she was crushed in Fed Cup vs Italy by Flavia and Fran, hitting over 100 UEs in two matches.

    She’s a tweener at the moment. She doesn’t have the firepower to get away with those kinds of errors and she’s just not consistent enough mechanically to pull a Radwanksa or Caro either. With the possible exception of JJ at Wimbledon all of her big wins have come against big hitters who racked up massive UEs. Once she runs into a counterpuncher or a defensive player it’s lights out. Same goes for a big hitter playing decently. She's totally at the mercy of the draw gods.

    And WTF is with Alla’s player profile pic? She picked that? On purpose? Damn.

    ETA:
    Well ESPN ditched the Venus match in favor of the Oudin match. Good decision since Venus cruised and Oudin was broken trying to serve it out after 3 MPs. Alla's jumping all over that softball second serve. She hit two clean return winners off it at 5-4 to get back on serve. And Oudin throws in the inevitable DF on set point. Classic WTA moment. Dunno who wins this now.
     
  10. Bubba Fett

    Bubba Fett Active Member

    Do you mean Melanie Oudin?

    I think she'll be a player that gets to the quarters of a lot of majors in her career, maybe a few semis, but I have a hard time seeing her winning one. At the same time, she's just 17. I interviewed her after an exhibition about six weeks ago and she seems to have a good head on her shoulders.

    Draw-making question: How does the No. 1 player in the world (Federer) play the No. 37 player (Igor) in the first round of a 128-person draw. Shouldn't Fed have player one of the qualifiers or someone ranked about 100 or so?

    That said, I think the tough match probably did him some good.
     
  11. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    The 32 seeds are placed in their respective spots in the draw.

    After that, it's blind luck of the draw. No. 33 player can be drawn at anytime. As can any unseeded player.

    A few years ago there were only 16 seeds, and No. 1 could have played No. 17 in the first round.
     
  12. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    And in about three hours, in a second-round match that should be a semifinal, No. 5 Elena Dementieva will have to face "unseeded" Justine Henin.

    About as unfair draw for a No. 5 seed as I've seen in a while. Not sure who unseeded Serena had to face en route to the title three years ago, but I doubt she ran into a top-5 seed in the second round.
     
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