Tennis: Australian Open 2018

[Tuggy]

Australian Open 2018 - The Grand Slam of Asia / Pacific | Australian Open 2018

Qualifying draw will be tomorrow!

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[Tuggy]

Defending champs are Federer and Williams. Serena has already pulled out, still not ready to return.

On the men's side, this will be one of the more interesting draws in some time. Murray and Nishikori have already withdrawn and their are injury clouds hanging over Nadal and Djokovic. Djokovic returning from a long layoff currently sitting #12 so where will he land in the draw? Raonic looking at potentially a #22 ranking could make for any interesting earlier round matchup.

Seems like the table is set for Roger to repeat but he is 36 and father time has to catch up sometime right?

Could we get a first time winner? Dimitrov finished the year strong and will come in as the #3 seed. Can Zverev take the next step? Kyrgios coming in off a title win last week. Can the Canadian 18 year old Shapovalov make a run? Should be a fun tournament!

On the women's side, with no Serena, I think it's about as wide open as you get. Good luck predicting a winner. I think there is a lot of potential winners and probably a good chance of a first time winner.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Sock is seeded 8. He wasn't very good in the grand slams last year, maybe he'll be better in them this year.

 

[Loosie]

Raonic and Shapovalov with direct entry.
Pospisil, Polansky, Schnur, Peliwo and Dancevic are all in the qualifying draw. Poalnsky and Schnur in the same bracket though so at most we'd have 4 men qualify.

 

[darko]

Stan/Muguruza

 

[Loosie]

Pospisil, Polansky and Dancevic won their matches. Peliwo and Schnur both lost.

 

[kihei]

Fed and Nole look like they have the toughest draws, though Rafa will run into Dimitrov if all goes as planned. I know this is heresy but I am at the stage where I would like to see someone other than Roger or Rafa win this. Last year was fun once, but tennis needs to move on.

 

[Tuggy]

Fed and Nole look like they have the toughest draws, though Rafa will run into Dimitrov if all goes as planned. I know this is heresy but I am at the stage where I would like to see someone other than Roger or Rafa win this. Last year was fun once, but tennis needs to move on.

Agree 100%. I am very ready for some new champions.

 

[rangerssharks414]

I have no idea who's going to win on either side. This is probably the most wide open it has ever been.

 

[tony d]

Should be a fun tournament. Will Raonic win his first major this year? We shall see. Good luck to all players.

 

[Know Your Enemy]

15 year old Ukrainian girl Marta Kostyuk is 1 win away from qualifying for the AO. When was the last time someone that young has qualified for a Grand Slam?

 

[Novak Djokovic]

Zverev, Thiem, Novak and Stan all in same quarter. Ridiculous.

 

[Know Your Enemy]

Kostyuk qualifies. Go Ukraine!

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

15 year old Ukrainian girl Marta Kostyuk is 1 win away from qualifying for the AO. When was the last time someone that young has qualified for a Grand Slam?

Bellis

 

[Tuggy]

Pospisil makes it through qualifying and Polansky got in as a LL for a second year in a row.

Vasek gets a tough draw though in Cilic.

 

[Know Your Enemy]

I'm going to go way off the board and pick Pouille to win.
and i'll go with Svitolina on the women's side

 

[kihei]

I'll go Dimitrov and Svitolina.

 

[Know Your Enemy]

Zhang dominated the 2nd set tiebreak vs Stephens. It's anyones match at this point. Sloane is in a brutal losing streak since the US open

...and Sloane's losing streak continues

 

[Tuggy]

I don't expect a big run from Nadal and I don't think Federer defends his title. I feel like Djokovic could win again here but it's been a long layoff. I could see a Dimitrov title for sure.

I like Halep on the women's side.

Shapovalov and Pospisil both in action tonight. Vasek already in tough against Cilic is dealing with a knee issue, so I don't expect much.

 

[Hadoop]

Gonna go with Federer and Kerber

 

[Tuggy]

Shapovalov/Tsitsipas just underway. Two talented young guns. Shap rocking the pink.

Stephens out and Bencic has Venus on the ropes. Bencic really on a roll now after her injury layoff.

 

[Know Your Enemy]

Bencic is a force. Holy smokes

 

[Know Your Enemy]

Stephens out and Bencic has Venus on the ropes. Bencic really on a roll now after her injury layoff.

Coco is on the ropes now too. Grim day for the Americans

 

[rangerssharks414]

Coco is out.

 

[EC09]

So hey, the American women are getting smoked.