Tennis: Australian Open 2019

[Tuggy]

All 4 Canadians advance to round 2.

Shapovalov gets Daniel but Djokovic likely awaits in R3.

Raonic gets Wawrinka in R2.

Bouchard (as mentioned) gets Serena in R2.

Andreescu gets #13 Sevastova in R2.

So tough draws for all four.

 

[kihei]

After winning the first set Gulbis retires at 1-3 in the second set against Wawrinka. Ernests isn't getting any younger either.

Bad start of the year for Nick as he gets bounced by Milos in straight sets. Maybe Nick and Ernests should open a school for underachievers. By now, they both have doctorates in the field.

 

[tony d]

Good win for Genie yesterday, Serena's going to be a tough match though.

 

[Beau Knows]

Fedeer looking for a 16th straight Austrailian Open match victory here.

...does not look great so far though

 

[Cloned]

After winning the first set Gulbis retires at 1-3 in the second set against Wawrinka. Ernests isn't getting any younger either.

Bad start of the year for Nick as he gets bounced by Milos in straight sets. Maybe Nick and Ernests should open a school for underachievers. By now, they both have doctorates in the field.

Raonic already has tenure in that school.

 

[Know Your Enemy]

Evans is quite a nuisance

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Anderson knocked out by Tiafoe. Tiafoe’s been developing well in recent years. Very close to breaking into the top 25.

 

[kihei]

Raonic already has tenure in that school.

Underachieved, yes. But one-dimensional Milos never had the kind of talent that Gulbis and Krygios had to waste.

 

[Tuggy]

Andreescu on TSN2 just underway.

 

[MsMeow]

Underachieved, yes. But one-dimensional Milos never had the kind of talent that Gulbis and Krygios had to waste.

I think Milos has over achieved given his weaknesses with movement and his backhand. Kyrgios just doesn't give a shit. I don't watch Gulbis enough to form an opinion.

 

[Tuggy]

Andreescu on TSN2 just underway.

Her run ends in a tough 3 setter.

But this start to 2019 has her into the top 100!

Raonic/Wawrinka on serve in the first.

 

[MsMeow]

Bianca ran out of energy but I was really expecting her to lose in straights halfway through the first. Love her game! Milos is looking good so far, he's playing very patiently and is on serve at 6-5 in the first. Stan is starting to look a bit better.
Dammit Milos! Up a break early and then he was broken back immediately and lost the first in a breaker.

This match has been amazing! Wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. Milos took the 2nd and 3rd sets in breakers. The third was 13-11 and it happened after a rain delay. The rain came down pretty fast so they closed the roof but it took a while to dry the court.

 

[Tuggy]

Big win for Raonic over Stan.

Shapovalov with another straight forward win.

And Genie predictably goes down to Serena.

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

Nice start for the Canadian men. Hope Shapo can give Nole a good match but it will be tough.

 

[MsMeow]

Other than his inability to read Stan's serve at times, Milos played fantastic tennis.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Stan played the better match, but hes just trying to get back into some kind of normal form. Not a fan of the 5th set tiebreaker, think Karlovic would have won that match straight up.

 

[tony d]

Good win for Raonic earlier today. Genie lost but to Serena which noone should fault her for.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Raonic will be tired out. Nobody is making a run out of that quarter though,

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

Stan played the better match, but hes just trying to get back into some kind of normal form. Not a fan of the 5th set tiebreaker, think Karlovic would have won that match straight up.

Milos won more points and the match so it would reason he played the better match, no?

 

[kihei]

Milos won more points and the match so it would reason he played the better match, no?

That's an interesting assertion. I didn't see the match in question, but I have seen many other sporting events when the better team/player didn't win (happens sometimes in soccer, it seems, where one lucky goal can make all the difference). Winning the most points seems like a good barometer of the better tennis player on the day, but I'll bet there are exception where one player dominates most of the way but in the end the other player takes over. Roger's tie breaker win over Nick in the 2017 Laver Cup might be one possible example.

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

That's an interesting assertion. I didn't see the match in question, but I have seen many other sporting events when the better team/player didn't win (happens sometimes in soccer, it seems, where one lucky goal can make all the difference). Winning the most points seems like a good barometer of the better tennis player on the day, but I'll bet there are exception where one player dominates most of the way but in the end the other player takes over. Roger's tie breaker win over Nick in the 2017 Laver Cup might be one possible example.

I would agree that at times the better player can lose by choking away the important points. You can win more points but lose the match if you are losing all the break points.

I feel like if you won more points in total it would be hard to say you didn't play the better match, but I too didn't watch the match, which was why I phrased it as a question instead of simply a statement.

I'm interested to hear why he thinks Stan played the better match.

 

[MsMeow]

I don't think Stan played the better match, although it was VERY close. For quite a while Stan out-aced Milos but Milos had more unreturnable serves. Then by the end of it he out-aced him. The biggest problem Milos had was his inability to read Stan's serve, but the thing I liked about Milos was his backhand was much better than usual, and he hit some beautiful volleys. Also, in the 4th set he was down 2-5 which is when I went to bed because I figured it was going 5. He then held and broke (I missed those) so I tuned in again at 5 all and then in the breaker it was Stan who choked on match point. Milos was actually really strong mentally, something we haven't seen a lot of lately. I think he's tired but with today being an off day that should help him.

 

[kihei]

De Minaur versus Nadal. Staying up late for that one. Rafa in fours sets, though...but he better have his legs for this one.

 

[MsMeow]

De Minaur versus Nadal. Staying up late for that one. Rafa in fours sets, though...but he better have his legs for this one.

I'll be lucky to stay up for all of Roger's match. I may PVR the Rafa match though

 

[kihei]

Roger looked very good and very fit in his straight set win over Fritz, 2-5-2, scores that, for once, provide an accurate trajectory and hint at the overall quality of the match.