Australian Open: Day Three - 2014

First topic message reminder :

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/schedule8.html

Some interesting matches (IMO)

Bencic v Li (Bencic played Girls Singles final @W) - now in the WTA circuit.

Dolonc played Venus (the other Williams) @USO after flying for 17+ hours on day of the match. She plays Serena.

Djokovic should roll Mayer (prediction is 1,2,3).

Surprised that Hewitt/Rafter are on HiSense for doubles.

MoTD - Gulbis v Querrey.

JJ may play a bit better against Andujar but not an easy one for JJ.

Benneteau v Robredo (prediction is a 5-setter).

Enjoy

credit to Wawrinka, Falla always seems to prove a really difficult obstacle even for the very best players. He is the sort of player you want to avoid early rounds, always capable of an upset. Who can forget him nearly taking out Federer on centre court at wimbledon years ago.

He reminds me a bit of baghdatis, on his day he is capable of sublime tennis and seems to find his best tennis at the slams. Shame baghdatis has drifted away a bit over the past couple of years.

If Wawrinka meets djokovic again, could be an epic. Although stan's head to head record is awful, i suspect he could bring novak very close again, i think it being best of 5 though plays into Novaks hands more. Strange though because Wawrinka has proved himself in best of 5 beating Murray at the US Open on a couple of occasions. Its clearly not fear factor or talent but maybe just the stamina required to take out novak and nadal.

Early days yet but Berdych has started well. He may well be a bigger challenge than Stan if he keeps his head.

slashermcguirk wrote: Its clearly not fear factor or talent but maybe just the stamina required to take out novak and nadal.

Wawrinka did make Djokovic work hard. There is also a five-setter vs Murray @W which stands out. Under Magnus, he is doing well and improving. Very glad to see Stan get out from under the shadows of his more decorated peer.

HM Murdoch wrote:Early days yet but Berdych has started well. He may well be a bigger challenge than Stan if he keeps his head.

I see where you're coming from, but part of the trouble Berdych has against Novak isn't just mental, but rather also based around the serve. Novak returns the Berdych serve amazingly well - Berdych lacks variety on his first serve to a large extent, and will invariably go for the big flat serve rather than vary it up with some kick and placement. So Novak knows where it's going, and can get to it. A few of us were talking about it in their QF here last year; even though Tomas played a good match, he just couldn't buy a free point.

He might want a free pint in this heat, mind! And it could be different this year, so many variables in tennis that you can't pin it all on one aspect of the game. But it's a big advantage of Berdych's negated, and I think it's part of why his record against Djokovic is so poor.

Of course, you're right though. Both players are excellent, and very much a threat to Novak!

This is precisely why I am never sure why Murray struggles so much with berdych compared to Novak. Murray has a quality return of serve but yet he really struggles with berdych. It's a hard one to pinpoint.

Wawrinka also has a pretty good record against Murray overall and in slams. I guess it proves that Novak and Andy are very different players.