Australian Open: Day Six - 2014

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/schedule11.html

Monfils v Nadal is an intriguing match. La Monf has nothing to lose. Nadal in 4.

Murray v Lopez in the afternoon on HiSense is good test for Murray. Murray in 4.

Tsonga v Simon in the evening. Simon has the counterpunching to take Tsonga out. Simon in 5.

Raonic v Dimitrov. May be Raonic in 4 tight sets.

Nishikori in 3 v Young.

Federer v Gabashvili. Federer in 4.

Paire v Agut in 3. Klizan v Robert in 5.

Azarenka, MaSha, Woz, ARad should make it through after yesterday's close matches.

Thanks for putting the thread up, LF. Going with:

Nadal in 4
Murray in 3 (no more than 10 games lost)
Tsonga in 3
Raonic in 3
Nish in 4
Fed in 3
Paire in 5
Klizan in 4

Nadal in 5 (Monfils can win this but I don't see him getting over the line)
Murray in 3
Tsonga in 4 (Simon surely knackered)
Raonic in 4 (Dimitrov won't break him)
Kei in 3
Fed in 3
Agut in 4
Klizan in 3

Nadal in 3
Murray in 3
Tsonga in 4
Dimitrov in 4
Nishikori in 3
Federer in 3
Paire in 4
Klizan in 5

The heat-wave is over.  Much cooler today.  The high for today is forecast at around 24 degrees.  It is supposed to stay around there for the rest of the AO.

Born Slippy wrote:
Tsonga in 4 (Simon surely knackered)

Robredo played three 5-set matches back-to-back at RG 2013, IIRC.

Come on Cibu, bagel Carla.

PS: Yessss! A bagel it is.

Cornet loses among a litany of errors from both.

Roger

Robert a set up on Klizan in a battle of the lucky losers. Federer about to start against Gabashvili

CaledonianCraig wrote:Robert a set up on Klizan in a battle of the lucky losers.

That is so odd - two lucky losers and one of them guaranteed to make it to the round of 16.  Andy's draw all the way to the quarters is very nice.

summerblues wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:Robert a set up on Klizan in a battle of the lucky losers.

That is so odd - two lucky losers and one of them guaranteed to make it to the round of 16.  Andy's draw all the way to the quarters is very nice.

Yes. A draw of two halves. First four rounds very good, next three couldn't be worse.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Yes. A draw of two halves. First four rounds very good, next three couldn't be worse.

I would still call it a good draw.  With his seeding, Andy knew he would have Rafa and Nole in SF/F (in whatever order), so that has nothing to do with the luck of the draw.  So the only one that is due to the luck of the draw is QF.

summerblues wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:Yes. A draw of two halves. First four rounds very good, next three couldn't be worse.

I would still call it a good draw.  With his seeding, Andy knew he would have Rafa and Nole in SF/F (in whatever order), so that has nothing to do with the luck of the draw.  So the only one that is due to the luck of the draw is QF.

Yes that is true. Still I don't see Andy in a position to win anyway.

Federer breaks to lead 4-2 in the first set.

Federer leads 5-2 and Robert now takes second set against Klizan to lead 6-0 7-6.

I really am heavily anticipating an Andy v. Nadal match in a slam and on this particular surface. It can be a huge statement by Murray of how far he has come and that he can maybe get in there and upset the current order of the top two. Nadal is better on the hardcourt and Murray has improved as well. Unless Murray can get more competitive against Nadal in slams and in general it will limit him pushing on even further in the game.

And after 34 minutes Roger wraps up the first set 6-2.

Pretty solid looking set from Federer. Gabashvili playing quite well, yet Fed looked pretty comfortable winning it 6:2.

socal1976 wrote:I really am heavily anticipating an Andy v. Nadal match in a slam and on this particular surface. It can be a huge statement by Murray of how far he has come and that he can maybe get in there and upset the current order of the top two. Nadal is better on the hardcourt and Murray has improved as well. Unless Murray can get more competitive against Nadal in slams and in general it will limit him pushing on even further in the game.

I can't see it happening here. His match against Lopez will only be his fifth match in about three months since his back surgery. Far too soon to be expecting a performance like that I feel.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Still I don't see Andy in a position to win anyway.

Agree, not likely.  But he has good enough draw that he can maybe play himself into some sort of form.  If he then wins his QF it will likely be against either Tsonga or Roger, neither of which is likely to lead to protracted rallies.  So he may then be fairly fresh for the SF/F, and who knows, stranger things have happened.

Dimi

summerblues wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:Still I don't see Andy in a position to win anyway.

Agree, not likely.  But he has good enough draw that he can maybe play himself into some sort of form.  If he then wins his QF it will likely be against either Tsonga or Roger, neither of which is likely to lead to protracted rallies.  So he may then be fairly fresh for the SF/F, and who knows, stranger things have happened.

I agree playing himself into form will be what he can garner from this. If he gets to the semis he will have done very well here.

summerblues wrote: Dimi

Interesting match this. Both touted as being next generation of tennis. Will the serve and power of Raonic win through or will Dimitrov's artistry and all round game triumph?

CaledonianCraig wrote:

socal1976 wrote:I really am heavily anticipating an Andy v. Nadal match in a slam and on this particular surface. It can be a huge statement by Murray of how far he has come and that he can maybe get in there and upset the current order of the top two. Nadal is better on the hardcourt and Murray has improved as well. Unless Murray can get more competitive against Nadal in slams and in general it will limit him pushing on even further in the game.

I can't see it happening here. His match against Lopez will only be his fifth match in about three months since his back surgery. Far too soon to be expecting a performance like that I feel.

All the more reason if he does win that he lays down his marker. I think Nadal is a significant favorite in the match and that somehow another Djoko v. Nadal slam final is in the works.

Federer holding with ease so far. He will want a quick days work today.

Stephane Robert wins 6-0 7-6 6-4 to reach the 4th Round as a lucky loser. The winner of the Murray/Lopez match awaits.

Roger breaks and leads 6-2 5-2.

Dimi breaks Rao to love.  Dimi's movement has improved so much over the last two years.

Federer wins the second set 6:2 also - really good stuff from here so far.  Dimi serves out the first set 6:3.  I am a happy camper for now.

Almost a carbon copy of the first set. Federer breaks again and leads 6-2 6-2. Meanwhile, Dimitrov breaks the Raonic serve to lead 5-3 and now serves out to win first set 6-3.

Battle of the five setters under way. Pair level in first set with Bautista Agut at 2-2.

Federer home and hosed at 6-2 6-2 4-1. A nice short workout for him.

Raonic breaks and looks set to level the match up at one set all and Bautista leads Pair 5-2.

Roger Federer wins 6-2 6-2 6-3 and plays Tsonga or Simon in the next round.

Good stuff from Federer. Breezing through the first three rounds is exactly what he needed. It'll be interesting to see whether he goes life & death with Tsonga again this year; if it doesn't go the distance, I'd make him the mild favourite over Murray. Tsonga looks very good too, though. Can't wait for that match, assuming JWT beats Simon. it was enormously entertaining last year.

Dimi putting up a good display so far, but that Raonic serve is just unbelievable. I'm flabbergasted every time I watch him play. Thanks again for the updates, Craig.

Paire being put to the sword, here. 4-1 down in the second.

Aggy currently 3-0 up in the final set against Pavlyuchenkova

Raonic takes the ser to level with Dimitrov at one set all. You feel whoever wins the third set will win the match. Bautista Agut a set and a break up.

Bautista Agut in total control now leads Paire 6-2 6-1 and is set for his first 4th Round at a slam in his career. He will play the winner of the Dimitrov/Raonic match.

Andy Murray will be out on court shortly but what Murray will turn up? The one that beat Soeda then Andy will be fine. The one that played Millot and there is a good chance of a shock.

Radwanska finally wins, so Andy will be starting soon.

Dimitrov takes what could be a key third set and leads Raonic 6-3 3-6 6-4.

Bautista through in straight sets against Paire. Murray with a sticky start but leads 2-1 - more back concerns being touted. Certainly, rolling a lot of serves in.

Poor start from Murray and Lopez but picking up in that last game. Going with serve at 3-3.

Noticeable that Murray looks far less comfortable on shots played on the backhand on his left-hand side.

Well that's a little worrying, Craig. If he gets into the "trenches" against Nadal, I'd be very worried for him (Nadal's preferred method of torture being forehand to backhand, with) getting that heavy ball back into play.

Well even more worrying is that the surgery was supposed to have corrected the problem. If it hasn't then will he have this hindrance for the rest of his career?

Dimitrov finally prevails in the 4th set TB.  Well done.  He looked very very good.  I do not think he is too far from breaking through.

Dimitrov beats Raonic in four sets.

Murray/Lopez going to a first set tie-break.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Well even more worrying is that the surgery was supposed to have corrected the problem. If it hasn't then will he have this hindrance for the rest of his career?

Haven't seen much sign of back issues myself - annoying habit of pulling his t-shirt down notwithstanding. Lopez has come up with the goods on break points in frustrating fashion but generally Murray has looked pretty sharp. Goes without saying though that this match gets a lot harder if he loses the tiebreak.