AO 2016 - Day 10

Order of Play - http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/schedule15.html

Live Scores - http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/index.html

Day 10 Preview - http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/news/articles/2016-01-26/day_10_preview_murrays_mind_management.html

My predictions...

Kerber in 3

Konta in 3

Murray in 4

Raonic in 5

Azarenka in 2
Konta in 3
Murray in 3
Monfils in 4

Azarenka in 3
Konta in 2
Murray in 4
Raonic in 4

Azarenka in 2
Zhang in 3
Ferrer in 4
Raonic in 4

Kerber d Azarenka 6-3, 7-5 - http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/stats/day15/2503ms.html .

Too bad Raonic is the second match.  Given how people have been saying that his game has changed, I was hoping to see him.  But I am not getting up 3am for him.

I am not interested in the Murray-Ferrer QF, so no tennis for me today.

I will be waking up 3am for Fed's match though

Konta on the brink. Has a real shot at making a grand slam final. Truly incredible!

Very good for Konta to get to the SF, but Kerber will be too much for Konta.

On the off chance that Murray has a shocker against Ferrer, then we will have the surprising situation of him not being the last Brit standing at a slam. I wonder when was the last time that happened. Ignoring those skipped, I'm guessing OZ 08, so a real rarity is on the cards.

An early break for Murray to lead 3-1. Very loose service game that from Ferrer by his standards.

Murray seals the first set 6-3 in 45 minutes. I'd like to see him kick on from here and get this down swiftly in around two hours but Ferrer won't go away quietly.

First set to Murray at 6-3, despite some valiant effort by Ferrer (2 missed BPs).

Murray playing a poor match so far. Looks half-asleep. Can see this getting scrappy.

Good ticker by Ferrer, gets an early break.

He threw away the first set, the second is must-win.

Born Slippy wrote:Murray playing a poor match so far. Looks half-asleep. Can see this getting scrappy.

Poor is a bit OTT for me but Ferrer breaks. Murray just feeding too much hope to Ferrer.

Perhaps the term I am looking for is that he just has times when he surrenders initiative in matches and that was one of them. He needs more of the foot on the throat mentality. Ferrer leads 3-1 (with a break) in the second set.

Poor is being fairly generous Craig. Hasn't got his big shots working and has already past the number of UEs he had against Tomic. He's also returning Ferrer's second serve woefully.

Born Slippy wrote:Poor is being fairly generous Craig. Hasn't got his big shots working and has already past the number of UEs he had against Tomic. He's also returning Ferrer's second serve woefully.

Well Ferrer is far different from Tomic as in is a brick wall. He doesn't feed you a lot of unforced errors unlike Tomic and means Murray has to go for more shots in rallies so you will get more errors. Plus Ferrer has more quality than Tomic. Don't get me wrong I am not saying this is great but winning a set 6-3 against Ferrer isn't what I'd call poor. I'd call it poor how he opened the door for Ferrer at the start of the second set. Murray leads 6-3 1-4

Yes, agree with poor. The other side of the draw won't be quaking on the evidence of this match.

Hmm I cannot agree that winning a set 6-3 against a world No. 6 (which he will be after this tournie) is poor. What has followed was poor but the poor tag first was used at end of the first set. Murray breaks and we are back on serve at 4-3 to Ferrer.

But I will say the peaks and troughs seen in these first two sets sum up why Andy hasn't won more slams. He can win sets and then shut down and let opponents back into matches. Now against Ferrer you may get away with it but not against the Roger's and Novak's of this world.

Is it not conceivable that both players can play poorly? Are you watching the match or the score? Murray had 14 unforced BH errors by early in the second set. That's poor in my book.

Aut0Gr4ph wrote:Is it not conceivable that both players can play poorly? Are you watching the match or the score? Murray had 14 unforced BH errors by early in the second set. That's poor in my book.

I have seen Murray play worse but seen him play a lot better. What I am more rankled by personally is Murray's continued missing of the moment. Such as winning the first set then switching off and surrendering initiative then getting break point chances and missing them as he has done in this second set. That is much more aggravating for me. The first set by Murray wasn't his best for sure but I think to say it was outright poor is a stretch too far but there you go - it is all about opinions.

Yeah, Ferrer was terrible in the first set. He picked it up to about normal level at the start of the second whilst Andy carried on playing poorly - hence the early lead.

Quality from Ferrer in that game.

Ferrer deserved that. Takes the second set on a tie-break and has played some cracking stuff. Looks like this will be a marathon. One set-all.

Some great rallies in that set - Ferrer getting the better of the two longer ones in the tie-break, coupled with Murray's foolish error on the 3rd point, and it's game on.

Ferrer played the TB almost perfectly. Tied at a set a piece.

Yes, agreed. Ferrer deserved that one. Murray getting ahead in a lot of rallies, but struggling to find the killer blow. Still fancy Murray in 4.

At 34, Ferrer can run and absorb much pace. The sheer athleticism is mind-boggling.

If not in 4, Murray can still do it in 5. Murray should try and vary the pace a bit, instead of base-line rallying.

Murray breaks and straight away play is suspended. Ferrer unhappy. No rain but apparently it is because of thunder and lightening.

How long is it supposed to take to sort the roof?

Seem to recall from previous times this has happened - between 10 to 20 minutes.

Aut0Gr4ph wrote:How long is it supposed to take to sort the roof?

10 minutes...

Murray looks in the driving seat now. He's bossing the majority of points and Ferrer is having to do an awful lot of scampering. Of course, the rain delay will give Ferrer some respite and it's vital that Murray doesn't surrender the initiative on the resumption.

Wow, that's much quicker than Wimbledon. Presumably, there's no knock up after such a brief intermission.

Oops, I shouldn't have switched channels. Ignore me!

That was a key hold. Murray on mental walkabout but somehow holds and leads 6-3 6-7 4-1.

Ferrer squanders another two break points, something he simply can't afford to do.

Of greater concern is Murray's slight injury which may hamper him significantly if this match gets dragged into the trenches.

Phew! Murray clings on to the break. Was a whisker away from 3 doubles on a row on the deuce side. At least he can't be accused of rolling them in. Ferrer starting to look cooked.

Anyone else think that Murray looks a bit flat? He's normally a lot more animated, although, given the punishing nature of the tennis, perhaps no bad thing to be conserving energy.

Aut0Gr4ph wrote:Anyone else think that Murray looks a bit flat? He's normally a lot more animated, although, given the punishing nature of the tennis, perhaps no bad thing to be conserving energy.

I wouldn't call it flat as Murray takes the third set 6-2. More controlled with his rants and self-admonishing maybe but still too much for my liking.

After the roof closing, Ferrer has also dropped his level. 2 sets to 1 for Murray.

Having said that, it's too early in the morning for tennis, so perhaps I'm the one lacking intensity.

Murray wraps up the 3rd and looks in a very strong position indeed.

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's an unassailable lead, but Murray looks to have the upper hand physically and there would have to be a serious drop off in his level for Ferrer to wrestle it back.

At this stage of their respective careers, you have to feel it will be increasingly difficult for Ferrer to come out on top over best of 5.

laverfan wrote:After the roof closing, Ferrer has also dropped his level. 2 sets to 1 for Murray.

Hmm perhaps but Murray had broken serve to lead in the third before the roof closed. Ferrer running out of steam and Murray maneuvering him around much better has been the difference.

Brutal for Ferrer now and Murray snatches the break. If he can polish off this set reasonably quickly, it will have been a good 4 set workout.

Aut0Gr4ph wrote:
At this stage of their respective careers, you have to feel it will be increasingly difficult for Ferrer to come out on top over best of 5.

This has been the game plan Ferrer has built his career around though. It will very often get the game done against most of the players in the world but against the very best it mostly comes up short.

Ferrer sticking in, he's still full of running and resilient defence.

Murray again infuriatingly opening the door again to his opponent he had down.

He'll get the job done today but traits like that will get snuffed out by Roger or Novak.