Mens Tennis Forums banner

Australian Open 2009 reports and pics

8K views 79 replies 37 participants last post by  Experimentee 
#1 ·
I will be going to the AO for qualifying and the first 4 days of the main draw, and will post any reports or pics in this thread.

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

The weather today was very hot in the morning but cooled down as the day went on. Matches continued until about 10 or 10.30pm.

Joe Sirianni def Go Soeda 3-6 6-3 8-6

I arrived at this match in time to witness Joe's comeback from 0-5 down in the 3rd. Joe played really well, especially his backhand, as he hit many BH down the line winners. Joe had a lot of crowd support and showed a lot of heart and courage as he faced match points which he saved with great play. It was also a combination of Soeda choking as he hit quite a few poor shots to lose some of his service games. I was very impressed with Joe's attitude and his fight, and the win was well deserved.

Peter Luczak(AUS)[31] def.Andrew Coelho(AUS) 6-3 4-6 6-3

This was a poor match and painful to watch, definitely the worst match I saw today in terms of quality of play. The match was basically both of them trading simple errors, Coelho mainly hitting his BH to the bottom of the net and doublefaulting, Luczak framing his groundstrokes and doublefaulting too. Coelho was really in with a chance even though he wasn't playing well, until at 3-3 he inexplicably imploded and lost the next 3 games through strings of crappy UEs. Luczak will really need to pick up his game or he will be easily thrashed in the next round.

Andreas Beck(GER)[2] def Brendan Mckenzie(AUS) 6-1 6-2

I only saw a few games and could tell that it was not going to be competitive. McKenzie did not have the weapons to hurt Beck and was no match for him.

Marc Lopez(ESP)def. Hyung-Taik Lee(KOR)[7] 6-4 1-6 6-3

Lopez playing his usual pusher game, Lee was playing well in the 2nd set and beat Lopez like he should, but his form dropped a bit in the 3rd set. Lopez won a long 15 min game to hold serve and had the mental advantage from there. I left and when I returned Lopez had a break and Lee was unable to break back for the rest of the match.

Danai Udomchoke(THA)[27] def. Boris Pashanski(SRB) 6-1 6-3

I watched the last half of the 2nd set. Danai was playing really well and hardly missed a ball, which somewhat surprised me considering his recent form has not been so good. He was too consistent and quick for Boris, and should have won the 2nd set easier but lost a couple of really close games where he had chances.

Mathieu Montcourt(FRA)[22] def. Miguel Angel Lopez Jaen(ESP) 6-7(6) 6-2 8-6

A tense match with both players getting fired up. Lopez Jaen's looks were surprising, very fair and pale skinned for a Spaniard. Lopez Jaen had a break in the 3rd set but Montcourt did well to get the break back. At 6-6 Lopez Jaen appeared to have some pain in his wrist or arm, he had treatment on the change of ends but it appeared to bother him and he couldn't hold his serve.

Dominik Hrbaty(SVK) def. Michael Yani(USA) 6-1 6-4

I never thought I'd see Hrbaty play someone who hits the ball flatter than he does, but indeed this happened today. Yani is a short skinny guy who hits very flat. It was funny to watch their rallies, as the ball just kept getting lower and lower until someone hit into the net. Yani threatened Hrbaty's first service game by hitting a few great return winners, and had two break points, but Hrbaty managed to hold and from then on steamrolled through the set. Yani then improved his play in the 2nd set and managed a 3-0 lead, however Hrbaty regrouped and won the set 6-4. Hrbaty overall maintained a good level of play and hit many more winners than his opponent. Hrbaty's FH down the line was working well which is always a good sign. Yani tried his best but was outclassed by a better opponent.

Florian Mayer(GER) def.Sergei Bubka(UKR) 6-0 6-3

I only watched the first few games of this match but Bubka was playing atrociously and hit UEs on almost every shot. I guess it was a bad day for him so it's difficult to judge him based on that. Mayer did what he had to do to win.

Pavel Snobel(CZE) def. Ruben Bemelmans(BEL) 6-2 7-6(3)

Although the 2nd set was close Snobel was always in control and never really looked threatened. Bemelmans looked very young, small and skinny. He had nice looking groundstrokes and stayed competitive, and I expect he will get better with experience. Snobel now has the long ponytail look, with odd socks.

Xavier Malisse(BEL) def. Rajeev Ram(USA) 7-6(3) 7-6(4)

I watched most of the 2nd set. Both were playing well and holding serve comfortably, however Malisse was too good in the TB. Malisse was visibly agitated throughout the match, complaining about every single thing that he could possibly complain about, including people moving around, noise, and the colour of the ballkid's shirts. Perhaps he is somewhat indignant that he has been reduced to playing qualifying, I don't know what caused this but he did not look happy. It didn't seem to affect his game however.

Giovanni Lapentti(ECU) def. Marinko Matosevic(AUS) 7-5 7-6(6)

This was actually one of the best matches I saw today, both producing a very high level. Matosevic as usual getting very fired up and screaming "Ajmo" all the time, and really showing his feelings on court. MM can get a lot of pace on his FH and hit some great winners. Giovanni impressed me with his level of touch and feel, as he hit some of the best dropshots and lobs you could hope for. His game is just like his brother's and very entertaining to watch. Matosevic was in trouble in a few service games in the 2nd set but managed to fight and hold on. The set reached a tiebreak which included the best point I saw all day, with both players running all over the court, and ended with MM dropshotting and lobbing Giovanni, who ran back to retrieve the lob and hit a passing shot winner between the legs. MM's response was "How am I supposed to hit that?". MM managed to come back in the tiebreak with some great play, and had a set point, but wasted it with a netted backhand. Giovanni then got a set point and took it straight away to end this very entertaining encounter.

Somdev Devvarman(IND)[28] def. Prakash Amritraj(IND)6-4 3-6 6-4

This was another great match which was high quality and very entertaining to watch the contrasting styles between an aggressive net player and counterpuncher. Devvarman's defensive play was very impressive, he was very quick, getting to most balls, and always got the ball down low on Prakash or hit excellent passing shots. Prakash won his points by being made to hit top quality volleys and making fantastic half volley pickups. I left after the first set which Devvarman could have won more easily as he had many chances to get two breaks. With his quality counterpunching game Devvarman can beat most players at this level but will need to develop some greater weapons to progress into the top 50 or so.


Will post pics from today at some stage.
 
See less See more
#40 ·
Thanks, great reports and have fun there, mate.

I think Korolev´s lack of development has two big reasons. Lack of a proper coaching and not enough brain cells between his ears, hope I´m proving wrong, but I don´t think he will ever be remotely close to fulfill his enormous potential
 
#47 ·
Friday 16 January 2009

Dominik Hrbaty(SVK)def. Riccardo Ghedin(ITA) 6-4 6-1

I slept in today so I arrived late just after 11am. Surprisingly Hrbaty was already serving for the match. I only saw the last game but Hrbaty looked good. Ghedin wasn't impressive and didn't look like he had anything to hurt Hrbaty with.

Lukasz Kubot(POL) def. Somdev Devvarman(IND)[28] 4-6 6-4 7-5

Very long match with many tight games. Devvarman wasn't playing well at all and made many loose errors off relatively simple balls. Not great as he wasn't exactly going to hit Kubot off the court. Devvarman was up a break in the first set but then played a loose service game to give the break back. However at 4-4 he was able to break serve again and serve out the set. Early in the 2nd set Devvarman played a very bad game on serve and Kubot got the early break, with Somdev unable to break back for the rest of the set. Early in the 3rd set they had a really long game on Kubot's serve, with Somdev getting the break to lead 4-2. However he wasn't able to capitalise on this mental advantage and lost his serve straight away. Kubot did well to rebound and play well again after losing the long game. He played a pretty good match and stayed solid throughout. He managed to put the ball out of Somdev's reach with great volleys, not really an easy thing to do considering how well Somdev runs and passes. At 5-5 Kubot got the decisive break, and on the change of ends Somdev called the trainer (I am not sure what injury or if there really was an injury). I left at 6-5 when Somdev had the trainer and later saw that Kubot was successful in serving out the match.

Marco Chiudinelli(SUI) def. Karol Beck(SVK)[19] 6-2 7-6(6)

I arrived to see the last half of the 2nd set. The set was close and both were playing quite well. In the tiebreak Beck had the early 4-1 lead due to some errors from Marco, but Marco managed to level it with some great play. Beck had set points but Marco also saved these by hitting good serves and winners, and then Marco was able to capitalise on his set point. Marco was really pumped up when he won, yelling and pumping both his fists a few times. I guess this meant a lot to him.
 
#48 ·
Saturday 17 January 2009 - Final round qualifying

Evgeny Korolev(RUS)[10] def. Danai Udomchoke(THA)[27] 6-3 7-5

When I arrived I went to see this match first. Korolev had won the first set and they were starting the 2nd set. Korolev was again impressive, hitting his groundstrokes with great power especially on the forehand. Udomchoke was consistent but there was not much he could do if Korolev's shots went in. Korolev went up a break and had chances to close out the match at 5-3 and at 5-4 but had a bit of a lapse and made a few UEs, and Udomchoke took advantage to level the score at 5-5. Korolev held his serve again and at 6-5 up played an excellent game to break serve for the match. Overall Korolev played very well and Udomchoke didn't play that badly. Korolev should be a dangerous opponent in the main draw.

Lamine Ouahab(ALG) def. Ryan Sweeting(USA) 6-4 3-6 8-6

I was interested in this match as I had not seen either player before. Ouahab has a nice game, he is a good solid baseline player and likes to hit the angles and the dropshots too. Sweeting likes to be aggressive on both sides and go for the winners from the baseline. Ouahab was the slightly more consistent player. Sweeting didn't seem to be playing his best and was shouting at himself a lot. Ouahab was up a set and played a terrible game to give Sweeting the break in the 2nd set. In the 3rd set Ouahab kept being up a break but losing it due to nerves and UEs. Finally he managed to close it out late in the 3rd set after a long battle.

Dominik Hrbaty(SVK) def. Marco Chiudinelli(SUI) 6-1 6-3

After seeing Chiudinelli play well against Beck I thought he may have given Dominik a few problems. It was not to be. Dominik was in red hot form, playing pretty much his best tennis. He was just smacking winners everywhere and Marco couldn't do anything about it, apart from running along the baseline trying to retrieve Dominik's shots. Marco didn't play badly at all but his best shots were coming back at him with interest. Hrbaty very quickly went up 6-1 3-1. The games Marco won were because he started going for broke and making the winners, in some rallies he was hitting his balls on the line, they had to be that good to beat Hrbaty today. I was so happy with Dominik's form, I was not sure that I would ever see him play this well again after all he's been through. At 3-1 Hrbaty had a little bit of a lapse, he still set up the points well but missed a few of the finishing shots. He lost two service games with many points like this. However at 3-3 he got it together and eliminated the unforced errors, breezing through the last 3 games. Both sides of the court were packed with spectators and Hrbaty had a lot of crowd support. Dominika Cibulkova was actively cheering him on, sitting next to his new fiancee. Today Hrbaty played some of the best tennis I have ever seen from him, granted it was against Chiudinelli but the way he was hitting his shots he would have beaten most players. After I match I commented that anyone in the main draw who has drawn a qualifier should be very afraid after this performance by Hrbaty. He is easily the best qualifier I have seen this week and I expect him to do well in the main draw.
 
#50 ·
You made some interesting reads,Good Work and i hope you continue. I am going to Australian Open first week :) Really want to see Korolev V Moya!!!
 
#55 ·
Here is a report of one Cipolla match that I saw.

Olejniczak vs Cipolla : Lucky this was a tennis match and not a boxing match. Olejniczak is in the wrong sport, he should either be a nightclub bouncer, playing for the Polish rugby team or chopping wood for something. This being said glad it was a tennis match, Cipolla basically took the piss with this lack of pace and short slices and moved the big Polish tank around the court, then drop shotted him. The bouncer did well to get a game, maybe he intimidated Cipolla at the change of ends and told him to give him a game, or he'd beat him up.
 
#58 ·
Tijn, it was hilarious.

I will post a couple of other matches that Exp wasn't at.

Sela vs. Zemlja : On paper this should have been a comfortable win for Sela, but this was anything but the case, in fact this is what is known as an old fashioned choke. Zemlja had four match points and on two of them the likable Slovene really duffed them. The first one was a smash that was taken inside the service line, the smash was well hit, but it lacked direction. The court was packed now and there was a small but vocal section of Israelis supporting Dudi, and the other side were mostly Zemlja fans on the second match point that he choked away, there was a big rally with Zemlja bossing the point and was able to hit a big forehand and Sela hit a weak return and Zemlja came in for the put away volley, but had lumberjack hands and instead of hitting a short angle to win the point, he hit it long and his chance was lost. Sela then was able to come back and then break and eventually serve out the match. Zemlja must have been so down after this match, especially the way he lost it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oranges
#60 ·
Experimentee is the one who writes them well.
 
#61 ·
Monday 19 January 2009

Today was an extremely hot day and it did not cool down until about 7.30pm. I spent most of the day in the arena formerly known as Vodafone as I was struggling with staying in the sun for too long on the outside courts. I had very nice front row seats on the end of the court and it was actually very relaxing and much cooler in the Hisense Arena.

Dominik Hrbaty(SVK) def. John Isner(USA) 7-6(4) 2-6 6-2 7-5

Hrbaty was playing well and in good form but Isner was just serving so well at the start that it was impossible to break him. Isner served an incredible number of aces and also served a lot of mean kickers, which kicked about 2-3 metres high, Hrbaty had no chance to return them even if he jumped. Hrbaty had many break points in the match but Isner hit a big serve on most of them. However despite the great serve, if Hrbaty got the return back he was more likely to win the point. Isner won the 2nd set because he went on a roll with this big forehands and they all landed in for winners. He broke Hrbaty twice by teeing off on his serve with his big forehand. Hrbaty was in trouble on serve in the first game of the 3rd set but managed to fight to save break points and then hold. Isner then missed a few first serves and Hrbaty was able to break, and he never looked back from there.

Juan Martin Del Potro(ARG)[8] def. Mischa Zverev(GER) 6-3 6-4 6-2

Del Potro was in good form and was just too powerful and consistent for Zverev, whose serve volley game didn't really work against such a powerful player. Zverev looked to have a bit of a problem with his leg in the 3rd set, and he lost 6 games in a row from 2-0 up.

Marat Safin(RUS)[26] def. Ivan Navarro(ESP) 6-3 6-3 6-4

Marat looking great, he was always in control and had too many weapons for Navarro.

David Nalbandian(ARG)[10] def. Marc Gicquel(FRA) 6-1 4-6 6-2 6-3

I only saw the last half of the 3rd set, in these games Nalby didn't look to be playing his best but was better on the important points. He always looked in control of the match and when he held serve after a long game at 3-3, I knew that he would win 6-3, and that he did.

Evgeny Korolev(RUS) def. Carlos Moya(ESP)6-3 6-1 7-6(7)

I intended to see more of this but the match was too quick and when I arrived it was already the closing stages of the 3rd set. Korolev was looking great, his forehand was much bigger than Moya's once famous forehand. This could be Korolev's year if he keeps up his good form, I can see him in the top 20 eventually.

Janko Tipsarevic(SRB) def. The King(ESP)4-6 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-0

I was in and out of this match for most of it, and saw the entire 5th set. This was the best match I have seen Oscar play on hardcourt, he has certainly improved. Oscar did a very good job of keeping the balls deep. Tipsarevic certainly wasn't playing his best and was not as consistent as he normally is. The 5th set was closer than the score, Oscar had many chances to break but hit stupid errors on the break points. Janko will need to improve if he is to have any chance against Cilic.

Fabrice Santoro(FRA) def. Juan Carlos Ferrero(ESP) 6-3 6-2 6-7(5) 6-2

This was quite an entertaining match, as is usually the case with Santoro. Santoro was slicing everything and moving the ball around well, Ferrero was making a lot of errors off the low balls. Ferrero improved in the 3rd set and cut down his errors. In the 4th set Santoro got an early break to lead 2-0, and then struggled on serve in the next game. On game point for Santoro they had a long rally with Santoro ending up at the net, Ferrero hit the pass, Santoro stretched and threw himself at the ball, as he hit the drop volley he lost his racquet, almost throwing his racquet at the ball, after he made contact the ball it just cleared the net, and backspinned back into the net. After this shot of the match Santoro went down on his knees put his arms over his head, and stayed like that for about a minute. After this Santoro lead 3-0 and Ferrero was not able to come back.
 
#64 ·
I'm glad you liked Ferrero Santoro too and didn't just focus on the statistics of the match as most people have been doing. It was a brilliant match, and I"m glad you thought that too:)
 
#65 ·
Tuesday 20 January 2009

Another day of extreme heat, it reached 40 degrees but cooled down after about 2pm. It then became quite windy after the cool change.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(FRA)[5] def. Juan Monaco(ARG) 6-4 6-4 6-0

Excellent match from Tsonga, he served well and dominated with his big forehand. It is really awesome to see Tsonga's power live, and he looks so effortless when he generates this power. No signs of any physical problems, but I noticed that his back was heavily taped when he changed his shirt. Monaco didn't play a good match but most of the time Tsonga was aggressive from the first shot and didn't give Monaco a chance to play well.

James Blake(USA)[9] def. Frank Dancevic(CAN) 6-4 6-3 7-5

Blake played a great match and always looked to be in control. He was also aggressive with his backhand, as well as his forehand, and it paid off. Dancevic didn't play badly for his standard, but was outplayed.

Richard Gasquet(FRA)[24] def. Diego Junqueira(ARG) 6-7(5) 7-6(3) 6-3 6-4

I watched the end of the 2nd set and part of the 3rd. Gasquet wasn't playing his best match but Junquiera was playing well and was better than I expected him to be. He has the same service motion as a lot of the Argentines and likes to be aggressive with his forehand. He hit quite a lot of forehand winners. Gasquet as usual hit many awesome winners with his backhand.

Fernando Verdasco(ESP)[14] def. Adrian Mannarino(FRA) 6-0 6-2 6-2

Verdasco was playing well but his opponent did most of the work for him. Mannarino just made way too many unforced errors and was trying to be aggressive with forehand but had trouble keeping his balls in and deep. Verdasco attacked a lot and hit many winners. The match was not competitive so I didn't stay for long.

Jurgen Melzer(AUT)[31] def. Kei Nishikori(JPN) 7-5 6-2 6-1

I saw the 2nd and 3rd sets, and Kei was playing terribly, while Melzer was solid. I saw Kei's match in Brisbane vs Mathieu where he was injured and he played much worse than that today. The heat may have contributed, as it was close to 40 degrees with no shade on the outside court. Kei is not the fittest player physically and he seemed to lack energy out there and didn't really seem to care at the end, he just looked like he wanted to get off the court. There were many Japanese fans urging him on with flags and banners, but he couldn't produce anything for them.

Andreas Beck(GER) def. Colin Ebelthite(AUS) 7-5 6-1 6-0

I saw this from about 5-5 in the first set, after Ebelthite had already choked his 5-3 lead. Almost every point was a baseline rally ending with an Ebelthite error. Ebelthite completely fell apart and he lost 14 out of 15 games from 5-5. Beck was impressive though, very consistent solid groundstroking.

Igor Andreev(RUS)[18] def. Peter Polansky(CAN) 5-7 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-4

I was there for the 5th set after Andreev had just come back from 0-2 down in sets. The match was of a high standard with both playing well, but Andreev clearly had the upper hand as Polansky was struggling to hold almost every service game and Andreev was holding easily. Polansky came to the net quite a bit and Andreev hit some excellent forehand winners. A well deserved win from Andreev.

Radek Stepanek(CZE)[22] def. Nicolas Lapentti(ECU) 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4

I watched the 2nd and 3rd sets of this. Neither seemed to be playing their best and the match wasn't of a great standard. Most of the games seemed to be quite long, especially on Lapentti's serve, as he struggled in a lot of his service games. Lapentti just made a lot of errors and it was inevitable that he would be broken at least once in each set. After the 3rd set it was clear Lapentti would lose as his level just wasn't good enough.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top