[savesthedizzle]

Great match by Viktor, he had his chances in the first two sets before Rafa just wore him out.

Congrats Rafa :yeah:

But very well done for Viktor too. Great match by him for his first grand slam (Well the first two sets were fantastic)

 

[Xoil]

Well done Rafito :yeah:

 

[Gulliver]

2 and a half hours for the World #2 to put away a qualifier.....geez. Still, easy route to the semis now....

 

[Vlad]

Great resistance from Troicki!

 

[Aerien]

The first two sets were great. He should get rewarded with some wildcards.

This was great preparation for Rafa as well once the hitters get bigger.

 

[savesthedizzle]

Viktor was serving incredibly in the first set and still pretty solidly in the second set. I've never seen him serve so well before

 

[nateyang]

2 and a half hours for the World #2 to put away a qualifier.....geez. Still, easy route to the semis now....

Troicki played much better than his ranking suggests. In fact, I think he'll be a player to watch in the future.

 

[Davydenkon]

Congrats, Rafa!

 

[Shabazza]

Troicki played much better than his ranking suggests. In fact, I think he'll be a player to watch in the future.

The same thing was said after Hartfield's first round match against Federer at RG 06. If every (young) player who puts up a fight against a top 10 player will be one to watch in the future, we would have to look everywhere.
Don't hype him up. He played good, but choked when it mattered like many player of his caliber before him. He didn't even manage to take as et from a poor playing Nadal and basically gave up in the 3rd. A great match for him nonetheless.
Apart form his good serve, nothing about his game and shot selection suggest he'll be any more than a top 50 player in his career (at best).

 

[Foxy]

This Troicki is f*cking good player. Congratulations to him.
He beat last year Nole at Umag and lost to Fed in two tiebreak sets in Tokyo 2006.

And well done, Rafa.
He managed to weather the storm and then cruised in the third.

 

[Rogiman]

My money is still on Nadal to win the event

 

[Adler]

Great resistance from Troicki!

Exactly. He made the most out of his skills. This guy may have a decent future in the ATP tour

 

[Neely]

I only saw a bit of this match. It looked that Nadal's balls were a bit slack and he seldomly had good consistent length in his baseline game IMO. Troicki's fight was good, but his game wasn't that impressive to me except that his serving performance was really well in the games I watched. But off the ground, it was Nadal who won the points mostly (okay, this is often the case *g*). For me a typical Nadal first round hardcourt match against such a type of player with some hard-fought sets.

 

[savesthedizzle]

The same thing was said after Hartfield's first round match against Federer at RG 06. If every (young) player who puts up a fight against a top 10 player will be one to watch in the future, we would have to look everywhere.
Don't hype him up. He played good, but choked when it mattered like many player of his caliber before him. He didn't even manage to take as et from a poor playing Nadal and basically gave up in the 3rd. A great match for him nonetheless.
Apart form his good serve, nothing about his game and shot selection suggest he'll be any more than a top 50 player in his career (at best).

I think his fans will be happy with top 50 And I mean his fans before today

This was his first match in a grand slam, only his 16th tour level match. He doesn't have the experience at this level yet. I can't wait to see how he handles it in the future.

 

[Jelena_78]

Congrats to Rafa!:yeah:


Well done Viktor! Great match at your GS event premiere!:worship: :clap2:

 

[Magical Trevor]

The first set, both players were hitting really short, but the quality was pretty good from the 2nd set onwards. Possibly just getting used to the conditions.

Troicki has the most uncoordinated game I've ever seen... but it all works somehow. Surprisingly solid off the ground, very good serve, and he doesn't volley great, but he picks his moments right. Apprently he beat Novak last year, and pushed Roger in 2006. I dno if that suggests he should be ranked higher, or if he's one of those guys who can play up (or down) to his opponent's level.

 

[Fumus]

Not looking good for Nadal, leaving too many balls short and in the middle of the court. Troicki was quite impressive, if he could have held his nerve those first two sets were his.

Nadal likely to lose to Mathieu.

 

[Jaap]

Troicki is a mug, should have been 2 sets up if he wasn't such a miserable choker.

He should get no praise.

 

[sawan66278]

I actually thought both players were playing at a pretty high level for the first two sets. Troicki was serving well, volleying exceptionally well, and blasting backhands. The points were grinding affairs, and I think the combination of nerves and Troicki's excellent play were the primary reasons behind the close scoreline.

Alse, Troicki had the advantage of getting used to the courts because of his time in qualifying. Had he played Roddick, the story may VERY well have been different, and Roddick may have gone out with the Napoleon Dynamite.

 

[tennisgal_001]

I'm impressed with Troicki, he held his nerve and played solid tennis for two good sets. Anyone who was expecting him to win was asking for a bit too much IMO. He doesn't have any GS experience and he WAS playing against the second-ranked player in the world, it's not an easy job to close out a set/match in a tight situation like that. So hats-off to Viktor, he won himself a new fan today :hatoff:

As for Nadal, it's a first-round match, he started off a bit rough, missing some easy shots, but he only kept getting better and eventually found his game and rhythm. And he won in straights. You can't ask for more than that really.