Australian Open 2012 - Day 8

Interesting matches in a few hours. I am going to bed as usual but will be reading teh savvy comments when I wake up....

Gasquet v Ferrer....C'mon Gasquet!!!! (Yes I still believe in him! )

Allez Joe too!

Murray Kukushkin shoudl be interesting if Kuku has recovered and woudl be interesting to see how Djoko reacts when playing against the crowd.

Oh and not to look too much of an ATP fan...I know that Sharapove is playing Lisicky....I am 100% behind the Lisicki...

Lisicki, Ivanovic, Kukushkin!

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Lisicki, Ivanovic, Kukushkin!

2 out of 3 I am afraid!

How will Kvitova beat Ivanovic then?

She moves like an oil tanker!

Kvitova moves and shoots like a tank!

And she just shot Ivanovic, badly.

This Kuku guy is a joke, playing like a random guy at local court in Park.

Murray 2:0

Andy Murray in cruise control. Leads 6-1 6-1 inside 45 minutes and Kukushkin has yet to hold his serve and looks jaded and beaten.

And Kukushkin quits trailing 6-1 6-1 1-0 and Andy Murray is off court inside fifty minutes. A bonus for him.

Solid stuff from Nishikori, Tsonga really up and down. Some good points from both but Tsonga making so many errors.

Great win for Nishikori, slightly torn between him and Murray now. I guess I still slightly favour Murray so he can get his first slam. Djokovic is going to lose to Hewitt today.

A fully deserved win for Nishikori as Tsonga's performance was just far too error strewn. A big step forward in the 22-year-old Japanese player's career. Surely though the Murray match will be one match too far for him.

David Ferrer now on court and set to start against Richard Gasquet. I have to fancy Ferrer to win but if Gasquet is on his game he is capable of a shock. As for the later match I only see a straight sets win for Djokovic against Hewitt.

I think the Hewitt match is a match too far for Djokovic, he's had a good tournament.

Great backhand from Gasquet.

Djokovic will lose no more than 7 games to Lleyton, the guy is. A hero but impaired by injury and time.

David Ferrer is through to the quarter-finals having beaten Richard Gasquet in straight sets 6-4 6-4 6-1. Odd tactics by Gasquet in trying to out-do Ferrer in long rallies which was just playing to the Spaniard's strengths.

Federer has been quite unlucky with draws, including this one...compared to the other top players.

I think we'll be talking about the "big 5" pretty soon. Even though 2011 was still a comeback year for Del Potro, he already offered Djokovic and Nadal serious opposition at RG and SW19 respectively.

Tsonga can be dangerous on his day, but still not in the same league as Del Potro I would say.

... and big 5 is much more interesting than big 4, because one of them cannot make it to the semis.

prostaff85 wrote:Tsonga can be dangerous on his day, but still not in the same league as Del Potro I would say.

Clearly! Like Gasquet, His games is not compact enough. They have great shots but too many UEs cause they cannot play closer to the baseline without cutting the UEs down.

They gave a game to rush players but they are being dictated by guys like Ferrer. That's poor!

The scheduling at teh AO has always been a disgrace, especially regarding Djokovic.

They have always made the men play first in the eve session and a start at 7.00pm on the big 4 but Djoko gets to start after the women's match which starts at 7.30 unlike the other days.

Why 7.30 suddenly? Hope he rollsteams Hewitt.

Tenez wrote:

prostaff85 wrote:Tsonga can be dangerous on his day, but still not in the same league as Del Potro I would say.

Clearly! Like Gasquet, His games is not compact enough. They have great shots but too many UEs cause they cannot play closer to the baseline without cutting the UEs down.

They gave a game to rush players but they are being dictated by guys like Ferrer. That's poor!

It was good enough to give Fed a two sets start in what is regarded as his kingdom at Wimbledon and still came back and beat him. Sure Del Potro is the more complete all-round player which Fed will face tomorrow but up until that point there has been no real challenges. Also remember Murray has the semi that nobody would want - against last year's player of the year Novak Djokovic.

Federer was not 100% in that 1/4F. I have no way to prove it but watching at the replay, it's clear he coudl not return like he typically can. The way he beat Tsonga since comforts my view.

Murray has an easier job with Djokovic than Fed has with Nadal.

Tenez wrote:Federer has been quite unlucky with draws, including this one...compared to the other top players.

One match at a time, he has the game to beat his next 3 opponents.

Some idiot predicted Tsonga to win the AO

JuliusHMarx wrote:Some idiot predicted Tsonga to win the AO

I wasn't going to mention that Julius (much )

Don't worry some other stupid people predicted Murray to win.

To be fair, a lot of people predicted Tsonga for the 1/4 final at least, so in that sense they were all wrong too!

Predicting him to win was always a long shot, but it's more fun to go for a long shot than a safe one. No moonballing in this game for me!

Great play from Lisicki to take the first set after gifting Sharapova the first 3 games.

carrieg4 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:Some idiot predicted Tsonga to win the AO

I wasn't going to mention that Julius (much )

How dare you call Tenez an idiot.

Lisicki getting the better of Shoutapova!

Yeah I've only got 2 right for the quarters. Good call from the person who got Nishikori right.

sportslover wrote:
How dare you call Tenez an idiot.

Always coming here at v2 to bring your stupid humour, and drag this board down to uselss bickering.

I am afraid you are the village idiot!

Remember you are on your hat trick (two bans and counting)

sportslover wrote: Remember you are on your hat trick (two bans and counting)

The way things are looking the AO winner will be the winner of the likely Nadal Federer Semi. This would be fitting as most of the tennis has been played in the bottom half of the draw and Nadal Federer should always be a final.

Not much finess in Sharapova's game.

sportslover wrote: Remember you are on your hat trick (two bans and counting)

Since two other posters have made relative peace with the rest of the forum this place has been good. I think what's helping is that there's universal disapproval of these antics regardless of player allegience.

Grow up. Nobody thinks you're interesting at all.

Tenez wrote:Not much finess in Sharapova's game.

Who tipped you off on that one?

There's no reason Nadal Federer should be a final over any other possible final.

Hoping Lisicki can raise her game again and finish this in 2.

break_in_the_fifth

What I meant was if Nadal and Federer play it should be a final... not that their match should be the only possible final. As the draw looks now I think the AO winner may well come from that match.

You're writing off Djokovic?????

He's the stand out favourite for this, and if JMDP beats Federer I think his time may have come to meet Nole in the final.

I think the winner may well come from Djokovic Murray, should they be the final?

Not Murray, not unless it's against a Federer worn down by big matches with JMDP and Nadal.

Ok then the US open semi winner came from Federer Djokovic but does that mean there match should have been the final?

I rank it as;

1. Djokovic 50%
2. Nadal 20%
3. Federer 15%
4=. JMDP & Murray 7.5% each

I confess the draw elevates Nole and diminishes JMDP & Fed.

Nobody else has a prayer.

There is no possible reason that Nadal v Federer matches should only be the final. Djokovic is the best player in the world so its right that Nadal and Federer should play each other before the final. I am actually glad this has happened because to be honest I was getting rather sick of seeing the same final every slam, every year. Not because the standard wasn't fantastic but because it just got so repetitive.