So now I will get onto the men's matches at the Australian open which will cover the first six days of action and first three rounds of play in Melbourne. So let's see how they got on....
Right so to kick off with Day 1 we had Rafael Nadal start proceedings on Rod Laver arena as he played Mikhail Youzhny which promised to be a pretty tough opener for Rafa, especially given his ropey form of late having come back from his apendectomy. However Rafa soon dismissed those fears as he romped past the Russian, who seemed powerless to do anything against Rafa's power and precision who in this match looked like he had never been away from the tour as he won convincingly with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 result. Roger Federer also got off to a strong start after he beat Lu Yen-hsun with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 win, which shows that the Fed was in fine fettle. Getting onto Andy Murray, who made a fine start to his season in winning the exhibition event in Abu-Dhabi, also got off to a fine start as he took on the lowest ranked player in the draw, the Indian, Yuki Bhambri. However Bhambri proved to be not entirely straight forward as he produced some fine tennis to challenge Andy after going two sets to love up comfortably, Andy squandered his serve to hand the Indian a break, but soon broke back to get back on level terms and play went into a tiebreak, which the Scot dominated and showed his class to win the match in 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. This was a good solid start from Andy, which saw that he improved his serve by reverting to the old style of service he used prior to the changes he made (for the worse!) to his serve last year and looked to be promising for what lies ahead.
As for the other day 1 matches we had good luck for the Aussie players as Bernard Tomic beat Tobias Kamke in four sets 7-5, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 and the new star, Nick Kygrios who made his mark by defating Rafa last year at Wimbledon, battled past Federico Delbonis in five sets to the 2nd round after a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 win. And the most notable win of the day came from yet another promising future Aussie prospect, Thanasi Kokkinakis, who stunned the 11th seed, Ernests Gulbis in a five set epic match, which saw the young fella drop to the ground in delight as he took out Gulbis winning in 5-7, 6-0, 1-6, 7-6, 8-6. And last of all the huge serving, Sam Groth beat Filip Krajinovic 6-3, 7-6, 6-4 to reach the 2nd round. Groth is notable in having the fastest ever recorded serve on the tour as he fired one down during a challenger event at 163 mph!
Now we get onto day 2 which saw the defending champion, Stan Wawrinka get his title defence off to a confident start as he beat the Turkish player, Marsel Ilhan in 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 and it showed that Stan still means business down under and will be intent on hanging onto that trophy as long as he can. Next up we had Novak Djokovic, the four time champion and current World No.1, who started things off very confidently as he dismissed Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia in just 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the 2nd round. Kei Nishikori also started well with a good win over Nicolas Almagro of Spain as he beat the clay court specialist in 6-4, 7-6, 6-2. Milos Raonic, the big Canadian server made his mark after he started his campaign with a solid victory over Illya Marchenko in 7-6, 7-6, 6-3. Gael Monfils, the talented flashy Frenchman, who had a good season last year, continued his promising form after enduring a five set battle against fellow Frenchman, Lucas Pouille and winning in 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4. And last of all Lleyton Hewitt got off to a winning start and redeemed his first round exit last year with a four set win over his opponent, Zhang Ze in four sets, 6-3, 1-6, 6-0, 6-4.
Moving onto day 3, the 2nd round matches got under way with Roger Federer who suffered an early blip in his match against Simone Bolelli as he appeared to have been stung by a bee or something and it knocked him off his game as he dropped the first set. But Roger came back strong in the 2nd and went on to win it and sets three and four to seal his place in the 3rd round after a four set 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory. Andy Murray also continued his promising form as he faced off an old friend of his on the tour and home crowd favourite, Marinko Matosevic, however Marinko was no match whatsoever for Andy as he was ruthlessly dismissed by the British No.1 with a straight set 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 result. But the home crowds got some joy as Bernard Tomic continued his run after beating the German player, Philipp Kohlschreiber in four tight sets, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 and Sam Groth halted Thanasi Kokkinakis in his tracks with a five set win and defeating the teenager 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the 3rd round.
And last but far from least on day 3 we had Rafa take on the virutally unknown American player, Tim Smyczek in the 2nd round in what should have been a walk in the park for Rafa (Melbourne park in this case!) but turned out to be anything but. Rafa however started off confidently taking the first set with a break but then he started to suffer a bout of dizziness and then cramps in the 2nd set as his condition worsened letting his opponent, Smyczek take the 2nd set and even more worrying for Rafa the 3rd! In the 4th set however, Rafa started his fightback and broke the American again to level the match at two sets all. And in the 5th set play went by serve until Rafa made the final move and broke Smyczek's serve to close out the match, which ended with Rafa sinking to his knees full of emotion as he made his great escape with a gutsy five set win in 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 7-5. This was quite a thrilling encounter and easily one of the best matches of the tournament so far which saw Rafa in quit a strange position where he suddenly suffered a bout of cramps and nausea on the court that let his American opponent into the match. But it is full credit to Rafa for showing his champion fighting qualities once again proving why he is one of the all time great players in the sport and as always he somehow found a way to fight through the pain and get it done. Smyczek also deserves much credit for the match aswell as he came with a good plan to try and take down Rafa, which didn't quite work but he also showed really good sportsmanship by letting Rafa replay a point in his final service game when someone called out, which Rafa later showed his appreciation for after the match.
Now we get onto day 4 which saw the 2nd round matches continue with Novak Djokovic taking to Rod Laver arena again where he showed just why he is the world's best player by dispatching Andrey Kuznetsov in 6-0, 6-1, 6-4, dropping just five games, he looks as good as ever. Stan Wawrinka continued his defence also with another straight set win over Marius Copil, which was a tighter affair however as Stan was pushed in two tiebreak sets before he broke his opponent in the 3rd to win 7-6 7-6, 6-3. Milos Raonic also continued his good form as he beat the American player, Donald Young in straight sets to reach 3rd round with a 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 score result. Kei Nishikori however had a tougher time of it against the talented Croatian, Ivan Dodig as he battled past the Croat in four sets to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 7-6. And last of all we had Jerzy Janowicz who took on Gael Monfils in a five set clash which saw the big Pole get the better of the Frenchman as both man hammered it out but Jerzy beat Monfils in 6-4, 1-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3.
So now onto Day 5 which saw the 3rd round matches get under way, and it began with the mother of all upsets as Roger Federer faced Andreas Seppi. On paper this match appeared to be a straight forward affair to Roger as he had never lost to Seppi before and beaten him in all 10 of their previous meetings (10 out of 10 in otherwords). But it was Seppi who came out the sharper of the two as he served and returned well and broke Rog to nab the first set. In the 2nd set play went by serve on a tiebreak where Roger made some errors to hand the breaker to Seppi and a two set lead with it aswell. However in the 3rd set we saw evidence of the Federer comeback as Roger broke Seppi finally and went on to take the set to half the deficit. And in the 4th set both men went by serve into another tiebreak where it was Seppi who did the near unthinkable and stunned Rog with an impressive passing shot to win the match and knock out the four time champion in Melbourne with a 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 victory. This was a real upset indeed and if there was any player I thought would knock out Roger Federer, Andreas Seppi is one of the last ones I would think of to do it, but Seppi deserves all the credit for playing a great match. So this will be something of a seismic shock for Roger having being dumped out so early on in a slam for the second time since Wimbledon two years, which leaves a question mark over how his year will pan out in 2015. But I guess we will soon find out.
Now onto other matches, Rafa had no trouble whatsoever against Dudi Sela as he had gotten over his cramps and illness and got back to business as he dispatched Sela with brutal efficiency in straight sets to reach the 2nd week with a 6-1, 6-0, 7-5 result. Tomas Berdych, who I haven't mentioned so far and has somewhat slipped under the radar almost, continued his fine run of form in Melbourne as he beat Viktor Troicki in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Nick Kygrios also made his second appearance in the last 16 of a grand slam after he beat Malek Jaziri in straight sets 6-4, 7-6, 6-1 to continue to give the Aussies some hope for the home crowds. And Bernard Tomic defeated Sam Groth in an all Aussie clash also, which saw Tomic regain his good form with a 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 result. And last of all we had Andy Murray who continued his impressive (and so far unbeaten) run in 2015 after he dispatched a game Joao Sousa who after being thrashed in the first two sets, put some resistance in the 3rd set, but it was soon halted as Andy broke Sousa for the final time and won the match to seal his place in the last 16 with the score reading 6-1, 6-1, 7-5. And Andy will now encounter his first big test of the tournament as he will face Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the quarter finals after Dimi beat Marcos Baghdatis in a compelling five set battle in 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. And we all know that Dimitrov beat Andy convincingly last year at Wimbledon, so I'm sure Andy will be out for revenge and whichever way it goes it promises to be quite a match and hopefully NOT a repeat of last year's Wimbledon win or lose for Andy. But I think I will be bold and say I think Andy will be out to make amends for his previous loss in London and will win this one in maybe four sets.
Now finally we get onto day 6 which finished out the 3rd round matches, began with Stan Wawrinka continuing his excellent form and hold onto his title defence after he breezed past the Finn player, Jarkko Nieminen in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. Stan is of course on yet another collision course with Novak Djokovic for the quarter finals so just one more match stands in the way of Stan having another potential epic clash with the World No.1 and if they met (and hopefully will!) it promises to be another cracker. Speaking of which Novak Djokovic got his first test in the form of Fernando Verdasco in their match, where the former semi-finalist pushed Nole hard in the 1st set, which went into a lengthy tiebreak, which Novak finally took 10-8. After this though Novak had a relatively easier time of things as he broke Verdasco in sets two and three to seal the deal and his place in the last 16 with a 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 result. David Ferrer had a close match against an old foe of his, Gilles Simon, who got the better of Ferrer last year in the US Open, but Ferrer this time got his revenge after dropping a two sets and a break lead to let Simon back in to claim the 3rd set, Ferrer finally clinched match in the 4th set tiebreak to seal his place in the last 16 with a 6-2, 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 score result. Milos Raonic also progressed through but had a more comfortable time of it as he beat the German, Benjamin Becker in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. And last of all is Kei Nishikori, who overcame a slow start to beat the American, Steve Johnson 6-7, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.
Soooooooooo that's it for now and I will be back with more results soon!
G'dnight!
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