2014 Australian Open

[Sir David Gray]

First Grand Slam of the year (I won't go on about how quickly it seems to have come around again since I got told off for doing that last year! :greengrin).

There's been a bit of a change in the coaching ranks of a couple of the top guys.

Novak Djokovic has teamed up with Boris Becker for the 2014 season and Roger Federer has hired another major champion in Stefan Edberg.

With Murray still going strong with Ivan Lendl, that leaves Rafael Nadal as the only member of the so called "big four" without a former major champion in his corner.

Anyway the draw was made a short while ago and it's a fairly easy start for Murray.

He'll play Go Soeda in the first round and if he wins that, he's guaranteed to play a qualifier in round two.

The other seeds in his section are Feliciano Lopez, Philipp Kohlschreiber and John Isner and I think he'll beat any of them quite comfortably over 5 sets.

In the quarter finals, he'll potentially play either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Roger Federer. In the semis it would probably be Nadal and then the final would be Djokovic.

So if the draw goes with seedings, Murray's route to the title is;

Round 1 - Soeda
Round 2 - Qualifier
Round 3 - Lopez
Round 4 - Isner
QF-Federer
SF-Nadal
F-Djokovic

Coverage starts on Monday on Eurosport. Not sure how much of it I'll actually see considering the time difference but I am looking forward to it.

[CallumLaidlaw]

Murray having a wee go at the organisers today on Facebook as they have scheduled Nadal v Tomic first on court 13 on Tuesday. Seems like a decent match that should be much higher up.

Hope Andy gets a good run in this, but he normally takes a wee while when coming back from injury to hit his peak.
Will be surprised if Federer gets to the quarter finals

[Sir David Gray]

Murray having a wee go at the organisers today on Facebook as they have scheduled Nadal v Tomic first on court 13 on Tuesday. Seems like a decent match that should be much higher up.

Hope Andy gets a good run in this, but he normally takes a wee while when coming back from injury to hit his peak.
Will be surprised if Federer gets to the quarter finals

If true, that is unbelievable.

Is court 13 even a court that can be televised?

Surely a mistake has been somewhere or Murray is simply mistaken!

[PatHead]

Is it only on Eurosport?

[jodjam]

Hope I'm wrong but this slam has come too early for Murray. I reckon he may only get thru 3 or 4 rounds.

[Sir David Gray]

Is it only on Eurosport?

One men's semi final and both the men's and women's finals are being shown on BBC.

Other than that, it's just Eurosport.


Hope I'm wrong but this slam has come too early for Murray. I reckon he may only get thru 3 or 4 rounds.

Don't see Murray winning it but I think he'll get to at least the quarter finals.

He's not had great preparation, playing in just one competitive tournament for four months but I think he'll have enough natural ability to progress into the second week.

[PatHead]

Order of play for Monday- no Murray

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/index.html

[jodjam]

Old Ginny wade has a neck like a lizard

[Sir David Gray]

And then there was one.

After just one day's play, only one British player remains in the singles draws.

Heather Watson lost to Daniela Hantuchova in three sets whilst Laura Robson was hammered by Kirsten Flipkens.

So it's down to Andy Murray (yet again) to fly the flag for Britain at a Grand Slam.

He plays Go Soeda at approximately 6am (UK time) tomorrow, however the schedule may be disrupted as the temperature in Melbourne tomorrow is expected to reach highs of 109 degrees.

If it does reach that sort of level, I would expect the officials to suspend play due to the possible health hazards.

[jodjam]

Murray wins dropping only 5 games. One positive was his serve which was working well

Crazy temperatures. One of the women players water bottle melted in the heat.

[Sir David Gray]

Murray wins dropping only 5 games. One positive was his serve which was working well

Crazy temperatures. One of the women players water bottle melted in the heat.

Good win for Murray to get it done so quickly on a day like that.

He now plays qualifier Vincent Millot on Thursday when it will possibly be even hotter than today.

The good news is that the temperatures are expected to drop significantly by the weekend so if he gets through his next match, it should be much more comfortable by the time he gets to the third round.

[Sir David Gray]

Much better timing for Murray's second round match tomorrow for UK fans.

He is the second night match on the Rod Laver Court which should mean that his match starts at about 9pm Melbourne time and 10am UK time.

It will also mean that he'll miss the worst of the hot weather tomorrow as well which will be good.

Can't see any upset tomorrow against Vincent Millot.

Straight sets.

[Treadstone]

I think Andy could play himself into this slam and be fresher than others for a second week assault on the title.
He commented that regarding the back surgery its been eighteen months since he felt that free. Considering he won the US and Wimbledon in that time its a very encouraging sign.

[Pretty Boy]

What the hell is going on with the weather?

I'm watching Eurosport and they are going on about excessive heat and inhumane conditions, next thing the match i'm betting on and following on live text is suspended due to heavy rain!

[Speedy]

Reckon Murray could win this 6-0,6-0,6-0.

[Sir David Gray]

Reckon Murray could win this 6-0,6-0,6-0.

Unlikely but I think he'll lose fewer than five games.

He's just toying with this boy.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Millot breaks Murrays serve then Murray breaks back again. 4-1. Starting to feel his back between points.

[Sir David Gray]

Millot breaks Murrays serve then Murray breaks back again. 4-1. Starting to feel his back between points.

Not really too concerned about that at the moment.

I think he'll always have a twitch in his back every now and again as there's a lot of pressure put on a tennis player's back during a match.

I'm sure he'll be ok.

[Speedy]

5-2. He's getting a bit complacent but he'll still stroll through it.

[Sir David Gray]

First set 6-2.

Great start to the match but struggled to see the set out.

[Pretty Boy]

Hope the wee wobble there was just complacency and nothing to do with him feeling his back.

[Sir David Gray]

Millot having a medical timeout now for a sore leg.

Murray serving for the second set at 5-2.

[Sir David Gray]

Murray wins second set 6-2.

Needs to win the final set 6-0 for my prediction to come true!

[Sir David Gray]

Murray's collapsed in this third set.

4-1 down.

[Sir David Gray]

Millot breaks again and will now serve for the third set.

5-1.

[jodjam]

French lad got his second wind here

[Sir David Gray]

Murray gets one of the breaks back.

He's serving at 2-5.

[Sir David Gray]

Holds serve and gets it back to 3-5.

Will be interesting if he can break here again

[Sir David Gray]

Murray does break again and it's back on serve.

Murray serving at 4-5.

[Sir David Gray]

Five games in a row for Murray and he'll now serve for the match at 6-5 up.

I can't quite believe what I've watched over the past 20 minutes or so!

[Sir David Gray]

Murray wins 6-2 6-2 7-5.

Far too good for Millot but Murray will be far from happy, I feel.

[Sylar]

Credit to these guys for playing through these conditions but surely there's a health and safety limit?

I'd struggle to walk in that heat, never mind play 3+ sets of tennis :greengrin

[Sir David Gray]

Some match still going on just now (past 1am in the morning!).

Roberto Bautista-Agut is serving for the match against Juan Martin Del Potro at 6-5 up in the fifth set!

[Sir David Gray]

Del Potro is out.

Bautista-Agut comes from two sets to one down to win in five sets.

[jodjam]

Derek Potro going out makes nadals route to the semi a lot easier

[Pretty Boy]

Del Potro is out.

Bautista-Agut comes from two sets to one down to win in five sets.

Really enjoyed that.

Love seeing an underdog win and thought he deserved it in the 5th.

[Sir David Gray]

Really enjoyed that.

Love seeing an underdog win and thought he deserved it in the 5th.

Normally I would say that someone who wins such a long match like that is certain to lose in the next round but incredibly Bautista-Agut is due to play the winner of a match that is still in progress, at 1:30am local time!

Benoit Paire leads Nick Kyrgios 3-2 in the final set and with a break of serve!

Can't believe there's so many people there either!

[Sir David Gray]

Paire wins in five sets, coming back from two sets down.

Must be one of the latest finishes ever!

[Sir David Gray]

Stanislas Wawrinka has had a pretty good week.

Starts it off by playing less than two sets in round one when his opponent retires with injury, plays a four set match in round two and then gets a walkover into the last 16 due to the withdrawal of Vasek Pospisil through injury!

[Speedy]

Paire wins in five sets, coming back from two sets down.

Must be one of the latest finishes ever!

I felt really sorry for Kyrgios, it was horrible watching the other guy take advantage of his injury (not that Paire could do anything else).

[Sir David Gray]

Another early morning rise is in store for any UK fans who want to watch Murray tomorrow.

He's due on not before 3:30am against Feliciano Lopez after two women's matches.

The good thing is that the temperatures are due to be a lot cooler tomorrow than they have been during week one so that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Roger Federer is due on around 2am against Teymuraz Gabashvili and Rafael Nadal is the final night match on Rod Laver Arena against Gael Monfils so he'll be on around 10am tomorrow.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Murray leads by two sets to nil 7-6, 6-4.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

3-0 win for Murray, 6-2 in the 3rd set.

[Speedy]

Nadal limping and looking very frustrated, not clear what's happening yet.

[jodjam]

Murray now got Robert who had to qualify for this comp. should be fairly straightforward route to the quarters.

[Speedy]

Nadal limping and looking very frustrated, not clear what's happening yet.

Looking ok now.

[Sir David Gray]

So now we know who's through to the last 16;

Rafael Nadal v Kei Nishikori
Grigor Dimitrov v Roberto Bautista-Agut
Andy Murray v Stephane Robert
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Roger Federer
Tomas Berdych v Kevin Anderson
Florian Mayer v David Ferrer
Stanislas Wawrinka v Tommy Robredo
Fabio Fognini v Novak Djokovic

I think the pick of those ties is the Federer v Tsonga match. That could be a quality match.

Tommy Robredo and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are the two lower ranked players that I think stand a chance of possibly getting to the quarter finals. I think Federer will beat Tsonga although I'm going to go for Robredo to beat Wawrinka.

Quarter finals will be;

Nadal v Dimitrov
Murray v Federer
Berdych v Ferrer
Robredo v Djokovic

[Sylar]

I do love Ana Ivanovic :thumbsup:

Williams oot!

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

I do love Ana Ivanovic :thumbsup:

Cannae argue with that!

[Sir David Gray]

So now we know who's through to the last 16;

Rafael Nadal v Kei Nishikori
Grigor Dimitrov v Roberto Bautista-Agut
Andy Murray v Stephane Robert
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Roger Federer
Tomas Berdych v Kevin Anderson
Florian Mayer v David Ferrer
Stanislas Wawrinka v Tommy Robredo
Fabio Fognini v Novak Djokovic

I think the pick of those ties is the Federer v Tsonga match. That could be a quality match.

Tommy Robredo and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are the two lower ranked players that I think stand a chance of possibly getting to the quarter finals. I think Federer will beat Tsonga although I'm going to go for Robredo to beat Wawrinka.

Quarter finals will be;

Nadal v Dimitrov
Murray v Federer
Berdych v Ferrer
Robredo v Djokovic

Got three out of four correct so far, Robredo let me down against Wawrinka.

It was a bit of a long shot as Wawrinka was certainly the higher ranked player but Robredo has a really good record against him so I thought he may be able to win today but it wasn't to be.

Wawrinka will now take on Djokovic, in a rematch of their fourth round encounter in Australia last year, which Djokovic won in a five set classic.

Andy Murray is looking to reach another Grand Slam quarter final tomorrow against Stephane Robert. He is playing fourth on the Hisense Arena, which will begin not before 5:30am (UK time).

[jodjam]

Up early to watch Murray but running late.

Nadal just took first set tie break v nishikori. You could make a case for him being bit lucky as nishikori bossed the set but nadals serve saved the day.

[jodjam]

That was a stunning set of tennis by Murray. Won it 6-1. Best I've seen him play in a bit

[jodjam]

Murray going into a fourth set. He's looking a shadow of the player in the first set.

[jodjam]

Murray in 4.

Now for federer and tsonga to knock hell out of each other for 5 sets.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

The tournament will start to get interesting now.

[Sir David Gray]

Could be a classic match tomorrow morning between Wawrinka and Djokovic if last year's encounter is anything to go by.

They are due on at around 8am (UK time).

Tomas Berdych plays David Ferrer earlier in the first quarter final and the winners of both matches will meet in the semis.

Should be two great matches and I think it will be a Djokovic v Ferrer semi.

[jodjam]

2-1 to Stan at the moment. Djokovic looking very poor. Took first set in 31 mins but has fallen apart since then

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Two sets each and 4-4 each in the final set.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Novak serving to stay in the match at 5 6.

[Ryan91]

Game, Set, Match - Wawrinka

Djokovic 6-2 4-6 2-6 6-3 7-9 Wawrinka

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Wawrinka takes the fifth set 9 7.

[lyonhibs]

Chuffed for Wawrinka, absolutely deserves it. Something like his 1st victory over Djokovic in 30 attempts.

Is Murray on afterwards, or tomorrow UK time?

[Ryan91]

This is shaping up to be another beyond epic 5th set.

Is Murray on afterwards, or tomorrow UK time?

Tomorrow at 8.30am I think

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Chuffed for Wawrinka, absolutely deserves it. Something like his 1st victory over Djokovic in 30 attempts.

Is Murray on afterwards, or tomorrow UK time?

0830 GMT tomorrow I think.

[jodjam]

Could be a classic match tomorrow morning between Wawrinka and Djokovic if last year's encounter is anything to go by.

They are due on at around 8am (UK time).

Tomas Berdych plays David Ferrer earlier in the first quarter final and the winners of both matches will meet in the semis.

Should be two great matches and I think it will be a Djokovic v Ferrer semi.

Hope you didn't have a bet on this? ;)

[Pretty Boy]

Anybodys tournament now.

That match was brilliant entertainment.

[Sir David Gray]

Chuffed for Wawrinka, absolutely deserves it. Something like his 1st victory over Djokovic in 30 attempts.

Is Murray on afterwards, or tomorrow UK time?

Not quite.

15-2 to Djokovic going into today's match with Djokovic winning their last 14 matches.

Wawrinka hadn't beaten him in over 7 years.

Murray-Federer is the night game tomorrow - 8:30am GMT.


Hope you didn't have a bet on this? ;)

Nah, gambling's a mug's game! :wink:

To be honest, the Berdych-Ferrer match could really have gone either way. However I did expect Djokovic to beat Wawrinka.

Good luck to Stan though. After his two close defeats to Djokovic last year, he deserves it.


Anybodys tournament now.

That match was brilliant entertainment.

It's Nadal's to lose now, IMO.

If he plays anywhere near his best, I don't think anyone left in the draw will be able to beat him.

I don't see Dimitrov doing anything against him tomorrow. Then the semi final against either Murray or Federer will be tough but I would fancy him to beat either of them, particularly given his dominant head-to-head record vs Federer and the fact that Murray's just back from injury.

If he got to the final, I don't see Wawrinka or Berdych troubling him.

[jodjam]

Dimitrov just blew 3 set points in the third. 2-1 nadal now

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Early signs not looking good for Andy, 1-4 down in the first set.

[Pretty Boy]

Bit of a humping at the moment.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Federer breaks Murray in set 2, now serving a set and a game up. 3 sets to nil the way things look just now, would love to be wrong though.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

2 0 Roger

[Treadstone]

Liking the ladies line up for the last four.
Rooting for Radwanska possibly the most watchable player in the game. Finesse, guile, craft and intelligence everything except power.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Murray breaks serve in the 3rd set, now serving at 5-5

[Pretty Boy]

Great recovery from Murray, thought he was out there.

Still a huge ask though.

[Pretty Boy]

Murray saves 2 match points to take the 3rd set.

Game on.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

3rd set to Andy on a tie break.

Game on!

[jodjam]

Get in there. Mon Andy

[Sir David Gray]

There's been a few more encouraging signs over the last 20 minutes or so.

Still a big ask but this is definitely not over!

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Good hold of serve for Andy from 0-40 down.

[BS44]

Score?

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

2 sets to 1 for Roger, 2-2 in the fourth.

[heretoday]

Andy's 1st serve is a worry, isn't it?

[Pretty Boy]

Federer win 3-1.

Good fight by Murray but Federer was ridiculously good.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Roger wins 3-1

[sambajustice]

Scotlands Andy Murray is terrible. I preferred it when he was British!

[Sir David Gray]

Federer certainly rolled back the years today. He was so aggressive for the whole match and it was great to see him coming to the net so much as well. (just a pity it was against Murray!)

It will be interesting to see him play against Nadal on Friday in the semis. I would still stick with what I said earlier in that Nadal is the hot favourite for that match and the whole tournament but that was only if he was playing at his best and he's been tested in his past two matches against Nishikori (admittedly he did win in straight sets but it was three tight sets) and also against Dimitrov, who came close to going two sets to one up today.

Nadal does seem to have the Indian sign over Federer but I'm looking forward to watching this on Friday.

I would actually like to see Federer going on to win the tournament as I think it would be an amazing turnaround for him after all the trouble he had last year with his back etc and also the fact that he's almost 33 years old.

For Murray, I don't think he should be too disappointed. He was only one round away from where his seeding suggested he should have been and considering he was playing his first serious match since September today, I think he should be encouraged by how he played today.

Federer was just too strong for him and it's no disgrace losing to him.

[heretoday]

Andy will be back firing on all cylinders soon. There's nothing surer.

[Speedy]

It's turned out to be a dream draw for Berdych. Getting Ferrer in the quarters is a great start but then a tired Wawrinka in the semi...

[Pretty Boy]

Pretty tight in the 1st semi.

1 set all and on serve in the 3rd.

[Pretty Boy]

Wawrinka in 4.

Decent match, very close.

[Sir David Gray]

Didn't catch too much of the match this morning but what I did see was pretty tight.

Those last three sets really could have gone either way with both players having their chances.

Big opportunity now for Wawrinka in his first ever Grand Slam final. He'll be a huge underdog in the final, regardless of who gets through tomorrow, but he's certainly a worthy finalist.

Really looking forward to the match in the morning. I'm excited by the way Federer is playing right now and I think he may have a gameplan which may trouble Nadal. However Nadal's record over Federer will give him confidence going into the match and it has all the ingredients for a classic.

Two of the greatest players to ever play the game going head to head for a place in a Grand Slam final.

Can't wait.

[Sir David Gray]

No-one watching this? :dunno:

Good start by Federer but Nadal took control of the tiebreak and is now a third of the way towards the final.

Federer needs to be even more aggressive and finish the points off in five shots or less if he's going to stand any chance of coming back here.

He won't beat Nadal rallying from the back of the court for 15-20 shots.

[Sir David Gray]

Straight sets for Nadal. 7-6 6-3 6-3.

There was really only going to be one winner after he took the first set.

Can't see any way that he won't win on Sunday.

[Pretty Boy]

Straight sets for Nadal. 7-6 6-3 6-3.

There was really only going to be one winner after he took the first set.

Can't see any way that he won't win on Sunday.

Recorded this as thought it might be a bit of an epic.

Looks like it was quite straightforward though so not sure if I'll bother watching.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Watched the highlights on Eurosport this afternoon, pretty straightforward for Nadal.

He must be in agony with the state that the palm of his hand is in :crazy:, doesnae seem to stop him playing some brilliant tennis though.

[Sir David Gray]

Recorded this as thought it might be a bit of an epic.

Looks like it was quite straightforward though so not sure if I'll bother watching.

It may have been a different story if Federer had taken the opening set.

After the tiebreak went Nadal's way, the outcome was pretty much inevitable.

Federer did try to come to the net but Nadal is one of the greatest in the world at passing his opponent when they are at the net. That's really why he is so tough to beat.

If you try and compete with him from the back of the court, you have no chance and if you try to keep the points short by coming to the net, it has to be a great shot for you to come in on or else he'll punish you.

I fully expect him to win Grand Slam title number 14 on Sunday. I realise more than half of those titles have been won at Roland Garros but if he wins on Sunday then it means he'll have won every Grand Slam title at least twice in his career.

Considering he's not even 28 years old yet, I think it's only a matter of time before he overtakes Federer's 17 Grand Slam titles.

[Sir David Gray]

Great result for Li Na this morning against Dominika Cibulkova.

The first set was a tight one which was eventually won on a tiebreak. However Li Na raced away with the second set to win 7-6 6-0 to win her second Grand Slam title and also winning the Australian Open title for the first time after two previous defeats in the final.

[Sir David Gray]

Wawrinka serving for the first set against Nadal at 5-3.

[Sir David Gray]

Wawrinka wins his first ever set against Nadal, 6-3.

Came back from 0-40 in that game.

Very impressive start.

[CallumLaidlaw]

Superb break at start of 2nd set too. Looking very good

[Sir David Gray]

Wawrinka breaks at the start of the second set.

If he keeps this up, he'll win in straight sets.

There must be a dip at some point though!

Surely!

[CallumLaidlaw]

I can't see anything other than a Nadal retirement at present

[Twiglet]

Nadal takes 3rd. Looks to be moving better.

Is Wawrinka now being found out for relying on his serve too much?

[Pretty Boy]

Feel sorry for Nadal. He showed real heart to keep going there.

Pleased for Wawrinka though. Good to see someone else get their day in the sun.

[Sir David Gray]

I had to leave for Easter Road when it was at the end of the third set so haven't seen the end of the match yet.

I felt really sorry for Nadal today as you could tell he was in a lot of pain during that second set and he looked close to tears at one point.

Getting booed by the crowd probably didn't help either.

If there's one thing you can say about Rafael Nadal it's that his sportsmanship is not in any doubt.

I'm pleased for Wawrinka as he's certainly a talented player and for someone who has lived in the shadow of Roger Federer for so many years, it's nice to see him create a few headlines of his own.

He's had a lot of good fortune during the tournament though. Andrey Golubev retired hurt in the second set of his first round match, he had a walkover in his third round match as Vasek Pospisil pulled out through injury and Rafael Nadal was certainly far from 100% today with his back injury.

I'm glad the match came to a natural conclusion though.