2023 Australian Open

The first Grand Slam of the year gets underway in a few hours' time at Melbourne Park.

First up is Kyle Edmund v 15th seed Jannik Sinner. Personally can't see Edmund winning that one.

A bit later on Jack Draper faces an even bigger test v defending champion Rafael Nadal.

Around the same sort of time British number one Cameron Norrie faces relative unknown Luca Van Assche of France. He is 18 and playing in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time.

On the women's side Emma Raducanu faces Tamara Korpatsch.

Harriet Dart plays Jil Teichmann.

On Tuesday Dan Evans plays Facundo Bagnis.

Andy Murray has a very tough start v Matteo Berrettini.

And after last year's circus which ultimately ended up in his deportation and ban from Australia which has been subsequently overturned, Novak Djokovic is bidding to become the Australian Open champion for a 10th time as he plays Roberto Carballes Baena.

All the action begins at midnight GMT and live coverage in the UK is on Eurosport.

I reckon Draper will beat Nadal

Raducanu wins
Edmund out, as expected

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hibeg

I reckon Draper will beat Nadal

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First set was quality, great play by both but Nadal nicked it. Draper races through second set and now looks on top.
Game 3 in third, looks like Draper injury jinx strikes again !! Loses 3 games in a row and calls trainer.
After treatment Jack breaks back and we are back on serve.

Rafa wins set 3

Another injury time out for Jack before start of set 4. Hope his fitness can hold as he is definitely in this match
Rafa has hardly played since Wimbledon but is showing how fit he is
Come on Jack

Rafa wins due to Draper fitness issues.
Ironic as I thought it would be the other way about
Both have hardly played in months, but I thought the younger guy would come through
Never write off Rafa !

3am updates are impressive have you slept at all? :greengrin

Dart is a break up in the first set at 4-3. Surprised at Raducanu winning.

Sadly it all went wrong for Dart despite a promising opening to the match as she lost in straight sets.

Cameron Norrie is through in straight sets.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir David Gray

3am updates are impressive have you slept at all? :greengrin

Dart is a break up in the first set at 4-3. Surprised at Raducanu winning.

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Haha. No I wasn’t up all night. Woke up around 2.45 and saw Emma had won on the laptop. Posted the info and went back to sleep 😴.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hibeg

Rafa wins due to Draper fitness issues.
Ironic as I thought it would be the other way about
Both have hardly played in months, but I thought the younger guy would come through
Never write off Rafa !

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Apparently Draper has had a bad dose of the flu recently and has missed out on some of his fitness training

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Originally Posted by davy67 +

Apparently Draper has had a bad dose of the flu recently and has missed out on some of his fitness training

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Didn’t know that Davy. He really struggled with cramping up. Shame because when he was ok he was giving Rafa big problems.

Tough one for any UK based Andy Murray fans in the morning as his match v Matteo Berrettini is due to begin around 3am GMT.

I personally won't be getting up to watch it so will be hoping to wake up to some good news but can't see it.

Good luck Andy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir David Gray

Tough one for any UK based Andy Murray fans in the morning as his match v Matteo Berrettini is due to begin around 3am GMT.

I personally won't be getting up to watch it so will be hoping to wake up to some good news but can't see it.

Good luck Andy.

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Yep would imagine Murray will be out before I wake up .

Hopefully Rafa can get something going having got through his first round but hard to see him defending his title. Shame for the lad Draper to have all chance of a win taken away with fitness issue.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WeeRussell

Yep would imagine Murray will be out before I wake up .

Hopefully Rafa can get something going having got through his first round but hard to see him defending his title. Shame for the lad Draper to have all chance of a win taken away with fitness issue.

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I’m wrong again - I’m awake and Murray is a break up 😁

Another 5 setter for Murray

Quote:

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Originally Posted by davy67 +

Another 5 setter for Murray

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Only ever lost once after being 2 sets up! Nalbandian in 2005 I think they said.

That stat under severe pressure now. Great win if he can get over the line still.

Unbelievable!

I'm just awake and checked the score and expected to see a routine Berrettini win - I should have known better! :greengrin

5-5 deciding set - come on Andy!

6-5 Berrettini.

Deciding set championship tiebreak.

Murray 5-1 up - another 5 to go!

Murray wins in 5 sets. :thumbsup:

What an absolute legend, the sport will really miss him when he retires.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir David Gray

Murray wins in 5 sets. :thumbsup:

What an absolute legend, the sport will really miss him when he retires.

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Outstanding elite athlete. Must be amongst the best (maybe THE best?) Scottish athlete of all time .

Phenomenal!

Unbelievable performance

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bigwheel

Outstanding elite athlete. Must be amongst the best (maybe THE best?) Scottish athlete of all time .

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For pure athleticism, skill, dedication and determination there's been nobody to match him.

Wow, didn’t see that coming. Brilliant from Andy against a world class opponent. :top marks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bigwheel

Outstanding elite athlete. Must be amongst the best (maybe THE best?) Scottish athlete of all time .

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I personally think that goes without saying, I would go as far as to say he's the greatest British athlete ever.

The guy's playing with a metal hip at nearly 36 years old!

Amongst all the excitement about Murray this morning I meant to say that Dan Evans won in 4 sets earlier on. He'll now play Jeremy Chardy in round 2 which should be another winnable match.

Murray's second round opponent will likely be home favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis although he will need to come back at midnight to finish off his match v Fabio Fognini - Kokkinakis is two sets up and 4-2 up in the third set.

Murray's match will be on Thursday.

I thought Murray looked leaner and fitter than I've seen him, perhaps ever, before. Have missed watching his epic matches over the past few years. This morning was brilliant.