Grudge matches can always be fun.
Well that was surprising…
A 15 year old American girl just beat the defending champ in straight sets.
The overnight tennis has been great, also like a wrecking ball. Cilic beats RBA, Raonic beats Tsitsipas, and Millman on the verge of taking Federer to a fifth set tiebreak. Worth losing a night of sleep over!
In the middle of the Cilic match, he burst into flame and won 11 games in a row. He broke RBA and went on to win the second set, to win the third set in 6-0, to break RBA to open the fourth set. Virtually every point was decided by a Cilic winner. He hit extraordinary shots. It was a joy to watch him playing at that level, at least for a stretch of about an hour. He played well later and won, but that stretch was legendary. I’ve never seen a player so on.
Edit: Federer survives, but not after a 4+ hour ordeal.
Round 4 for the bottom half of the draw will be:
Sandgren v Fognini
Fucsovics v Federer
Raonic v Cilic
Schwartzman v Djokovic
The young guys all crashed out.
It’s sort of weird how that played out. All the young guys flamed out in the lower half, yet the top half still has by my count 7 guys who are 25 or younger, plus Thiem who’s 26 (not really a young guy anymore, but young by today’s standard I guess). Part of that is the top half being a round behind right now, but even so the lower half still only had three under-25s in the third round (Paul, Tsitsipas, Nishioka).
She beat Venus at Wimbledon last year and won a smaller tournament later in the year to become the youngest titlist is some absurd amount of time (over a decade). She seems legit.
Sounds like Millman/Federer was quite a match.
I had no idea Wozniacki was retiring.
That one was, as was the Cilic / RBA match.
Khachanov / Kyrgios just finished, good match spoiled only by Khachanov choking in the final tiebreak. This means Nadal / Kyrgios is on!
The rest of round 4 for the top half is Thiem/Monfils, Medvedev/Wawrinka, Rublev/Zverev.
So seeds 1-5 and 7 are still in it, 6 of the top 8.
I could see anyone from the top half making it to the final without being shocked. Monfils might be a bit of a stretch at this point, but he’s always been incredibly talented. Should be some exciting matches in the coming days.
Aww, I was so happy to see Kyrgios continue. I’ll be at the open monday night, which will now be Nadal vs. Kyrgios! My only worry is that Kyrgios will be too tired to have a real chance, and seeing this early will check out mentally and stop competing.
I’m torn. On the one hand, I’d love to see someone thrash Nadal, and Kyrgios has the skills to do it, at least on a hard court. On the other hand, Kyrgios is a blight on tennis, at least in his current version. So not sure what I’m hoping for!
Federer has looked quite shaky throughout, but he’s into the quarterfinals and facing not much of a challenge in Sandgren.
Djokovic was not clinical last night — too many unforced errors — but the outcome was never in doubt and he kept it to three sets. He’s facing Raonic in the quarterfinals. Ordinarily I’d say he’s not going to be challenged by Raonic, but Raonic’s serving has been something else this tournament.
Still, we’re on track for a Federer / Djokovic semifinal in the bottom half.
Thiem routined Monfils. He faced no break points the entire match. If he keeps serving and making his forehands, I’m not sure anyone can beat him. I imagine he won’t play nearly as aggressively against, say, Nadal though. Which might be a tactical error on his part, assuming that happens.
I think he has a great chance against Nadal, who seems to be finishing off Kyrgios now.
Edit: Also, Stan sent Medvedev packing in 5 sets. It’s starting to look like the usual suspects.
At least Zverev’s still in. He’s usually crashed out of a major by now. And Raonic and Thiem aren’t 30 yet so they are sort of youngstars.
I’d like to see Zverev make the semis. I’d like to see Thiem too. And of course who doesn’t want a Fed - Djokovic semifinal? We could have an old guard vs. new lion final if Zverev can make it that far.
Nadal vs. Kyrgios turned out to be a great match. Kyrgios was competitive the entire time and they both hit some incredible shots. Being in the stands was a great experience, better than I was expecting honestly, the atmosphere of the crowd and the energy that you see in the shots on court just can’t be communicated on TV. Turns out these guys hit the ball really really hard, gave me a greater appreciation for the game.
Went to bed thinking Federer would roll over Sandgren after the first set, but it turned into a marathon. Federer is through to the semis. Along the way he didn’t face a single seeded player.
Early in the second set but seems like Nole can handle Raonic’s serve.
Roger and Nole in the semis. I don’t give Roger much of a chance but he is Roger Federer. He said his groin muscle hurt and his serve dropped to 105 MPH during the match. He only served five aces in a five-setter. He’ll be tired and sore against Djokovic, who won in straight sets.
Fed is 38.5. He’s a marvel.
There’s actually a chance someone under 30 might make the finals! Zverev and Thiem are still in the mix. They have to get by Wawrinka and Nadal.
I only saw the score, but I was wondering if something was wrong with Federer. Despite his being in the quarters of the Australian Open for the second time in three years, Sandgren is not the kind of player that should be taking Federer to five sets. I believe he gets two days of rest before he plays the semis, but I too doubt that even a fully healthy Federer would have a good chance against Djokovic at this point.
I’ve been wanting new blood to emerge in a slam for at least half-a-decade, but part of me wants to see Wawrinka get a chance at another slam. At his best—when his backhand is finding the lines and he’s serving well—I think he’s maybe the most unbeatable player I’ve ever seen. Of course, that Wawrinka has only showed up a few days over his career. Thiem sometimes reminds me of Wawrinka, so he might be the next best thing.
Also, I’m glad @Tim_N enjoyed their day at Melbourne Park. The AO always seemed like the best slam to attend in terms of fan experience. The weather usually looks a bit trying, though.
Almost as old as Connors was (39) when he blew everyone’s mind by reaching the U.S. Open semis.
I can just hear Federer saying during the Djokovic semi: “This is what they paid for … this is what they want!”
Bonus points if he calls the chair umpire ‘an abortion.’
He may be a marvel, but I think he’s just been lucky at this tournament. I know he can only play against the players who show up, but he hasn’t played a single seeded player. He got into the quarterfinals by beating the 67th ranked player in the world, and got into the semifinals by beating the 100th-ranked player in the world. In his last three matches he played number 47, number 67 and number 100 and looked very ordinary doing it.
If Nadal makes it through, it will be because he beat #26, #30, and #5. If Thiem makes it through, it’s because he beat #34, #10 and #1. If Zverev makes it through, he will have beaten #17 and #15. If Stan, it’s because he beat #19, #14, #7.
Nole has had an easy path, but he had to beat #14 and a healthy Raonic, surely better than his 35 ranking.
Roger really hasn’t played anyone, and even then he’s been pretty ordinary. He should have lost to Millman and Sandgren.
He may well beat Djokovic — he’s Roger Federer and anything can happen. But what he’s been so far is barely good enough to beat some journeymen.