Australian Open: Let That Be a Lesson to You All

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

"And let that be a lesson to you all, nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row." So said Vitas in 1980 after he finally beat Jimmy Connors.

After Tomas Berdych ended Rafa Nadal's 17-match winning streak over him the Australian Open quarterfinals, it's still a fact that nobody has ever beaten anybody 18 times in a row in the Open era at the professional level. As a result, along with Andy Murray's victory, this is the second year in a row the sixth and seventh seeds have made the semi-finals.

Berdych may finally have come of age. If he beats Andy Murray then he will have truly arrived at last. Murray will be a very tough match, obviously, and the winner really will be deserving of a place in the final.

And now for some men's doubles, because it's not all just about the singles. The second seeds Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin could have capitalized and made a bid for the world number one ranking a possibility had they clung on. They faltered, however, and lost to Herbert/Mahut 7-6, 3-6, 6-3. The unranked all-French pair hit 50 winners in the two hour match on their way to a three-set upset. But who would they play? The fourth seeds, Dodig and Melo, were the favorites against big-serving unseeded pair Lopez and Mirnyi. They broke three times and won the opening set at love in 19 minutes. The Europeans were just getting started, however, and slowly took control. They took the next set 6-3 and the match was on a knife's edge. It went all the way to a third set breaker, which the fourth seeds took and now have a French pair waiting for them.

=Suicide Pick=
Round 1: Venus Williams [D. Torro Flor]; Jerzy Janowicz [d. Moriya]
Round 2: Ka Plíšková [D. Dodin]; Lleyton Hewitt [d. Becker]
Round 3: Agnieszka Radwanska [D. Lepchenko]
Round 4: Eugenie Bouchard [D. Begu]
QF: Simona Halep [D. Makaraova]
Mixed Round 1: Hingis/Paes [D Jovanovic/Thompson]
Mixed Round 2: Dellacqua/Peers [D.Klepac/Guccione]
Mixed QF: Mirza/Soares [D. Dellacqua/Peers]


ROD LAVER: BERDYCH d. NADAL
...It wasn't just the scoreline, it was everything. Like "Roots," "Cheers," "Friends" and the Jackson Five, Nadal's aura and career had to begin to fade to diminish. The beginning of the end was the loss to Soderling. He had his best year after that but the first tiny crack had appeared. It was barely noticeable but it was there and in an otherwise unblemished surface, it stuck out. Rosol was a big crack along with missing all those slams and all those suspect losses in slams to people like Ferrer and Murray. He was clearly injured in those Australian Open quarterfinals. People began to openly wonder, "what's going on." And since the end of 2012, he has been either brilliant or woefully abysmal. There hasn't been much middle ground. And now, Nadal is done. I have written those words before but truly I believe them now. I've been a lot more opinionated of late but, really, he is done now. He'll still win a lot on clay and have a lot more success but if he is still relevant come the Oympics I will be surprised and impressed. He will certainly not be at the Olympics after that like Federer has been. This loss wasn't on Rafa. It was all about the dominance of the Czech star. He needed an hour to get to 6-2,6-0 and 73 minutes to take the next 7-6[5] after being up 5-1 in the breaker. Ten aces and 46 winners were hit off the Berdych racket. He only hit 21 errors in the demolition. Tomas broke five times and faced four break points. He broke more than he faced break points. This was a slaughter and it was coming. Nadal is broken. Berdych is too physical. Berdych faces Murray next. He must be aggressive and serve big. Play like he did against Nadal and he will be fine.
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ROD LAVER: MURRAY d. KYRGIOS
...The ball is over.



Nick Kyrgios is done. He has inspired us more in this two week period than top twenty players have in their entire careers. He is the breakthrough star of the tournament, but sadly, his ball is over. He has danced his last dance. I think he will go on to win more slams than Murray. He has more power and more weapons. I think he also has more of a champion's quality about him. Kyrgios went out tamely in the end as he lost 6-3,7-6[5],6-3 to the seven time grand slam finalist and two time winner. He just ran out of gas. Murray was too solid hitting 48 winners to 28 errors while the Aussie could only muster a 36-38 record in that area. Murray broke three times to the youngster's once in the match between the past and the future. Murray moves through to another slam semi-final is his illustrious career in two hours and five minutes. Murray has Berdych next in a match where fireworks meet safety inspector. The exciting Czech knows how to beat Murray and he has a great chance of doing so again, but can he go five sets with Murray and win? I think Berdych can win if he plays cleverly and doesn't make silly mistakes both tactically and physically.
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=Any other notes?=
* - Kyrgios is the first teenage to make two slam quarters since Federer and the first Aussie since Hewitt.
* - Makarova. The little engine that could. She is also the little engine that blew my suicide pool to bits by thumping Halep.
* - Shall we do some math? Three American men in the third round of the doubles. None made it through. Isner and Steve Johnson lost in the third round in the singles. I'll give Smyczek a pass. In the mixed, two women lost in the second round. I'll give the American ladies an A* but Venus and Serena are both 33-plus. Once they go, will it still look rosy?
* - Remember when Men's doubles was consistent? With Nadal and Federer going down, followed by the Bryans losing in the third round are we approaching the end of an era?
* - Federer needs to find more slam consistency but he is still certain to be number two. He will be about 4000 ahead of Nadal but 2000 behind Djokovic in the points.
* - Casey Dellacqua and John Peers won, bringing Casey's record here to 4-2. She is guaranteed a positive record at the Australian Open though it is unlikely she will win the mixed. The Australians have landed the top seeds.

Thanx all and visit WTA BACKSPIN please.

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