Australian Open: The One Where Nothing Happened

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Sometimes there are just boring days in slams. It happens. The fourth rounds were acceptable. The quarterfinals were a disappointment. No four or five setters. No big upsets. No drama. So I will happily conclude the quarters today and hope for better luck in the semi-finals.

Why not watch some of this- this is the kind of stuff we were missing:



And in doubles, sixth seeded Rojer/Tecau beat the fourteenth seeded Inglot and Mergea 6-4, 7-6. In the semi-finals they will play Bolelli/ Fognini, who needed a pair of breakers to advance past the also unseeded pairing of Cuevas and Marrero. They won 7-5 in both of those breakers.

=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]
Mixed SF: TBD


ROD LAVER: DJOKOVIC d. RAONIC
...Raonic is coming closer and closer. From 2011, he has reached in that particular year, two finals, four finals, four finals, three finals and one final. The last two times he failed to achieve his seeding at a slam were against Dimitrov on grass and Nishikori at the U.S. Open. He has made the quarterfinals three of the last four slams and not missed the fourth round for a year. He is rising but he consistently meets road blocks. He no longer loses to someone one would not expect him to but he needs to find a way to get past these road blocks. In last year's Wimbledon semis, Federer put on a master class to beat him 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and twenty minutes. Federer faced one break point and was just too good throughout. Djokovic has pulled a similar performance here -- under two hours and only 12 games conceded. Djokovic won the breaker and then the match was always going to be his. Raonic never even had a break point, although that could be due to the fact his opponent hit just 17 errors. Raonic was broken thrice as his serve couldn’t quite hold up. Raonic hit 114 aces in Melbourne, probably the most in the tournament come the end. It is now Djokovic against Wawrinka. I think this time, not like the past two times, people will see Wawrinka coming. "People" includes Djokovic. Of course, he was ready last time but this time there is no element of surprise. I still think this is perhaps the one slam where Wawrinka has the best chance of upending the top seed. To be fair, I would like his chances in London, too, but here in Australia he looks very good.
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ROD LAVER: WAWRINKA d. NISHIKORI
...Nishikori has disappointed us all. We expected a fight, a battle. We expected him to win a set, to frustrate and confound the Swiss number two. He did none of those things. He meekly faded away. Wawrinka proved to be simply too strong, but against Rafa last year in that situation he outclassed Rafa for whole swaths of that match. Wawrinka is on fire. He could melt rocks right now. He could be in the Fantastic Four. He and Djokovic are on course for an explosion the likes of which we haven't seen since Eva Asderaki last looked Serena's way. Vavsy claimed victory 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 [6] in a shade over two hours. The scoreline is generous. Wawrinka was pushing Nishikori around. Wawrinka looked a top two player and he looked determined. He was in no mood to grant clemency. The Swiss blasted 20 winners and 46 winners overall to win. He even cut down on his errors, although 34 is still a little too high. He surrendered his serve just once, an area he needs to improve on but if he replicates the 3/11 on break points against the Djoker he has a shot. He has more than a shot. He also won 74% of serving points and 35% on the receiving side. This was pure domination. There was no let-up. It was a relentless barrage. Up next for Wawrinka is Djokovic. If he wins then he goes on to win the whole tournament. Murray has been to three Australian Open finals and is 1-9 in sets. Wawrinka is 3-1 in sets. Berdych has been to one major final. So if Stan wins here, he wins through. Well, at least that's how I'm calling it.
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=Any other notes?=
* - Casey Dellacqua and John Peers lost and it meant the end of the Casey Dellacqua odyssey here down under, where she went one and one just about everywhere. In Australia she finished with a 5-4 record, excluding the Hopman Cup and a 5-6 record if you do include it. She went 5-3 in Melbourne. Next up could be Stuttgart for the Fed Cup, but that isn't till February.

Thanx all and visit WTA BACKSPIN please.

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