Australian Open: Semi-finals, Pt.1 - Déjà vu

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

So I will basically do the semi-finals one at a time. Then Saturday I will do an even lighter Backspin before I close the tournament with a final post and Todd does his bit.

I think Sharapova doesn't get blown away. Remember 2007 when Serena Williams blew her away 6-1, 6-2? That won't happen here. Pova will make it tight and, as much as I want to see her take a set, she goes down 7-6, 6-4. Or something resembling that score line. Serena just hates losing to Maria and she also has that Open era record of slams to gun for. Can she reach 22? I think she has a 75% chance of equalizing it if she wins on Saturday.

Herbert/Mahut beat fourth seeds Dodig/Melo on Margaret Court in two hours twenty by a 6-4,6-7,7-6 score. Meanwhile on Rod Laver, Fognini/Bolelli came through 6-4,3-6,6-3 against sixth seeded Rojer/Tecau.

So I will keep it short and sweet. I can't wait for Wimbledon when they actually put the semi-finals on the same day. It's a lot less disjointed.

=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: Hsieh/Cuevas [D. Hingis/Paes]

A big roll of the dice here. It really is a lose/lose situation here but I thought Mladenovic/Nestor were the favorites and I am bravely sticking with them.


ROD LAVER: MURRAY d. BERDYCH
...Bhambri, Matosevic, Sousa, Dimitrov, Kyrgios, Berdych. That is a run that puts fear into the heart of nobody. Yes, those are good players but there isn't one player there capable of beating Murray, not really. Murray has never played two big four players on the way to winning a slam. In 2012 he beat Berdych in a very similar score line to today 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, 7-6. I have said it before and I'll say it again -- until Murray wins a clay event he is not part of the Big Four. The stats don't back him -- he has only two majors, he has never been world number one and he has not once even been to a clay final. But, yet again because of a softer draw, he is in a grand slam final. Djokovic had a softer draw, as well. But that being said you can only play what is in front of you.



That illustrated perfectly the gap, and that's especially bearing in mind this wasn't during Federer's prime. He can't even hold a winning record against a guy many people are calling past it. I should give more dues to Murray, but when he faces a truly challenging draw and wins and also claims a clay title, I can take his bid to expand the Big Three seriously. Berdych capitulated in this match as he crashed out 6-7 [8], 6-0, 6-3, 7-5. It took Murray close to three and a half hours to close it out and move to Australian Open final number four. He lost to Federer in 2010 and has lost to Djokovic in three of the last five finals. Murray really pulled out a great match here, going 40-39 on the winners count with 15 aces thrown in, too. Berdych had a shocker, collapsing dramatically and hitting 56 errors as Murray broke his "big serve" six times. Murray also won 40% of his receiving points in the match, an incredible number. He will need that in the final, whoever he plays against. On Saturday, I get to talk about the bloodbath/slaughter/annihilation ladies final. I get to conclude most of the rest of the event, too. I will preview the men's event, look at the men's doubles and the mixed final. I also have to talk a little about the juniors. All these fun things, but for now I am not talking about Sunday. I will, however, leave you with this instructional video about Sunday:



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It was nice of Casey to last this long, although I guess it would've been nice to have a bit more to celebrate.

Thanks, Galileo.

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