Wk.2- Wasn’t the U.S. Open Just Yesterday?

Hey, all. Galileo here.

Tennis has a way of distorting time. The previous slam feels both months ago and just yesterday. But, of course, that is in the past, relegated to the archives. Coming up is the Australian Open and you know what that means. It means that the short concise post is king. What with the predictions and everything else, life at BACKSPIN HQ is a little hectic.

The favourites look good and we could have four repeat finalists. Repeat as in recent finalists getting back to the big one. We had drama in Sydney and we also had more of Tomic being himself. So life goes on and the world keeps on turning.

Here are some questions I’d like to see answered: Is the WTA still veteran dominated? What is Serena doing and will she be a wreck or a wrecker? Does Federer have an answer to Djokovic? Will Kyrgios spoil the party? Do we get to see some vintage Hewitt one last time?

All these and more will be answered in the coming two weeks. But now we look backwards because you have to go backwards to go forwards, don’t you know.

*WEEK 2 CHAMPIONS*
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
S: Viktor Troicki def. Grigor Dimitrov 2-6/6-1/7-6(7)
D: J.Murray/Soares d. Bopanna/Mergea
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
S: Roberta Bautista Agut def. Jack Sock 6-1/1-0 ret.
D: Pavic/Venus d. Butorac/Lipsky


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: VIKTOR TROICKI, SRB ...The Serbian needed over two hours to finally defend his title but did so 6-2, 1-6, 7-6[7]. He needed to save a match point and have two of his own but he eventually won his third title from eight finals. The Serbian beat the second seed to go into Melbourne on red-hot form. He started his week off well beating Robredo 6-1, 6-4. Next he beat Mahut 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals. There Gabashvili was waiting. Surely this was an opportunity not to be missed for the third seed. He nearly did, however, but scraped through 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. He edged through two tight matches to get to the final showdown. He is the Serbian number two as it stands. Really, Serbia should be in with a great shot at winning the Davis. Djokovic only needs a tiny amount of help. Going into Melbourne Troicki is playing the role of spoiler. He is on form and his backhand is working well. He should have a good tournament and move up from 22 back into the top 20. The reason Agut isn’t here is because he won his final by retirement.
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RISER: GRIGOR DIMITROV, BUL
...The semi-final in Brisbane and now this? The young Bulgarian is heating up at just the right moment. He has started as he should go on. It is not about a big result right away, it is about consistent good results building up to something big. At the Australian Open he will run right into Federer early on but he will get his ranking up, and once he does he will be able to put together a great slam result. He should aim for another second week appearance at Wimbledon, though that is a far off thing right now. His backhand is on-song and so is his attitude. He had a tough week this week but still got past the likes of Cuevas and Muller without dropping a set, though both took him to a breaker. Dolgopolov really pushed him and took the first set. But he managed to bend without breaking. Actually, that’s not true. He broke the serve of the Ukrainian and came through in three 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. That mettle will come in handy, too.
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SURPRISE: JACK SOCK, USA
...The American Wimbledon boys champion made a final this week. Don’t we all wish we could describe ourselves as a Wimbledon champion? With that ferocious forehand he tore apart Burgos 6-0, 6-4 before dispatching partner Pospisil 6-2, 6-4. Anderson had his measure for the first half of their match but he still managed to find a way in his 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 come from behind surprise upset victory. In a bizarre match in the next round he beat Ferrer 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. The Spaniard faded badly and left Sock to contend the final. But the American retired ill. Oh, speaking of Americans, go check out highlights of the Green Bay/Arizona game in the playoffs. No, really. It was an absurd and brilliant game!
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FRESH FACE: MATTHEW BARTON, AUS
...The Aussie is 24 but has only had scattered success. He decided to try the Auckland qualies and it turned out he was in form. He dispatched Sitak 7-6[8], 6-0. Then he demolished Kudla 6-2, 6-0 to make the main draw. After that he edged out top 30 player Johnson 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. His loss to Ferrer 6-2, 6-4 was also impressive as he competed well, particularly in that second set. Barton made his debut this week on the ATP tour though he is 1-0 in challenger finals and 3-1 at future level finals. He is coached by Wally Masur and has had a top ranking of 201. He just got back inside the top 300 at 299. The Aussie looks to have a good year ahead of him.
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DOWN: BERNARD TOMIC, AUS
...Tomic the Tank Engine is back. He tanked out a match to Gabashvili so he could retain energy for the Australian Open. That’s fine - everybody does it. The way he did it, down 6-3, 3-0 was disrespectful and it wasn’t fair to the people who had paid good money for the tickets. He does earn his criticism, sadly. He will make a run at the Australian Open, but with this and the tennis court incident he needs to work on his reputation, too.
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UPSET: ROBERTO BAUTISTA AGUT, ESP
...Tsonga is a great front-runner. So it was a shock and a surprise when the Spaniard came right back at him and won 3-6, 7-6[3], 6-4. He even saved a match point. Roberto is a tough cookie and he just never goes away. Tsonga could not regather his momentum and he slowly lost more and more ground. The Spaniard went on to win his maiden hard court title. He now has three titles and five runners-up. He is building quite the career.
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Mladenovic and Garcia are seeded third in the ladies doubles. They are big fishes. The key is to avoid Hingis/Mirza for as long as possible. Irogoyen and Flor are the first round opponents and that should be fine. Goerges/Pliskova, seeded thirteen, are the closest other seeds but that isn’t too big a threat. The 5th seeded Russians Vesnina/Pavlyuchenkova are dangerous but they wouldn’t meet the Pastries until the QF stage.

In the singles, she landed Cibulkova, who she can beat but it will be tough. That’ll be a good match. Kvitova lurks in the third round so she has a rough draw.

In Sydney, Garcia bested her 7-6[4], 6-4. But her compatriot did help her reach the doubles final. They only lost a set on their way to the final. They even dispatched second seeded Chan and Chan 6-2, 6-4. Then they won the first set against Mirza/Hingis 6-1 (and led 5-2 in the second), but eventually lost 6-1, 5-7, 7-10.

Thanks all and visit WTA BACKSPIN please.

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