H2H is 2-1 in favour of Tipsy, the Serb winning at Queens in 2006 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-2, Andy winning in Metz in 2007 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 before Janko triumphed in Moscow a week later 6-4, 7-5.
I've just watched the highlights from yesterday on the ATP site (hey, I could see the ball! On the livestream yesterday I could barely see the court) and Andy looked to be playing well within himself. He said in the part of the interview they showed that he was feeling fresh and rested.
If he carries on playing well within himself today and Tipsy plays a blinder and wins, I won't cry. It would be more time to prepare for Paris! However, I feel Andy wants to defend this title.
15-0 ur 15-15 M bh cc then bh dtl winner 30-15 long rally T agg bh cc forces error 40-15 T agg after serve and M bh pass net 40-30 M bh ret winner T holds after M error *3-1
15-0 M bh winner after super play 15-15 M careless drive volley straight to T who passes 15-30 M bh wide 15-40 M easy fh ue long 30-40 T fh ue net 40-40 ace A- M weak smash straight to T but pass is wide 40-40 T fh winner cc A- ur 40-40 T agg ret A- ue holds ace 4-1*
0-15 0-30 15-30 15-40 M careless bh ue long 30-40 2nd serve ur 40-40 M agg fhs cc then dtl after serve, finishing with a smash 40-A broken - looked like a df 4-3*
15-0 30-0 ace 30-15 M agg bh cc forces error 30-30 T fh ue long 40-30 stream gone again holds M agg bh ue long 4-4
0-15 T stunning bh dtl winner 15-15 M clever tight angled drop after T pass appeared to clip net 30-15 ace 40-15 T fh ue net holds ue 5-4*
T serving
40-0 holds 5-5
Seemed fairly close match. T aggressive during the rallies and especially against 2nd serve. The stream is breaking up all the time and is barely watchable so I'm giving up I'm afraid. Sorry.
The livestream is rubbish, but from what I can see Tipsy is playing well, and after a good start Andy has gone off the boil. Tipsy is finding the lines with his ground strokes and running A all over the place.
Andy takes first set after tiebreak 7-6(5). I saw two of the points in the tiebreak but both players seem to be losing their temper, frustrated by wild errors.
Andy could easily lose this match. He needs a high first serve percentage and lots of unreturneds/aces if he's to hold serve consistently against T.
Might watch for a few moments before I go out:
T serving at the start of 2nd set
0-15 df 0-30 stunning fh cc pass winner from M 30-30 40-30 M agg, then volley but not good enough and T bh pass winner dtl 40-40 M attacks T lob is long A- ace I guess 40-40 T aggressive fh cc is just wide A- T agg fh forces error 40-40 T annoyed so his bh must have been error A- M pass is just wide 40-40 M draws T to net and he nets bh 40-A T's bh is long (?) 40-40 ace (challenge shows it just clipped the line) A- T fh winner 40-40 M attacks net, nice volley then smash A- ace/ur ?? T holds ur