And Fed eventually wins!

Hmm, not a too bad start for me, I still have all my round two pics available!

Steven, do you keep all time records for each round?

Has anyone ever got all 64?

Joint 13th.. So far so good. =]

Mikeduke wrote:

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Steven, do you keep all time records for each round?

Has anyone ever got all 64?

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I don't (maybe I should!) but it's easy enough to check. The record is 56/64 by Invu2day (MTF) in R1 of Wimby 2007 - he won R2 as well but eventually finished almost halfway down the table, though that was when the points were skewed a lot more heavily towards the later rounds.

Top R1 scores at the AO / RG / Wimby / USO have been:

2007: NA / 48 / 56 / 54

2008: 54 / 52 / 54 / 53

You'd think with far more entrants in 2008, the top scores would have been higher, if anything, but they were lower than in 2007 except at RG, suggesting that men's tennis is becoming more unpredictable even early in tournaments.

Still, it'll look very different if Vamos can manage another 29/32 tomorrow!

-- Edited by steven at 14:42, 2009-01-19

99th is an ok start for me but I must remember to not pick Nieminen again (REM?)

Steven/Bethan - thought I read somewhere that you had about a 1 in 4 error rate in entries this time - ouch!!!

What were people doing wrong? Maybe you should introduce score penalties for incorrect entries or at least name and shame the guilty

Grundon wrote:

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What were people doing wrong? Maybe you should introduce score penalties for incorrect entries or at least name and shame the guilty

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The problem is, that creates yet more hassle for us! LOL

There are two types of error, the simple missed picks/double picks which take about 10x as long to process as an error-free entry (an error-free entry takes about 10 secs) and the ones that are more involved to sort out, which take 30-50 times as long as an error-free entry (and far longer than it would take people to check they've got it right in the first place) like:
 
- entering with a different name fr0m the one used last time
- saying they've entered in the past with a different name but not telling us which name they used to use
- not providing names or teams at all
- missing lots of picks in the same entry
- picking the "replacement entry" option when they haven't entered in the first place
- sending replacement entries and not picking that option so it ends up as a duplicate
 - various other random stuff

Each one takes only minutes to sort out, but when there are dozens of them, the time wasted builds up. Unfortunately it's easier to sort them out before the results sheets are produced than afterwards, so ignoring the errors and waiting for the entrants to notice and point them out isn't really a better option.

If we ever do start getting over 500 entrants (which isn't impossible, because although AO entries are the same as 2008 USO entries, if you take out the effect of the tennisopolis prize competition for the USO, the underlying entries have gone up again by about 10-15% this time), it'll be very tempting to make it first-come first-served for those outside the top 250, but with error entries put to the back of the queue.

-- Edited by steven at 15:59, 2009-01-19

Sounds like a good plan, wish I'd thought of it! However, your picks are published so you could soon put a stop to it!

It was Hanescu's miraculous recovery from 2 sets down to win 8-6 in the 5th that left Bethan on top of the pile, and she made it 15/15 on day 2 when Sela beat Schuettler.

That win was an interesting one. Only 18% of us picked Sela despite the bookies giving Sela a slight edge. I picked Sela because they had played once before, in the Beijing semis last year (similar surface and conditions, so it seemed to me like it should be a good guide), and Sela won 3 & 3. Were the 82% who went for the German thinking back to his run to the Wimby semis last year, I wonder?

Of course, harking back to Beijing (the Olympics this time) also makes it a bit odd that Rafa has been overlooked as a potential champion here.

I watched the last set of the Hewitt-Gonzo match. I think the 61% of us who went for Hewitt did so more in hope than expectation (and perhaps with the thought that Gonzo, being a muppet, was more liable to a meltdown), but he had his chances - he was all over Gonzo's 2nd serves but couldn't hold onto his own serve when it mattered most. The old boy seemed to be the fitter of the two though - Gonzo twice got treatment for cramp in the 5th set ... which I guess means that in the old days, Hewitt would have won! That will likely turn out to be another 3-pointer too, unfortunately.

Also, very few of us expected Youzhny to go deep (1 entrants had him in the SFs, 8 the QFs) but only 11 of us had him losing to Koubek today and I doubt even they expected an abject 3, 2 & 2 loss.

These two matches brought Bethan's unbeaten run from the start of the day to an end, but she still leads by a point.