Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open (hard)

murrayman650 · ATP level

RE: Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open (hard)

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Comfortable win; never seemed in doubt. 1st serve percentage a miserable 44% with just 4 aces but otherwise a professional performance. Break point conversion rate was low due to impressive play from Nishikori during the first two sets. Don't think Novak will be too worried unless Andy can find another couple of gears.

murrayman650 · ATP level

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5-1

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Adv Murray

6-1

MiloTheCat · Lower Club Player

kundalini wrote:
Comfortable win; never seemed in doubt. 1st serve percentage a miserable 44% with just 4 aces but otherwise a professional performance. Break point conversion rate was low due to impressive play from Nishikori during the first two sets. Don't think Novak will be too worried unless Andy can find another couple of gears.

Agreed - I see nothing much to scare the big 3 in that or the previous rounds.

The commentators (Bradnam especially - but Wilander too) keep going on about the transformation that Lendl has achieved - I can't see it.

How much can Andy raise his game from now on.

Ratty · County player

Oh for God's sake, doesn't anything ever satisfy some people on this board?

Why don't you apply the same logic to Djokovic? He lost a set to Hewitt. Flipping heck, he's past it, nothing there to scare the other big 3.

And Nadal was within a whisker of going 2 sets down against Berdych. He's clearly past it too!

smile

Mikeduke · County player

How can you just isolate a stat from one game? Sure Andy didn't serve very well, but perhaps he was trying something new in a game he knew he probably had enough to win without having to rely on his first serve. Didn't he serve really well on one of his earlier rounds? Lets use the stat from that instead.

Solid win and he must be feeling pretty fresh and good mentally having not really been pushed to hard this week. I don't really buy into the "oh but he hasn't been tested properly" school of thought, I think he knows what to expect.

I feel that Lendl has probably changed his on court attitude a bit, but I'm sure that we wont really see if it is successful until he is down in one of his matches (that he doesnt expect to win). Andy has always been able to get to the semi-finals, lets hope that Lendl can help on the tactical side where Andy does seem to struggle against the top players in high profile events!

RJA · Hall of fame

So far Andy has done all that could have been expected, he is in the SF without having to work too hard. That is something that every player in the world would be happy with. There is no need to be spectacular in the early rounds, just get through with a minimum of fuss.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I'm happy. I'm not going to comment otherwise, I haven't seen the match yet and won't until much later today.

RJA · Hall of fame

After over two hours play Djokovic takes a two set lead against Ferrer but he really shouldn't be two sets up. If he plays like this in the SF then Andy is certainly in with a shout.

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, Ferrer showed that you can get Nole rattled - the (very difficult) trick is not to let up if it happens.

This is only the third time in the Open Era than the top 4 seeds have all made the men's semis at the AO. Both previous times, the 3rd and 4th seeds made the Final, with the 4th seed beating the top seed in the semis.

In 2005, 4th seed Safin beat the then seemingly unbeatable Federer 9-7 in the 5th from 2 sets to 1 down then beat 3rd seed Hewitt in the Final.

In 1988, 4th seed Cash beat a certain Mr Lendl in the semis, also in 5 sets, then lost to 3rd seed Wilander in the Final.

So in other words, Muzz just needs to channel his inner Marat ... wink

Armchair · County player

Nole looked very beatable at one stage, in fact he looked like he was out for the count.

Whether it was fatigue, injury or a fit of the vapours who know's, but I don't think the scoreline reflects the match that well.

Great that he regrouped and won in 3 sets but he's lucky he's got a day off.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Reasons to believe Andy can cause an upset in the SF:

1. Playing to a higher level than last year.
2. Appears stronger mentally following linkup with Lendl.
3. Djokovic not playing any better than last year, added to that he has played some very sloppy tennis in patches.
4. Andy won't feel the nerves in a semi unlike a grand slam final.

Bookies odds of 2/1 for Andy doesn't make it one of the bets of the year, but a small wager to me could be rewarding.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Grrrr. I got myself all settled to watch the match, and Eurosport haven't put the video up yet.

MiloTheCat · Lower Club Player

I'd love to see Andy win (despite having a couple of hundred quid saying he won't). My earlier comments were mostly against the endless hyping of how much Lendl has transformed him. He still looks the same player to me - better than the rest - but not quite up there with the top 3 in slam mode.

In other words, he needs quite a bit of luck to win a slam - could do it - but not very likely as things stand now.

Andy's serving in round 2 against ERV was pretty good - but otherwise he's still lagging behind Nole and Fed (esp on 2nd serve).

following table shows Score calculated as the percentage success rate multiplied by the average speed.

Player	Round	1st %	1st Av	Score	2nd Av
AM	QF	44	176	77.44	141
AM	4	65	170	110.5	144
AM	3	60	182	109.2	142
AM	2	68	181	123.08	140
AM	1	54	175	94.5	136
RF	QF	57	180	102.6	151
RF	4	58	188	109.04	153
RF	3	62	182	112.84	150
RF	1	63	181	114.03	157
ND	QF	53	186	98.58	151
ND	4	62	191	118.42	153
ND	3	62	186	115.32	152
ND	2	55	188	103.4	148
ND	1	73	178	129.94	147

murrayman650 · ATP level

djokovic to Serve

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1-0