Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open (men's)

Julia Carrot · All-time great

RE: Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open (men's)

blob · All-time great

we now go live to our reporter on the scene... gjr

RJA · Hall of fame

Murray cruising through 6-3, 6-1

Hasn't played very well but Simon is clearly no where near 100%

Spectator · All-time great

Full admiration for Mr Simon; gutsy to tough it out and not to retire. Very honourable.

On the other side, I know it seems ungrateful to say this when Mr Murray has yet to get to a tie-break, let alone lose a set, but I do wish he'd been pushed a little more (and forced to play a little better).

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Andy safely through as expected.

The commentators seem to be surprised at the number of unforced errors - surely that is to be expected as he tries to play more aggressively?

RJA · Hall of fame

Madeline wrote:
Andy safely through as expected.

The commentators seem to be surprised at the number of unforced errors - surely that is to be expected as he tries to play more aggressively?

A lot of the errors were very poor though and frequently on shots where he wasn't being that agressive. Andy himself looked distinctly unimpressed with his own performance but it is difficult to play well against a wounded opponent.

RJA · Hall of fame

Spectator wrote:
Full admiration for Mr Simon; gutsy to tough it out and not to retire. Very honourable.

On the other side, I know it seems ungrateful to say this when Mr Murray has yet to get to a tie-break, let alone lose a set, but I do wish he'd been pushed a little more (and forced to play a little better).

Not worried at the mnoment but I hope that Chardy pushes him a bit. If he doesn't it will be a real concern going into the Semi.

And yes, Kudos to Simon.

steven · Tennis legend

Not exactly a great show for gjr on HiSense today, but the scoreline at least looks impressive and he has now beaten Gilles 10 times in a row!

In addition, beating the world no. 16 in the last 16 means that Andy has now won 16 matches in a row against GEMs in slams since losing to Tsonga 5 years and 1 week ago

... and he'll have a chance to make it 17 in a row next!

L16: (3) Andy Murray WR 3 beat Gilles Simon (FRA) WR 16 (CH 6 in 2009)

QF: (3) Andy Murray WR 3 v Jérémy Chardy (FRA) WR 36 (CH 30 last Sep)

H2H 4-1, all in Masters events, though Chardy won their last meeting in Cincy last summer.

Mikeduke · County player

I have to say that I have totally the opposite opinion and I always find it funny that in Grand Slams, the media just go crazy after a couple of results. I thought Fed played really well against Raonic but he has never lost to him before and been to the quarter finals of the last 35 (I think) Grand Slams, so surely this was expected. There have been times over the last year where he has reached a really high level of play but then he hasn't been able to replicate that level over a whole tournament.

Looking it at his run he's beaten 3 40 - 50 players and then the 13th seed. Albeit playing really well along the way. I'm pretty sure that last year, everyone said the same thing after he didn't lose a set and then he lost to Rafa in the Semis.

Of course, Federer could win it, but I think it's easy to get carried away in the first week. For example Tsonga (8-3), Murray (9-10), Djokovic (16-13) must be the hardest run to the title available!

N.B. I also didn't realise that a Murray Federer semi would be the first time they had met at a Grand Slam outside of a final.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I've been wondering whether Andy's problems with timing his shots is because he is practising at Kooyong, which is very similar to RLA, and they keep shoving him on Hisense? If so, assuming all the rest of his matches are on RLA, the problem may solve itself.

RJA · Hall of fame

Madeline wrote:
I've been wondering whether Andy's problems with timing his shots is because he is practising at Kooyong, which is very similar to RLA, and they keep shoving him on Hisense? If so, assuming all the rest of his matches are on RLA, the problem may solve itself.

So far he has played on RLA twice and Hisense twice. From now on all singles matches will be on RLA as Hisense is only used for the first 8 days of the tournament.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Good.

Reeltime · Satellite level

Andy 3rd up tomorrow after Vika and Serena... Thanks organisers, thanks a lot...

Spectator · All-time great

You never know. After today's ding dong of a doubles match, Serena might take longer than an hour .... (Why, oh why was today's doubles match not the final?!! I know the technical reason ... but this is so obviously the match-up of the tournament!)

philwrig · Hall of fame

Big banana skin Chardy IMO, he has been playing lights out hitting many winners, whereas Andy has got through without playing his best. I'm predicting Andy to win in 4or 5.