Well, as noted in another thread, it was a rotten draw. I hope things go upwards from here. The Inglot/Linstedt draw is also a tricky one, given that they're a seeded pairing.
Interestingly, the top seeds, Mahut & PHH, are out, beaten by 6-4 1-6 [7-10] by Dimi & Kei Nishikori, which leaves the second seeds, John Peers & his new playing partner, Henri Kontinen (CR 39), as the highest-ranked pair still in the running & Dom's & Robert's opponents if they get past the Aussie WCs. There are no seeds at all left in the top half of the draw, as Jonny's & Aisam's conquerors, Kubot & Matkowski (3), fell to another pair of Aussie WCs, James Duckworth & the Gooch, by 6-3 3-6 [4-10]!
I'd expect a lot of oddities this time of year - and would guess also that Dimitrov, with his versatility, and Nishikori, with his speed and dexterity, would make quite a good doubles team. Glad to see Mr Guccione back - always seemed a good sort and underrated.
Dom & Robert lose the first set 6-4, broken at 4-5. Lindstedt left one that went in at 40-30 and then Kontinen made them pay at sudden death with a hard return down to feet. It's been mostly serve dominated tennis.
Packed crowd at 11.30am is impressive.
-- Edited by wolf on Saturday 9th of January 2016 02:21:20 AM
