Hmm. 6-4, 6-4 for Kolya, his second straight victory over Fed after never being able to beat him in about a million years.
I didn’t see the match, but I DID see the last match each of these guys played, and it’s not surprising. It’s about Kolya playing well AND Fed struggling. And I’m not even sure what to say about Fed. Dropping a set to Ernie, his backhand looked vulnerable, perhaps his shot selection a bit. When he lost in the USO final he struggled with his first serve, but he served 55% today and 61% against Ernie. Though, Fed is Fed, and just like last year, is definitely not a write off for Melbourne, as he always ups his game for the slam, will have a great draw with the top rank, and has his insane semi streak to keep going too.
At the same time, Kolya is on a total roll, and if you were to pick anyone outside of the top 5 to win AO, I think he’s a no brainer. Which is sort of hilarious, because a lot like Lena, he’s seemed sort of like a write off for a slam, “his day as passed”. The dude just seems to be moving so well and making the correct shot selection decision every time. Ivo was close with him yesterday, but it was like “well, Kolya is playing smart and solid, he’s got this fine.” Indeed he did. At the same time, Rafa has been mercilessly ripping his way through the draw and is out to re-prove himself, so this will be a really great test as to where the two of these guys sit, heading into Melbourne.
Pretty nice tournament for Ana, but pretty disappointing match for her.
There are positive signs to take out of Brisbane, and there are a whole lot of things to work on, mainly her serve. Once she gets that under control, her whole game should come together and so will the confidence. That is when the “real” Ana will appear again. Until then, we’re going to have lots of ups and downs.
It will be interesting to see how she does in AO. Hopefully she will get a decent draw and make at least the 4th round or maybe even the quarters. That’s the best we probably can hope for at this. This is something that is not going to happen overnight. It will take many tournaments before Ana is close to the form she had in the first half of 2008. Although I am very nervous about the ball toss, serve, confidence, etc, I am still confident that she will get back to where she once was.
Yeah, I’d like to see fourth round, hope for quarters, that sounds pretty realistic at this point I’d say.
Not being an expert, i was impressed with Ana’s groundies tonight. I hope she gains enough confidence to come into the net more, because she did it a couple times in a row successfully. But OY VEY that ball toss is a mess! Still the spark is there.
What happened to the Ana post that was here? LOL