Muzza's last stand?

[Janik]

OK, so about 10 hours or so after it began and possibly only minutes away from the end of Britain's Greatest Ever Player's career (he is currently two sets down and in a third set breaker, but probably glad he has lasted that long in the match), let's have an Aussie Open thread.

Still very busy dealing with things after my holiday in a WiFi black hole, so I throw the floor open to others...

[Janik]

Rage, rage against the dying of the light! Murray wins the breaker. He might be sitting down happy with that, but with a nagging little voice asking "was that really wise??"

[Janik]

Oh yes, and other Brit results overnight were good wins for Dan Evans over Tatsuma Ito and particularly Katie Boulter against Ekaterina Makarova. Boulter's win was the only match so far to need a deciding set tie-break, which are being played to 10 points rather than 7 in this event. She won it 10-6. Less good news for the other Brits, with Harriet Dart double bageled by Maria Sharapova (so much for that being enjoyable!), Heather Watson getting only slightly more games against Petra Matric and notably Kyle Edmund's draw against Tomas Berdych being as bad as it looked as he lost in straight sets. Given Edmund had Semi-Final points from last year to defend, his ranking is going to dip significantly after that.

[multipleman78]

Since we have a dedicated thread i will repeat what i said in another thread.

I have £10 on Sabalenka at 12/1 to win the ladies event and £10 on Federer at 4/1 to win the mens event.

Great to see Murray in a competitive match. It was almost inevitable that he would find a surge at one point although i doubt it will last.

[Ray de Galles]

This is just ridiculous.

[Janik]

He is a break down early in the fifth, though...

[Nefertiti2]

https://twitter.com/Eurosport_UK/status/1084776858984566784

[Satchmo Distel]

Two breaks now.

[multipleman78]

A warrior right until the end.

[Janik]

And out. You know, a five setter on a Centre Court at a slam wouldn't be a bad way of signing off...

[NHH]

I appear to have something in my eye

[Jon]

"Boulter's win was the only match so far to need a deciding set tie-break, which are being played to 10 points rather than 7 in this event."

She didn't realise they'd changed the rules and celebrated her victory prematurely, when she reached 7 points. Still went on to finish the job after she was reminded of the rule change. A great result. Hurrah for Murray too! He deserves all the plaudits.

[multipleman78]

I thought i read that the Australian Open was introducing a deciding 10 point tie-break when the game scores reached 10-10 with Wimbledon going for 12-12. Am i mistaken or is it only in the mens event that this will happen?

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

I echo what everyone else has said on this and other threads about Murray's fantastic career achievements and his personal qualities. He's the sportsman I most admire, bar none. But aren't all the tributes potentially a bit, I dunno, *awkward*? Like that montage of tributes from his peers shown on the big screen after his match yesterday. They're fine if he's definitely finished, but kind of embarrassingly premature if he does return to competing in, say, a year's time after a surprisingly successful further op. Unlikely, I know, but he's clearly not willing to rule that out himself at the moment.

[Ray de Galles]

I thought i read that the Australian Open was introducing a deciding 10 point tie-break when the game scores reached 10-10 with Wimbledon going for 12-12. Am i mistaken or is it only in the mens event that this will happen?

It’s only for the final set, so the fifth in mens matches.

[multipleman78]

It’s only for the final set, so the fifth in mens matches.

But not in the final set for the ladies event? Boulter and her opponent went to the tie break at 6-6.

[Ray de Galles]

Sorry, didn’t spot the 10-10 part of your question, it comes in to play with the score at 6-6 for both men and women I believe.

[multipleman78]

Ok that makes sense as i thought it would be strange to have it at 6-6 for ladies and 10-10 for men. I must have imagined reading that 10-10 story or perhaps got confused by reading about 10 point tie-breaks.

[Janik]

No, it's 6-all in the deciding set for both Men and Women.

You may be getting it mixed up with Wimbledon, which is bringing in a normal tie-break this year in their deciding sets (both Men and Women) but only at 12-all.

As I noted on the rolling thread, it means every slam now has different rules:-

Aussie: first to 10 at 6-6
French: no breaker, ad-set
Wimbledon: first to 7 at 12-12
US: first to 7 at 6-6

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Both of the first two final set tie breaks in Australian Open history won by Brits. Little bit of trivia fun there.

[Janik]

Eurosport have just said that Aryna Sabalenka is the bookies third favourite for the Women's title (behind Serena and Kerber). Katie Boulter has her work cut out, then. Nearly as much as Dan Evans (vs Federer). Chances that Jo Konta is the only Brit standing in 12 hours time? High. And I don't rate her chances much against Garbine Muguruza, whatever their h2h record says.

[Janik]

And indeed out go both Boulter and Evans in straight sets. Not thrashed, both put up competitive performances, but two losing tie-breaks (both Evans) were the upper limit.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Last match of today, and therefore current Eurosport live fare, is Sharapova against another weaker player. No thanks. I'd watch her next round, against Wozniacki, where at least there's a decent chance she'll get beaten.

By the way, Sabalenka may be fast-rising star and a hot tip for the title, but she's facing a scary looking younger opponent in the next round - a big intimidating looking girl, Russian American, called Amanda Anisimova, who looks from her teenage record as if she will be garnering some big titles over the next 10 to 15 years.

[ad hoc]

Simona Halep struggles but gets there, winning 4 games in a row from 4-2 down in the final set. Her opponent, Sofia Kenin, is ranked 37 but I have never heard of her.

Meanwhile in the men's draw, Thiem has retired hurt after being 2 sets to 0 down.

[ad hoc]

Konta Muguruza is currently scheduled to go on court at 14.30 my time, which my calculations suggest is 11.30pm in Melbourne. Which seems quite late to start playing a match. The match is I assume on court after Zverev Chardy wraps up, which currently stands at 4-4 in the 4th set, so could end in the next 10 minutes (meaning the next game could be on court fairly soon and not too far off that start time). But equally it could go on for a good hour yet.

Edit: Zverev Chardy now in a 4th set tie break, and the scheduled start time for the Konta match has moved to midnight, which I assume means they are still intending to start it tonight. Wonder if it will be postponed if Chardy wins this tie break

Edit2: Chardy has now won that tie break, but this just seems to have shifted the Konta Muguruza game to a 12.30 start time (at least for the moment)