Battle of Attrition: Melbourne edition

[San Bernardhinault]

I'm worried about nerves. I wasn't until that game, but I began to feel that if he didn't back up his break that might be a bad omen for what's to come.

[ad hoc]

Breaks again to lead 5-4. Serving for the match now.

[ad hoc]

Fucking hell, he's done it.

[Kevin S]

He's done it!

[San Bernardhinault]

Wow. Was not expecting that.

[Gerontophile]

Outstanding!

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Wow.

[ad hoc]

Nadal Cilic has just gone into a fifth set

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Nadal concedes.

[ad hoc]

Nadal and Svitolina

Luckily I am not a betting man

[Ray de Galles]

Great result for Edmund, I've only just discovered he's Welsh (or his dad is, which is good enough for me) and therefore that I am a lifelong fan of his.

[Sam]

It was 42 degrees today. In the shade. That game where Cornet sort of collapsed had been going on 20 minutes in the full sunlight when she went down. I think in the end playing in these conditions is physically dangerous and should be stopped

Very similar conditions (temperature-wise at least, I'm not sure about the humidity) to the Mayer-Souza Davis Cup rubber between Argentina and Brazil that I was at a couple of years ago, and which turned into the second-longest match ever played. After seeing the state of both players after that one, it's difficult to argue.

The problem of course is that the schedule's so packed that postponing often isn't an option, because there'd be no way to get the tie played. I think at a minimum venues need to be able to offer at least a couple of air-conditioned indoor courts to allow for things like this, because we all know the sort of temperatures for outdoor matches are only going to get hotter in the short term.

[tee rex]

Sandgren can un-delete his social media presence now.

[ad hoc]

Woohoo. Simona makes the semi final (first time she's got that far in Melbourne)

[Jimski]

The semi between her and Kerber should be a cracker. Kerber seems bang back in form again after an indifferent year, having absolutely no trouble with my pick, Keys.

[Wouter D]

Sandgren can un-delete his social media presence now.

Excellent.

[Etienne]

Berdych an early break up. Tomas must be thinking this is his chance.

[Etienne]

It wasn't.

[Janik]

Well, it was. He will never have a better one than these two weeks. But he needed someone else to take Federer down for him. He must be a pretty depressed at the moment.

[Gerontophile]

And Federer was singing after Berdych beat delPotro.

[tee rex]

Sandgren deals with the injustice of supposedly not being allowed to say things, by reading out a prepared statement and actually not allowing journalists to say things. You couldn't get a clearer illustration of the privileged victim mentality.

[Logan Mountstuart]

I am so looking forward to Kerber Halep..

[ad hoc]

Wozniacki is the first into the final

[ad hoc]

This is turning into an epic

[Gerontophile]

These two are beating the crap out of each other, and the balls.