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Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

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    #51
    Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

    Dokic wins another in three, this time 7-5 5-7 8-6. She also seemed to twist her ankle utterly horribly at 6-5 in the third, but somehow ran at full speed in the points, only limping between them. Also, when the trainer took her shoe off to have a look at it, it didn't seem swollen, which was unexpected. I hope it doesn't affect her for the Safina match.

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      #52
      Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

      Just saw some of Djokovic beating Baghdatis in 4 (finished around 2.30am local time?).

      What is it about the Australian Open that brings out the nationalists? Is it because Australia doesn't host many major international sporting events (and the ones it does - in cricket and rugby etc - have a fairly limited pool of competitors)? Was the Sydney Olympics like this? At least when it's Cyprus/Greece vs Serbia, there isn't any recent war festering away in the background.

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        #53
        Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

        It only really seems to be the Balkan states where the supporters are over-the-top. Presumably due to noticeable Serb/Croat/Bosnian/Greek populations in Melbourn, who don't get many other sporting chances to identify with people from the ancestral home.
        Murray, to use a counter example, doesn't have the same sort of unpleasant fans at this event. Supportive, sometimes loud, occasionally waiving saltires, but within the bounds of reasonable behaviour.

        The hissing whilst Baghdatis was about to attempt a second serve towards the end of the second set was particularly unsporting.

        As to the match itself, it was gripping at times, but not the greatest tennis played as yet. Again, too many unforced errors. Djokovic looked knackered and particularly glad it ended when it did.

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          #54
          Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

          "occasionally waiving saltires" - surely, they can keep the saltires without becoming too obnoxious?

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            #55
            Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

            Murray one game away from the end of his Australian Open for another year (5-4 and a break down in the 5th).

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              #56
              Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

              And so it was.

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                #57
                Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                I was really looking forward to today's first match, Simon v Monfils. Unfortunately, at one set all, Monfils injured his hand in the third and retired after being thumped 6-1.

                It got worse. Azarenka won the first set against Serena and we looked like we might get a cracker of a match. However, Azarenka started staggering around the court like a drunk and eventually got led off in tears before the end of the second set.

                Nadal was up next against Gonzalez and he absolutely thrashed him. There's no doubt that Nadal is the one in form right now and, with Oor Andy out, he'll surely reach the final.

                The draw for the women's quarters:

                Bartoli v Zvonareva
                Safina v Dokic
                Suarez Navarro v Dementiava
                Kuznetsova v S Williams

                Safina is very lucky to be in the QFs - Cornet served for the match twice on Sunday and had two match points. Maybe the unthinkable will happen and Jelena Dokic (The Pride of Australia) will win the bloody thing.

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                  #58
                  Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                  Verdasco was explosive in that final set with Murray, whom I defy anybody to actually like. Ungainly and morose at the best of times, he does himself no favours by swearing his way through games, as he did today.

                  Nadal looked ominously impressive against González - can anybody stop him? Federer and Djokovic have looked far more vulnerable, and a better opponent might have finished both off. Roddick? he's certainly near to being back to his best, but will it be enough?

                  I really hope Carla Suárez can at least reach the final: she's played gutsily and consistently well all tournament.

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                    #59
                    Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                    Men's quarter finals:

                    Nadal v Simon
                    Verdasco v Tsonga
                    Roddick v Djokovic
                    Del Potro v Federer

                    If Murray had won, we would have had the first grand slam ever with the top 8 seeds in the QFs. As it is, we might still have something unusual - exactly the same semi finals as last year:

                    Nadal v Tsonga
                    Djokovic v Federer

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                      #60
                      Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                      ad hoc wrote:
                      What is it about the Australian Open that brings out the nationalists? Is it because Australia doesn't host many major international sporting events (and the ones it does - in cricket and rugby etc - have a fairly limited pool of competitors)?
                      What we're seeing is a spillover from local football which started a few years ago with supporters of South Melbourne Hellas (probably the most famous of Australia's old ethnic soccer clubs) turning up in large numbers to support Marcos Baghdatis and coming up with magnificent chants like:

                      Re Baghdati, eisai trella, eisai trella me tin aspri sou fanela. Translation: Hey, Baghdatis, you are crazy, you are crazy with your white T-shirt.

                      At that stage, it all seemed reasonably good natured, if a little boisterous for a sport like tennis. Since then, it's just got nasty with the Serbs and Croatians seeing a good excuse for a fight.

                      Maybe it's got something to with the decline of "old soccer" as "new football" (ie the A League) has rendered clubs like South Melbourne Hellas, Melbourne Croatia, Preston Makedonia and Brunswick Juventus almost irrelevant. These clubs used to play in a national league; now they play only in Victoria and, unless there's a riot, the media ignore them.

                      This is a sports mad city in a sports mad country but the Australian Open is the only internationally followed, world class event Australia has - a great way for these people to get a bit of attention. Australia's 2 biggest sporting events, the AFL Grand Final and The Melbourne Cup, are of no interest overseas and, as mentioned above, cricket has a pretty limited international following. Rugby isn't even close to being a national game here.

                      The depressing thing is that, over the last few days, messageboards and everyday conversation, have been full of comments like "if they don't want to be Aussies, they should fuck off back home." The Serbs and Croatians seem to have replaced the Greeks and the Italians as the new "wogs."

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                        #61
                        Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                        Zvonareva has hammered Bartoli 6-3, 6-0 in the first quarter final.

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                          #62
                          Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                          Djokovic is in real trouble. He won the first set on a tie break but Roddick has won the next two.

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                            #63
                            Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                            Djokovic has retired suffering from heat stress.

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                              #64
                              Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                              Safina beat Dokic in straight sets.

                              After what happened to Djokovic today perhaps it will be last man standing who wins the tournament. The weather forecast has been revised and we will now have 4 days in a row of 40 degree plus temperatures.

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                                #65
                                Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                                Melbourne Arab wrote:
                                Safina beat Dokic in straight sets.
                                So I just hallucinated that second set?

                                Still, Federer looks like he should do it without dropping a set.

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                                  #66
                                  Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                                  Gangster Octopus wrote:
                                  Melbourne Arab wrote:
                                  Safina beat Dokic in straight sets.
                                  So I just hallucinated that second set?
                                  Oops.

                                  This is embarrassingly easy for Federer. 6-3, 6-0.

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                                    #67
                                    Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                                    Del Potro was absolutely toilet. Federer just destroyed what was in front of him but I'm not as convinced as the BBC commentary team.

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                                      #68
                                      Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                                      6-3, 6-0, 6-0.

                                      Del Boy won just 5 points in the third set.

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                                        #69
                                        Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                                        Dementiava had an easy win today which means that if Kuznetsova beats Serena we will have an all –Russian semi final line up. Kuznetsova won the first set 7-5.

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                                          #70
                                          Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                                          Nadal was tested tonight by Simon - at least after an easy first set. He was taken to 7-5 in the next 2 and had to save a set point in the second. He plays Verdasco in the semis who I suppose has the chance of continuing the Baghdatis, Gonzalez, Tsonga shock finalist trend.

                                          There was a bit of controversy this afternoon. As the temperature went over 43 degrees, the roof was closed during the Kuznetsova-S Williams match. Kuznetsova was ahead at the time and claimed the 30 minute delay changed the momentum of the match.

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                                            #71
                                            Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                                            Serena is in the final – straight sets over Dementieva.

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                                              #72
                                              Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                                              After all the shocks in the women's tournament, we have a final many of us expected - Dinara Safina v Serena Williams with the winner to become world number 1.

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                                                #73
                                                Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                                                Federer beats Roddick in straight sets. Setting up what is presumably another final against Nadal. Sounds like Federer has been getting steadily stronger throughout this tournament - is that true?

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                                                  #74
                                                  Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                                                  I thought during the first set tonight that we were going to get a repeat of the absolute humiliation Roddick suffered in the semis against Federer 2 years ago when it was 6-4, 6-0, 6-2. Roddick at least made a fight of it in the second and third sets not that he ever looked like he would win either.

                                                  I didn't see the Federer-Berdych match so I'm not sure what went wrong there but Federer has been outstanding since. I really hope Nadal wins tomorrow - it could be a classic final the form both of them are in.

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                                                    #75
                                                    Arguably the most exciting men's tennis Grand Slam

                                                    Serious epic men's semi-final on at the moment. Verdasco's just won the fourth set to take the game into a final set. Nadal's going to be knackered for the final. If he wins...

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