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    In awe of a narky Scottish God

    Sir Andy? Pah! God Emperor Andy, more like. That is proper recognition, like...

    And on that mildly hyperbolic note, let’s start a new Tennis thread for the new era.

    Baring exhibitions, even if they were exhibitions in name-only such as in Abu Dhabi (the intensity of some of those matches was startling), the season kicks off this coming week.

    There are three ATP250s this week, but one with a much more substantial prize pot (nearly treble) than the other two, and that event is in Qatar. That has attracted the titular World No.1 Andy Murray, and some also-rans such as Novak Djokovic. World No.s 10, 11 and 12 Berdych, Goffin and Tsonga are also in attendance. Murray starts with an interesting looking match against Jeremy Chardy, and has Berdych and Tsonga in his half of the draw.
    Murray is also playing the Doubles as he looks for court time early in the season. His partner in the gulf is Fyrstenberg. If they win in R1 they could well face the top seeds second up... J.Murray/Soares. Again, fascinating match, if it happens. The fourth seeds for the Doubles event are Inglot/Mergea, who are also in the top half of the draw.
    Aljaz Bedene is off to his favourite tournament in Chennai, and travels with the good news that he will be directly into the Aussie Open first round following the withdrawals from that of Juan Martin del Potro and Juan Moncao. Bedene was runner-up in India two years ago (l to Wawrinka) and reached the Semis last year (l to Coric, who l to Wawrinka in the final). First up this year for Aljaz is Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. No Wawrinka in the draw, either...
    The other British Man playing ATP stuff this week is Kyle Edmund. He is in Brisbane, where he will face Ernesto Escobedo first up.

    Brisbane is a combined ATP and WTA event, though with the Women’s version being at a higher grade of a Premier. Despite that is hasn’t attracted any British entries, with Jo Konta electing to play her usual event in Shenzhen, China instead. That is ‘just’ an International, but one paying treble the prize money of normal. It has therefore attracted a strong field, with Konta seeded #3 behind Aga Radwanska and Simona Halep. Konta’s R1 opponent is Cagla Buyukakcay.
    Konta was also in the Shenzhen Doubles with Swiss player Bacsinszky (like Konta, a member of the Hungarian diaspora), but they went out in R1 to Jankovic/Siniakova.
    The other WTA event is in Auckland. That has a few Brits in attendance, with Naomi Broady being the pick. Broady has significant points on the line having reached the QFs last year as a qualifier, beating Ana Ivanovic along the way (which gives a convenient opportunity to note that Ivanovic has retired). Her defence of those begins against Danka Kovinic.
    Broady wasn’t the only Brit to play singles in New Zealand though, as Laura Robson also entered. She lost in the first round of qualifying, but only after three sets and a 10-8 deciding breaker against a decent (though hardly exceptional) young player in Tereza Martincova. Robson is also going to play the Doubles w/ Erakovic after they were granted a wild card (opponents are Rosolska/Townsend), as are Rae/Smith who got in by right to face #4 seeds Dabrowski/Yang.

    Two names are notably missing from the above: Dan Evans and Heather Watson. That is because they are in Perth to represent Britain in the Hopman Cup. Their first match looks testing:- a Swiss team of Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic! The other sides in their group are France (Richard Gasquet and Kiki Mladenovic) and Germany (Sascha Zverev and Andrea Petkovic). If Evans and Watson make any kind of progress in that company they will have been doing exceptionally well. The Australian team for this event is Nick Kyrgios and Dasa Gavrilova, btw. Fiesty.

    Down a Division to the Challengers and Women’s equivalent, where we find a scattering of action. Cameron Norrie has reached an interesting place for a Tennis tournament – Noumea, New Caledonia. He plays Duck-hee Lee in R1 of the singles, and w/ Statham against Falla/Hernandez in the Doubles.
    Lloyd Glasspool is attempting to qualify for Bangkok, two wins taking him to a final qualifier against Egor Gerasimov. Glasspool is unusually only playing the singles here, which makes Marray/Shamasdin the only British-tinged pairing in the Doubles, where they are the top seeds.

    Just the one Women’s event at $25k or above on the ITF, in Hong Kong. That has attracted a solitary British entrant, the one it always will as long as she is eligible; Hong Kong-born Tara Moore. Moore is top seed for the singles (she plays Akiko Omae in R1) and also #4 seed for the Doubles alongside fiancée Conny Perrin.

    #2
    In awe of a narky Scottish God

    Day 1 results:-

    Straightforward win for Jo Konta over Buyukakcay in Shenzhen (2&0), and a tougher one for Kyle Edmund over Escobedo in Brisbane (two breakers). British full tour doubles action was confined to Qatar, with a win for Inglot/Mergea but defeat for Fyrstenberg/A.Murray.

    The Hopman Cup opener versus Switzerland was as difficult as expected, Dan Evans going down 3&4 to Federer (who didn't need top gear), whilst Heather Watson lost a topsy-turvey one to Bencic; at one stage Watson trailed by a set and 3-1, only to win 7 straight games to level and lead 2-0 in the decider, followed by losing the next 6 to be beaten 6-2 in that! The Brits then took one game in the short format Mixed Doubles. Their chances of making the final are pretty much already over.

    There was a successful qualifying campaign for Lloyd Glasspool in Bangkok down in the Challengers. He only lost 13 games total in the three matches played. Glasspool now faces Gregoire Barrere in R1.

    Comment


      #3
      In awe of a narky Scottish God

      I got to watch Roger yesterday, by dint of being at parents' sports channel equipped house. He was as easy on the eye as ever - like a tennis equivalent of the Vienna Philharmonic's new year's day concert.

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        #4
        In awe of a narky Scottish God

        Konta lost the first set 1-6 to Vania King, which must have been a bit of a shock. She took the next two sets 3 & 2 though.

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          #5
          In awe of a narky Scottish God

          A bit more action in the last 24 hours.

          Andy Murray begun 2017 (officially, in singles) with a win over Jeremy Chardy. Chardy was very ropey in the first set, but upped his level to at least give Sir a challenge in the second. Murray plays Gerald Melzer in R2 later today.
          In the Doha doubles there was a win for J.Murray/Soares over Baghdatis/Matkowski. They play Marrero/Zimonjic in the QFs today, and if they win they will face the victors of the Inglot/Mergea vs Chardy/Martin match, which is on court at the moment with the French pair having just won the opening set.
          Aljaz Bedene got an important win in Chennai, 3&3 against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. He now plays #4 Martin Klizan.
          Down in Brisbane there was a decent result, albeit not in the preferred way, for Kyle Edmund as Lucas Pouille retired hurt; Edmund was a set and a break up at the time. He now faces #2 Stan Wawrinka in the QFs, which will be an interesting test.

          No Brits in the Women's event in Brisbane, but there is an interesting match ongoing at the moment featuring world no.1 Angie Kerber and still rather young Aussie wild card Ash Barty. Barty (who is a much, much better player than her current ranking of 250-odd) has clearly pushed Kerber as it got to a deciding set, but eventually went the German's way.
          Naomi Broady had a busy day in Auckland, which was running behind schedule. She won her delayed R1 match against Danka Kovinic, but then lost in R2 to Julia Goerges. The R1 win did somewhat soften the blow of the points lost from last year enough to allow Broady to stay inside the top 100 for another week. Another result from the Auckland singles was notable - Serena Williams was beaten in three sets by Madison Brengle, gifting the match away with a double fault after Brengle had failed to convert a number of other match points. Venus also withdrew injured from the tournament (which doesn't seem to be serious) .
          Brits were involved in the doubles in New Zealand, with a win for Robson/Erakovic over Rosolka/Townsend, but defeat for Rae/Smith against #4 Dabrowski/Yang.
          No further action in Zhenzhen beyond Jo Konta finding out her QF opponent tomorrow will be Kristyna Pliskova.

          The Hopman Cup brought another 3-0 defeat for Britain. Very similar to the Switzerland match, three set defeat for Heather Watson (this time against Kiki Mladenovic), straight sets loss for Dan Evans (to Richard Gasquet) and defeat in two of the abbreviated sets they are playing in lieu of a proper Mixed Doubles.

          Tara Moore is through to the QFs in the Hong Kong challenger-equivalent tournament after wins Akiko Omae and Kyoka Okamura. She plays Jia-Jing Lu in the last eight. Moore/Perrin also won their R1 doubles against locals Chong/Ip, but then withdrew from their QF after Perrin was beaten in the singles.

          On the Men's side of the second tier, Lloyd Glasspool backed up his effort in qualifying for Bangkok by beating Gregoire Barrere, but then lost to Maximilian Marterer [great name!] in R2.
          Finally to Noumea, where Cameron Norrie beat #3 Duck-hee Lee in R1 of the singles but then lost to Alejandro Falla in R2. That was revenge for Falla after Norrie/Statham had beaten him and Hernandez in R1 of the Doubles. However Norrie/Statham then lost to #1 Halys/Lamasine in the QFs.

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            #6
            In awe of a narky Scottish God

            The Hopman Cup's on the telly here. I've barely seen any of it so far, but the fact it's on the schedules interested me, as I've never noticed it being before.

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              #7
              In awe of a narky Scottish God

              And 'abbreviated sets' doesn't quite cover it! What an odd set of rules.

              The shortened format offers a "fast" alternative to tennis, with four points, four games and four rules: there are no advantage scores, lets are played, tie-breakers apply at three games all and the first to four games wins the set.
              The rule about lets being played seems especially daft, to me.

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                #8
                In awe of a narky Scottish God

                I'm feeling particularly smug after my dark horse, Top 4 pick, beat Federer.

                Comment


                  #9
                  In awe of a narky Scottish God

                  Another three set win for Jo Konta in Shenzhen, this time against Kristyna Pliskova. The match was rather remarkable for the Women's Tour in that there were only two breaks of serve in the entire thing, both to Konta, one in each of the first and third sets. In fact there were just six break points in the entire match, three for each player, but Konta saved all three she faced while Pliskova only saw off one of them. Perhaps this isn't entirely surprising, serve is one of Konta's key strengths and is about the only significant aspect of Pliskova's game.
                  Konta's semi-final opponent will be another Czech, Katerina Siniakova. Siniakova beat Simona Halep in R2 so is clearly dangerous. Halep was the #2 seed for the event, and the top seed (and defending champion) Aga Radwanska is also out after a QF loss to Alison Riske. It means that Konta is now the highest ranked player left in the tournament and therefore the favourite for the title...
                  Konta is the last Brit surviving on the WTA this week, as Robson/Erakovic loss their Doubles QF in Auckland to #3 Bertens/Larsson.

                  Over on the ATP, Andy Murray edged a high quality match against Gerald Melzer in Doha 7-66 7-5. Murray needed nine set points to win the opening set, and also saw two match points at 5-3 15-40 on Melzer's serve slip away to 5-5 in set two before breaking again and prevailing. However this wasn't the case of Murray making a mess of things, it was more that Melzer was operating at an extremely high level, particularly when trailing. Melzer genuinely saved most, if not all, of the eight first set points saved (including four-in-a-row from 6-2 down in the breaker). Unfortunately he then gifted the ninth away with a shank. It was similar in set two, Melzer hitting exceptional levels to dig himself out of the 5-3 hole, but then not quite maintaining it. Still, as Murray noted in his on court interview, he himself was playing "pretty well", so if Melzer can keep his game going at this level he won't stay ranked 60-odd for long. Murray plays Nicolas Almagro in the QFs today.
                  Doubles result from yesterday in the gulf were a win for J.Murray/Soares over Marrero/Zimonjic, but defeat for Inglot/Mergea to Chardy/Martin, in both cases the matches needing a match-breaker to be decided. J.Murray/Soares now play Chardy/Martin in today’s Semi.
                  Aljaz Bedene’s R2 match with Martin Klizan is later today in Chennai, whilst Kyle Edmund’s QF with Stan Wawrinka in Brisbane is technically tomorrow but within the next 24 hours.

                  As for the next level down, Tara Moore was the only player still going and that remains the case after she picked up a three set win over Jia-Jing Lu in her QF in Hong Kong. Her opponent in the Semi is #5 Hiroko Kuwata. Moore is the #1 seed herself, of course.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    In awe of a narky Scottish God

                    The ages of the quarter finalists in Doha:

                    Stepanek 38
                    Karlovic 37
                    Verdasco 33
                    Almagro 31
                    Berdych 31
                    Tsonga 31
                    Murray 29
                    Djokovic 29

                    I don't know whether anyone keeps stats on this, but even by the standards of today's tennis gerontocracy, has there ever been an older set of quarter finalists at an ATP event?

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                      #11
                      In awe of a narky Scottish God

                      Robson is 3rd alternate for qualifying for the Aussie Open. Will be tight.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        In awe of a narky Scottish God

                        That's a bonkers stat about the QF lineup, Etienne. It's true, though: even aside from the extraordinarily long-term dominance we've seen from the 'Big 4', the logjam of players behind them hasn't seen a colossal amount of turnover in a long time, either. The likes of Berdych, Ferrer, Wawrinka, Verdasco, Cilic, Karlovic, Almagro, Isner and the entire French quartet of Tsonga, Monfils, Gasquets and Simon have all been there-or-thereabouts for 8 or 9 years now.

                        Just counting up, in fact, the current ATP top 100 has 30 players aged 30+ in it. Number of teenagers in it = 0.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          In awe of a narky Scottish God

                          I think it's actually 2, Zverev jr and Fritz, while 18 year old Tiafoe and Kozlov are only just outside it.

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                            #14
                            In awe of a narky Scottish God

                            Tennis' gender pay gap is growing, not shrinking.

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                              #15
                              In awe of a narky Scottish God

                              Back to the age thing, there was a first in the women's part of the Brisbane event when young Aussie Destanee Aiava won through qualifying, then beat fellow qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands in R1. Nothing seems immediately newsworthy about that, until one looks at Destanee's date-of-birth: 10-05-2000. It made her the first player born after (what everyone but pendants regarded as) the millennium to win a main draw match on the WTA. Destanee also has a wild card for the Aussie Open after winning the Australian U18 championships. That will also make her the first player with a birthdate starting with a'2' to play in a Slam main draw.

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                                #16
                                In awe of a narky Scottish God

                                Lots of tie-breaks so far today.

                                Aljaz Bedene beat Martin Klizan 7-63 6-73 7-62 in Chennai
                                J.Murray/Soares lost to Chardy/Martin 6-73 6-76 in Doha
                                And Andy Murray is currently 6-5 up on serve against Nicolas Almagro, so yet another is potentially in the offing... [edit - yep, there we go]

                                The two biggest veterans of the bunch, Stepanek and Karlovic, are out, btw. Though Stepanek is into the Doubles Final, but players in the late 30s or even 40s doing well in Doubles is less conspicuous.

                                Just clocked that Bedene being in the QFs of Chennai means there is a Brit in the last eight of all three ATP events this week. That can't have happened often previously.

                                By nationality:-
                                Spain - 5
                                Britain - 3
                                Czechia - 2
                                France - 2
                                Russia - 2
                                Austria
                                Australia
                                Bulgaria
                                Canada
                                Croatia
                                Israel
                                Japan
                                Serbia
                                Slovakia
                                Switzerland

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  In awe of a narky Scottish God

                                  Janik wrote: Back to the age thing, there was a first in the women's part of the Brisbane event when young Aussie Destanee Aiava won through qualifying, then beat fellow qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands in R1. Nothing seems immediately newsworthy about that, until one looks at Destanee's date-of-birth: 10-05-2000. It made her the first player born after (what everyone but pendants regarded as) the millennium to win a main draw match on the WTA. Destanee also has a wild card for the Aussie Open after winning the Australian U18 championships. That will also make her the first player with a birthdate starting with a'2' to play in a Slam main draw.
                                  Jeez. Does it also make her the player with the most painfully-spelled first name ever to score a win in a main draw WTA match? That really isn't going to get any less annoying over the next five to fifteen years.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    In awe of a narky Scottish God

                                    It's a good job VA doesn't know about her brother Pree-Dturmaned, isn't it?
                                    Kidding, kidding...

                                    Back on court, both Jo Konta and Kyle Edmund won their first sets, but lost the next two. Which is encouraging for Edmund (against Wawrinka) and disappointing for Konta (against Siniakova).

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      In awe of a narky Scottish God

                                      Heather Watson has had a good week in second sets, winning all three she has played. Things had gone wrong in sets 1 and 3 of her previous matches against Bencic and Mladenovic, but she sorted that one today by taking the opener from Andrea Petkovic, then winning the second on a breaker to record her (and Britain's) first win in the Hopman Cup. And only one, as it would turn out, as Dan Evans lost again this time to Sascha Zverev, and Watson/Evans were beaten in the Mixed. In fact Evans hasn't won as much as a set, in either singles or mixed. Is been a rather discouraging week.
                                      It was all a dead rubber, of course. Britain were long since out of contention for making the final. That will be between the USA and the winners of the France-Switzerland match that is just getting underway.

                                      On a more general point, 9 of the top 10 women were playing Tour events this week (only Madison Keys was absent, as she will be from the Aussie Open as well as she recovers from a minor operation). How many have made a final? If Karolina Pliskova loses the Brisbane Semi to Elina Svitolina, it will be zero.

                                      1. Kerber lost to Svitolina, QF Brisbane
                                      2. S.Williams lost to Brengle, R2 Auckland
                                      3. A.Radwanska lost to Riske, QF Shenzhen
                                      4. Halep lost to Siniakova, R2 Shenzhen
                                      5. Cibulkova lost to Cornet, QF Brisbane
                                      6. Ka.Pliskova vs Svitolina, SF Brisbane
                                      7. Muguruza lost to Cornet, SF Brisbane
                                      8. Keys DNP
                                      9. Kuznetsova lost to Muguruza, QF Brisbane
                                      10. Konta lost to Siniakova, SF Shenzhen

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        In awe of a narky Scottish God

                                        Pliskova beat Svitolina, so there is a top 10 player in a Women's Final this week.

                                        Let's hope there is also a Brit. So far it's been rather a blow out today as Aljaz Bedene followed Konta and Edmund into defeat. In Bedene's case it was a trashing, 3&0 against Benoit Paire.

                                        Tara Moore did win her Semi in Hong Kong, mind. Which is a nice start to the year for her. She will play Ya-Hsuan Lee for the title. Winning should lift Moore into the world's top 150 for the first time, once the points go on on Monday week (Hong Kong is a $25k event, which take an extra seven days to process for some reason).

                                        As noted on the old thread, qualifying for next week is already underway, on the WTA at least. And Naomi Broady had a notable win in it. Yes, it is possible to have a notable win in qualifying, if it's for an event like Sydney where the main draw cut-off comes at 35. That meant that when Broady drew the qualies top seed, she found herself up against World No.37 Yaroslava Shvedova (who won't be far of being seeded in the main draw in Melbourne!). Beating her for the loss of five games will get overlooked in any career retrospective of Broady because it happened away from the official tour, even though by ranking it is one of her best ever victories. Broady plays a local wild card and world no.631 Ellen Perez next; Perez had her won marquee win in q1, beating world no. 80 Kateryna Kozlova.
                                        No Brits in the singles for Hobart. Heather Watson might have wanted to play this, she is a former champion of it after all, but her ranking missed the main draw cut by a handful of places (it came at #69, she was #75 in the relevant week) and her Hopman Cup commitments meant she was unable to play the qualifying.

                                        There is a Brit in the qualies of the Men's event in Auckland, though - Cameron Norrie. This is significantly undersubscribed, as often happens with events that clash with Slam qualifying rounds. That allowed Norrie to get in, be seeded #4 and face a q1 match against Marcelo Demoliner who is much better know for doubles than singles.
                                        No Brits in the q in Sydney, though, as things went the other way for Dan Evans compared to Watson. For one, he could have made it from Perth as the Men's qualies are starting a day later. But he doesn't have to rush as withdrawals/unused top 20 wild card spots mean he has got straight into the main draw as the last alternate. He will join Kyle Edmund there.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          In awe of a narky Scottish God

                                          What a cracking final that was.

                                          Djokovic wins 2-1, but both were laughing at the net at the end, because it was touch and go. Long rallies, and Murray not continuing forward after a deep angled shot, which allows Djokovic back into almost every rally. If Murray had more confidence in his volleys, he would be unstoppable.

                                          The shape of things to come.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            In awe of a narky Scottish God

                                            28 and out after Novak Djokovic does another find-a-second-wind job Andy Murray.
                                            Nole should really have won in straights sets as he led 6-3 5-3 30-0 on serve, but three mps came and went, Murray broke back, and then broke again aided by a penalty point for Djokovic's second code violation of the day. This looked telling early in set three as Djokovic appeared to be in pain, pulling up and wincing at the end of rallies. Murray had a couple of break point chances at 3-2 up but didn't take them, and was them broken himself at 3-3 to love (with a helping hand due to no first serves made and unforced rally errors), which eventually proved decisive.

                                            Back at the start of set three it felt like this match could have long term significance as Murray was 0-19 against Djokovic after losing the first set. But now he is 0-20, and it still feels important as it's a blow back for Djokovic against the recent tide.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              In awe of a narky Scottish God

                                              The other British no.1 singles seed this week was also beaten in the final, that being Tara Moore in Hong Kong.

                                              As for next week, Naomi Broady is a win away from the Sydney main draw after knocking out Ellen Perez in three sets. If she wins against Kateryna Bondarenko Broady will have a 1 in 5 chance of meeting Jo Konta in R1 as Konta has drawn a qualifier/lucky loser. Seeing as there is one lucky loser berth, Broady might also get that with a loss, but the chances of that going her way are slight isn't given her ranking.

                                              There is an ATP as well as WTA event in Sydney, and the British Men have got the same draw as Konta. As in Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund will both play qualifiers in R1.
                                              Over in Auckland, Cameron Norris is a win away from making his Tour main draw debut after beating Marcelo Demoliner in the qualifiers. His opponent in final q is New Zealander Finn Tearney, who also beat a doubles player Asian-up-haq Qureshi in q1. Well I say 'beat'. In fact Qureshi retired hurt with the score at one set all. Doubles players these days are not used to playing more than that!
                                              Norris wasn't the only Brit in the Auckland qualies as some called Rhett Purcell got in as an alternate. New name on me. Not a character in a southern gothic novel, apparently.

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                In awe of a narky Scottish God

                                                Purcell was a decent junior (ranked about 65 I think) who, like Norrie could have chosen to represent New Zealand or GB. He hasn't really made the step up at senior level.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  In awe of a narky Scottish God

                                                  Broady lost (heavily) to Bondarenko. But the number if Lucky Losers increased to three due to further withdrawals*. That means three of the four q3 losers are in. The one to miss out (so far)? Naomi Broady. Humph.

                                                  * - for the record Karolina Pliskova was the first to back out, Elina Svitolina and Sloane Stephens the latest two. And things aren't as bad in Sydney as they are in Hobart. That tournament has suffered six late scratches, so players who lost in q2 are now getting in. If they are still in town, that is!

                                                  No Lucky Losers in the Auckland yet, but if there were Cameron Norris would have a 50/50 chance of getting that. Which is a positive spin on saying he lost his final q to Finn Tearney!

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