• Arvis
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Topic: 2015 Qualies

A couple upset losses in the first round of the Aussie Open qualies this year.

Alexander Zverev, the 17 year old who made a big splash last year in Hamburg by making the semifinals, and who is also the current reigning Australian Open Juniors champ, lost in straights to Australia's own John-Patrick Smith.  Smith is 25 and has never won a Tour-level match, despite having some success in college.

Everyone's Favorite Frenchman(TM), Nicolas Nahut, also lost in the first round to Jan Hernych.  A tough opponent to draw in the very first round of qualies.

Wayne Odesnik defeated Ryan Harrison in straights.  This was considered something of a "controversial" matchup, with the bad blood (no pun intended) between Odesnik and every other American player.  Despite this, Odesnik is in fantastic form, fresh off a Challenger title.  He looks like a lock to make the main draw.

Benoit Paire's dizzying fall from grace continues as he not only loses to Elias Ymer, but eats a bagel in the process.

546th-ranked 18-year-old Hyeon Chung, from Korea, easily defeated 3rd-seeded Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who had shown some promise halfway through the 2014 season.  Chung notably made the Boys' Junior QFs here last year, losing to eventual champ Zverev.

American journeyman and former Newport champion Rajeev Ram succumbed to 191st-ranked fellow-American Jarmere Jenkins.  Jenkins is 24 but has only been on the pro tour for a year, having spent 4 years playing tennis in college.  He has won 6 Futures titles, but no Challengers as of yet.

Nadal's most recent conquerer, Michael Berrer, avoided the upset bug with a routine win over "Pantyhose" Taro Daniel.

Jurgen Melzer, after years of direct entry into Slams, has won his first qualifying match routinely, as well.  He'll be someone to keep an eye on if he makes the main draw.  His younger brother, Gerald, also won his first round match.

After thrilling in Chennai, Aljaz Bedene needed 3 sets to defeat 143rd-ranked Guido Andreozzi.  I wonder if he just had a bit of a letdown after what was easily his best tournament as a pro.  We'll see if he shakes that off in the next round.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Thanks Arvis, keep us updated.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Wow!  Thanks for the update Arvis.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

On the women's side, Su-Wei Hsieh fed her 1st round opponent (Japan's Eri Hozumi) a bagel before losing a 2nd-set tiebreak and, eventually, the match.  After 2 years of direct entry into Slams, this is the 3rd of 4 Slams that Hsieh has had to enter Qualifying for.  She has lost in the first round of all 3.

Virginie Razzano looks determined to make the 1st round of this Slam with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Q3rd-seed Danka Kovinic.

Lourdes Dominguez-Lino was upset in the first round by the United States' Alexa Glatch.  Glatch is 25 and this is his first ever Singles win at the Australian Open, having never been in the main draw.  She has 3 total Grand Slam main draw singles wins in her career.  Glatch is currently ranked 543 and is a massive long shot to make the main draw here.

The Most Adorable Petra Kvitova has nothing to fear from Luksika Khumkhum this time around.  Khumkhum has lost in the 1st-round of Qualies to 179th-ranked Chinese Yafan Wang.

Not a successful tournament for Taiwanese women as, along with Hsieh, Yung-jan Chan has also been defeated.  Her conqueror was Slovakia's Kristina Kucova, ranked just inside the Top 150 in the world at 146.

Barbora Krejcikova, of the Czech Republic, could be someone to keep an eye on, as she won her 1st round match with a double-bagel.  At only 19 years old, she's already inside the Top 200 in the world.  Her opponent, Bianca Botto of Peru, is ranked 210, so there is no huge disparity in their rankings.

Another 19-year-old, China's Fangzhou Liu, got an even bigger scalp: Q12th-seeded Patricia Mayr-Achleitner.  Achleitner was once as high as 70th in the world in singles.

A player most of us have never heard of is actually the Q1-seed here this year: Denisa Allertova.  She's 21, from the Tennis Factory known as the Czech Republic, and ranked #107 in the world.  She's won her Q1-round match, so we'll keep an eye on her going forward.

-Arvis

******

Just wanted to mention that World #1084 Violetta Degtiareva died during a training session a couple days ago.  She was only 23.  I know nobody here knew of her, but thought it should be mentioned.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Men's Q2 Round Results

Philipp Petzschner, famous for being the WORST player ever to take Rafael Nadal to 5 sets at a Slam, has lost in the 2nd round (8-6 in the 3rd) to Romania's Marius Copil.  "Peepee" Petzschner was once ranked 35th in the world in singles, but is now 418th.

17-year-old Omar Jasika of Australia defeated fellow Aussie John-Patrick Smith, 12-10 in the 3rd.  Could the Aussie Open see another teenage home favorite in the main draw?

Lukasz Kubot continues his run of good form with a Q2 win over Alexandr Nedovyesov.  Kubot just had a nice win over Kevin Anderson in Brisbane, so he could be trouble if he makes the main draw here.

Michael "Muscles" Russell makes his way into the final round of Qualifying with a nice 3-set win over Q21st-seed Thiemo de Bakker.  Russell only has two career main draw singles wins in Australia, however he remains undefeated in Australian Open Qualifying Singles Draw matches, having successfully qualified in both 2001 and 2007.  This is only his 3rd attempt at Qualifying at this tournament.

Rafael Nadal's Doha conqueror Michael Berrer is OUT of the Australian Open, everyone.  He lost in 3 sets to Belgium's Ruben Bemelmans.

  • Registered: Jan. 12, 2015
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Re: 2015 Qualies

Geez. Berrer had a good week in Doha but not much else afterward.
Sad to see Petzschner fall out. I remember him a few of years ago and thought he was eventually going to make it to the top 15.....

RIP Violetta. I didn't know her until now.  What was the official report of the cause of her death?

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Heart failure, apparently... sad

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Men's Q2-round Results (cont'd)

Q1-seed Damir Dzumhur has lost, losing in a tough 8-6 3rd set to Germany's Tim Puetz, a 27-year old journeyman who is enjoying his highest ever singles rank of 183.
Puetz's opponent in the final round will be American college phenom Jarmere Jenkins, who I reported on previously.

Q2-seed Jurgen Melzer survived a big-time scare against Daniel Munoz de la Nava, losing the 1st 6-2 before scraping out a close win.
Melzer will be playing Steve Darcis in the final round.

Korean teenager Hyeon Chung blasts his way into the final round with a 1-and-0 win over Germany's Nils Langer.  If he makes the main draw, it would be enormous for Korean tennis, and perhaps even a sign of a future Korean Top 50 player!  However, his opponent in the final is Elias Ymer, who has already beaten Benoit Paire on his way here.  So this will be a tough matchup for both players.

Perennial Qualifier Tim Smyczek is well on his way to qualifying for yet another Grand Slam.  Famous for being one of the few players to get through qualifying in all 4 Grand Slams in one calendar year, this 111th-ranked American has never been able to put it all together at the higher levels.  He should be favored to qualify here as well, as his last opponent is 196th-ranked Belgian Maxime Authom, who, although not having dropped a set so far, has also not played anyone of consequence.

Jan Hernych, who defeated Mahut in the 1st round, needed 26 games in the 3rd set to finally put away Adam Pavlaszek.  He'll be squaring off against American Alez Kuznetsov, who defeated Jurgen Melzer's younger brother, Gerald.

Aljaz Bedene continues his winning ways with a 6-0, 7-6 win over Tomislav Brkic of Bosnia & Herzegovina.  However, Bedene's next opponent is Michal Przyieszny, who was recently ranked JUST outside the Top 50 in the world.  If MP's form is back, he could keep Bedene out of this Slam.

Taiwan's Jimmy Wang, a favorite at Wimbledon, looks like he wants to qualify for a Slam that ISN'T played on grass.  He's into the final round with a close win over Russia's Konstantin Kravchuk.  If he wants to Qualify, though, he'll have to defeat Q31-seed Vincent Millot, who had something of a surprise win over Wayne Odesnik yesterday.

Last edited by Arvis (Jan. 16, 2015 10:27am)

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Women's Q2-round Results

Mysterious Q1-seed Denisa Allertova is still alive, with a 3-set win over Andrea Hlavackova.  Her next opponent is Laura Siegemund, who she was seeded to face.  If Allertova can keep up the form that got her here, she should enjoy playing in her first ever Grand Slam main draw.

Q2-seed Misaki Doi, however, could not live up to her seed, defeated in a close match with Olga Govortsova.  Govortsova plays Stephanie Foretz next and should win that match to qualify.

Despite being, in my own words, "a long shot" to make the tournament, Alexa Glatch is still in this, winning easily over Aussie Jessica Moore.  Glatch's next opponent is a 31-year-old journeywoman from the Czech Republic named Renata Voracova, who, although once being 71st in the world, I have never heard of.

Virginie Razzano, who looked so determined in Q1, lost to Tatjana Maria with a bizarre scoreline: 4-6, 6-0, 6-4.  Maria will need to hope for another upset if she wants to qualify, as her next opponent is Q13-seed Cagla Buyucackay of Turkey.  Buyucackay, after losing the 1st set 6-2 to her Q2-round opponent, then proceeded to feed her a double-bagel in sets 2 and 3.

Young Chinese Yafan Wang continues her run of good form with a big win over Israel's Julia Glushko.  Keep in mind that this is Wang's first ever ATTEMPT at Qualifying.  If she makes it on her first attempt it would be quite an achievement.

But the Chinese have even more to crow about in qualies: 19-year-old Fangzhou Liu is also through to the finals where she'll face Petra Martic.  She'll be an underdog there due to Martic's experience, but they're not ranked far apart.  Liu has a real shot at this.  Just like her countrywoman Wang, this is her first attempt at a Slam as well.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Good stuff, Arvis. Sad to hear about Violetta though. Puts it into perspective a bit.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

2015 Australian Open Qualifiers

MEN:

Tim Puetz
Ranked 183rd, Germany, age 27.  Won his only Tour-level match last year at Wimbledon, defeating Teymuraz Gabashvili.  Will face Donald Young.

Jurgen Melzer
Ranked 106th, Austria, age 33.  56-49 at Grand Slams, 172-163 on hard courts.  Once ranked 8th in the world.  Will face Victor Estrella Burgos.

Elias Ymer
Ranked 212th, Sweden, age 18.  The youngest Qualifier in the draw, he has never played a Grand Slam main draw match.  3-7 all-time in Tour-level events.  Will face Go Soeda.

Tim Smyczek
Ranked 111th, USA, age 27.  5-7 at Grand Slams, 19-32 on hard courts.  Will face Luke Saville.

Matthias Bachinger
Ranked 142nd, Germany, age 27.  1-6 at Grand Slams, 11-22 on hard courts.  Will face Pablo Cuevas.

Jan Hernych
Ranked 200th, Czech Republic, age 35.  10-20 at Grand Slams, 43-58 on hard courts.  Will face Santiago Giraldo.

Aljaz Bedene
Ranked 116th, Slovenia, age 25.  0-6 at Grand Slams, 16-14 on hard courts.  Will face Novak Djokovic.

Jimmy Wang
Ranked 117th, Taiwan, age 29.  7-12 at Grand Slams, 24-28 on hard courts.  Will face John Isner.

Michael Russell
Ranked 156th, USA, age 36.  7-33 at Grand Slams, 55-91 on hard courts.  Will face David Goffin.

Ruben Bemelmans
Ranked 173rd, Belgium, age 27.  1-3 at Grand Slams with the one win coming at Wimbledon 2012.  6-16 on hard courts.  Will face Ivo Karlovic.

Marius Copil
Ranked 194th, Romania, age 24.  10-11 on hard courts, this will be his first time contesting a main draw singles match at a Grand Slam.  Will face Pablo Andujar.

Kyle Edmund
Ranked 192nd, Great Britain, age 20.  1-8 all-time in Tour-level events, with the one win coming in Eastbourne 2013.  Will face Steve Johnson.

Alexander Kudryavtsev
Ranked 126th, Russia, age 29.  1-2 at Grand Slams, with the one win coming a few months ago at the US Open, where he also came through qualifying.  5-9 on hard courts.  Will face Marinko Matosevic.

Illya Marchenko
Ranked 144th, Ukraine, age 27.  4-8 at Grand Slams, 32-33 on hard courts.  Once ranked 67th in the world.  Will face Milos Raonic.

Yuki Bhambri
Ranked 314th, India, age 22.  The lowest-ranked Qualifier in the draw, he has never contested a Grand Slam singles match.  Bizarrely, despite his low ranking, he has a winning record in Tour-level events: 12-9.  Will face Andy Murray.

Laurent Lokoli
Ranked 259th, France, age 20.  0-1 in Grand Slam main draw matches, but now 6-0 all-time in Grand Slam qualifying matches.  His only previous Grand Slam match was a 5-set loss to Steve Johnson at the French Open last year.  0-2 all-time in Tour-level events.  Will face Andreas Haider-Maurer.



WOMEN:

Ons Jabeur
Ranked 143rd, Tunisia, age 20.  The youngest qualifier in the draw, she played her first ever Grand Slam singles match at the 2014 US Open, losing in 3 sets to Andrea Petkovic.  Won the 2011 French Open Juniors' Singles.  Will face Vera Zvonareva.

Anna Tatishvili
Ranked 140, USA, age 24.  Made the Rd of 16 at the 2012 US Open, which is the last time she has won a Grand Slam singles match.  Will face Kimiko Date-Krumm.

Denisa Allertova
Ranked 107, Czech Republic, age 21.  Although being the highest-ranked Qualifier in the draw, this will be her first ever Grand Slam singles match.  Will face Romina Oprandi.

Richel Hogenkamp
Ranked 137, Netherlands, age 22.  This is her first time qualifying for a Grand Slam.  In 2012, achieved a win over a Top 30 player.  Will face Petra Kvitova.

Lucie Hradecka
Ranked 141, Czech Republic, age 29.  Primarily a doubles player, she has made the 2nd round in singles at the Aussie Open three years in a row.  If she wins her first round match here, it'll be four.  6-20 all time in Grand Slam Singles.  Will face Ana Ivanovic.

Evgeniya Rodina
Ranked 119, Russia, age 25.  Once ranked 74 in the world, 5-6 all-time in Grand Slam singles matches.  Will face Karolina Pliskova.

Renata Voracova
Ranked 169, Czech Republic, age 31.  Despite being as old as the hills, has only managed one Grand Slam singles win in 10 attempts (at the Aussie Open in 2007).  However, she has landed in a soft part of the draw and might just turn those fortunes around.  Will face Lara Arruabarrena.

Stephanie Foretz
Ranked 197, France, age 33.  Once ranked 62nd in the world, she has won 13 Grand Slam singles matches in her career, with her best result being a 3rd round appearance at the 2002 US Open.  However, she has LOST a dismal 31 matches in this format.  The lowest-ranked (and oldest) qualifier in the draw, she did not play a Grand Slam main draw event last year.  Will face Christina McHale.

Tatjana Maria
Ranked 162, Germany, age 27.  Formerly known as Tatjana Malek, at her last Slam match in 2013 Wimbledon she was playing pregnant.  This will be her first Grand Slam main draw match since giving birth to a daughter.  Once ranked 64th in the world, she is 3-12 all-time in Slams.  Will face Peng Shuai.

Urszula Radwanska
Ranked 149, Poland, age 24.  Mostly famous for being Aga Radwanska's younger sister, she's a good player in her own right, once ranked inside the Top 30 in the world.  Despite this, though, she has never fared well at Slams, never making it beyond the 2nd round in 16 attempts.  Will face Zarina Diyas.

Alexandra Panova
Ranked 150, Russia, age 25.  Always a journeywoman, she is 0-5 in Grand Slam singles matches.  Could change that here with a winnable first-round against Sorana Cirstea.

Petra Martic
Ranked 183, Croatia, age 23.  Once ranked 42 in the world, she is 11-19 all-time in Grand Slam singles matches, with a Rd of 16 appearance at the 2012 French.  However, the Aussie Open is historically her worst event, with a 1-5 record.  This doesn't look likely to improve, as she plays Maria Sharapova.

Last edited by Arvis (Jan. 17, 2015 11:15am)

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Re: 2015 Qualies

And there you have it: more than you ever wanted to know about the Qualifiers in this tournament.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Brilliant! TY

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Wow, incredible Arvis!  Wonderful summary!

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Great stuff Arvis!  smile

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Thanks everyone! smile
One of my favorite things about Slams is sometimes getting to see unfamiliar players and how they play, then seeing them go up against the best. I love the early rounds.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Voracova has lost 2 and 1 to Arruabarrena.  Either Lara played way better than I expected, or Voracova just showed a level of nerves that have kept her from succeeding at this level over the course of her career.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Tatjana Maria is out in straights to Peng Shuai.  At times she showed flashes of the firepower that got her through qualies, but her footwork and shotmaking proved to be too poor to hang with Peng.  Serving at 5-all in the second, Maria jumped on a short ball and hit a super powerful forehand.  However, she hit it right at Peng in the middle of the court.  Against qualifiers with worse defense, that might work, but Peng blocked it back into court and caught Maria out of position.  At other times, it was clear that Maria's split-step was either ineffective or just not being used, as she was late to balls more often than not and resorted to slicing on almost every shot, especially her backhand, which she hit over only once in the few games I watched.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Lucie Hradecka has made it 4 AO 2nd-round appearances in a row now with her massive upset over 5th-seed Ana Ivanovic.  Hradecka got creamed 6-1 in the first, but began to turn it around with solid serving and positive mentality.  Serving for it all at 5-2, 30-0 in the 3rd, Hradecka double faulted, a clear sign of nerves.  A lesser woman might have crumbled and followed that up with a weaksauce serve that Ana could have pummeled.  Instead, Hradecka's next serve was an ace out wide.  One point later, the match was over.

However, it's important to point out that Ivanovic hit around 304 UEs in the 3rd set alone.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Wow. Shocker.  Ana is out! yikes

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Alexander Kudryavtsev was screwed the second he got into a 5th set with Marinko Matosevic.  That guy loves him some 5th sets.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Yuki Bhambri played about as well as could be expected against one of the top players in the world, and he certainly had his chances, but in the end Murray was just too good.

I saw very little of this match, but I did see one point where Bhambri hit an absolutely stunning flat forehand approach and came in.  Against a fellow qualifier that would have likely set up an easy smash, if not a clean winner on the approach.  Murray, however, not only anticipated where the shot was going but had the wheels to get to it in time to effortlessly block the ball down the line for a winning pass.  It was kind of ridiculous.

Despite this, though, Bahmbri did take Murray to a tiebreak in the 3rd.  He is clearly a breakthrough player for Indian tennis.

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Re: 2015 Qualies

- Jurgen Melzer DESTROYED Victor Estrella Burgos easily in Round 1 yesterday.  Could he make trouble for Tomas Berdych in Round 2?  A Melzer win there would ruin a lot of people's chances in many of our competitions.

- Tim Smyczek overcame some early jitters against Aussie WC Luke Saville and managed a straight set win.  Saville's 'cool hand' was not nearly cool enough to break through Smyczek's strong fundamentals.  Smyczek moves on to face Nadal in round 2, to whom he poses no threat whatsoever.

- Michael Russel's futility in Grand Slam main draw matches continues as he loses in 4 to Goffin.  He summoned all his skill and ability to win the 3rd set 7-5, and then was promptly bageled in the 4th.  Still, "Muscles" can be proud of his still-untarnished Qualifying record in Australia.

- Ruben Bemelmans only managed to win 12 points on Karlovic's serve for the entirety of his straight-sets loss.  Yep.  12 whole points.  In THREE sets.  Ouch.

- Evgeniya Rodina played really well for a set against rising Czech star Karolina Pliskova, pushing her to 5-all before losing it.  However, that was all she had in the tank and she dropped the final set 6-1.

- Stephanie Foretz, aka Stephanie Foretz-Gacon, aka 'The Gaconator', came INSANELY close to upsetting American Christina McHale.  After losing the 1st set, she took the 2nd 6-1, but simply could not overcome her higher-ranked opponent in the 3rd no matter how hard she tried.  Foretz ended up losing the 3rd 12-10.

- Urszula Radwanska looked to be perhaps the most dangerous qualifier in the draw, and proved it in the 1st set against 31-seed Zarina Diyas.  However, Diyas' raw talent ended up proving too much for her and she lost the match in 3.

- Ladies and Gentlemen, I am happy to report that Alexandra Panova has won her first ever Grand Slam singles match in her career, at the age of 25!  She even did it in style, feeding slumping Sorana Cirstea an emphatic bagel in the 2nd set!  Panova is rewarded with a 2nd-round clash against 2nd-seeded Maria Sharapova, who defeated fellow qualifier Petra Martic yesterday, 6-4 6-1.

Last edited by Arvis (Jan. 19, 2015 2:57pm)

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Arvis wrote:

- Jurgen Melzer DESTROYED Victor Estrella Burgos easily in Round 1 yesterday.  Could he make trouble for Tomas Berdych in Round 2?  A Melzer win there would ruin a lot of people's chances in many of our competitions.

I thought that one would be much closer. Estrella Burgos is peaking now late in his career.

Normally Berdych should just over-power Melzer. But we do all know that if Berdych's A-game doesn't work he does not have a Plan-B. Melzer need to deliver his best to have a chance since Berdych is looking sharp at the moment.

Melzer isn't as good as he was when he beat Djokovic in Roland Garros and on Hardcourt Berdych should win fairly comfortable. I think it's up to him, if he plays well he will pull through, if not Melzer could cause an upset.

Arvis wrote:

Lucie Hradecka has made it 4 AO 2nd-round appearances in a row now with her massive upset over 5th-seed Ana Ivanovic.  Hradecka got creamed 6-1 in the first, but began to turn it around with solid serving and positive mentality.  Serving for it all at 5-2, 30-0 in the 3rd, Hradecka double faulted, a clear sign of nerves.  A lesser woman might have crumbled and followed that up with a weaksauce serve that Ana could have pummeled.  Instead, Hradecka's next serve was an ace out wide.  One point later, the match was over.

However, it's important to point out that Ivanovic hit around 304 UEs in the 3rd set alone.

To be honest I wasn't too surprised by this result. Hradecka came from the qualifier and I've seen her play some really good tennis at the fast blue clay they hade in Madrid a couple of years ago, plus she's a really good doubles player. She's a really aggressive player, which is key if you want to be able to beat the top players and especially a player like Ivanovic who has an aggressive game herself. Sure Ivanovic can play terrible when she has a bad day but I don't think you can say that about this match since she won the first set comfortably. I think Ivanovic would've survived if she was up against a less aggressive opponent and also not an opponent who qualified. It's always tough to face the qualifiers in the first round.

It should be interesting to se her fellow countryman Djokovic against Bedene who is in really good form right now and also qualified. Could be a good match.

Last edited by madman (Jan. 19, 2015 1:31pm)

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Re: 2015 Qualies

Good stuff, madman, and welcome to the GSFT forums. smile

Bedene is playing well, but he has nothing to hurt an in-form Djokovic with.  Either Djokovic is fit and healthy and he wins, or he isn't and likely loses.  That's all there is to that one.  Still, should be a fun watch!

-Arvis