Australian Open 2015: Matches of the day : Day 2 20-Jan-2015

1. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [4]
vs.
Marsel Ilhan (TUR)


2. Lucas Pouille (FRA)
vs.
Gael Monfils (FRA) [17]


3. Robin Haase (NED)
vs.
Gilles Simon (FRA) [18]


4. Julien Benneteau (FRA) [25]
vs.
Benjamin Becker (GER)


5.Sam Querrey (USA)
vs.
Vasek Pospisil (CAN)


6. Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)
vs.
Dusan Lajovic (SRB)


7. Dominic Thiem (AUT)
vs.
Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) [13]

My picks:

1. Stan
2. Monfils
3. Hasse
4. Bennetaeau
5. Pospisil
6. Stakhovsky
7. Thiem

1. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [4]

2. Gael Monfils (FRA) [17]



Gilles Simon (FRA) [18]


4. Julien Benneteau (FRA) [25]

5.Sam Querrey (USA)

6. Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)

Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) [13]

Stan, Monfils, Simon, Benne, Querrey, Lajovic, Thiem.
I'm going rogue. I got 7/7. Would be poetic if I get 0/7. Don't think I will be far off :P

Wawrinka
Monfils
Simon
Benneteau
Querrey
Lajovic
Thiem

1. Stan Wawrinka
2. Gael Monfils - should have too much power and defense for Pouille to handle
3. Gilles Simon 
4. Julien Benneteau
5. Vasek Pospisil
6. Dusan Lajovic
7. RBA

Wawrinka
Monfils
Simon
Becker
Pospisil
Lajovic
Thiem

Stan, Monfils, Simon, Benneteau, Querrey, Strakhovski, Agut.

Anyone watching Monf-Pouille?

I've just started, Monf seems to be at the low point of his poetic cycle in the match, but lurking around like a cat bombing aces to stay alive.

Did Pouille crush his spirit in the TB?

Hard to assess fully how he plays, a bit stop-start tennis atm.

However, you can see he is a healthy, good competitor with hunger for the ball.
Not a magician or artist but with a perfect dose of aggression for today's tennis.
Nice, strong, athletic build, he seems to have all that's needed for success.
I hope he does well.

He's just won the 2nd set.

Has Monfils ever come back from two sets down?

Wow, what a gorgeous point from both with a touch of Monf's madness!
Viva French tennis!!!

no. will have a look now.

I just picked it up from 2 all 3rd set 0/30 down Monfils. And monfils pumped himself into 4 winners including 2 aces.

First time I am watching Pouille. Very talented actually. Taking the ball early and anticipating very well.

Will be top 10 soon I am pretty sure.

I actually think Pouille will trouble Djoko!

Pouille's FH is a serious weapon. he places it very well.

I like his demeanour and thinking.

Very positive, complete contrast to most French players, esp Gasquet.

Tenez wrote:I actually think Pouille will trouble Djoko!

He could, he's got a decent serve, too, really nice player.
He has natural aggression and a tough, positive mind, great combo!

noleisthebest wrote:I like his demeanour and thinking.

Very positive, complete contrast to most French players, esp Gasquet.

Yes. he is more complete than all the upcoming players and will be better than Nishi, Goffin and so on...

Shame the way he lost that 3rd set....from 40/15 up!

Also, he is gutsy, but not stupid!

He is getting tired though.....he is only 20.....well 21 soon.

And I like the fact he is not 5m tall ball-bludgeoner.

Looks like he's running out of steam, shame.

Game-wise, he has a similar stamp to Thiem, but is a better and more natural ball striker.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I like his demeanour and thinking.

Very positive, complete contrast to most French players, esp Gasquet.

Yes. he is more complete than all the upcoming players and will be better than Nishi, Goffin and so on...

Shame the way he lost that 3rd set....from 40/15 up!

You're right.
Nishi is more of a ball-striker, no game inside to drive him, pure Boletieri. Goffin is good, but he too often plays his points longer than he should.
And being light-weight, suffering because of his serve.

He can still win this in 5  esp as he is serving first and just held bis serve, with Monfils, all he needs is a wobbly service game to fizzle out.

Wow, what an awesome FH for the break!!!!

He really went for it and didn't spare himself during that game I really like that!

Just got broken back, after an awesome FH, nets the volley and then a DF, clearly spent.
Monfils is so lucky.

Still...allez Lucas !!!!

0:30 down he slows his game, wins the point and then level at 30:30.
Impressive head on his young shoulders, regardless of the score today, fantastic performance today.
So much heart!!!

Pouille is really tired but so is Monfils....however Monfils is more prepared. This is Pouille first 5 setter most likely. It woudl be great if he were to win it.

And the crowd finally gets behind him, he holds the nerve and serve


...and I have to go to the gym

...but will stay for this game, even if I'm late for the class

Isn't it nice to see a pure-spirited match/fight free of gamesmanship and ugly antics?

Ouah...Pouille got broken again...but played with lots of guts!

noleisthebest wrote:Isn't it nice to see a pure-spirited match/fight free of gamesmanship and ugly antics?

Not sure about that. Monfils was terrible in the 3rd set.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Isn't it nice to see a pure-spirited match/fight free of gamesmanship and ugly antics?

Not sure about that. Monfils was terrible in the 3rd set.

What did he do?
I didn't notice anything except a few borderline intimidating fist-pumps, which were almost comical as they clearly didn't work.

Tenez wrote:Ouah...Pouille got broken again...but played with lots of guts!

He did and was so, so unlucky. He'll be having nightmares about that missed sitter forehand for the rest of his life...and I didn't like the umpiring in the last game when the call out on Monfils's serve on the first point was given to him after HE instead of 2nd serve as the lines-person definitely called out straight away. interfering with Pouille's potential return.

He played better all match.

Pouille was tired and that is what made the difference. I think we have seen the birth of a great champion*.

he is good good from both sides that he can easily open up and get to the net to finish the point.

We have to see him v others though as Monfils can be very passive at times.

* I put it in bold as I will try to retrieve this post in the near future.

Yes, it will be hard for him when the balls keep coming back, but he is strong and DBH will help there.
He is only 20-21 and played such superb, mature match.

I look forward to following his career.

noleisthebest wrote:Yes, it will be hard for him when the balls keep coming back, but he is strong and DBH will help there.
He is only 20-21 and played such superb, mature match.

I look forward to following his career.

I think he is a retrievers killer. Cause unlike the others he goes at the net very often to finish the point. I believe he went to the net about 40 times in this match today! he is a better version of Davydenko with a better serve and much better FH. Davy never played that well at 20/21.

I think his problem is more likely to be from the hard hitters as they will force more errors from him.

I have the feeling with the new generation coming the end of the retrievers reign is nigh.

What impressed me about him was his composure, so rare to see in young players.

He has the belief and that is carrying him.
He went for his FH with such confidence, yet you never felt he was trying to paint the lines (though he did many times) desperately.

I remember seeing him play Fed last year, he was pretty good.

First time I saw him....such a shame he lost today as I would have liked to seem him against the rest.

he lost his last serve very unluckily....but above all he was very tired and that showed.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Yes, it will be hard for him when the balls keep coming back, but he is strong and DBH will help there.
He is only 20-21 and played such superb, mature match.

I look forward to following his career.

I think he is a retrievers killer. Cause unlike the others he goes at the net very often to finish the point. I believe he went to the net about 40 times in this match today! he is a better version of Davydenko with a better serve and much better FH. Davy never played that well at 20/21.

I think his problem is more likely to be from the hard hitters as they will force more errors from him.

I have the feeling with the new generation coming the end of the retrievers reign is nigh.

The problem is, Federer has raised the bar so high and spoilt us, it's going to be hard once he retires even if all the retrieverd disappear.

Did anyone see Nole's match last night?
I decided to catch up on my sleep and gave it a miss.

He seems to have picked up a stomach virus/flu last two weeks in Abu Dhabi, but says he's recovered now.

noleisthebest wrote:The problem is, Federer has raised the bar so high and spoilt us, it's going to be hard once he retires even if all the retrieverd disappear.

But in a way he could be a Federer with a DHBH.....well early days. I agree.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:The problem is, Federer has raised the bar so high and spoilt us, it's going to be hard once he retires even if all the retrieverd disappear.

But in a way he could be a Federer with a DHBH.....well early days. I agree.

That crossed my mind, too, but in reverse, I was trying to imagine him play with a SBH and concluded I was glad he didn't.
In a way, Federer had it easier than Pouille at 20/21 he could dominate with the skill, facing more or less human players.
Now, it's so tough on talented players as they have to be super aggressive to get anywhere, or be a serving blast-away trees...and we know tall players are just a short-term solution.

He has that perfect tennis height, 185cm.

If he is so good and has this mature game now, imagine how much he will add with experience. His CC FH is brilliant, so stinging fast.

I look forward to you revisiting that highlighted sentence

Caught on some of the matches. Really, really liked Pouille and was a bit sorry, I didn't tip him to win, so I could root for him harder. He has improved quite a lot since I last saw him last year in Paris R 16 vs. Fed, where he lost 4 and 4. He had a very good showing against Karlovic there too, broke him three times (!), though Karlovic certainly wasn't at his best. Our commies mentioned that he has a great work ethic too, so hopefully he will continue to improve.

Monfils was quite passive most of the times, the way he plays when he doesn't feel quite in shape. Don't think he'll go far in the draw from that showing.

Surprised, Benneteau went out to Becker. Else, nothing extraordinary on day 2.

Autumnleaf wrote: Else, nothing extraordinary on day 2.

Nope a bit boring that top draw.....even NITB sleeps through Djoko matches nowadays!