Percy896's Tennis Forum

dav6789

The Season 5 Australian Open has began, and with the last couple of day's play, we have 8 of the last 16 decided.

Before the year's first Grand Slam, we had a few surprises in the warm-up events. Jbors47 upset the top 3 seeds to win the New Zealand International in Auckland. After thrashing two-time former champion Jennacourt 6-2 6-4, he won back-to-back matches on final set tie-breaks against x.doublea and NEA. The win in the final against the new world number 1 NEA was most significant, and gave Jbors the biggest title of his career so far. The next week in Sydney, PSALT upset current Australian Open champion Yodavitch 3-6 7-6 6-3 to get his year off to a perfect start. Yodavitch was appearing for the first time since the start of the indoor season last year, and looked set to defend his title in Melbourne. In other warm-ups, Adelaide beat Alice for the Christmas Island Challenge. Aged 31, Alice is the oldest player on the tour. Ying-Chang showed she had regained full dedication to her game by winning the Smashnova Super-National. In the SF, she beat top seed dav6789 6-1 6-4 to end his run of three straight finals there.

The Australian Open draw was released live for the first time, along with a new addition to the tour: A doubles tournament. First round action in Melbourne didn't have too many upsets. The only player to make headlines were Fulgora, who overcame crowd favourite Sheila 6-4 2-6 7-5. It was Sheila's 4th consecutive loss in Melbourne, and she hasen't won a match here since reaching the QF 5 years ago.

The top half then contested their 2nd round matches, with NEA, dav6789, Jennacourt and PSALT being the main attractions. NEA opened up play on Rod Laver Arena but came very close to losing to Norton. The world number 31 served for the match at 6-4 5-4, but didn't win another game as he eventually went down 4-6 7-5 6-0. On the Vodafone Arena, 4th seed and two-time former finalist PSALT looked alot more comfortable in a routing of Fulgora. The Masters Cup champion only dropped 3 games, and looks hungry for another chance at the Australian Open title. Last year's finalist dav6789 cruised past Rhomberg 6-2 6-4 and looks to be playing better tennis than in recent months. 5th seed Jennacourt also looked good against Alice, who was fresh off a final appearance in Christmas Island. Jennacourt won the match 6-2 6-3 and is looking to improve on her average Australian Open record.

In other matches, 9th seed Tricatrina, a former semi-finalist, thrashed Sarahginia 6-3 6-2, 16th seed Agassi2000 defeated Hewitt Hardcourts Champion Aztec 6-4 6-4. Jbors47 continued his winning form from Auckland with a 6-3 6-2 win demolision of Phobe, and 12th seed stevos14 came through against Beta 7-5 6-2. The top half 2nd round matches featured high quality tennis from all players. All of the seeds survived, and the only player to drop a set was top seed NEA, so the 3rd round looks to have some very interesting matches.

Tommorow, the bottom half will contest their 2nd round matches to complete the last 16 line-up. The bottom half features Yodavitch and Vanessa Child who both dominated the tour last year, and are in many people's eyes, still the best two players out there. Child is going for a 4th consecutive Grand Slam title, and to complete a Career Grand Slam. She will play her first match since US Open, against world number 25 Valkyrie. Yodavitch, coming in off a final in Sydney, will play Tennis Fan. Other big names in action will be two-time former Quarter-Finalist Stroganoff, and former Semi-Finalist x.doublea. x.doublea, the 7th seed, will play John Edelstein in a fascinating encounter. Edelstein is a two-time former Champion and had a very good win over Harriet in the first round.

The doubles will start later in the week. Good friends NEA and Vanessa Child are the top seeds, followed by PSALT and x.doublea. Many other top singles players are featured in the doubles tournament, along with Puellus, who is making a comeback as a doubles specialist. He is playing with Tennis Fan.