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feather_ghyllI meant to say in the previous post that a subplot of this Aussie Open was whether Casper Ruud, whose partner is expecting their first child imminently, would leave any second. Instead he won through to the fourth round, as his current ranking suggested he would, where Ben Shelton defeated him.
Quarter-finals: Sabalenka did what a current world no. 1 needs to do with a young pretender and beat Jovic handsomely. Tien pushed Zverev to four sets, two of which were close, and earned some more respect. Meanwhile, Zverev was trying a few different things with an eye to the Sincaraz of it all.
Gauff absolutely imploded. Svitolina has the talent and experience to take advantage of that, and maybe I’m being unfair, she won a tournament on her way in, and since coming back from childbirth has been more aggressive, so perhaps she forced Gauff’s poor play, but the match was over in under an hour.
Aussies wondered if this time de Minaur could flip the script with Alcaraz. The first set was close, the second two weren’t. Alcaraz hasn’t dropped a set, and has finally got beyond the quarter finals here, although he wants more, as he’s hunting for a career grand slam.
Day 2 of the QFs, and Musetti was up two sets, defeating Djokovic with fantastic tennis, the latter was getting treatment for blisters, but in a few games’ time, Musetti was getting treatment, and, unable to move, he had to retire from a match that had looked to be his. Djokovic is having one of his jammiest tournaments ever, particularly given it’s his fourth decade. Otherwise, Sinner beat Shelton in three sets.
On the women’s side, the lower ranked players won, with Pegula outplaying Anisimova in the first set, and taking her chances in the more competitive second set. The first set between Rybakina and Swiatek was the competitive one, but Rybakina won the last two games, and was serving well and playing close to her best for the rest of the match, dispatching Swiatek.
Women’s semi-finals: perhaps predictably, Sabalenka overpowered and outclassed Svitolina. There was a brief blip at the start of the second set, but the world no. 1 quickly regrouped, made up the deficit and didn’t look like she could lose.
In the second, Rybakina started out better, and Pegula was outpowered (and outclassed) in the first set. Rybakina had a 5-2 lead in the second set, Pegula finally started playing better, Rybakina got tight – she wasn’t able to win her service games (!) or convert a few match points and it went to a long tiebreak, which the better ball-striker won.
On the basis of those two performances, the answer to whether 2026 Rybakina can win against 2026 Sabalenka seems to be probably not, although the Rybakina who played for a set and a half might be more likely to.
As for the men’s semi-finals, well! I came to think that men’s semi-finals was probably the best day to get a ticket for a Grand Slam in the era when Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray (or A.N. Other) were facing each other. This year’s Aussie Open more than lived up to that.
This morning, I went to a newspage and discovered Alcaraz and Zverev were in a five-setter, and then went to the beginning of a live blog to find out how. After all, their head to head was six-six, although you’d favour Alcaraz, really. So, Alcaraz was up two sets, two close sets, but with that lead, you’d have thought…
But he started having physical issues (cramping was the consensus, which is somewhat important, because you’re not really meant to have medical timeouts for cramp, although that’s at the physio/doctor’s discretion. Zverev was narked, and I can see why, this being worse than him talking to his team when he should have been receiving an Alcaraz serve.) Anyway, whatever it was, Alcaraz was clearly physically compromised, and it could well have been Musetti all over again. Except he persevered, and despite his movement being badly hampered fought to a tiebreak to decide the third set, which Zverev won, and again in the fourth, which Zverev won. Alcaraz’s movement was better by this point, but this was a long five-setter and somehow he broke back and broke again to win the fifth set, and broke Zverev’s heart.
Whew.
Sinner v Djokovic started late (and you needed a different ticket for it). Sinner won the first set, and everyone thought they knew where this was going, but Djokovic upped his attack and won the second. Sinner, who can do to Djokovic what he used to do to most players a few years ago, won the third, but Djokovic ramped up the attack again to win the fourth, and again to win the fifth. It looked like really good tennis. Andy Roddick pointed to his amazing match management skills. Apparently Sinner is getting a record for losing really long matches.
Djokovic is through to his eleventh Aussie Open final (what an improbable run!) He’s won it the last ten times he’s been there. But he’s 38 and had to play five sets of incredible tennis for a chance at 25 slam titles! But then Alcaraz had to play five sets of incredible tennis (for different reasons) to get to his first Aussie Open final and a chance for the career grand slam, and not only that, to be the youngest to win it. Who recovers better? Also, it’s changed the Sincaraz final script.
Quarter-finals: Sabalenka did what a current world no. 1 needs to do with a young pretender and beat Jovic handsomely. Tien pushed Zverev to four sets, two of which were close, and earned some more respect. Meanwhile, Zverev was trying a few different things with an eye to the Sincaraz of it all.
Gauff absolutely imploded. Svitolina has the talent and experience to take advantage of that, and maybe I’m being unfair, she won a tournament on her way in, and since coming back from childbirth has been more aggressive, so perhaps she forced Gauff’s poor play, but the match was over in under an hour.
Aussies wondered if this time de Minaur could flip the script with Alcaraz. The first set was close, the second two weren’t. Alcaraz hasn’t dropped a set, and has finally got beyond the quarter finals here, although he wants more, as he’s hunting for a career grand slam.
Day 2 of the QFs, and Musetti was up two sets, defeating Djokovic with fantastic tennis, the latter was getting treatment for blisters, but in a few games’ time, Musetti was getting treatment, and, unable to move, he had to retire from a match that had looked to be his. Djokovic is having one of his jammiest tournaments ever, particularly given it’s his fourth decade. Otherwise, Sinner beat Shelton in three sets.
On the women’s side, the lower ranked players won, with Pegula outplaying Anisimova in the first set, and taking her chances in the more competitive second set. The first set between Rybakina and Swiatek was the competitive one, but Rybakina won the last two games, and was serving well and playing close to her best for the rest of the match, dispatching Swiatek.
Women’s semi-finals: perhaps predictably, Sabalenka overpowered and outclassed Svitolina. There was a brief blip at the start of the second set, but the world no. 1 quickly regrouped, made up the deficit and didn’t look like she could lose.
In the second, Rybakina started out better, and Pegula was outpowered (and outclassed) in the first set. Rybakina had a 5-2 lead in the second set, Pegula finally started playing better, Rybakina got tight – she wasn’t able to win her service games (!) or convert a few match points and it went to a long tiebreak, which the better ball-striker won.
On the basis of those two performances, the answer to whether 2026 Rybakina can win against 2026 Sabalenka seems to be probably not, although the Rybakina who played for a set and a half might be more likely to.
As for the men’s semi-finals, well! I came to think that men’s semi-finals was probably the best day to get a ticket for a Grand Slam in the era when Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray (or A.N. Other) were facing each other. This year’s Aussie Open more than lived up to that.
This morning, I went to a newspage and discovered Alcaraz and Zverev were in a five-setter, and then went to the beginning of a live blog to find out how. After all, their head to head was six-six, although you’d favour Alcaraz, really. So, Alcaraz was up two sets, two close sets, but with that lead, you’d have thought…
But he started having physical issues (cramping was the consensus, which is somewhat important, because you’re not really meant to have medical timeouts for cramp, although that’s at the physio/doctor’s discretion. Zverev was narked, and I can see why, this being worse than him talking to his team when he should have been receiving an Alcaraz serve.) Anyway, whatever it was, Alcaraz was clearly physically compromised, and it could well have been Musetti all over again. Except he persevered, and despite his movement being badly hampered fought to a tiebreak to decide the third set, which Zverev won, and again in the fourth, which Zverev won. Alcaraz’s movement was better by this point, but this was a long five-setter and somehow he broke back and broke again to win the fifth set, and broke Zverev’s heart.
Whew.
Sinner v Djokovic started late (and you needed a different ticket for it). Sinner won the first set, and everyone thought they knew where this was going, but Djokovic upped his attack and won the second. Sinner, who can do to Djokovic what he used to do to most players a few years ago, won the third, but Djokovic ramped up the attack again to win the fourth, and again to win the fifth. It looked like really good tennis. Andy Roddick pointed to his amazing match management skills. Apparently Sinner is getting a record for losing really long matches.
Djokovic is through to his eleventh Aussie Open final (what an improbable run!) He’s won it the last ten times he’s been there. But he’s 38 and had to play five sets of incredible tennis for a chance at 25 slam titles! But then Alcaraz had to play five sets of incredible tennis (for different reasons) to get to his first Aussie Open final and a chance for the career grand slam, and not only that, to be the youngest to win it. Who recovers better? Also, it’s changed the Sincaraz final script.
