Andy Murray had a good year in 2013 famously winning Wimbledon by defeating Novak Djokovic in the final, the same man he defeated in New York to win his first major. Each of those wins eased the pain of an Australian Open finals loss to the Serbian ace, one in 2011, the other as recently as last year.
Now Andy had been in questionable states of fitness and form entering this years event, with doubts as to whether he could withstand the rigour of his potential second week draw. First round opponent Go Soeda from Japan, ranked 112 currently, enjoyed a little time in the top 50 but decided that wasn't for him and slipped back to where he feels more comfortable, with friendlier neighbours.
He would find out just how unsociable Andy Murray could be if the Scottish fourth seed displayed his vast array of skills on Hisense Arena in this match.
Soeda served first and the chair umpire resisted the temptation to say Ready Set Go, instead imploring Go to just "Play".
Out of the blocks in impressive fashion the Japanese player aced Murray amongst other fine shot presentation to ice the first game. However Andy is Scottish, and he thought that allowing one games grace was generosity gone crazy.
Serving well and successfully sending his forehand out for a practice run, Andy levelled at 1- 1 before taking apart the Japanese game plan.
Introducing his slice to the match, Murray forced errors from Soeda to add to the mistakes contributed of his own accord. The service break materialised, and Murray went on a wild rampage at the sight of the first speck of blood.
He held serve with ease, an ace sealing it, and then played around with Soeda off both sides, the backhand slice now also providing an avenue of discomfort for which no immediate cure was forthcoming. Another break of serve and Murray was serving at 4-1.
Soeda came up with a terrific backhand in the sixth game but Murray trumped it with a better forehand and a whole lot of other pretty nifty stuff to take a 5-1 advantage.
Opening up completely, the Scot slammed home two wicked backhands which drove Soeda to despair and into a double fault which gave the set to Murray 6-1.
More of the same in the second set with Andy flying solo and Soeda just another spectator. Two more authoritative service holds sandwiched a Soeda serve full of errors and punctuated by a winner or two from Murray. There was a sense that the fourth seed may even be enjoying some of his output. Never let him be accused of relaying that enjoyment through a facial gesture, though. That look could be the one of the player being battered, so underwhelming in its delight does it ever become.
6-1 the second set went to Murray, to copy his manuscript from a little earlier.
Go had stopped being competitive for quite awhile in the match so it was a pleasant surprise to see him reappear as the player capable of actually winning a game.
He in fact won three games on his own serve in succession to lead the third set 3-2.
That was the last that Murray allowed and his very complete victory 6-1 6-1 6-3 will have cleared the cob webs away and revealed a nasty roadblock ahead for players in his part of the draw.
Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Aga made to work
Agnieszka Radwanska the tournament fifth seed was sent out in the heat of battle to rid the Australian Open of the teenager from Kazakhstan Yulia Putintseva. For someone as accomplished as Aga this task wasn't expected to be much of a problem.
From the outset, the 2012 Wimbledon runner up tried to keep the points short, adopting a serve volley approach. A neat experiment but one a confident player can employ in round one of a major. Now hold on Aga lost in her first match in Sydney didn't she? Still that was then this was now and Yulia was going down, Polish style.
Radwanska opened with the surprise of rushing the net at all costs and held serve easily. The tactic worked a treat next game as well and the Kazakhstan serve was broken immediately. On a significant roll, Aga defied anything that Yulia could throw back at her, including the odd dropshot, and 3-0 was with us in an instant.
The fourth game seemed to last as long as the entire match had so far, with Yulia employing expansive forehands as her next port of call in a crisis, only to be ultimately foiled by the smarter player. Radwanska is regarded as one of the leaders of the clever brigade on tour, and she was too crafty for Yulia, taking a 4-0 advantage, and sucking any remaining life there might have been out of set one.
An ace parcelled up the next service game for Agnieszka and at 0-5 the sympathy card was played for Yulia. Not by Aga though who completed the whitewash with the third service break and the set demolition 6-0.
This match was doomed we assumed.
How incorrect we were. Set two began where the first had ceased - Radwanska dominating while serving to lead 1-0, but winning her first game of the match and tying up the game score in the second set gave some indication of defiance from Putintseva. She had the gumption to break the Polish serve in game three of the set, her forehand now causing a few issues for Radwanska.
Serves were then reasonably comfortable for the players to hold until the eight game, where Aga's returning returned to its immaculate best, causing a whole lot of trouble for Yulia, and levelling the set at 4-4.
Aga served three aces in a row and so easily made it 5-4, before Yulia struck back to say 5-5. Then a break we never saw coming came, with several good forehands being the driver for Yulia to deliver the charge.
From virtually nowhere, Putintseva served out the set and it was one set apiece - incredible.
Radwanska did not let the set loss draw her away from her bigger focus - the match - and she continued to serve well. Putintseva continued to be effective with the forehand until the fourth game where Radwanska showed why she is entrenched in the top few in the world. Her willingness to chase, and once there execute so beautifully was handy in this game which was the first service break of the deciding set.
All downhill after that for Yulia as Aga sprinted away in the oppressive heat, just in time catching a glimpse of her vanquished opponent wilting in response to the same conditions. Radwanska into the second round after an enthralling battle 6-0 5-7 6-2.
From the outset, the 2012 Wimbledon runner up tried to keep the points short, adopting a serve volley approach. A neat experiment but one a confident player can employ in round one of a major. Now hold on Aga lost in her first match in Sydney didn't she? Still that was then this was now and Yulia was going down, Polish style.
Radwanska opened with the surprise of rushing the net at all costs and held serve easily. The tactic worked a treat next game as well and the Kazakhstan serve was broken immediately. On a significant roll, Aga defied anything that Yulia could throw back at her, including the odd dropshot, and 3-0 was with us in an instant.
The fourth game seemed to last as long as the entire match had so far, with Yulia employing expansive forehands as her next port of call in a crisis, only to be ultimately foiled by the smarter player. Radwanska is regarded as one of the leaders of the clever brigade on tour, and she was too crafty for Yulia, taking a 4-0 advantage, and sucking any remaining life there might have been out of set one.
An ace parcelled up the next service game for Agnieszka and at 0-5 the sympathy card was played for Yulia. Not by Aga though who completed the whitewash with the third service break and the set demolition 6-0.
This match was doomed we assumed.
How incorrect we were. Set two began where the first had ceased - Radwanska dominating while serving to lead 1-0, but winning her first game of the match and tying up the game score in the second set gave some indication of defiance from Putintseva. She had the gumption to break the Polish serve in game three of the set, her forehand now causing a few issues for Radwanska.
Serves were then reasonably comfortable for the players to hold until the eight game, where Aga's returning returned to its immaculate best, causing a whole lot of trouble for Yulia, and levelling the set at 4-4.
Aga served three aces in a row and so easily made it 5-4, before Yulia struck back to say 5-5. Then a break we never saw coming came, with several good forehands being the driver for Yulia to deliver the charge.
From virtually nowhere, Putintseva served out the set and it was one set apiece - incredible.
Radwanska did not let the set loss draw her away from her bigger focus - the match - and she continued to serve well. Putintseva continued to be effective with the forehand until the fourth game where Radwanska showed why she is entrenched in the top few in the world. Her willingness to chase, and once there execute so beautifully was handy in this game which was the first service break of the deciding set.
All downhill after that for Yulia as Aga sprinted away in the oppressive heat, just in time catching a glimpse of her vanquished opponent wilting in response to the same conditions. Radwanska into the second round after an enthralling battle 6-0 5-7 6-2.
Tsonga serves it up
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the tournament's tenth seed, and the player I have fearlessly and possibly stupidly selected to defeat both Federer and Murray en route to a semi final with Nadal, had the follow up match to Caro on Hisense Arena.
He had won the Hopman Cup with Alize Cornet, and played a match on Rod Laver Arena to commemorate Roger Federer - it must be the Fed's Diamond Jubilee or something he has been feted as much if not more than the Queen this past month.
His company today on court was somewhat less exalted, but in a part of Italy Filippo Volandri is loved. The 70th ranked player was as high as 25 in the world so theoretically his brand of tennis could stretch Tsonga but realistically not very far.
He needed to make a lot of excursions to the net and make them count to have an impact on the powerful groundstrokes of the French former Aus Open finalist. The heat today would make running back and forth to the net a rather thankless task especially with the likelihood of being passed frequently by Tsonga.
However for the first two games the two traded quality stuff, and Volandri appeared comfortable in this company.
Surprisingly the initial break came from Volandri's racquet work when he converted a break point in the third game with a sizzling backhand pass. Holding serve convincingly the Italian led 3-1 and murmurs of "we have a match" while not being heard could possibly be envisaged should this continue.
It didn't, and Jo-Wilfried restored a sense of order to the day by holding serve and then cashing in on some silly errors from Volandri.
3-3 became 6-5 to Tsonga as The French serve settled into a rhythm which Volandri could not contain. The famous Tsonga forehand was to the fore as well, it Filippo had some volleys of his own to donate to the table, and the tennis was good to watch. Unfortunately, it was a series of mistakes from Volandri that gifted the set to Tsonga in the finish 7-5
Tsonga continued in his push for impregnability on serve at the start of set 2, which perturbed Volandri no end. It became more difficult for the lower ranked player to hold his serve, because without the obvious weapons of Tsonga, he had to work that much harder, and the toil began to show.
On the scoreboard it took until the sixth game to be reflected due to Jo-Wilfried's incompetence on return of service. In the sixth game Tsonga rushed the net and caught his prey off guard - the rest of the game was mostly errors from Volandri all contributing to the break of serve required by the tenth seed.
Serves were held until the end of the set which was won by Tsonga 6-3 to lead by the two sets 7-5 6-3.
The third set saw Tsonga with chances to break early but these were wasted. The fifth game was the back breaker - errors flowed from the racquet of Volandri and at the end of the carnage Tsonga led 4-2
This became 5-2 on the back of another strong Tsonga service game and the final game was the eight game of the set.
The tenth seed won an 'at times' close encounter - his serve was solid, but his ground strokes need some further encouragement.
He had won the Hopman Cup with Alize Cornet, and played a match on Rod Laver Arena to commemorate Roger Federer - it must be the Fed's Diamond Jubilee or something he has been feted as much if not more than the Queen this past month.
His company today on court was somewhat less exalted, but in a part of Italy Filippo Volandri is loved. The 70th ranked player was as high as 25 in the world so theoretically his brand of tennis could stretch Tsonga but realistically not very far.
He needed to make a lot of excursions to the net and make them count to have an impact on the powerful groundstrokes of the French former Aus Open finalist. The heat today would make running back and forth to the net a rather thankless task especially with the likelihood of being passed frequently by Tsonga.
However for the first two games the two traded quality stuff, and Volandri appeared comfortable in this company.
Surprisingly the initial break came from Volandri's racquet work when he converted a break point in the third game with a sizzling backhand pass. Holding serve convincingly the Italian led 3-1 and murmurs of "we have a match" while not being heard could possibly be envisaged should this continue.
It didn't, and Jo-Wilfried restored a sense of order to the day by holding serve and then cashing in on some silly errors from Volandri.
3-3 became 6-5 to Tsonga as The French serve settled into a rhythm which Volandri could not contain. The famous Tsonga forehand was to the fore as well, it Filippo had some volleys of his own to donate to the table, and the tennis was good to watch. Unfortunately, it was a series of mistakes from Volandri that gifted the set to Tsonga in the finish 7-5
Tsonga continued in his push for impregnability on serve at the start of set 2, which perturbed Volandri no end. It became more difficult for the lower ranked player to hold his serve, because without the obvious weapons of Tsonga, he had to work that much harder, and the toil began to show.
On the scoreboard it took until the sixth game to be reflected due to Jo-Wilfried's incompetence on return of service. In the sixth game Tsonga rushed the net and caught his prey off guard - the rest of the game was mostly errors from Volandri all contributing to the break of serve required by the tenth seed.
Serves were held until the end of the set which was won by Tsonga 6-3 to lead by the two sets 7-5 6-3.
The third set saw Tsonga with chances to break early but these were wasted. The fifth game was the back breaker - errors flowed from the racquet of Volandri and at the end of the carnage Tsonga led 4-2
This became 5-2 on the back of another strong Tsonga service game and the final game was the eight game of the set.
The tenth seed won an 'at times' close encounter - his serve was solid, but his ground strokes need some further encouragement.
Caro revels in the heat
Danish 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki had opening duties together with Spain's Lourdes Dominguez Lino on Hisense Arena on Day 2 of Aus Open 2014. Lourdes began her professional tennis career as a 15 year old in 1996 so was not short of experience coming into the match. She lacked in performances at this level and at this event though, in comparison to Wozniacki who had made the semi final here in 2011.
Caro was recently engaged to champion golfer Rory McIlroy and the improvement in her game since that relationship blossomed could be easily seen.
On the front nine, Wozniacki was driving everything into court, her approach shots were landing on or near the lines, and she was sinking all her volleys. She started with a birdie and before long a course record for the Hisense Links was on the cards.
Unfortunately, things were not faring as well for Lourdes who already had hit a couple of balls out of bounds and was regularly coming up short or generally landing in trouble due to poor choice of club. She needed a caddy like Rory. Caro won the first six holes off Lourdes under match play rules and so took the first set 6-0.
Lourdes changed her driver for the back nine and the match evened up for awhile. Drives began to become inconsistent for Caro and better approaches left Lourdes with less to do from short range. The Spanish player won 2 of the first 3 on the back nine. A consult with Rory and a slight swing adjustment enabled Caro to once again take control of the match and she dominated the remaining holes, pressuring Lourdes into poor shot selection just to stay with the Danish former number one ranked female. (Sorry former number one ranked female tennis player)
The match was won 6-0 6-2 with the feature being Wozniacki's ability to use the whole court at most stages of the match, her volleying quite precise and effective and her backhand strong and reliable. I'd suggest keeping the three wood in the bag. It came in handy when down early in the second set.
Caro was recently engaged to champion golfer Rory McIlroy and the improvement in her game since that relationship blossomed could be easily seen.
On the front nine, Wozniacki was driving everything into court, her approach shots were landing on or near the lines, and she was sinking all her volleys. She started with a birdie and before long a course record for the Hisense Links was on the cards.
Unfortunately, things were not faring as well for Lourdes who already had hit a couple of balls out of bounds and was regularly coming up short or generally landing in trouble due to poor choice of club. She needed a caddy like Rory. Caro won the first six holes off Lourdes under match play rules and so took the first set 6-0.
Lourdes changed her driver for the back nine and the match evened up for awhile. Drives began to become inconsistent for Caro and better approaches left Lourdes with less to do from short range. The Spanish player won 2 of the first 3 on the back nine. A consult with Rory and a slight swing adjustment enabled Caro to once again take control of the match and she dominated the remaining holes, pressuring Lourdes into poor shot selection just to stay with the Danish former number one ranked female. (Sorry former number one ranked female tennis player)
The match was won 6-0 6-2 with the feature being Wozniacki's ability to use the whole court at most stages of the match, her volleying quite precise and effective and her backhand strong and reliable. I'd suggest keeping the three wood in the bag. It came in handy when down early in the second set.
Serena puts Ash to Ashes
The final match for Rod Laver Arena for the 13 January 2014 featured number one seed Serena Williams against Australian teenager Ash Barty. Already, the match had been decided in everyone's opinion - the question being asked was: what result in losing would be judged as acceptable for Barty?
The draw was harsh many were saying - "poor thing" patronised not a few, forgetting quickly that players of Barty's age in the not so distant past have performed amazing feats at this venue. She should have gone into this match with expectations of winning, and I trust that she did, ignoring the good wishes of those hoping that she might win a few games just to say she passed the test.
Barty began with authority and despite Serena's none too subtle attempts to intimidate (fairly mind you) held her nerve and serve to lead 1-0. At least she could place that fact on her resume. "Led 17 times Grand Slam title winner in 2014 Australian Open for a period of time"
Serena was a little out of sorts for about five to ten minutes before she put her skates on and rode roughshod over the top of the Australian, breaking her serve in the third game to lead 2-1 which became 3-1 soon enough once the Williams serve clicked into a higher gear (still saving the top gears and overdrive for a later time).
The pace with which Serena moves around the court and even before that with which she makes decisions - in almost all cases the correct ones - is breathtaking to witness, if not all that surprising anymore. Only one service break separated the two players, but the gulf was in reality massive and starkly so; Ash needed her pretty handy first serve to be reliable and it just let her down too often and on critical occasions, placing unwarranted pressure on her second serve which Serena took great delight in beating to a pulp.
Another break of serve and the set was over as a contest - the scoreline read 6-2 but that didn't show the scars worn by Barty from the hammering dished out by the worlds best female player.
Ash wasn't troubling Serena, only that the American would have preferred being back in her motel room right now. She also wasn't troubling the scorer for much of set number two, of which Serena took immediate ownership. Ash struggled along without anything to show for true effort until the fifth game which annoyingly for Serena, rolled the right way for the Australian, and she only trailed 1-4.
Enough of that thought the top seed who cruised through the next phase of tennis and won the match 6-2 6-1
Most pundits thought that Barty performed admirably under the circumstances but I think they cut her too much slack. She has played far better than that and her inconsistency contributed a great deal to the final result.
The draw was harsh many were saying - "poor thing" patronised not a few, forgetting quickly that players of Barty's age in the not so distant past have performed amazing feats at this venue. She should have gone into this match with expectations of winning, and I trust that she did, ignoring the good wishes of those hoping that she might win a few games just to say she passed the test.
Barty began with authority and despite Serena's none too subtle attempts to intimidate (fairly mind you) held her nerve and serve to lead 1-0. At least she could place that fact on her resume. "Led 17 times Grand Slam title winner in 2014 Australian Open for a period of time"
Serena was a little out of sorts for about five to ten minutes before she put her skates on and rode roughshod over the top of the Australian, breaking her serve in the third game to lead 2-1 which became 3-1 soon enough once the Williams serve clicked into a higher gear (still saving the top gears and overdrive for a later time).
The pace with which Serena moves around the court and even before that with which she makes decisions - in almost all cases the correct ones - is breathtaking to witness, if not all that surprising anymore. Only one service break separated the two players, but the gulf was in reality massive and starkly so; Ash needed her pretty handy first serve to be reliable and it just let her down too often and on critical occasions, placing unwarranted pressure on her second serve which Serena took great delight in beating to a pulp.
Another break of serve and the set was over as a contest - the scoreline read 6-2 but that didn't show the scars worn by Barty from the hammering dished out by the worlds best female player.
Ash wasn't troubling Serena, only that the American would have preferred being back in her motel room right now. She also wasn't troubling the scorer for much of set number two, of which Serena took immediate ownership. Ash struggled along without anything to show for true effort until the fifth game which annoyingly for Serena, rolled the right way for the Australian, and she only trailed 1-4.
Enough of that thought the top seed who cruised through the next phase of tennis and won the match 6-2 6-1
Most pundits thought that Barty performed admirably under the circumstances but I think they cut her too much slack. She has played far better than that and her inconsistency contributed a great deal to the final result.
Novak's 22nd in a row at Melbourne Park
First night session at Rod Laver Arena had as its first instalment Novak Djokovic returning from his scene of triumph a year less one fortnight ago. Not a perfect reunion since Andy Murray wasn't present - the opponent here would be Slovakia's Lukas Lacko. Also the Chair Umpire had been replaced by someone else.
Djokovic was gunning for four Aus Opens in succession, and the first round at night, whilst not exactly terrifying in prospect as part of the Serbian number two seed's plans for achieving that goal, was nevertheless compulsory to win and with that brought a unique pressure.
The first few games were scrappy, and Djokovic faced break points on his opening serve. If Lacko had converted one of them, the flow of the match will have differed - the result may not have changed but the route taken to it could have been more interesting. As it was, Djokovic, as he so often does to the mass annoyance of his opponents, saved the break points which he puts away in a collection box and gives as presents to friends and family at Christmas.
Novak revved up his Serbian engine at about what would end up being half way through set one, returning with all the precision of a vehicle built in a country other than Serbia, and defending as only Djokovic can. Proving that he is a worthy number two-wanting to return to-number one he released the Lacko shackles and broke serve once, enough to take the set 6-3.
Having been released, someone must have found Lukas wandering lost around Melbourne Park and returned him to Lost and Found. Once back on court, he resumed his position on the heels of Djokovic for the entire second set, a nagging pose to which Novak certainly took objection.
Lukas lost his serve at one point, but found it again and assisted Novak to misplace his and games went with the server until a tie break. Novak was growing tired of the Slovakian stalking him so ripped through the tiebreak for the loss of just the odd couple of points (that should read even if my memory of arithmetic is half decent)
Two sets up and Novak would be satisfied with the scoreline but not so much with his backhand which was acting like a spoilt child tonight, staying out when it was told several times to keep within the boundaries given and generally behaving erratically. Novak needed to introduce more discipline to the backhand.
Well the third set saw a return to the Djokovic that people know and love - at least a subset of people being his family, friends and fans. Holding serve with ease for the first two tries, and in between savaging the Lacko serve to achieve a 3-0 lead, the number two seed had sown another seed - and he reaped it with a third set win 6-1 to finalise proceedings 6-3 7-6 6-1.
Lukas Lacko came, he saw, and was conquered.
Djokovic was gunning for four Aus Opens in succession, and the first round at night, whilst not exactly terrifying in prospect as part of the Serbian number two seed's plans for achieving that goal, was nevertheless compulsory to win and with that brought a unique pressure.
The first few games were scrappy, and Djokovic faced break points on his opening serve. If Lacko had converted one of them, the flow of the match will have differed - the result may not have changed but the route taken to it could have been more interesting. As it was, Djokovic, as he so often does to the mass annoyance of his opponents, saved the break points which he puts away in a collection box and gives as presents to friends and family at Christmas.
Novak revved up his Serbian engine at about what would end up being half way through set one, returning with all the precision of a vehicle built in a country other than Serbia, and defending as only Djokovic can. Proving that he is a worthy number two-wanting to return to-number one he released the Lacko shackles and broke serve once, enough to take the set 6-3.
Having been released, someone must have found Lukas wandering lost around Melbourne Park and returned him to Lost and Found. Once back on court, he resumed his position on the heels of Djokovic for the entire second set, a nagging pose to which Novak certainly took objection.
Lukas lost his serve at one point, but found it again and assisted Novak to misplace his and games went with the server until a tie break. Novak was growing tired of the Slovakian stalking him so ripped through the tiebreak for the loss of just the odd couple of points (that should read even if my memory of arithmetic is half decent)
Two sets up and Novak would be satisfied with the scoreline but not so much with his backhand which was acting like a spoilt child tonight, staying out when it was told several times to keep within the boundaries given and generally behaving erratically. Novak needed to introduce more discipline to the backhand.
Well the third set saw a return to the Djokovic that people know and love - at least a subset of people being his family, friends and fans. Holding serve with ease for the first two tries, and in between savaging the Lacko serve to achieve a 3-0 lead, the number two seed had sown another seed - and he reaped it with a third set win 6-1 to finalise proceedings 6-3 7-6 6-1.
Lukas Lacko came, he saw, and was conquered.
Thompson a future prospect - not today though
Jordan Thompson was the first Australian for me to see in action at this years Open and he reached the main draw by way of winning the wild card play off in November. His task in the first round was to battle Poland's great hope and last years surprise Wimbledon semi finalist Jerzy Janowicz, seeded 20 here in 2014.
However, Jerzy had not travelled well since his dizzy heights on grass in London, not that the effects of the grass caused him discomfort. Only seven wins from 14 matches for the rest of 2013, coupled with a loss in his single 2014 outing to a player ranked outside the top 50, were not the stuff for building a solid CV.
Against youthful and inexperienced Thompson it shouldn't matter too much - this would be relatively straightforward one suspected. Which one that was is still to be determined.
The early running saw Thompson matching it with Janowicz in all parts and games went with serve until 1-2 with Jerzy to deliver. With unexpected poise and willingness to attack, Thompson pressured Janowicz into error and achieved a break of serve that not many had predicted for him.
The momentum stuck with the young Aussie as he cemented the break to lead 4-1,
Knowing that a double break could just about seal the set, Jordan set about destroying Jerzy's next attempts from the line. All over the court like a cat, Thompson harried Janowicz into poor decision making, and ultimately the serve was dropped. Thompson led 5-1 with serve to come. Despite some excellent backhands from Jerzy, it was Jordan who hung tough when it mattered and a forehand winner underscored a most impressive 6-1 first set win.
I left the match at this point to attend to other commitments but kept an eye on the scores - Thompson won the second set to lead 6-1 6-4 but experience told and Janowicz won through 1-6 4-6 6-4 6-2 6-1. An excellent debut performance from an Australian ranked in the 300s. Fighting qualities from Janowicz bode well for later in the tournament.
However, Jerzy had not travelled well since his dizzy heights on grass in London, not that the effects of the grass caused him discomfort. Only seven wins from 14 matches for the rest of 2013, coupled with a loss in his single 2014 outing to a player ranked outside the top 50, were not the stuff for building a solid CV.
Against youthful and inexperienced Thompson it shouldn't matter too much - this would be relatively straightforward one suspected. Which one that was is still to be determined.
The early running saw Thompson matching it with Janowicz in all parts and games went with serve until 1-2 with Jerzy to deliver. With unexpected poise and willingness to attack, Thompson pressured Janowicz into error and achieved a break of serve that not many had predicted for him.
The momentum stuck with the young Aussie as he cemented the break to lead 4-1,
Knowing that a double break could just about seal the set, Jordan set about destroying Jerzy's next attempts from the line. All over the court like a cat, Thompson harried Janowicz into poor decision making, and ultimately the serve was dropped. Thompson led 5-1 with serve to come. Despite some excellent backhands from Jerzy, it was Jordan who hung tough when it mattered and a forehand winner underscored a most impressive 6-1 first set win.
I left the match at this point to attend to other commitments but kept an eye on the scores - Thompson won the second set to lead 6-1 6-4 but experience told and Janowicz won through 1-6 4-6 6-4 6-2 6-1. An excellent debut performance from an Australian ranked in the 300s. Fighting qualities from Janowicz bode well for later in the tournament.
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