Medibank International

[Borry]

Starts today in Sydney. Hewitt begins his title defence against Karol Beck.

 

[Borry]

Arthurs just won his round one match 7-6 6-7 6-3 against Italian Fillippo Volandri. 18 year old Australian Sophie Ferguson is currently on court against Magadena Maleeva and is up a break 3-1 in the first set.

Phillipoussis has pulled out and if he bombs out in the Australian Open he will drop out of the top 200 and could find himself playing on the secondary tour to resurrect his career.

 

[Bomber Spirit]

Had a very enjoyable evening on centre court tonight. The main match was Conchita Martinez v Elina Denilodou (sp?), which turned out to be a 3-set classic. Unlike most of the mens' matches, which are dominated by 200km/h+ aces, this match had some amazing rallies and some of the passing shots were unbelievable.
In the end, Denilodou got up 3-6 6-4 6-4 in a match that went well over 2 hours; and combined with the evening session starting late it meant that we were there till well after midnight for the doubles, which saw the 2nd seeded Bryan brothers bow out in straight sets against Damm & Palmer.

 

[Russian]

Anastasia Myskina thrashed 6/1 6/3 by Chinese qualifier Shuai Peng. 33 unforced errors to 8.

Earlier, Molik won 7/6 6/1

Lleyton is next

 

[Borry]

Hewitt got up 6-1 6-2, barely a challenge for him.

 

[crazzzy_grrl]

Hewitt got up 6-1 6-2, barely a challenge for him.

Saw some highlights on the news, looked very easy for him

Johansson also won, 6-4 6-3

 

[Funkalicous]

Hewitt got up 6-1 6-2, barely a challenge for him.

His opponent was disgraceful. How do you expect to put the pressure back on Hewitt with all those pre-school-esque unforced errors?

What you want from our world class tennis players (Hewitt and Molik) is a difficult high quality match that they win. This makes sure they're prepared for any situation in the grand slam. Molik had to dig herself out of trouble at one stage, but Hewitt's match was a waste of time.

 

[Total Power]

I agree, Beck is a dud.He faced hewitt in last years US open too if i am not mistaken and got killed.

 

[Russian]

Joachim Johansson retired hurt with a hamstring strain he did at training yesterday, trailing 1-4 in the first set.
Hewitt has won 6-2, 6-4, was down 0-3 in the 2nd

Quarter final matchups:
Lleyton Hewitt [1] v Thomas Johansson [7]
Max Mirnyi v Taylor Dent [8]
Ivo Minar (Q) v Andrei Pavel [4]
Feliciano Lopez [6] v Radek Stepanek

Lindsay Davenport [1] v Samantha Stosur (W)
Elena Dementieva [3] v Patty Schnyder [7]
Alicia Molik [6] v Fabiola Zuluaga
Nadia Petrova [5] v Shaui Peng (Q)

 

[Funkalicous]

Lindsay Davenport [1] v Samantha Stosur (W)

Good luck!

 

[Russian]

Johansson won in two tiebreaks so Joachim and Jaslyn's brothers will play each other tomorrow

 

[crazzzy_grrl]

Johansson won in two tiebreaks so Joachim and Jaslyn's brothers will play each other tomorrow

Wrong Johansson. Thats Thomas Johansson (no relation to Joachim). Joachim had to retire hurt and is heading down to Melbourne for tests to see if he'll be alright to play

 

[Bomber Spirit]

Here's a few piccies I took out there today - and it was bloody hot:

Lleyton serves:

Hewitt receives from Clement:

Wayne Arthurs serves to Thomas Johansson:

 

[Bomber Spirit]

Arthurs returns serve, but it's just wide:

Alicia Molik in action in her straight-sets win:

 

[Russian]

The 2 quarters played so far both ended with a retirement. Petrova withdrew trailing 3/6 2/4, Dent withdrew leading 4/3 in the first. Dent with a virus, Petrova due to the heat

Semi finals:
Hewitt/T.Johansson v Max Mirnyi
Minar/Pavel v Radek Stepanek

Davenport/Stosur v Elena Dementieva
Alicia Molik v Peng Shuai

 

[Russian]

Molik breaks twice and drops just one service point to take the first set 6-1

 

[Russian]

Two breaks and only 1 dropped service point I saw in the second set too for a 6-1 6-2 victory

 

[Funkalicous]

Two breaks and only 1 dropped service point I saw in the second set too for a 6-1 6-2 victory

WOW! That's some win. I'm dissapointed I missed it. Good to see Hewitt won aswell. Thomas Johanson gave him a good match in the second set

 

[Snickers]

Alicia and Lleyton will both win the Aus Open.

 

[Benno_900]

Davenport has withdrawn from the tournament, i think because of some breathing difficulties, meaning Stosur joins Molik in the semis.

 

[BomberGal]

WOW! That's some win. I'm dissapointed I missed it. Good to see Hewitt won aswell. Thomas Johanson gave him a good match in the second set

For awhile. Plenty of stupid errors from Johannson though. He had real problems with his forehand, some very casual and loose hits there, wouldn't want to go into next week with that.

 

[Russian]

They're saying Davenport has bronchitis. 3 retirements in 8 games.

Semis:
Lleyton Hewitt v Max Mirnyi
Ivo Minar v Radek Stepanek

Samantha Stosur v Elena Dementieva
Alicia Molik v Peng Shuai

Should get two Aussie winners from here

 

[Russian]

Two walkovers in a row and Samantha Stosur is into another final. The Molik semi is tonight, coverage on 7 from 8:30, then Stosur and Bryanne Stewart are supposed to play the doubles final against Dementieva and someone but considering Dementieva didn't play singles that's probably a default too.

Men's final is number 1 seed and world number 3 Lleyton Hewitt against world number 231 Ivo Minar who was unseeded in qualifying and had only played 2 matches on the ATP tour before this tournament.

 

[red+black]

Start of 2003 was #245
Start of 2004 was #163

Now at #59 (and another final coming up), she is closing in on Pratt #53 and the Top 50.

 

[Borry]

Should get an all Aussie womens singles final. How long since we last saw that. Hewitt should win his fourth Sydney title. Molik should get up in the womens.