Australian Open 2005

[Jasmine]

tall_one said:

that was exactly what i was thinking during the last set of the Federer/Agassi match when Agassi was serving. It was like Roger wasn't even trying, he was just practicing some of his least favorite shots (like the bh down the line), just toying with Agassi because he knew that he could hold his serve. it was kind of scary in a way.

Totally agree with you, Nicki. I must admit that, now, Roger plays like he's in another lever, higher from everyone. That's why his games are beautiful but boring. Anyway, I'm still confident that Marat and Andy can shift to that level too.
Oh gosh! How can I watch the match? It's on Friday, I have to work. Hope they set Marat in Evening session, not Lleyton pleassssss.

[sirius]

Federer, Safin Simply Stunning
by Damian Glass
Tuesday, 25 January, 2005


Roger Federer and Marat Safin have set up a semi-final showdown at Australian Open 2005 after both dominated their quarter-finals on Day Nine at Melbourne Park. Federer was simply awesome in defeating four-time champion Andre Agassi 6-3 6-4 6-4 in balmy conditions for the night session on Rod Laver Arena.

It has been 26 matches since Federer lost a singles match and at no stage during his clash with Agassi did the American look like he was going to break the world No.1's winning streak.

Right from the start of the match a familiar pattern emerged with games going on serve until the sixth game of the first set when Federer broke Agassi's serve for the first time to take a 4-2 lead.

With a first serve percentage of 66 for the match - including 22 aces - Federer's serve was near impenetrable all night. The only time it appeared vulnerable was when Federer served for the first set, but Agassi was unable to take advantage of four chances to break back.

These were the only chances Agassi had all night to break serve and Federer eventually claimed the first set 6-3.

In contrast, Agassi's serve was only broken three times in the match but, significantly, Federer was able to put pressure on him by breaking serve in the first game of the second and third sets.

Federer controlled the match at every level and although he made 11 more unforced errors than Agassi (31 to 20), he accumulated 46 winners compared to 13 for Agassi.

If the Swiss was impressive in defeating Agassi, No.4 seed Safin was not far behind him in defeating Dominik Hrbaty in straight sets, 6-2 6-4 6-2

Playing under a closed roof on Rod Laver Arena in the afternoon, Safin took just 90 minutes to dispose of Hrbaty.

Despite a relatively low first serve percentage of 49, the big Russian powered down 14 aces and hit 33 winners to completely outplay the Slovakian.

In the past, Hrbaty had troubled Safin in with the pair sharing the honours in 12 matches. The last time they met in the Australian Open was 2001 and it was Hrbaty who recorded a comfortable straight sets victory in the fourth-round.

However, in 2005 Safin appears to be peaking at the right time and after his win, the Russian admitted that the victory over Hrbaty was the best he has played in the tournament.

Although the scoreboard made the match look relatively easy, Safin also revealed that the secret to his success was changing the way he played Hrbaty.

"After the first couple of games that I was a little bit tense, I found out myself how to play against him, what I have to do," Safin said.

"That's why it looks a little bit so easy. But on the court is completely different. You feel different because the way he plays, he plays really fast, flat balls."

"If you're going to rally and try to beat him, his game, it's really difficult. So basically you have to change something, try to play with more slice, if you change, if you play smart against him, of course it was easy by the numbers."

Perhaps the biggest catalyst for Safin's victory came before the match as the temperature hovered around the 35-degree mark and the tournament's Extreme Heat Policy was enacted, ensuring the roof would be closed.

It was a decision that Safin believed favoured him more than Hrbaty, who is regarded as one of the fittest and hardest working players on the men's tour.

"We were discussing it (in the locker room)," Safin said. "I said, 'they're going to close the roof'. I could see that he wanted to really play with the heat. But playing in the heat is an advantage for him. Really, honestly, I preferred to play against him in indoors, it's much better."

[sirius]

Safin Dominates Hrbaty
Tuesday, 25 January, 2005


Men's No.4 seed and 2004 runner-up Marat Safin has eased into the semi-finals of Australian Open 2005 with a 6-2 6-4 6-2 victory over Slovakian No.20 seed Dominik Hrbaty in just 90 minutes.

Safin, who also made the final in 2002, broke Hrbaty's serve six times on his way through to the semis, where he awaits the winner of the night match between world No.1 Roger Federer and four-time champion and No.8 seed Andre Agassi.

The Russian has been in solid form throughout the tournament so far, dropping only two sets - one each in his third-round match against Croatian Mario Ancic and the fourth-round clash with Belgian Olivier Rochus.
Safin served 14 aces, Hrbaty 2

• Safin put 49% of his first serves into play, Hrbaty 44%

• Safin won 88% of points on his first serve, Hrbaty 63%

• Safin hit 33 winners, Hrbaty 12

• Safin won 85 points, Hrbaty 56

• Safin made 21 unforced errors, Hrbaty 29

• Safin converted 6 of 8 break point chances, Hrbaty 1 of 4

• Safin's fastest serve was clocked at 222 km/h, Hrbaty's at 213 km/h

[sirius]

oh yeah. about what maria said about the box today...i did see gerard...when they showed peter....but they didn't show the back row..so i didn't see dasha.

[Magda]

woohoo the match was so good !! It was worth sleeping only 2 hours!! The begining was disappointing though. I wanted to kill him coz I waited for this match since 4am till 5.30 . But then he was playing better and better so Magster was satisfied and could go sleep at 7am which was not as bad as I expected ;D. Well, the statistic say everything about this match. I'm just wondering what was the percentage of backhand winners... He really played great backhand today .
Now the semis with Roger........ Hmmm.... I'm not going to predict anything.... I'm afraid he won't make it , but fingers crossed!!!

EDIT: yup, I saw Dasha too

[SAFINNO1]

YAY marat wins again and now the fedman .
I really honestly can see a big win for safin as long as he plays well.

Some more from fedrerer interview.

Q. Do you think Safin will offer you more problems than Andre did tonight?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, I expect a tougher match, that's clear. I always expect five setters, or being down breaks or, you know, worst case scenario. And for this reason, I expect a tougher match.

Q. Does he have different weapons to attack you?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, he's got the bigger serve. That's going to make it maybe more difficult maybe to break. But, again, we only will see after the match what happened.
I think also the record here for him speaks for itself, how much he likes this surface. Of course, it's an even more interesting match just because of who's coaching him. But I'm happy I'm through that, that I played him, I got that match away in Houston. So for this reason I can really concentrate on the match itself and not thinking about who's sitting in his corner, you know.
But I expect a tough one, yeah. That's clear. He's playing well. He had good matches so far.

[christina]

that was the best way to start an exam day! thank you marat for winning so easily so i could go back to bed, and i think my first public exam of the year went okay because marat winning made me happy ;D

yeah, he was awesome, well not quite top level awesome, but almost, i was discussing the match with my dad for like ages this afternoon, him breaking his finger has its benefits, and we were both saying hrbaty never looked like he could hurt marat at all, it was almost too easy for marat, which is good, his 1st serve to the deuce court.....100% points won off it!!!!!!!! JeeJ.....that is one top banana stat!!! ;D

so, jesus up next....ah well, on his birthday n all, my dad was telling me not to be so d*mn negative, saying marat has a chance and all but well its Fed and we all know how he played against baldy, so even if marat doesn't win i won't be too disappointed, if he pushes him all the way and makes a huge effort and cares about every point, like he so clearly did today, even on points it really didnt matter if he missed, he was berating himself which showed how badly he wanted to win ;D ;D

so all i can say, yeah bring on the fedster, have a go marat, even if you don't win it doesn't matter because its fed and there's no disgrace in losing to him ;D ;D

[christina]

yep i saw dasha too, looked good....

....pics from gotennis.com





oew cr*p this is gonna take me ages....over a whole page of marat photos























that took an hour....appreciate!

[kasey]

Christina well said!! Although, wouldnt it just be so so great if he beat him...what a bday pressie that would be ;D

[pau]

kasey said:

wouldnt it just be so so great if he beat him...what a bday pressie that would be ;D

yes, indeed !!!!
Today Davydenko vs. Roddick and Hewitt vs. Nalbandian, goshhhhh, I don't know what to do, I want Hewitt to win coz, well he is an aussie in australia, but, on the other hand, Nalbandian is a latin, and I like him very much, I mean not as I like Marat, but I believe he plays soo good, and he deserves to win but Hewitt deserves it too, so....... well it doesn't matter who wins, it'll make me happy. GO GO MARAT!!!! ;D

[Rucinski]

Thanks for the pics Christina
Good to know Marat won the match and playing so good Now Federer, I don't think no one can beat him, and Marat is my hope to be the first one, so GO MARAT, you can kick his a** ;D
I'm sure I'm gonna watch this match cus it's Federer and ESPN loves him cus I couldn't see Marat vs. Hrbaty (sp)
PD: It had been ages since the last time we saw Dasha, maybe they broke up and now they're together again, just a guess ;D

[pau]

Rucinski said:

GO MARAT, you can kick his a** ;D

u took the words out of my mouth

[Rucinski]

Pau... Good to know you're positive

His butt looks good in this pic

[Jasmine]

Tomorrow schedule just launched. I always thought the final four will play in the same day. But Marat'll turn "Querter for a Century" years old by taking on Roger at 7.30pm Melbourne time.
Wow! Such an exciting BD. Hope at the end of the day we won't feel like his 22nd BD. I think AO can't decide which matches should be on Evening, so they put them all there. Gosh, I must take leave for a half day for his match.

[Vlad]

Here is a game plan to beat Roger



1. Start very well and being very aggressive and focused from the FIRST point.

Sometimes Marat tends to start kind of lazy and then being forced to play catch up.
If he starts with missing first serves and few unforced errors, Roger can gain even more confidence and will let his shots fly. Marat will need to try to put him out of his comfort zone immediately.

2. BIG POINTS. BIG POINTS.

One or two points can make a huge difference in a match. Marat will need to fire his first serves at crucial points (breakpoints down and in tiebreaks). Another thing is breaking Roger's serve. Marat can not afford to be something like 1 for 9 in breakpoints converted. If he gets one or two chance in a set, he gotta take advantage of it.

3. Serve extremely well.

First serve:
Roger is serving better and better and can very well be top 5 server in the game right now. He made 22 aces in his match against Agassi. Marat will need to have his 1st serve % in high 50s or even 60s to be competitive. Most importanly he will need to serve great on big points.

Second serve:

Marat's second serve is better this year. He will need to vary his spins, speed and location of his second serves to not allow Fed run around and rip his forehands. He can not afford to keep hitting to his backhand exclusively.

4. Come to net

Come to net only a great approach shot, otherwise Fed is gonna be passing.

5. Rip forehands

Marat's forehand is one of his weakest shots and he can't allow to hit it to the center of the court with no depth. Play it aggresively, the same way he played in Houston, even though he made few more mistakes with it, it didn't allow Fed to take control of the point

6. Engage in more backhand to backhands rallies than fh to fh.

Fed's forehand is much better than Marat's. He will need to try to avoid that shot as often as possible.

7. Aggressive second serve returns and blocking first serves.

Roger directs his first serves as well as anybody. If Marat will try to hit every first serve hard, he will be missing a lot of them. He will need to block wide serves deep into Fed's backhand and then rally. On second serves, he need to be relatively aggressive and gain control of the point.

8. Slice some of backhands to Roger's backhand to throw him off the rythm

I think Roger is struggling somewhat with very high and very low balls on his backhand side. Marat can not hit loopy shots, so he will need to slice very low once in a while.


9. God, please let it rain on Thursday, so they will close that roof!!!

10. Roger, don't play your A game....


Amen.



what do you guys think? Will it work?