Australian Open - Day 8

avatar

Another bitter sweet day with bad news at the Australian Open. It should have been a day full of excitement but not today. Let's jump right to it and see what's happened.

image.png

Mackenzie McDonald vs Daniil Medvedev

This match looked like an easy one, without surprises and that's what it was. Medvedev was in control all the time, doing what he does best, played high quality tennis. McDonald tried to keep up with him, but he's not at Medvedev's level and that was clearly visible. They were done in 3 sets, that lasted one and a half hours.

image.pngsource

Andrey Rublev vs Casper Ruud

Last year at the last tennis tournament, it was the ATP 1000 I said Rublev is the luckiest guy in the world and today I can clearly confirm it. At the ATP 1000 he had two opponents who had to retire either in the middle of the match, or before due to injury. Lucky Rublev got off without exhausting himself in 3 or 5 hour matches.

Today Casper Ruud had to quit the game due to an injury after one hour and seventeen minutes. So Rublev didn't even get tired.

image.png
source

Fabio Fognini vs Rafae Nadal

Secretly I was hoping Fognini can work some kind of magic and beat Nadal. Fognini is a good player, Nadal was dealing with some kind of injury at the beginning of the tournament, so there was some hope for that to happen, but it didn't.

The first set was like a warm-up session for both, then Fognini's game got better and there was hope for a different outcome, but it didn't happen. Nadal played like a world No. 2 and eliminated Fognini.

Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Matteo Berrettini

This was the match I was really looking for. These are two young and very talented players. Would have been the best match of the day but Berettini could not play due to his previous injury. He was accusing abdominal pain in the last game he played with Karen Khachanov, asked for medical attention, the doctor gave him a massage. He seemed fine, could finish and win the match, but today we had to find out he's suffered an abdominal strain.

I'm really sad we didn't get to see them playing but on the other hand i know it was the right decision as he could not give 100% on the court and would have lost, plus would have made his situation even worse.

These were my predictions for today:

  • Mackenzie McDonald vs Daniil Medvedev - Daniil Medvedev - correct
  • Andrey Rublev vs Casper Ruud - Andrey Rublev - correct
  • Fabio Fognini vs Rafael Nadal - Rafael Nadal - correct
  • Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Matteo Berrettini - Stefanos Tsitsipas - correct

this is 4 out of 4 bit two matches were not played in normal conditions.

These are my predictions for tomorrow:

  • Grigor Dimitrov vs Aslan Karatsev - Grigor Dimitrov
  • Novak Djokovic vs Alexander Zverev - Novak Djokovic
  • Serena Williams vs Simona Halep - Simona Halep
  • Hsieh Su-wei - Naomi Osaka - Naomi Osaka


0
0
0.000