Milestone run in Aussie open ends in semis for Huey

TREAT Huey and Slovenian partner Andreja Klepac ended their milestone run at the Australian Open on Friday, bowing in the mixed doubles semifinals to the pair of Horia Tecau and Coco Vandeweghe, 6-4, 6-4.

Playing as curtain-raisers to the day’s blockbuster matches at Rod Laver Arena, Huey and Klepac simply found no answer to their foes’ unbreakable service games.

Still, the feat was unprecedented for the 30-year-old Filipino-American, who gained the admiration of the match commentators for being “the first Filipino to make the semifinals of a [men’s] Grand Slam event.”

“It was a big thrill for me playing my first semifinal in a Grand Slam,” Huey told the Inquirer. “Great run here in the Australian Open and great start to the season.”

Huey, whose mother is a Filipino based in Virginia, was in his elements, scoring off weak returns at the net to complement the solid groundstrokes of his partner.

But Tecau of Romania, the reigning Wimbledon men’s doubles champion, and the American Vandeweghe leaned on their superb service game and faced break point just twice in the match.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Djokovic sees off Federer fight-back to reach Australian Open final

Top seed Novak Djokovic saw off a thrilling fight-back by his great rival Roger Federer to reach his sixth Australian Open final and fifth consecutive Grand Slam title match on Thursday.

The Serbian world number one downed third seed Federer 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours, 19 minutes and will face either Andy Murray or Milos Raonic in Sunday’s final.

It was the 45th meeting between the two greats with Djokovic now edging ahead of Federer 23-22 in their head-to-head duels.

The amazing Serb continued his recent domination over the 17-time Grand Slam champion and on Sunday, he will become the first man in the Open era to contest six Australian Open finals.

“I played an unbelievable first two sets but that is what is necessary against Roger as he has been playing at a very high level in this tournament,” Djokovic said.

“I knew he was going to be aggressive and mix up the pace and try to come to the net, but I came out with the right intensity with great concentration and I executed everything perfect.

“But it was a battle in the end.”

It will also be Djokovic’s 19th Grand Slam final overall and he moves into equal-third place with Ivan Lendl on the all-time list of most appearances in major finals, which is headed by Federer.

The 10-time Grand Slam champion was in sensational form in the opening two sets, carving up Federer in their 15th Grand Slam encounter with his fabulous groundstrokes for the loss of only three games in just 54 breathless minutes.

He broke Federer’s first service to 15 and then held his serve to lead 3-0, winning 12 of the first 14 points.

The Swiss third seed was broken again in the sixth game, netting a forehand with Djokovic in full cry.

Djokovic’s 6-1 first set was his easiest opening-set win over Federer. He won 24 points to 11, with the rushed Swiss making 12 unforced errors.

Federer was broken to love in the third game in a similar start to the second set, with the world number one able to do no wrong. He broke again in the fifth game and made it two sets to love with less than an hour gone.

Four-time winner Federer probed for a way back in, with the Australian crowd urging him on, and he broke Djokovic for the first time in the sixth game of the third set.

The Swiss was finally putting pressure on Djokovic and he claimed the third set on his third set point, to a thunderous roar on Rod Laver Arena.

But both players had to cool their heels as play was delayed to enable the stadium roof to be closed ahead of expected rain, making for indoor playing conditions.

Djokovic broke Federer for a fifth time in the match in a sensational eighth game of the fourth set, featuring a forehand return winner for the break, and he safely served out for the match in the following game.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Djokovic survives Simon to reach Australian Open quarterfinal

MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic survived a frustrating five-setter against Gilles Simon at the Australian Open on Sunday, spraying 100 unforced errors on Rod Laver Arena before reaching the quarterfinals for the 27th consecutive Grand Slam.

That’s rarified territory for the five-time and defending champion, equaling Jimmy Connors’ career mark of consecutive quarterfinals — only Roger Federer has done better with his 36.

“These are the tournaments that we value the most and to be able to always come up with the best performance in the Grand Slams, of course I’m very proud of it and hopefully I can keep going,” he said.

Top-ranked Djokovic won 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in four hours, 32 minutes and will meet No. 7 Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals.

A man in the crowd yelled out during the post-match, on-court interview that Djokovic should give up on the drop shots — some of which were incredibly ill-advised against Simon and contributed to the most startling statistic of the match.

“OK, thanks buddy,” Djokovic responded with a laugh. “I hate to say that but you are absolutely right.”

Centuries are celebrated across the train tracks at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but not in the unforced errors column at Rod Laver.

“I made a lot of unforced errors today,” Djokovic admitted. “Nevertheless, he was fighting. He was playing well. Physically very demanding. I’m just happy to get through this one.”

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova confirmed their quarterfinal date with comparatively routine straight-sets wins, ensuring a rematch between last year’s finalists.

Fifth-seeded Sharapova fired a career-high 21 aces and hit 58 winners in her 7-5, 7-5 win over Belinda Bencic, converting her second match point with a successful challenge after her forehand was initially called long.

Six-time champion Williams, who has won 18 of her 20 matches against Sharapova, including the last 17, had a 55-minute, 6-2, 6-1 win over Margarita Gasparyan.

Williams won 26 matches in a row at the majors last season, capturing the Australian, French and Wimbledon titles and reaching the semifinals at the U.S. Open before a stunning loss to Roberta Vinci ended her run for the season slam.

That’s the driving factor here.

“For my whole career I have been motivated by losses. So that’s just been my thing,” she said. “So each time I take a loss, I feel like I get better.”

Asked if her unbeaten run against Sharapova gave her extra confidence, the 21-time major winner said it didn’t matter who she was playing.

“I just feel like I’m really confident in my game right now, not against her or against any other opponent” in particular, Williams said. “I’m just really looking at me right now, and I feel like if I can just continue to play well, then it could be good.”

Under bright sunshine after the roof was opened following morning rain, Williams was broken in the opening game — her only point coming from an ace — but quickly found her groove and won 12 of the next 14.

Margaret Court, the Australian great who won 24 Grand Slam singles titles and has a court named in her honor at Melbourne Park, was in the crowd watching Williams.

“Well, gosh, I didn’t know she was here, I feel honored to be able to play in front of her,” Williams said. “Thank you.”

“Obviously, 24 is close, but yet it’s so far away,” Williams said of Court’s career record.

Sharapova won consecutive matches against Williams in 2004 at Wimbledon and the season-ending championships, but hasn’t won since. It’s a statistic she tries to block from her mind.

“It’s not like I think about what I can do worse. You’re always trying to improve,” she said. “I got myself into the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam. There is no reason I shouldn’t be looking to improve and to getting my game in a better position than any other previous round. It’s only going to be tougher, especially against Serena.

“I look forward to playing the best in the world and that’s what she’s proven in the last year.”

Sharapova, the 2008 champion and four-time finalist, had to play under an indoor match because play started while it was lightly raining, but the roof was open for Williams.

No. 7-seeded Nishikori was the first male player through to the quarterfinals, beating No. 9-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych advanced 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 over Roberto Bautista Agut and will play the winner of the night match between five-time champion Federer and No. 15-seeded David Goffin.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Tennis: Wozniacki crashes out of Aussie Open

Melbourne, Australia — Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki crashed out of the Australian Open at the first hurdle Monday after tossing away a one-set lead against Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.

The Dane, who remains one of the most marketable players in tennis despite never winning a major in 35 attempts, again failed to break her Grand Slam drought.

She romped through the first set against the 76th-ranked Putintseva but as the Kazakh’s confidence grew, Wozniacki struggled to cope with her opponent’s baseline game and went down 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 in 3hrs 12 mins.

“I can’t believe I won the match,” said 21-year-old Putintseva, who was shaking with nerves in her courtside interview and revealed she battled through blisters on her feet and toes.

“I was very nervous in the first set because I am not used to playing on such a big court. But then I got a bit more used to it.”

Her reward is a second round-clash with Chinese wildcard Han Xinyun, and a potential fourth-round encounter with world number one Serena Williams.

It was a disappointing start to the year for Wozniacki, who has struggled to regain the form that saw her end 2010 and 2011 as world number one.

She won in Malaysia last year but other highlights were few and far between.

Capping off her misery, she cut her finger badly with a bread knife and withdrew from the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, southern China, in November.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Lleyton Hewitt to be honored at 2016 Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia — Former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt has a wild card into January’s Australian Open to mark a record 20th-straight appearance in his national tennis Grand Slam, which is also likely to be his last.

The 34-year-old Hewitt, now ranked No. 296, had his best result when he finished runner-up in 2005 but hasn’t been past the second round in the last three years.

Tournament director Craig Tiley told reporters at the launch of the 2016 Open on Tuesday “we want to celebrate the great career Lleyton’s had but we need to sit down and talk with him because he will also want to focus on doing the best he can at the Open.”

Tiley said prize money for 2016 would rise by 10 percent to A$44 million ($32-million).

source: sports.inquirer.net