Guess how I started my morning? With a run down the Yarra and breakfast at the hotel. Then it was down the Yarra for the one mile walk to the tennis center. You could tell it was going to be a hot one today, we were sweating like crazy on the walk over. It ended up close to 100 degrees but the breeze made it not feel like a 100 degree day in Atlanta.
Who did I see today?
Petra Kvitova v Vera Dushevina - Kvitova is the two seed and had little trouble in this match. She won Wimbledon last year(?) and looks like she could overtake Wozniacki for the one seed this year. She is powerful, can chase balls down, and has an arsenal of winners she can hit. Which most women don't have. The women's game consists mostly of girls who can get the ball back to the other side of the net. This will win matches when you play girls that make errors but if your opponent can return the ball and hit winners, you are in trouble.
Novak Djokovic v Paolo Lorenzi - Competitive start to this match ended with Djokovic winning the last 15 or so games to win 2, 0, and 0. Kind of like what happens when I beat my brother on the court.
Sorana Cirstea v Samantha Stosur - Stosur won the last major of 2011, the US Open, and is from Australia. A crowd favorite, a hope to win the Aussie Open by a native. And she played terribly. Sam is built like a brick hithouse with muscles that would make Albert Pujols proud. But she made ~300 unforced errors and Cirstea was hitting winners all over the court. Sam lost in straight sets and the crowd was deflated.
Lleyton Hewitt v Cedric-Marcel Stebe - Hewitt has played every one of his singles matches on Rod Laver Arena for years and it was no different this year despite being ranked #181 in the world. Stebe put up a good fight and had a chance to take it to the fifth set when he got to 5-2 but he froze up and couldn't put Lleyton away. And Lleyton put on his normal show of "C'mon!"s and fist pumps and looking at his hot wife in the player's box after every point. And the crowd loved it. I wish the US had an over the hill, annoying former champion that everyone loved. Oh wait, hi Andy Roddick!
Serena Williams v Tamira Paszek - Serena was about 100 lbs heavier than Tamira and steamrolled her. Serena was making errors but her powerful serve and ability to defend and hit winners was too much for Tamira.
We actually left during the second set and caught the last game or two back in the hotel room sometime around 12:30am. And then it was bedtime, the Yarra run is only a few hours away!
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