Marina Stakusic lost her AO qualifying match to Canadian killer Nao Hibino (I swear she loves playing Canadians because she usually wins lol). On the plus side, Rebecca Marino was gifted a spot in the Aussie Open main draw with the withdrawal of Pliskova.
Joao Fonseca won his opening AO qualify8ing match dropping only four games (a bagel in set 2 as well). Alexis Galarneau was not as lucky as he battled hard and served for the match at 5-4 in set 3, but ultimately lost to Lukas Klein of Slovakia 4-6 6-3 7-5
Shapo and Felix are both in action later today in Adelaide, Shapo gets Marcos Giron while Felix faces Arthur Cazaux. If both Felix and Denis win their respective matches, they will clash in the quarter-finals.
Both Hewitt and Tomic lost. Hard to believe Tomic is 32 now.
He's still slogging it out on the Challenger tour. He has over 6 million in career earnings, but you have to ask what could have been as the talent is undeniable.
Joao Fonseca vs Coleman Wong tonight will be an awesome match and a shame they have to meet this early. Wong at 20 years old is the best Hong Kong player ever and comes out of Rafa's academy.
So it's kind of Fed vs Rafa haha
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Shapo lost to Giron in straight sets (9 aces to 13 double faults for Denis), but Felix just now won a tough three-setter over Cazaux after getting bread sticked in the opening set.
Nice win for Jakub Mensik over top seed Ben Shelton in Auckland overnight. Over 2 1/2 hours the guys battled and Shelton saved a handful of match points before going down to defeat 7-6 4-6 7-5 at the hands of the Czech.
Yeah, just want Fonseca to make the main draw now - Of course, watch him play Felix or Denis in round 1 lol
Well at least he would have a good chance of advancing. Denis was really good against Zhang and next match against Giron his serve totally abandoned him so he's always beatable because you never know which Denis will show up. Felix should have lost to Cazaux but was lucky his 2nd set back issues let him back in the match. He still looks as lost as he did last year.
Rune to Finish top-5 if…
Lars stays as the solo operator/coach for 2025
Sinner does the Channel Slam if…
he avoids a doping ban
Fonseca finishes top 20 if…
He stays healthy and plays a full season
Berrettini returns to the top-10 if…
He can stay injury-free
Demon’s best down under if…
He stays in recent form
Alcaraz’s backhand goes backwards if…
He keeps this abbreviated setup
It would be great for the Rune prediction to come true and have another youngin actually be a threat for the next decade against the Sincaraz duopoly. The Sinner channel slam honestly might be the least bold prediction here.
The Carlos backhand regression thing is interesting. That is definitely one of the things that separates him and Carrot is how it doesn't help him build pressure from the baseline. At the same time he's tweaking his serve to have easier holds. I think he's super motivated to regain the crown either way, and who better to learn from than Djoker who never stopped evolving since he entered the scene.
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Well at least he would have a good chance of advancing. Denis was really good against Zhang and next match against Giron his serve totally abandoned him so he's always beatable because you never know which Denis will show up. Felix should have lost to Cazaux but was lucky his 2nd set back issues let him back in the match. He still looks as lost as he did last year.
Of all the Canadian men, I'm most excited to see Diallo get a proper run of ATP level main draw events here. He's a guy that could really rocket up the rankings with a little help from a couple draws at big events.
The other two Canadian men don't do much for me anymore given their inherent stubbornness to adjust or make changes to their games. I was holding out hope they may have been willing to do something drastic this year, but alas more of the same from both incoming.
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Felix vs. Struff (four or five tie-breaks for that match)
Shapo vs. RBA (okay for Denis if he is serving well)
Diallo vs. Nardi (Nardi was playing great about 12 months ago, but has since tailed off and Gabriel is the higher ranked player currently).
Last edited by dash_pinched; 01-08-2025 at 10:01 PM.
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