Monday, January 24, 2011

First major upset of the Australian Open 2011 - a Ukranian wild card beat #4 Robin Soderling (earlier he kicked Tsonga).  Never a big Soderling fan anyway - but this kid, Alexandr Dolgopolov, can play!  He comes from great lineage, his dad coached Medvedev, and like Agassi he picked up a racquet at age 2.  Has a weird service motion, but good variety of shots; he has no fear, and an impressive ability to out-think his opponent.  He lost the first set 6-1, as Soderling unleashed a barrage of huge groundies - but then settled down and figured out Soderling's game.  From then forward, he fed the big Swede unpalatable angles, slices, and produced an unrelenting defensive game.

Next up, Murray - so Alexandr's moment in the sun (for now) is about to set.  Murray whipped him good at Davis Cup last year.  Still think Rafa will win, but at least 3 others have a real shot this year:  Federer, Murray, and Djokovic.  In fact I predict the Fed doesn't make it to the final, it'll be one of the other guys.

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