Anyone been watching much of the tournament?
I didn't know Wawrinka was playing hurt but he's far from the only seed to fall. That Djokovic/Monfils match looked pretty brutual yesterday too.


Todd Strobe Froggy

It sucks already. All three of the big Canadians are out. And early too.

Not had the chance to watch anything so far really. Bad loss for Goffin after such a strong finish to last year. Stan clearly wasn't ready to return, but I guess he wanted to find that out in a proper match. We still don't know where Rafa or Novak really are physically, but I expect both to be strong. Fed is the rightful favourite but the pessimist in me doesn't see him winning it.

Great to see Edmund putting a decent run together so far. Beating Big Kev from 2 sets to 1 down and then straighting Istomin. He is currently 1 set a piece with Basilashvili. With the winner playing either Dr. Ivo or Seppi, Edmund is actually the highest ranked player remaining in his quarter. He'll never have a better chance to make a Major QF and doing so would bring him very close to the top 32.

Kyrgios and Tsonga are made for one another. It appears the break from tennis has done Kyrgios the world of good, winning his first pro tournament and following it up with an impressive effort against Tsonga.

Outside of boxer Anthony Mundine, I can't think of an Australian athlete of this status who was as despised as Kyrgios. He's got a long road ahead of him, but if he can continue this vein of form he could redeem himself, both as a player and as a personality.

Great game between Kyrgios and Dimitrov earlier today. Best I've seen in a good while. Dimitrov playing well enough to challenge I feel.

He was sensational tonight Dimitrov, Kyrgios brought his A game but he just couldn't get over the Bulgarian. There were so many instances where Kyrgios challenged him to come up with the perfect response and Dimitrov did.

I still think Kyrgios can turn this experience into a positive and if he can use this tournament as a launching pad to restart his career, he could be the star player we've been searching for since Hewitt.

As it stands though, it appears Bulgaria has two star athletes can be proud of. The Rusev Day celebrations are going to be off the charts if he manages to win in just over a week's time.

Disappointing night all in all for Australia. The last hope in Tennis has been eliminated and England have already managed to win the ODI series in 3 games. As much as England wilted in the Ashes, they've proven their status in the ODI and they're bowling at the death was brilliant.

And just like that, Djokovic, Dimitrov and Nadal bow out.

Federer is in a good position to go back to back here. He'll have to go through Berdych, Chung/Sandgren and Cilic/Edmund to get there, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see a Wimbledon rematch. On the surface, it's shaping as a much easier path for Roger, but I'm sure Cilic would have taken a lot out of that loss last year.

Fantastic by Edmund. He is up 23 spots to #26 at least. And hey, it isn't like Cilic isn't prone to mental fragility or an off-day. A final is not out of the question. Kyle Edmund somehow winning an Australian Open while Andy Murray still doesn't have one would be bizarre.

Federer could not have dreamed of a better position really. On their day, Berdych and Cilic can blow anyone off the court, but Fed will be very confident of reaching that momentous #20.

His head-to-head with Berdych is very one-sided and has only been truly competitive for a stretch in the middle. Berdych won their first meeting at the 2004 Olympics, before Fed won 8 in a row. Then Berdych went 5-3 between Miami 2010 and Dubai 2013. Since then Federer has won another 8 in a row. But Berdych did play very well in that Wimbledon SF and Fed had to be razor sharp to get the win there without dropping a set. Fed knows what both Berdych and Cilic can do and won't underestimate either. It is hard to see any of Chung, Sandgren or Edmund beating him. I wouldn't mind seeing a Fed/Ed final though.

If Fed wins and defends his points, he will only be 155 points behind Rafa for World #1. And Rafa has 255 points more to defend than Fed before Indian Wells (Rafa made the final of Acapulco last year, while Fed lost in Dubai R16).

It's disappointing that it's because of injuries to Murray/Wawrinka/Djokovic/Nadal but i'm more excited for the remaining matches on the mens side now that the Fed/Nadal final can't happen. I love that some previously unknowns are getting this deep.

It was a slow start from Federer, but he managed to do it comfortably in the end, taking it in 3 sets. It was complacent Roger from the out-set, after being broken in the second game of the match, he was making a lot of silly efforts. He did really well to fight back from 2-5 down to take the opening set in a tie-breaker. There was some controversy when he was 3-5 down that could have changed the complexion of the match. He challenged a call, but after a minutes delay, Hawk Eye couldn't broadcast their decision. Despite this, the review still ate up Federer's challenge and the incident caused Roger to lose his cool. A less experienced player would have let it get to them, but Roger used it as fuel and ran away with it from there.

Edmund/Cilic & Chung/Federer coming up. It's shaping up nicely for Roger who is a short price favourite but there's plenty of reason to be excited if it goes the other way. While it seems like we've been saying it for awhile, the reality is we're entering the twilight years of this Federer/Nadal/Djokovic/Murray. Men's Tennis needs some new blood and the last time we saw a deviation was nearly four years ago at the 2014 US Open, where Cilic prevailed over Nishikori.

My younger brother went with his GF, he seemed excited that he got to see Will Smith and Will Ferrell..otherwise pretty sure he got dragged along as i don't think i've heard him ever talk about Tennis.

Ridiculous decision to close roof.

Cilic put up a huge fight in the forth set, but Roger managed to finish over the top of him. It could have easily gone the other way had Cilic made the most of his opportunities early in the fifth set. Cilic was all over Roger at that point, but he just couldn't go on with it. Instead in trademark fashion, Roger held his nerve, rediscovered his serve and made Cilic fight for his points.

It wasn't Federer's finest performance, but to have this amount of class 20 odd years in speaks volumes of him as a player and his legacy on the court. 10 years ago when he went down to Djokovic in the semis it looked like it could be the beginning of the end, 10 years on here we are celebrating his 20th.

What a legend. I don't we've ever seen a star's career get a second wind like this.

Jan 28, 2018 16:10:43 GMT CM Punk'd said:

What a legend. I don't we've ever seen a star's career get a second wind like this.

Different Eras, but Jimmy Connors had a nice run in his late 30's-early 40's, but that time was the old school guys (McEnroe and Connors) trying to hang with the thumpers (Becker, Sampras, Courier, Stich and Agassi) not to mention the finesse players (Lendl, Wilander and Edberg).  Basically, the guy who started with wooden racquets was able to hang with and beat some of the kids.  He didn't win Majors like Federer, but the talent field seemed much deeper then.