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Post by DBBN on Jan 24, 2008 1:40:43 GMT -5
Well, at least we'll probably never have to put up with Hanturexia in a Slam SF again. The way she walked off court, we may never have to put with her in life again. Hide the knives! I don't think Ana and Daniela are going to be shopping buddies anymore, either.
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Post by sasha on Jan 24, 2008 1:51:36 GMT -5
Another Danielka '03-like meltdown would be cool.
Grr, why must the Aussies put the men's matches at night and leave this shit for us Americans to watch. War.
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Post by GoDom on Jan 24, 2008 1:52:18 GMT -5
Well, I got my wish. Say about Ana what you want - she fights, and she has the belief. She doesn't go crazy when she's down, and she can actually serve herself out of trouble, which is a rare sight in women's tennis.
Dani will probably never recover from this. Poor thing.
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Post by R. Black on Jan 24, 2008 1:54:15 GMT -5
Dani will probably never recover from this. Poor thing. Also she'll probably never have a draw like this again. Hide the knives yeah.
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Post by DBBN on Jan 24, 2008 1:55:50 GMT -5
Well, I got my wish. Say about Ana what you want - she fights, and she has the belief. She doesn't go crazy when she's down, and she can actually serve herself out of trouble, which is a rare sight in women's tennis. I agree, and am impressed. She was behind for the majority of that third set. She survived a hellish game at 2-3 and watched Daniela hold at love (15?) directly afterwards. Could have been easy to succumb to the pressure, but she did not. Impressive. She won the match she should have won. I can live with her at #2. Two Slam finals is nothing to sneeze at. But her form isn't good enough to beat the Henins and Sharapovas in Slam finals. Prove me wrong, Ana! AJDE! *fist pump* *arm whirl*
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Post by sasha on Jan 24, 2008 2:08:49 GMT -5
I'm confused by the Ana positivity here. She did not play well. She did not play well vs. Venus. Her two slam finals are bullshit. Having more fight and belief than Daniela Hantuchova is the equivalent of being able to tie your shoes.
The ranking means nothing. It's only a symbol of avoiding injury, consistently beating lower ranked players (which nowadays means bashing the ball and intimidating your mentally weak opponents) and getting fortunate draws at Grand Slams.
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Post by :rolleyes: on Jan 24, 2008 2:19:48 GMT -5
Dani i should have wished Ivanovic bad luck
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Post by GoDom on Jan 24, 2008 2:20:13 GMT -5
Of course she didn't play well. But since when is women's tennis about playing well?
Her victory over Venus was impressive. Tell me another recent match where someone served it out the way Ana did.
In short, Ana is one of the very very few women players who play better when it counts, and not worse. And that alone is remarkable. Sadly.
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Post by Self-Love, Baby! on Jan 24, 2008 2:23:50 GMT -5
I smell the Ivanovic upset. I actually don't think the final will be terribly one-sided. Ana is a fighter and it feels like it could be more drama. Girls always win Slams having a crazy comeback, and 0-6, 0-2 is that for Ana. At the very least, hopefully Ana can top Kostanic Tosic in games. WTAW is going NUTS over this match. Which is expected. So many Dani lovers and, recently, Ana haters... which obviously means she's doing well. I love her spirit and spunk on the court. I don't love the squeaking of the shoes, but I think with her it's not intentional gamesmanship but a habit - she wants to get her footwork right and not be flat-footed. I know that I need to move my feet more before the return because I'm always getting caught flat-footed. But I do think it's strange Daniela is the first to complain about it. I'm just happy we got a 3-setter and it was pure drama, if not quality. At times quality. I really agreed with Mary Carillo's commentary, everyone had to feel at least a little nauseous watching that match it was so tense. And I agree with her opinion on challenges. It's going to be a problem if ShotSpot proves someone won a match but he/she didn't have any challenges left and lost because of it. I'm convinced that if Nicole Vaidisova had beaten Serena last year in the semis (remember ShotSpot proved Nicole's shot was out on the 1st mp but Serena couldn't challenge; she later won that game), the challenge system would be scrapped.
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Post by Self-Love, Baby! on Jan 24, 2008 2:25:39 GMT -5
Of course she didn't play well. But since when is women's tennis about playing well? Her victory over Venus was impressive. Tell me another recent match where someone served it out the way Ana did. In short, Ana is one of the very very few women players who play better when it counts, and not worse. And that alone is remarkable. Sadly. I agree, I think she played well against Venus. She took it to her and was so much more aggressive. Think back to 2000, who could be more aggressive than The Fucking Venus Williams and limit her to 4 groundstroke winners in a match? And Ana's mental toughness is improving by the bucketload with every match she plays. She gets herself into tough 3-setter affairs when she shouldn't, but usually it's her name next to the W at the end of the day. All that matters.
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Post by R. Black on Jan 24, 2008 2:31:16 GMT -5
Stupid question: can the umpire use Shotspot if she/he wants to confirm a call? I know this doesn't make the umpire looks good, but let's say there is a controversial moment and a player has no remaining challenge, maybe the umpire should be able to decide to use it anyway.
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Post by Edna Krabappel on Jan 24, 2008 2:43:21 GMT -5
Heh. I woke up just in time to see the volley at 4-4 in the third set. Horrendous. I felt sorry for Daniela for a second. Weird scoreline. I would have never expected it. Daniela must be beside herself now, if the handshake is any indication.
What's with this squeaky shoes thing people keep talking about, was it too bad?
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Post by lexpretend on Jan 24, 2008 5:24:51 GMT -5
UHHHHH Tsonga is two easy sets up!
I mean, I kind of suspected Nadal would be vulnerable to a player as aggressive as Jo-Willy, but...in a Slam SF? Just couldn't imagine this. Not that it's over yet, of course.
I like Rafa and JWT, but I was rooting for Rafa, because I'll be able to watch the final, and Rafa v Fed or Nole seems like a better match-up. Though if Tsonga continues to play like this, who knows.
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Post by lexpretend on Jan 24, 2008 5:39:30 GMT -5
A break up in the third!
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Post by lexpretend on Jan 24, 2008 5:47:30 GMT -5
Wow, that was a quick third set. 6-2 6-3, 6-2: a thumping!
I think Djokovic has a very decent shot at beating Federer in the other SF.
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Post by janie on Jan 24, 2008 7:49:50 GMT -5
Jo Willy! :eek:
And how about that -- an all-sister-team in the dubs final! That's never happened before, right? ;D
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Post by Brinyi on Jan 24, 2008 8:29:27 GMT -5
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Post by Brinyi on Jan 24, 2008 8:32:22 GMT -5
This is why I never cheer against a player I like because I think he has no chance to subsequently beat another player I want to see lose. You just never know.
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Post by Calico on Jan 24, 2008 9:02:41 GMT -5
I like Hantuchova, really. I guess the dislike is due to some fans on daworld? She's BFF with Clijsters! Need I say more! This match is going to be even more of a blowout than the first one. Not quite. But it looked like it would be after Hantuchova won the first 8 games of the match.
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Post by Calico on Jan 24, 2008 9:04:35 GMT -5
Woo. Now it's time for the old, silly Daniela to show up. You were right.
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Post by Calico on Jan 24, 2008 9:07:04 GMT -5
Dani losing the match like that is awful. And then to learn that she was upset with her friend Ana makes her loss even worse and has to hurt her deeply. I recorded the match and went to bed with Dani up 6-0 2-0. I felt bad for Ana. I checked the score about 5 minutes after I went to bed to see if Ana finally won a game and she did. But Dani was still leading 6-0 2-1 and up a break of serve in the second set. I was actually relieved that Ana wouldn't get double bagelled. Dani had outclassed Ana by so much to that point it actually looked like Ana might not win a game. Dani had great timing and pinpoint accuracy on her shots the first 8 games of the match. To lose his match has to be major blow to Dani. I hope she can recover from this.
I watched the match on tape this morning and while Ana got back into it in the second set I still thought Dani would win and am dissapointed she didn't. And I think it's interesting that Ana came back on Daniela in the semifinals the way Dani came back on Maria Kirilenko in the round of 16.
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Post by The Chloe on Jan 24, 2008 9:19:30 GMT -5
Yeah, so.... wow? I really don't want to be negative and think that my only hope of Fed losing just left the tournament... especially not after the impressive beat down he just received. Well done, Tsonga. Brinyi, you totally saw this coming, right?
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Post by The Chloe on Jan 24, 2008 9:30:08 GMT -5
Jo-Willy beats Gassy to a GS final. When you put it that way, this is moderately amusing ;D
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Post by :rolleyes: on Jan 24, 2008 10:35:24 GMT -5
I don't think Dani's friends with anybody on tour. The insiders say she's a very independent person
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Post by Brinyi on Jan 24, 2008 11:12:47 GMT -5
Yeah, so.... wow? I really don't want to be negative and think that my only hope of Fed losing just left the tournament... especially not after the impressive beat down he just received. Well done, Tsonga. Brinyi, you totally saw this coming, right? No, that would be Barbie Girl or whatever her nickname is now!
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Post by janie on Jan 24, 2008 11:28:24 GMT -5
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A disappointed Daniela Hantuchova accused Ana Ivanovic of gamesmanship after losing 0-6 6-3 6-4 to the Serbian in the Australian Open semi-finals on Thursday. The Slovakian ninth seed led 6-0 2-0 but her hopes of a first grand slam final were ended by a superb fightback from fourth seed Ivanovic, who will play Russian Maria Sharapova in the final. Hantuchova was disappointed at her defeat but also hit out at Ivanovic, saying the way she shuffled her feet before the server hits the ball, which results in loud squeaking, was off-putting and unfair. "That was ridiculous, I think," Hantuchova told reporters. "I was really surprised with that. I think it's unfair. It's a distraction to the server. We played before and she never did it." Hantuchova said she had complained to umpire Alison Lang. "In the first or second service game (she told the umpire), but she didn't do anything about it. I don't think that (the squeaking) was very nice." Hantuchova gave Ivanovic little more than a cursory handshake at the end, having thought the Serbian had not got to the ball on the first bounce on the point that gave the fourth seed the vital break in the final set. But the Slovakian, appearing in her first grand slam semi-final, said she was just disappointed with her defeat. "It's just tough, tough to accept that you lose. So I just wanted to get off the court as soon as possible. "I thought it was a double bounce, but maybe it was just my mistake. I should have played the point anyway." Despite the defeat, Hantuchova said her run to the last four promised much for the rest of the year. "In the days to come, I think I will go back and look at the tournament as a very positive thing," she said. "I proved once again, to myself, that if I play my game I can beat anybody. It's just a matter of doing it for the whole match."
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Post by Brinyi on Jan 24, 2008 11:53:34 GMT -5
We already knew that if she playes her game she can beat anybody outside the top 25. I don't think we're much further than that now in our assessments. Is anyone else reminded of Sampras's complaints about Muster's squeaky breathing, also in Australia?
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Post by :rolleyes: on Jan 24, 2008 12:00:38 GMT -5
Hantuvirus is just being a sore loser. Her stalling is no better or worse than Ana's shoe crap.
that being said I still like dani, sorta.
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Post by Brinyi on Jan 24, 2008 12:06:33 GMT -5
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Post by sasha on Jan 24, 2008 12:13:00 GMT -5
Yes, I saw a Tsonga win like this coming and had the nerve to call it. Is there anything more sweet than seeing a confident top player against Nadal? It's reminiscent of old Lindsay/Amelie matches. Amelie: "Haha! I will confound you with many top spin shots!" Lindsay: "Oh. *Steps up, BAM WINNER every point*" Amelie, in Nadal speak: "Sheet. This berry berry much bad. I not know what else to do! Well, I will keep hitting to your backhand. It not strong enough!" Lindsay: "Oh. BAM WINNERS 6-2 6-2 K. Bye."
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