Tennis Forever

[raagadevan]

Kyrgios complained of leg cramps in the final set, and there was some talk about him retiring from the match, However, the final game was played, which Robredo won.

[JamesDap]

Yeah, the amazing thing was Robredo, all of 32, was much fitter, looking good for another hour of tennis, if needed. Kyrgios is inexperienced and gave his opponent too scant respect, something for which he paid the price. He missed the chance to go up double breaks in the 2nd set and from thereon it was downhill. But he showed a lot of willingness to learn on the job as he played Robredo, turning his strategy of draw-forward-and-lob on his head at times. That's a quality I haven't seen so far in Raonic, for instance. For a 19 year old, he is amazingly fearless and fights very hard. With a bit of tactical nous and the experience to guide him to go for safer shots to consolidate a hard earned lead, he can make it. He will learn that you can't fool around with a lead in a top level ATP match. But kudos meanwhile to Robredo for a brilliant lesson in defensive tennis. Defensive is not very fair actually because his forehand was superb and it got into Kyrgios's head. Served very well too to take full advantage of the fast conditions.

[Arvind Srinivasan]

Was away for the entire duration of the match...Was counting on this match to be good. From the looks of it, I guess it was. Need to watch the HLs...

[raagadevan]

I agree. Robredo played a "mature" game and didn't try to match Kyrgios in speed and/or power. He also didn't let Kyrgios overwhelm him with his style of tennis. Kyrgios tried in the later stages to adapt his game strategy, but it was too little, too late. Seriously, I was expecting a very different outcome when the match started!

[JamesDap]

Very good match. Worthy of being put on Arthur Ashe as the last match of the night (though the real reason, they say, was to slot it such that Aussie viewers would be able to watch their local hope). The shot of the match for me was an incredible lob-forehand cross court Robredo hit in the beginning of the fourth (I think). He was well out of court and scrambling for the ball when he made that shot. And it landed in the diagonally opposite corner in Kyrgios's court. Nothing Kyrgios could do about it and he shook his head in grudging admiration. The unflappable, expressionless professor gave the swashbuckling student a lesson in the finer aspects of tennis. And I was glad to see Kyrgios take note. He will probably be playing such shots himself in a few years from now, rounding out his essentially devastating game and making it more complete.

[JamesDap]

I agree. Robredo played a "mature" game and didn't try to match Kyrgios in speed and/or power. He also didn't let Kyrgios overwhelm him with his style of tennis. Kyrgios tried in the later stages to adapt his game strategy, but it was too little, too late. Seriously, I was expecting a very different outcome when the match started!

And so did I and so did the whole Arthur Ashe crowd, seemingly. The second and third were still on Kyrgios's racquet and a more experienced player wouldn't have squandered his advantage like that. But full credit to Robredo for working out a strategy to frustrate Kyrgios and drag him into a long duel of topspin and slice, eventually wearing him out. I think Robredo didn't make ANY unforced errors in the second and fourth sets. Incredible! That's why best of 5 rocks, allows for shifts of momentum rather than one player riding on momentum and hitting the other out of the park in 2.

[Arvind Srinivasan]

A good match in the offing this evening with Dimitrov taking on Goffin. Two emerging players fighting it out for a spot in the next round. Should be exciting...

[raagadevan]

Today's (August 31, 2014) results at the US Open:

Winners include Roger Federer, Tomáš Berdych, Marin Čilić, Grigor Dimirov, Gaël Monfils, 17-year-old Belinda Bencic, Caroline Wozniacki, and Scott Lipsky/Rajeev Ram (Doubles)

Losers include David Ferrer, Richard Gasquet, Maria Sharapova and Jelena Janković.

[JamesDap]

Bencic upset Jankovic, already showing some glimpses of Hingis-like tactical brilliance. Loved that moonball bait in the tiebreak to extract the error from Jankovic and win the set.

Goffin played an incredible first set, then just disappeared to let Dimitrov go through. Fed too was not half as impressive as what the commentators were trying to make it sound. Still pretty much in Fed-error mode, save some glimpses of genius. In this kind of form, even a Q/F win over either of Dimitrov/Monfils is not a certainty. And that's provided he gets past Bautista Agut. Djoko looking very solid. Tough clash against Tsonga coming up for Murray.

[raagadevan]

Kei Nishikori beats Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4!