AUSTRALIAN OPEN, Melbourne, ATP GRAND SLAM

[Carol]

At least Rafa's serve is working well

 

[Carol]

My goodness Rafa, what are you doing? so many silly errors :cuckoo:

 

[Moxie]

Sloppy start from Rafa, but hey...so did Murray and Roger.

 

[Carol]

Yep, most of them look a little "slow" but I hope to see something better of them, specially by Rafa

 

[britbox]

Ugly match.

 

[Carol]

Maybe we'll see a better second set (hopefully)

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Come on Rafa 'Break Time' 4 games all,

Of course Stosur was up a break to Watson and lost the 1st set 63....enough for me.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Point Rafa!!!!!!!!!!!!! now take this game

 

[Moxie]

Vintage stunner pass from Nadal!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Rafa cant make 2nd serve returns UGH

 

[britbox]

Shades of Rafa at his best then.

 

[Moxie]

Break to Nadal! Serves for the 2nd set.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Finally Breaks after a UFE from Florian.....Come on Rafa just serve out the 2nd set with no drama

 

[Moxie]

Tiafoe serving for the match, and Opelka holding his own against Goffin in the 5th, I think. Oh, and Rafa leads 2 sets to love.

EDIT: Tiafoe wins and will play Sasha Zverev in the next round. #nextgen.

 

[britbox]

Tiafoe serving for the match, and Opelka holding his own against Goffin in the 5th, I think. Oh, and Rafa leads 2 sets to love.

EDIT: Tiafoe wins and will play Sasha Zverev in the next round. #nextgen.

Look forward to that one.

 

[Moxie]

Look forward to that one.

Me, too. I don't expect Tiafoe to win, but he's big and strong. Maybe we'll just look back on it when they're both more established players.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Lets use these 'mini match points' Rafa

 

[Moxie]

Nice winner to close it out on, for Rafa. He closed out sets pretty well, so that's a bit of a good take-away. He gets Baggy, after Youzny retired.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Rafa in straight sets......63 64 64,thank goodness I could not stand him going out like last year in the first rd at the AO.Room for improvement of course,though personally I dont like any player,playing lights out tennis in the first couple of rounds,wait till the 2nd week of a GS.Onwards Rafa!

 

[britbox]

Baggy's been playing well. He'll give Rafa a good work out.