Miami Day 3

Dare I say anymore?

Federer currently playing, Djokovic and Murray all in action today.

Fed only loses 3 points on serve the entire match! Talk about no pressure.

Fed does magic as usual.

Dimi getting hard time from Montanes.

Djokovic failed to serve the set out against Chardy. Managed to break again immediately this time but the the failing to serve out is getting a bit weird now.

Did anyone see Djoko shouting at umpire when he got time violation, “you have to understand the game“?

Little choking git he's becoming.

Gulbis was up 3-1 in third set, and loses 7-5 to Benneteau.

Andy Murray through beating Matthew Ebden 3-6 6-0 6-1. I only caught the tail-end of the match but he looked in good shape and pretty sharp. Next up is Feliciano Lopez in the Third Round.

Tomic lost in a world record 28 minutes and 20 seconds. It was his first match back after surgery, but it's not the way you want to get into the records books.

Janowicz has certainly stalled recently. He goes down tamely to Bautista-Agut.

To be fair though Bautista-Agut has been in very good form this year. Clearly though Janowicz isn't really showing signs of moving forward.

I do not see Janowicz ever being at the very top of the game.  I see him as someone who might break into top 10 and who can perhaps occasionally visit top 5, but nothing more than that.  I imagine that throughout his career - if things work out well for him - he may be a threat to the top players - whoever they may be in future - but always an underdog against them.

He really only had two results of note so far - Paris 2012 and Wimbledon 2013.  But he has had no supporting results that would suggest he might start reproducing those two good results on a more consistent basis.

I would not be surprised if after this year's Wimbledon he drops out of top 30 and struggles to reestablish himself there.

JuliusHMarx wrote:Tomic lost in a world record 28 minutes and 20 seconds.

Yes, I was happy about that.

Garcia-Lopez picked up his 200th tour win today, a good milestone. It's always nice to see the less-heralded players doing well. After all, 200 victories is not to be sniffed at!

summerblues wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:Tomic lost in a world record 28 minutes and 20 seconds.

Yes, I was happy about that.

Come on, give the guy a break, he's setting records, respect!

CaledonianCraig wrote:Andy Murray through beating Matthew Ebden 3-6 6-0 6-1. I only caught the tail-end of the match but he looked in good shape and pretty sharp. Next up is Feliciano Lopez in the Third Round.

He was back to his snarling best and his shotmaking was the best since his injury

Serve is still a problem though

A phrase that rarely gets said nowadays:

Baggy playing well.

Bagdhatis leading Tsonga 6-4 1-2 at the moment with the winner of this match playing either Andy Murray or Feliciano Lopez.

Baggy lost the second set in TB. On serve in third.

Andy Murray about to start his match against Feliciano Lopez.

Murray breaks to love. What a rank rotten service game from Lopez though.

A big struggle in his first service game for Murray and after saving several break points, Lopez gets the break back - 1-1. Bagdhatis in a right tussle with Tsonga as that one goes down to the wire.

Tsonga now serving for the match and Lopez is extended to deuce before holding his serve to lead Murray 2-1.

Murray breaks to love and leads 3-2 and Tsonga has beaten Bagdhatis and awaits the winner of Murray/Lopez match.

Murray consolidates the break comfortably to lead 4-2. Hitting the ball sweetly but shot selection perhaps a bit off at times.

Murray takes the first set 6-4 in what look like very hot conditions. Decent stuff so far from Andy.

It's funny (odd funny, not "ha ha" funny) how certain player match-ups are so one sided. By all accounts Lopez is a good player but against Murray it doesn't matter a jot.

The Special Juan wrote:It's funny (odd funny, not "ha ha" funny) how certain player match-ups are so one sided.  By all accounts Lopez is a good player but against Murray it doesn't matter a jot.

Match-ups are a strange thing in tennis.

Another break for Murray and he leads 6-4 4-1 and surely the Fourth Round beckons. If so that match against Tsonga could be very important for Andy. He has been down on confidence but a win against Tsonga could be the fill-up he is looking for.

Andy Murray wins 6-4 6-1 and is looking a bit better now. Hitting the ball much better.

Oooops just noticed been posting all of this on the Day 1 thread. Shouldn't there be another thread?

I guess LK could edit the title...?

Great comeback from Tsonga, from a set and 1-5 down in the TB! Now plays Murray, who breezed past Lopez. Federer through as well; dropped seven service points today though, shoddy work. Novak also through via w/o.

Looking forward to Dimitrov vs Nishikori both looking for landmark wins, 100 and 150 respectively.

Annabel looks all ready for our date.

Leather and all, I'll bring the whip.

As Silver says, great comeback from JWT !

Nice clean wins for both Andy and the Fed.

Rafa looks to have an absolute dream draw here. Hewitt was never likely to trouble him in his opener (struggling to remember last time Hewitt made an impression at ANY Masters....) with no serious threat at all until SF's at earliest.

There's a fairly good symmetry to Lleyton's masters record:

Last win - 2003
Last final - 2005
Last SF - 2007
Last QF - 2009

As Julius would say though, it's ridiculous to suggest he may not be as good a player as Murray.

Tsonga v Baggy was a great match. Could mean a lot to Tsonga if he can follow up such a hard fought win. Interesting to note that, off grass, Andy's last top 20 win was Madrid last year so JWT will be a tough test.

Grigor

Grigor

He lost the first set on a horrible TB where his first two service points were doubles.  He then lost the second set when serving at 5:6 after having gone up 40-0.

Glad Kei won as he continues to be grossly unappreciated, within the Tennis world. Love his shot making, energy etc and think he could put enough together from his sheer mental strength to perhaps win one slam

Born Slippy wrote:Tsonga v Baggy was a great match. Could mean a lot to Tsonga if he can follow up such a hard fought win. Interesting to note that, off grass, Andy's last top 20 win was Madrid last year so JWT will be a tough test.

"Great" isn't a word I would uses, simply because Tsonga was terrible at times. I'd go for him if he was playing the Murray of a couple of month ago - but Andy's a nightmare when the Scot is anywhere near form as the great return worries the Frenchman and Jo's lack of service return, means he doesn't take advantage of Murray's great weakness

I see Murray beating tsonga. Tsonga has always struggled with that match up, his return of serve is not great and you can always target his backhand. Tsonga would need to serve at his best and have a better than normal day on return to have any chance.

banbrotam wrote:Glad Kei won as he continues to be grossly unappreciated, within the Tennis world. Love his shot making, energy etc and think he could put enough together from his sheer mental strength to perhaps win one slam

Yes! Totally agree, banbro. His forehand is something to behold, sublime technique. Maybe some day, he could do it

Dolgo barely pulls it. He looked tired and breathless.

Nadal is absolutely mullering Istomin at the moment (6-1 first set). He's hitting the ball with real venom each rally - truly in attack mode. Best I've seen him play in 2014.

ALPanorak wrote:Nadal is absolutely mullering Istomin at the moment (6-1 first set). He's hitting the ball with real venom each rally - truly in attack mode. Best I've seen him play in 2014.

The second set bagel was even more vicious. Istomin kept putting the ball in the middle of the court and Nadal just kept hammering it back.

The Isner-Nico match was anti-climatic, but Nico was bit under the weather.

Sousa played a good second set against Berdych, but crumbled with a bad game.

Looking forward to today.

I don't understand why any of the top 7-8 guys would bagel a player much less ranked.

Thats just idiotic and not really necessary.

Sounds like Rafa is back somewhere near his best. He should cruise to the final. Will be interesting if he has to face Djoker. I am genuinely unsure which of them has the edge currently.

Not enjoying the mud pit courts out there.

Surely Nadal has to be favourite?

Ninjakori hopefully will beat Ferrer.

Nishi breaks.

Robredo, well, no comment, I guess Youzhni is a legend for him.

This Ferrer/Nish game is going to be a real grind fest as they're both so good at retrieving and not really blessed with great power. Its been a litany of Ferrer errors (particularly off the backhand) which is gifting Nishikori the lead so far. I think (& hope) Kei can get a win here just due to his superior quality of ball striking

Kei looks flat out on his feet!