First Grand Slam Tournament of the season always attracts a lot of attention. It is the real start of the tennis season with all the players fresh and rested. We will follow all the scores, events and news from Melbourne to keep you covered. Everything that catches our attention will be here. Follow our Australian Open 2019 Notebook!
27.01.2019
Last day of Australian Open 2019 was much shorter than everybody expected. Just 126 minutes of unreal tennis from Novak Djokovic and we knew the winner.
Novak Djokovic played tennis I have never seen before. It was perfect and I doubt anybody can repeat such performance in future.
Novak won third Grand Slam in a row and is the best current tennis player. No need to argue about it, it is just a fact.
Thanks for following us during Australian Open 2019 and hope you enjoyed it. Now it is time to move to normal tennis life full of ATP and WTA tournaments. But before, check also our summary of Australian Open 2019 here – All we learned during Australian Open.
26.01.2019
Wow, it was an extraordinary final match today. We saw great serve from both sides, two turnovers and lot of fine exchanges.
In the end, Naomi Osaka was slightly better and was able to return to the match after collapse in the second set. Her face revealed a lot during the match. The smile during the first set, nervousness and anger at the end of second set and calm determination during third set. Naomi Osaka won second Grand Slam tournament in a row and it is just beginning of a new era. She will won a lot more of them in next 10 years.
The way how she handled misfortune in second set after losing three matchpoints, the way how she return to the match and the way how she won it at the end was sign that true champion is here.
Naomi Osaka was excellent today, but we should not forget also Petra Kvitova. She was just slightly worse and we definitely did not see her last time in final. Wimbledon 2019 will be definitely her again.
Hopefully tomorrow we will see the same extraordinary match as today.
25.01.2019
Well, that escalated quickly. There is no better sentence to characterize Djokovic – Pouille match. Lucas Pouille was not mentally prepared for most important match of his career. Good news: Novak and Rafa will be well rested for Sunday finals match. Djokovic semifinal match lasted for 85 minutes, Nadal played 108 minutes on Thursday.
It is good to see number one and number two in ATP Rankings to meet up in finals. All I expect from Sunday match is all-court tennis which will not finish after 100 minutes.
Novak Djokovic is the slight favorite, with last 5 matches on hard outdoor won by Novak. Last time Rafael Nadal beat him at this surface was in New York at US Open 2013 Finals. Will it repeat or not?
My bets for upcoming weekend matches at Australian Open are published here
24.01.2019
Ladies Singles Final duo is known. Petra Kvitova did not start her semifinals match well, but second set was just awesome. Bagel in Grand Slam semifinals is really big thing.
Naomi Osaka, the second finalists, beat Karolina Pliskova in entertaining match. Naomi made less mistakes then her opponent and that decided the match.
Saturday match will be unique, as it will decide also about new no.1 in WTA ranking.
Naomi Osaka can be a dominant player of further decade.
In men singles, Rafael Nadal did not let anybody to doubt that he deserved to be in the final on Sunday. Stefano Tsitsipas just spent all his luck, skills and fortune in past two matches. Today he did not have any chance.
23.01.2019
Ladies singles gave us the most entertaining match of the day. Hard to start with something else than Serena Williams versus Karolina Pliskova story. That match had everything I wished for. Drama, turnovers, comeback and surprising end. Karolina Pliskova deserved to win and Serena did not deserved to lose. At the end, just one can win, so today it was Pliskova turn.
Ladies singles semifinals and finals are also the battle for no.1 spot in WTA ranking. Could we wished for better end of the Australian Open? I doubt it. Naomi Osaka, Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova have chance to be no.1 as a bonus to Australian Open win. That is really promising before the semifinals tomorrow.
Men singles matches were in shadow of excellent Williams – Pliskova match. However, Pouille did an excellent thing too. Winning over Raonic is not so usual for him and to be in Grand Slam semifinal is also something he did not experience before.
Pouille will meet Novak Djokovic, who had easy quarterfinals as Kei Nishikori had to retire. Djokovic – Nadal final is really close, but Tsitsipas and Pouille will do everything to destroy it.
22.01.2019
Less singles matches are played during second week, but still enough interesting things happens on courts in Melbourne.
Last Australian participant in Sinles lost today. Ashleigh Barty did not win a set against Petra Kvitova (second loss in a row with Kvitova in three weeks). Kvitova, two times Wimbledon winner and Sydney winner) aims high this year. She will face “slam surprise” Collins semifinal and I would bet my money on Petra to make final.
Stefano Tsitsipas had his star moment on Sunday when he beat Federer. I was afraid, he will be emotionally down and Bautista will give him a hard time. I was wrong. Tsitsipas rose to the occasion and now is preparing for semifinal match against Nadal.
Rafael Nadal does not look like someone who is battling injuries. He looks more like future Grand Slam winner.
21.01.2019
The second week of Grand Slam Tournament means that the division between favorites and surprises are meaningless. So I am moving from favorites, surprises, and match of the day paragraphs to pure notes of interesting things. Interesting for me and hopefully for you too.
In men singles draw Raonic did not give any chance to Alexander Zverev. A little bit surprising as Sascha was an expected contender for at least one grand slam title this season. However, it says more about Raonic undervaluation these days. He is injury prone and therefore
Nishikori made a great comeback from being two sets down against Carreno Busta. It happened a second time during Australian Open to Kei and I would like to remind him, that being two sets against Djokovic on Wednesday can be the stop for him.
In Ladies draw we saw most expected match between Serena Williams and Halep. This match would qualify for my “Match of the Day” section, if I would not discontinue it. That match has everything we want from a tennis match.
Btw., Pliskova, Svitolina, Osaka and Serena Williams. That is a line-up for semifinals not quarterfinals. But I am glad for that. A lot of best tennis will be available during this week.
20.01.2019
Favorites
We were so desperate to get some surprises as we got a lot of them in one day. But first, we need to praise favorites who did their job. Rafael Nadal and Petra Kvitova did a great job to make sure they will be in quarterfinals. Berdych and Anisimova did not deserve such finish of their Australian Open journey.
Surprises
Let;s name them all in alphabet order. Cilic, Dimitrov, Kerber, Federer. Angelique Kerber suffered the most devastating loss. 0:6 2:6 with Collins, that must really hurts.
Cilic lost in five sets match with Bautista and Dimitrov in four sets with Tiafoe. Both these losses surprised me, but both matches were a splendind tennis with unclear result till the last ball was played.
Match of the Day: Tsitsipas – Federer 6:7 7:6 7:5 7:6
That is the surprise of the galactic dimension. It was a fair match with good tennis from both players. It is not an accidence, that three of four sets were decided in a tie-break. In the end, Stefanos Tsitsipas had calmer head and hands. The biggest win so far for young Greek and I need to correct two days old statement about the gap between “nextgen” and “
19.01.2019
Favorites
Djokovic, Nishikori, Zverev, Raonic, Halep, Svitolina, Osaka, Pliskova, Muguruza, Serena Williams are still in the competition. Favorites are unwilling to lose this Grand Slam and we will see round of 16 as never before.
The true is, that Djokovic drop first set against Shapovalov, but then he won fourth set 6-0. Osaka, Svitolina and Pliskova all need to play three sets matches, but all of them managed to win their matches.
Surprises
It is starts to be harder and harder to fill in this part of article. We are desperately in need of some surprise.
Match of the Day: Halep – Williams Venus 6:2 6:3
First of two matches between Halep and Williams brought a fine tennis with clear result. However, the result did not reflect the match events. In some parts of it, Venus Williams was a step ahead of Halep. We are curious now, how Serena will react and her match with Halep can be the peak of Monday schedule.
18.01.2019
Favorites
Federer, Nadal, Dimitrov, Kvitova
Federer and Nadal matches showed that good old generation of players is still much better than any member of “nextgen” one.
Surprises
We are still without major surprises here in Melbourne. Someone can claim Sharapova win over Wozniacki as surprise, but I mean with Maria performance in first two rounds, nobody should be surprised with the result.
Match of the Day: Cilic – Verdasco 4:6 3:6 6:1 7:6 6:3
The last match of Friday schedule was the best one. Verdasco was playing exceptionally well and his serve was just excellent. Cilic faced match point in the tie-break of the fourth set, but Verdasco made his first double-fault at that moment.
From that point, Verdasco mentally left the court and Cilic was able to dig out of the hole and win at the end. Fernando probably still does not believe how he lost that fourth set.
17.01.2019
Favorites
Thursday was not so quiet day like Wednesday. We still wait for a major surprise, but we were really close to it today. Zverev and Nishikori needed five sets to get through the second round. Raonic needed four tie-breaks to win over Wawrinka. Simone Halep was down 2-4 in the 3rd set against Kenin but turned the things around to win 6-4 in 3rd.
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were the only favorites to win without any problems in pretty short matches.
Surprises
Definitely Thiem loss was a surprise. Alexei Popyrin, another young Australian tennis talent led 7:5 6:4 2:0 when Dominic Thiem retired in third set.
Match of the Day: Wawrinka – Raonic 7:6 6:7 6:7 6:7
I had to think for a while to decide between Karlovic – Nishikori and Wawrinka – Raonic match. Finally, the second one made it to Match of the Day column (and not just because of 15 minutes longer duration). To see tie-break in Raonic match is not surprising, but to see Wawrinka on other side of the court gives me a nostalgic feeling. 2014 Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka lost and I can sense it as generation change happening right now at the moment of the last point was played.
16.01.2019
Favorites
Another quiet day in Melbourne, with almost all the favorites going to the next round. Federer, Nadal, Cilic, Wozniacki, Kerber, Kvitova won without any problems. I am just wondering if there was similar surprise-less Grand Slam in past.
Surprises
At least one surprise happened. Anderson lost with Tiafoe in
Match of the Day: Berdych – Haase 6:1 6:3 6:3
This choice of “match of the day” will probably surprise many of our readers. But Berdych performance really deserved it. I was curious if his Doha final presence two weeks ago was just accidence. Now I can seriously state that Tomas Berdych is back. His won over Haase was so clear, without any hesitation. Six months rest really helped him and now he is the player who can be a real threat even to top 10 player. He will meet Diego Schwartzman in 3rd round and then winner of Nadal/De Minaur match. It is worth to consider Berdych quarterfinal participation. Odds are really favorable for this bet.
Our daily Tennis tips can be found here
15.01.2019
Favorites
All favorites won their games. Djokovic, Nadal, Zverev, Raonic in Men Singles Draw. Karolina Pliskova, Venus Williams, Muguruza, Svitolina and Halep in Ladies Singles Draw.
Surprises
I did not see a major surprise on second day. Maybe Azarenka loss with Siegemund was not much expected, but you can hardly call it a surprise.
Kei Nishikori was really close to big surprise as he was 2 sets down against Majchrzak and did not look very well. But then young Pole had to retire with injury and saved Nishikori hope for success.
Stan Wawrinka was also helped by opponent (Gulbis) retirement when set down.
Venus Williams and Simone Halep were down a set in their matches, but they were able to turn it back.
Generally, 1st round of Australian Open was unusually safe for favorites. Bookmakers count losses after first two days and bettors celebrate.
Match of the Day: Kyrgios – Raonic 4:6 6:7 4:6
This match did not deliver what I expected from Match of the Day. Kyrgios was harmless all match long and spectators (myself included) were disappointed. Another home player is out and it seems, that Kyrgios era can be over. De Minaur now the main subject of home fans hope.
14.01.2019
First day and first matches were played and everything goes as usual.
Favorites
Favorites did their job. Federer, Nadal, Cilic, Dimitrov, Kerber, Kvitova, Stephens won their matches without any problems.
Surprises
Isner lost with Opelka 1-3 (all sets finished in the tie-break) in match of two tall and good serving Americans. Julia Goerges lost with Collins 1-2, in a very tight match.
Maria Sharapova won 6-0 6-0 over Dart, which is quite remarkable. Maria played like five years ago.
Kyle Edmund (no.14) lost 0-3 with Tomas Berdych, who looks pretty refreshed after 6 months of rest. Berdych can be a “dark horse” of tournament.
Match of the Day: Bautista – Murray 6:4 6:4 6:7 6:7 6:2
Bookmakers odds predicted easy Bautista win, however Andy Murray showed what a legend he is. Standing mostly on one leg, he put up a exceptional performance, battling to the bitter end. He did not give up even when being two sets down and make the day in Melbourne really hot for Bautista.
In the end, Andy Murray lost and we saw sad moments of applauding public to the legend saying good-bye.
Australian Open 2019 Winners Predictions
We still hold on with predictions we made before the season started. Novak Djokovic and Karolina Pliskova.
Novak did not start the season very well, but we still think he will be prepared as never before. Only one who can destroy his wish to become a champion (and our pick) is Roger Federer. The final between Djokovic – Federer is a wish for many (or all tennis fans) and if that happens, we expect very close match.
Karolina Pliskova won WTA tournament in Brisbane and then choose rest for a week. And that is the difference which can decide in Melbourne. She is well prepared and we believe, this is the time when she can finally make it.
Our readers see it the same way in Men Singles. As 36% pick Djokovic and 34% Federer as winners. Third pick Nadal got just 14% votes. (The difference between Novak and Roger is so small, so it can be Federer as
However, readers have different opinions about Ladies event. Serena Williams is the top pick with 29% of votes, followed by Kerber (17%), Halep (14%) and Osaka (13%). We understand Serena wish to revenge for unfortunate US Open final, but we still can name other 10 ladies with a good case to win too.
You can still participate in our Australian Open 2019 Poll here
12.01.2019
Tomorrow is a tennis-free day as everything get prepared for
Today, Petra Kvitova and Sophia Kenin won Sydney and Hobart tournaments. Sydney final was an entertaining match with both ladies using all their skills and fitness to win. Ashleigh Barty will be a fans favorite in Melbourne and Petra Kvitova belongs to top favorites for a long time. However, I do not expect them to win the Australian Open, as they will be really tired. That is the thing I still do not understand, why all top ladies players are playing tournaments week before Grand Slam.
11.01.2019
Andy Murray
Andy Murray
Racket Brands Shares in Singles Draw
Qualification matches are over, all names of participants in Main Singles Draw are set. We did our homework and counted rackets used during 1st round of Australian Open. You can find out which racket brands are most popular between singles players in Melbourne here.
Do not forget to participate in our poll Australian Open 2019 winner
10.01.2019
Singles draw was performed today, so we already know who will meet who in the 1st round. And there will be a lot of matches which will attract a lot of attention. [Official site: Full draw Men Ladies]
Our choice of matches we definitely do not want to miss next week:
Wawrinka – Gulbis
Kyrgios – Raonic
Cilic – Tomic
Bautista – Murray
Edmund – Berdych
Riske – Bertens
Vekic – Mladenovic
Federer will meet Istomin in 1st round, The same match-up like 13 years ago in Melbourne. Federer won 6-2 6-3 6-2 in Australian Open 2006 1st round match. Both players are 13 years older, but the result can be the same 🙂
Do not forget, that we still do not know all the names in Main Draw yet, as qualification will end
Stay tuned. 3 more days and Australian Open 2019 will start.
09.01.2019
Australian Open Qualifying is underway and we are eagerly awaiting the singles draw scheduled on Thursday, January 10th, 6 pm local time (Melbourne)
In the meantime, our readers are participating in the poll. Currently, Djokovic and Federer are the most voted winners in Men’s Singles and Serena Williams in Ladies Singles. The difference between Novak and Roger is very small and final between this two gentlemen is probably the most wished game ever.
Join our Australian Open 2019 poll too!
Simone Halep, one of the favorites, did not start the season very well. She lost her first match in Sydney (2nd round) 4-6 4-6 with Ashleigh Barty.
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