Thursday, January 19, 2012

Aussie Open 2012: Rafa Round 2

(Swinging his way through Round 2)

Nadal got through his second round match in fairly straight forward fashion (was it yesterday? the day before? tomorrow? who can tell with the time zone difference), beating Tommy Haas in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. It looked initially like it was going to be a much quicker match than it was with Nadal ahead 5-1 in the first with a break point/set point on Haas's serve, but then Haas stormed back and won the next 3 games to close within 5-4. Nevertheless, Our Hero got the job done closing out the set on his next service game. The writing as pretty much on the wall from there.

It's still early in the tournament and Rafa is not playing his ultimate best, but he's playing well enough to get the job done in straight sets. Next up in Round 3 is Lukas Lacko from Slovakia. I love that guy's name. He shouldn't provide too much of a problem for Rafa. There are some other really interesting 3rd round match-ups shaping up throughout the draw. I'm interested to see what happens with Tomic vs. Dolgopolov, Fed vs. Karlovic, and Hewitt vs. Raonic.I'd also like to see Isner beat Fee-Lo, but then that puts him in line to face Rafa in the 4th round, and then he'd have to fall. Sorry, Americans! It's already kinda rough out there with Fish and Roddick gone early. Before Nadal-Isner becomes a reality to stress over, first we gotta get through Round 3...  which might air tonight here and be happening on Friday down there? Gah, time zones! Vamos!

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