The big 3 cruise
Federer, Novak and Rafa have all looked good in their opening rounds; only Rafa has dropped a set, last night to David Goffin, the Belgian roadrunner. Federer was tested in the 3rdround by Casper Ruud, who took him to a tiebreak in the 3rdset but came through in straight sets, hitting 11 aces and 52 winners, the Swiss plays Leonardo Mayer next who he leads 3-0 in the head to heads.
But the player to watch and who we shouldn’t fall asleep on is Stan Wawrinka, he’s looked good the first two rounds and leads Dimitrov 2 sets to love in a match stopped by poor light, Stan could do some serious damage to this draw.
Bottom half of women’s draw is decimated
Petra Martic the 31stseed has yet to lose a set, in fact she hasn’t lost 4 games in any set and has dumped the 2ndseed Karolina Pliskova out of the tournament in the 3rdround, this combined with the Kerber 1stround loss and Kiki Bertens retirement due to injury has thrown the bottom section of the draw into a tailspin. This sets up the 4thround clash tomorrow between Sloane Stephens (7) and Garbine Muguruza (19) as a big chance for the winner of this match to have a clear run to the final.
Can Serena actually win this?
After the 1stset in her opening round Serena looked like a first round casualty but fought back to win in 3 against Diatchenko. The longer the American stays in the draw the worse it is for everybody as she builds momentum better than the final season of ‘The Americans’. She plays Sofia Kenin in the 3rdround and should get through that. The top half is still loaded with Osaka, Keys and Halep but all of them would rather Serena is out of this tournament.
The Barty Party
Clay might not be the Aussie’s best surface but Ash has looked good through the first two rounds in not losing a set. In the 3rdround she’ll play Andrea Petkovic from Germany, they’ve never played before but the German has struggled with injuries lately and holds a 10/13 win loss record for the year, if Ash wins that a likely 4thround against Serena looms, that’s a match I’d love to see.