Australian Open 2011

frostie500

I was impressed by Murray, he was far from perfect, but he did enough to get through and the final should be exciting. Turning point of the match, for me at lease, was the set point that Murray saved in the second. Murray was on the ropes to that point but grew in confidence once he saved the second set.

RosyLily

Good match from Murray but not his best. He's been below par against both Dologopov and Ferrer. He better kick it up a notch against Djokovic or else he won't have a prayer.
Nole is looking really good throughout the tournament; his confidence is sky high. I think Serbia's Davis Cup win boosted his morale. I think Djoko will win in 4/5 sets.

Was delighted to see Dulko/Pennetta win the womens doubles. They are a great team and showed immense resilience to fight back from 2-6, 1-4 down.

Womens Final is tomorrow morning- from 8am on Eurosport. Both Li and Clijsters are looking tough and are very positive going into this match. I hope it's a great match. After Clijsters saying 2011 could be her last full year on the tour, it could be her last chance to win the Aussie. Li has been around for years but has really come into the spotlight over the last 3 years. I hope the big occasion won't affect her game. It's good to see a different face in the final!

RosyLily

Kim Clijsters wins first Aussie title!!:)
Poor first set from her though and Li was on fire! She got better in the 2nd and totally stole the 3rd. Great womens match to see. You really didn't know who would win. It had some great baseline rallies and both players threw everything they had at each other. Wish all womens matches were like this one!

KeithAFC

Murray Djkovic coming up.

efb

Come on Andy!

DM_7

Not going so well!

Rjd2

Murray was rubbish.

Novak was imperious though.

steelcityblues

Don't what it is, but Murray can't seem to go that 'extra mile' as Pat Cash just pointed out. Maybe a slight mental bloc.

I know Djokovic has looked devasating throughout, but this really should have been a tight contest looking at it.

Still, well done to the Serb - he will prob. win another Slam before the year is over.

Rob2D

I'm just delighted Murray didn't win.

RosyLily

My god, was expecting so much more from Murray during the match. He was driving the ball wide on many occasions...and he usually doesn't! It was really frustrating to watch him play this morning. After the match, he looked bitterly disappointed- almost seething. Last year he was awful after losing the final. It will interesting to see how he deals with this GS loss.

Fair play to Djokovic. He played unbelievably well. Very clean game from him and he hit loads of winners. Looking forward to seeing what he does during 2011. There is a high possibility that Djokovic will add to his titles this year....perhaps a U.S. Open title.

In other Aussie tennis news, the Bryan Brothers beat Paes and Bhupathi in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to win the Mens Doubles title for the 5th time. Excellent game from the brothers; they're great to watch. This win leaves them one behind Woodbridge & Woodforde's record of 11 GS doubles titles.

Nestor & Srebotnik, the 2nd seeds, beat Paul Hanley & Yung-Jan Chan 6-3, 3-6, 10-7. This is the duo's first mixed doubles title together.

JP Liz V1

Andy Murray felt Novak Djokovic would have beaten "every other player" in the world in the Australian Open final.
As it was, it was Murray who felt the full force of Djokovic's skills, going down 6-4 6-2 6-3 in two hours and 39 minutes, as he stumbled at the final hurdle of a Grand Slam for the third time. Great Britain's 75-year wait for a men's singles champion therefore continues.
Although the British number one admitted he performed below expectations, he also felt he came up against an opponent in prime form.
"He played great although I would have liked to have played better," said Murray. "I think he would have beaten every other player on the tour tonight. He served well, he didn't make many mistakes from the back of the court, he moved really well and he hit the ball cleanly."
Murray did break one record - albeit not one he will look on fondly - after becoming the first man in the Open era not to win a set in three Grand Slam final appearances.
The first two defeats, at the US Open in 2008 and here 12 months ago, saw him lose to an overwhelming favourite in Roger Federer but he came into this contest seemingly on a par with Djokovic.
But what transpired will haunt Murray for some time.
His first-serve percentage was a lowly 53 per cent, his groundstrokes continually missed their target, his body language was negative while his movement, so often his strength, proved another weakness.
His sluggish display prompted talk of an injury but Murray confirmed he was 100 per cent fit.
"I thought I moved decent," he insisted. "I could have moved better but, no, I wasn't injured. Against Novak you need to be firing on all cylinders and I didn't move as well as I would have liked."
Murray at least competed in the opening exchanges with the first set remaining on serve until 5-4 when Djokovic broke to claim an early advantage. But from there on in, it was one-way traffic.
Djokovic quickly established a 5-0 lead in the second set and although Murray broke for the first time to avoid total humiliation, he could not prevent himself from falling two sets down.
Another Murray break at the start of the third offered brief hope of a turnaround but Djokovic promptly broke back twice to move 3-1 ahead. The 23-year-old from Dunblane hit back once more but Djokovic again had the answer by re-establishing his advantage for a 5-3 lead and he coolly served it out.
Murray revealed after his semi-final win over David Ferrer that he had to resort to a plan B to get past the Spaniard, but even plan B did not work for the world number five against Djokovic.
"I started to go for my shots more as the match went on," he said. "At the start both of us were trying to feel each other out a little bit and as you work your way into the match you start to find patterns and go for your shots more. I started taking more chances and managed to break serves a few times but I wasn't able to keep it up for long enough."
Even though it appeared another chastening experience, Murray was adamant he felt better than 12 months ago when he was reduced to tears by Federer.
"It's better than it was last year," he said. "It is obviously tough and disappointing but I have got to deal with it."
Djokovic felt his performance was as good as it got.
"It was a great match. From the start to the last point I did what I intended to do tactically and what I prepared for," said Djokovic, who claimed his second Grand Slam crown after also winning in Melbourne in 2008. "I was aware of the fact I was going to have some long rallies against a player who doesn't miss a lot, a very talented player who is one of the best returners in the game.
"So I had to step in, that was the key. When I had the chance to step in and move him around the court that's what I did. The turning point was probably the last game of the first set when we had some incredible rallies from the baseline. When you have a set advantage, it's much different."

I'm sure Nadal or Federer would have won :rolleyes:

Rjd2

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I'm sure Nadal or Federer would have won :rolleyes:

Federer would played Novak in similarly inspired form in the semi final and got trashes, unlikely he would have done any better here.

Nadal is a different matter, if 100% Nadal would win, but it would have been closer than todays match.

Hermy

Andy Murray felt Novak Djokovic would have beaten "every other player" in the world in the Australian Open final...

...especially if they went out there with Murray's negative attitude!