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  • Australian Open First Round Preview - First Quarter

    1/13/08 11:37 PM | Jonathan Morgan
    - With Federer in the quarter there might not be much hope for the other players, but there might be some upsets in the first round. Our expert will guide you through the first round.

    Roger Federer vs. Diego Hartfield
    Some of you may rememeber the name Hartfield from the French Open 2006 first round. That's because he had Federer on the ropes in the first and second sets before going down 7-5 and 7-6 in each of them, and Federer rolling in the 3rd. I dont expect Federer to have any sort of those problems this time, as he comes back from the stomach sickness that caused him to have to pull out of the Kooyong exhibition event the previous week.

    Fernando Gonzalez vs. Konstantinos Economidis
    Oh, Forehando, what will we do with you? Last year at this time, you were crazy good, blasting your way to the finals before falling to Federer. However, the rest of the year, you were terrible, with the exception of the final in Rome, where you were humbled by Rafael Nadal. You still managed to make it to the Master's Cup last year where you even beat Federer in a wild 3 setter! The question in this match is which Gonzalez we will see. I can't see the 30 year old Greek qualifier posing TOO much of a problem at all, if its the good Gonzalez we are seeing. If its the one that we all witnessed for much of last year, who knows?

    Ivan Ljubicic vs. Robin Haase
    UPSET ALERT! Ivan Ljubicic has been in awful form for quite some time. In fact, many would consider this awful form as his ACTUAL play, and that 05 and 06 were aberrations, where he made the Master's Cup both years. Ljubicic's serve has always been good, but its the rest of the veteran's game that is quite sub-par. The forehand is atrocious, the backhand isn't bad, but the movement by the Croat is also terrible. Haase, the 20 year old Dutch youngster has been moving up the ranks all year year into prominence, and took out Marcos Baghdatis in Chennai 2 weeks ago. Last year he took out Augustin Calleri in Vienna, and Tomas Berdych in straight sets in Canada, so he's had some decent scalps in his career, and I would not be surprised at all to see him take out Ljubicic.

    Chris Guccione vs. Hyung-Taik Lee
    With Lleyton Hewitt talking big and disappointing every Aussie summer, the Kangaroos are looking toward the towering lefty, Chris Guccione, as the future and present of Aussie tennis. This past week has done everything to help that hope. The Gooch, as he is called, had a great week in Sydney last week, defeating a gauntlet of players en route to the final, including Lleyton Hewitt, Tomas Berdych, and Radek Stepanek, before falling to Dmitry Tursunov in the final, in two tiebreaks. Hyung-Taik Lee, the 32 year old Korean veteran will look to upset the young Aussie, but I really can't see it happening. Lee is 1-6 in his career at the Australian Open, and hasn't won a match here since 2003. He played well last year, having some good showings in Wimbledon, the US Open, and a few other summer American events, but the crowd, along with Guccione's great confidence and abilities, as well as Lee's abysmal record in Australia all point toward a Guccione victory. Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!

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Comments

a bit harsh on Ljubcic! It is, however, an upset alert for sure. Personally I think Ljubo will come through in four, maybe 5.

Guccione is hot right now, he will beat Lee.

Fernando will absolutely rout Economidis.

RickyDimon , 1/14/08 12:31 AM



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