Vamos, Rafa!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking so forward to seeing you tonite!!!!!

VAMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS!

Nadline you made me laugh out so loud when you said in another thread that Mac has a crush on Rafa!!!..............hehe!!!..........me thinks youre right!!!

But I think a lot of us do too!!!!!!!!

VAMOS!!!!

Mona, have you seen Mac interviewing Rafa, he looks like a girl on her first date.

I read somewhere that when somebody has charm,it works on all,irrespective of age or gender.No wonder Mac looks smitten!We all would!

gaba is a crazy ball basher,lol.. rafa is playing well though, he is aggressive which is the KEY.he missed brk pnt at 3-3 but i hope he breaks soon and cruises. go rafa go

Gabashvili playing well ... Rafa playing better. First set to Nadal.

Gabashvili is playing doubles at the US Open with Feliciano Lopez.

Gabashvili is really hitting the ball so hard, he really playing good. Glad that Rafa is surviving so far the barrages of lighting groundstroke.

Update please, I no longer watching it since I have to report to work hehe.

Vamos !!!

wooohooo he breaks !!!

Vamos, consolidate !!!!

Hey Raindrops ... Rafa has now broken in the third set, and held ... so 5-3.

Looks like it's all over for Gabashvili 0-40 on his serve. 3 match points for Rafa.

Loved what I saw from Rafa. His backhand and serve have considerably improved. Played very well! His consistent good play pulled him through and he played the important points the best.

Gabashvilli could have taken any of the the top 6 out today!

Really impressive serving from Rafa tonight.

well he finally broke serve twice

Gabashvilli played really well, but Rafa was simply great! He played great tennis today. This was a big test for Rafa as I expected it would be but Rafa did really well. As the commentator said this was more like the quarterfinal or semifinal match judging by the level of tennis displayed...these guys were both extraordinary! Good start for Rafa! And he can only get better from here on...

VAMOS!!!

Did not sleep through the night to watch Rafa play. Was worth it thought. Great serving. Not sure Rafa even faced a break point on his serve. That is saying something, the way Gabs was playing. Considering the number of 5setters played today, god job to get it done in straights.

Gabashvili would have beat most players in the draw tonight

that includes the seeds

that includes the top seeds

RAFA's inability to break Gabashvili's serve is a big concern,as this fellow is not a big server.
RAFA lucky to get these many second serve points, very high percentage.
And Gabashvili' failed to attack RAFA's second serve.

Excuse me sabs, this Gaba guy is having very high first serve winning percentages and he definitely is serving well. Rafa was serving so well tonight, imagine it was Fed vs Gaba, I'm sure he would have broken Fed's serves a few times.

Fed's opponent Dabul made him looked good. Just looked at how far back Dabul was standing behind the baseline. Fed made him run and run all the time. This Gaba guy will definitely give Fed all sorts of problems too, may even take a set off Fed, judging by how that Dabul guy made the scoreline close in the second set.

Judging by how Rafa played tonight, he certainly has a few more gears to move up to. Rafa's second serves are very tricky to return; just looked at how poorly both Murray and Berdych returned his second serves at Wimbledon, he never give you any pace to work with; and he likes the body serves and jammed his opponents at the baseline. Now that Rafa has beefed up his first serves, the two things left now for him to improve on are his ROS and his backhand, both need improvement as he moves further into the draw.

Overall a good match for Rafa, I'm positive about his performance. I know he'll go far in this tournament. Istomin, Rafa's next opponent, has big serves but I don't think he can threaten Rafa as Istomin can be quite inconsistent at times.

I decided not to stay up and watch this match because I couldn't take the stress at that time of the day - 2am BST, because unless it was quick which I suspected it wouldn't be, I would have been up till 5am probably.

Looks like it was what Rafa needed to start feling the ball.

VAMOS!

ladies and gentlemen, I have seen it all....TEYMURAZ GABASHVILI is trending on Twitter

tennis is ALIVE

I have to confess that I was nervous for Rafa's first match. I read an article on Rafa fan forum in which Uncle Toni said that Rafa wasn't playing well. I also had a feeling that Gaba was going to come out and play some great tennis.

Rafa was up to the challenge. Now I have my answer - yes, Rafa was protecting those abdominals at Toronto and Cincy! He served incredibly well! His fastest serves was 131 mph, while his average serve speed was 117 mph. Well done Rafa! No breaks of serve in a tightly contested match.

I didn't want it to be too easy, because Rafa needs to be tested and challenged to get into his best form. His return of serve still needs work, but I was happy to see him connecting with it in the latter stages of that last set. He ended the match beautifully, with two breaks.

When Rafa finally hit that down the line backhand winner, you could see how happy he was! He kept on going for that backhand shot all throughout the match. I don't care if he misses, because he has to keep going for it to get the timing back. He was playing more aggressive in that third set, moving into the court to set up winners at net.

Rafa definitely has a few more gears to move up to, but it's crucial that he peaks at the right time, which is the second week of the tournament. I will say that if Rafa can get through these early round matches and get match ready, I like his chances.

Well done, Rafa!

nadline,

I wanted to say that you are absolutely right that this was what Rafa needed to start feeling the ball. That's a great way to hit it. If you had seen the match, then you would have been pleased to see Rafa connecting with his backhand in that third set and firing away with that forehand.

I could sense that he was feeling more comfortable on the court. After seeing Rafa serve so brilliantly, I have a good feeling about his chances. However, there are a lot more matches to play!

nadline,

Sorry, but I meant to say in the post above - that's a great way to PUT it!

Lucky star,

I agree with you, RAFA served well.
But Gabavishli was looking good to break RAFA in the second set, especially with his brute back hand. But he couldnot take advantage of RAFA's second serve because Gaba was not moving well(please check remarks from commentators) to take adavantage of it. that was my point,and Fed has got no role when RAFA's game being discussed.

Though RAFA had lot of positives,I feel other aspects also can be discussed.

NNY, I also believe that the first few matches are the most trying for Rafa in his draw, if he gets through those, it will get better for him. Some of the lower ranked players can be more of a threat than the higher ranked ones, 93 in the world doesn't really mean that they can't challegne the top players.

Hello sabs, I brought up Fed because to me Fed and Rafa are of the same league and it was only reasonable to compare how the two would respond towards Gabashvillie. Also Ricky mentioned that the way Gabashvillie played, he could trouble any top players and so I brought up Fed. Sorry if you dont feel good about the comparision.

Ok Lucky star.

Fed might have won in three with no tie breaks, GABA can trouble other seeds but not fed. Different class you know as RAFA in FO.

Sabs-
Fed played a nobody. Gab is known for being a brutal player!

Must I remind you of Feds easy draw at the French or was that Wimbledon (probably both), only to then run into a Soderling (French) Berdych (Wimbledon) only to lose, justifying what I had been screaming all along during these tournaments, that form is not determined by the easy in which you beat a lesser opponent, trick shots and all, but the manner in which you pull out a win, when your backs against the wall against a stern challenger.

Winning easy against a lesser oppoent means squat. All it serves to do is give you a false sense of form and confidence.

Sorry Sabs don't agree. If Fed played the way he played against Dabul, Gaba will at least take a set from Fed. If Rafa played against Dabul the way he played today, he'll finished off Dabul 6-1,6-0,6-1 in slightly less than one hour. That's the difference between how Fed and Rafa played their first round matches. You need not agree and that's OK with me. We can say what we want but the most important thing is Fed and Rafa win their matches and progress in the tournament. All else are not so important.

Influence of result of game
The compatibility of it is larger than that of the ranking.

instance, Federer and Davydenko of the same generation

They had the 16 times. Federer 14. Davydenko. 2

Nadal and Davydenko of different generation

They had the 11 times. Davydenko. 6. Nadal. 5

game of Roger and Gabashvili. Naturally, different the content.

Hard to understand what tennisnba was trying to say. Anyway both Rafa and Nole were tested today by formidable opponents and they passed the test. As fan of both, I'm so happy for them. On a separate note, Ferrer beats Dolgo boy in straight sets so well done David.