Very frustrating day yesterday with only 2 from 5 as advised. Nieminen blew it big time with 3 squandered bps in the final set
before giving up a break on his very next serve. Acasuso likewise after winning the first crumbled badly.
My outright on big Ivo still alive and kicking and he has an excellent h to h record against both Mardy Fish and Blake if he can keep up the mammoth serving form he has been in. He is 4-1 against Fish and has won all 7 tbs in those matches. If I was having an interest in the game I would probably be looking to go over 23.5 games given the extreme likelihood of a tb.
Only 1 appeals today and that is in the ladies –
Svazay-Danildou
I had the misfortune to be financially involved in the Safina-Danildou match late last night as I caught the game on a Russian satellite station and decided a last bet before I hit the hay was in order – Safina (whom I backed) had one of the most spectacular chokes of recent times. Having won the first set 6-1 , she served for the match at 5-4 and had 4 match point opportunities. She missed all 4 including the final one which agonisingly (for her and more importantly for me) ran along the net cord before falling back on her side of the court
. Taking things to a tb which she lost in 8 she then proceeded to do her flaky elder brother proud with a gutless display 3rd set display against an opponent absolutely dead on her feet. In her display of ineptitude she managed to throw in 11 double faults and a number of ues that I simply got too disheartened to keep track off. Her opponent Danildou has been suffering from both a cold and a back strain (since he LA withdrawl a fortnight ago) and has now played over 10 hours in this event alone.
I thought Svazay might struggle against Bondarenko but she gave up only a single bp and broke serve 4 times from 9 opportunities. She has served extremely well and in her 6 matches here she has dropped serve only 4 times and has yet to concede a set. This will be a huge breakthrough for the young Hungarian if she even makes the final here – the prizemoney alone will be almost 60% of her to date career earnings and an appearance will bring her into the top 40 (around 35) for the first time if my calculations are correct which should see her seeded at most Tier II-IV events. Danildou is a gutsy fighter but unless her coach has the magic sponge handy tonight I can’t see her having the gas in the tank for this one.
2.25 Units Svazay @ 1.45