I only went to two matches today. Will probably go back tonight principally for Gasquet - Raonic.
I like to watch the Gasquet backhand.
The Haas - Nalbandian match was, as said above, a great one. Lugburz must be very happy
. Both players were in top form. I had not seen Nalbandian play as well since the run he had to win in Washington DC in 2010. One had to admire the smooth flow of his movement both on court and in stroke execution. He did magnificent volley work including some great high backhand ones of the sort that I can never get right. Haas was not so strong in my eyes in this department but had an uncanny ability to fire an unreturnable serve when it was most needed. The first two sets were 6-7, 7-6. I did not stay for the third but I later learned that Tommy won it at 6-3 and that Nalbandian had one of his outbursts part way through the set which probably did him more harm than good.
I, of course, had to get over to Baker - Tomic. It too was a memorable game. Baker, to put it briefly, plays first class conventional tennis. I feared that Tomic was going to try all the smart shots that he tried on the unhappy Ryan Harrison the other night but no, he did not. He played the same sort of game as Baker but better. Only a couple of drop shots to my memory this time, one failure and one success. The serving was very good as one would expect from a 6ft 5 guy.
The crowd was mostly very pro-Baker but there was a small but vocal Tomic group. No shot spot on court 3. The first set advanced more or less on serve but at about the 9th game one of Baker's shots went just out in Tomic's eyes. The line official didn't catch it and it was outside the field of view of the chair umpire. Tomic protested and his supporters, who had a good view, loudly agreed. It didn't help, needless to say and I did feel for the poor linesman. Tomic thoroughly enjoyed all the support that he generated but it seemed to me that thereafter Baker was somewhat perturbed and the level of his game dropped just a little. Tomic went on to win at something like 6-4, 6-3.
Well, no doubt in my mind now that Tomic really does have the stuff and that there are interesting times in the years ahead for Australian tennis. However his immediate problem is another encounter with Federer. I hope Fed is in good form, Dallas!
