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Post by Admin on Feb 11, 2021 4:33:27 GMT
According to Nick Kyrgios, he probably wouldn’t have won his extraordinary Australian Open match on Wednesday night without the “insane” parochial Aussie crowd at John Cain Arena.
Kyrgios sent those in attendance into absolute raptures as he saved two match points and somehow came back from the dead to beat Frenchman Ugo Humbert 5-7 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4.
Kyrgios later praised the crowd for their support, however there were many viewers watching at home who weren’t impressed.
Many felt that the crowd crossed the line between cheering for their hometown hero to actively cheering Humbert’s errors.
Spectators could be heard cheering after Humbert served a fault or made an unforced error, behaviour that a number of social media users labelled “disgusting” and “pathetic”.
“The behaviour of the Aussie crowd during this Kyrgios / Humbert match is disgusting,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“I am appalled. Cheering faults & double faults by the Frenchman, and the like.
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Post by Admin on Feb 11, 2021 19:30:41 GMT
An hour after her Australian Open title defence crumbled with a 6-3, 6-2 second-round defeat to Kaia Kanepi, Sofia Kenin arrived in the press room with reddened eyes. Although she had already been crying, she admirably answered each question as well as she could: she explained that her opponent had played well but she was unable to execute her own shots. She concluded that she simply could not handle the pressure.
It was when she was asked to explain where the pressure came from that Kenin’s composure waned: “I feel like everyone was always asking me ‘Would you want to? Do you see yourself getting [to Melbourne] and winning again?’ Obviously I said yes. With the way I’m playing, no’” She began to cry.
Despite Kanepi being 35 years old, wearing cheap attire, no logo and finishing last season ranked 91 places below her opponent, there was little shock at the result. Kenin was downed by one of the most brutal, heavy ball strikers on the tour. The Estonian’s ability has taken her as high as 15th in the rankings and there was a time when it seemed that she had everything in her hands to be a perennial top-20 player.
Instead, Kanepi has become the resident grand slam upset specialist. She is the name that every seed dreads and one of the few players to consistently make true on her ability to pull off an upset. Her win against Kenin marks her eighth grand slam win against a top 10 player and she has compiled a winning 7-6 record against them since June 2010, with victories over Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic. Her top-10 record is 5-29 at regular WTA events. Such was her confidence against Kenin, she closed the match with three aces.
The rise of Kenin over the past 13 months has happened precisely because of her ability to handle pressure in different contexts. Not only did she break through to win a surprise maiden slam title, but even after a pandemic disrupted the world and the tennis season was scuppered for five months, she returned to reach the Roland Garros final on her weakest surface.
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Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2021 3:09:46 GMT
Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan was throwing up on court during and after one of the most remarkable wins in recent memory at the Australian Open. The 20-year-old overcame Egyptian player Mayar Sherif in a two hour and 39 minute epic on Thursday. Sheriff served for the match in the second set, however Juvan stormed home from a set down to win 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-3. The insane comeback was made all the more remarkable by the fact Juvan was physically ill during and after the match. She collapsed to her haunches after the final point and was seen throwing up in a bucket next to her courtside chair shortly afterwards. Sheriff was also physically spent after the epic match.
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Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2021 19:20:32 GMT
Drama should not come as a surprise to anyone watching a Nick Kyrgios match, but the Aussie star found a new way to outdo himself on Friday night.
The 25-year-old came out firing in his third round clash against World No.3 Dominic Thiem on his beloved John Cain Arena.
With the raucous home faithful very much in Kyrgios' corner, the World No.47 was doing his best to whip supporters up into a frenzy.
It all began with a crucial break of Thiem in the very first game that sparked a crowd eruption which could quite easily have lifted the retractable roof off the arena.
The noise reached fever pitch when Kyrgios took out the first set, but the most dramatic moment was yet to come.
At 4-4 in the second set and with both players refusing to give an inch on their own serve, Kyrgios once again managed to break last year's Australian Open runner-up.
Three commanding points on his own serve left Kyrgios on the brink of a two-sets-to-love lead when the Aussie decided to pull out one of the most extraordinarily audacious tactics that many fans had ever witnessed.
Kyrgios is no stranger to an underarm serve, but to even contemplate it at set point up in the third round of a grand slam was scarcely believable.
More incredibly, however, Kyrgios managed to ace the deep-lying Thiem to clinch the second stanza in the most dramatic of circumstances.
Unsurprisingly, viewers were left searching for words to describe what they were witnessing.
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Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2021 4:21:42 GMT
Naomi Osaka is a fan favourite pretty much wherever she plays tennis but the Japanese star's latest admirer has sent the internet into a spin. Osaka booked a date with 2020 Australian Open runner-up Garbine Muguruza in the last 16 after a clinical straight sets win on Friday afternoon. The third seed, champion in Melbourne two years ago, closed out an easy 6-3, 6-2 victory over Tunisian 27th seed Ons Jabeur in 1-hour and 18-minutes on John Cain Arena. While the 23-year-old's victory left her legion of fans delighted, it was a wonderful mid-match moment with a butterfly that stole the show. Play was momentarily halted in the second set when the winged insect decided that it wanted to get upon close and personal with Osaka.
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