Australian Open Day 11 Review: Top players care about Slams

Australian Open Betting / Sean Calvert / 29 January 2009 / Leave a Comment

Serena may have lost to her Russian opponent in their last three meetings but they were in minor events and, as Roger Federer demonstrated too, the Slams are a very different story...

Kicking off Day 11 on Rod Laver were Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva and this was the bet of the tournament so far (apart from Stefan Koubek to beat Mikhail Youzhny that is) - I wasn't going to miss this.

The three-time champion and nine-time Grand Slam winner's price of [2.25] against a serial underachiever was too good to miss.

Despite having lost to the Russian in their last three meetings, they were all in minor events and as we have seen with Roger Federer, it's the slams that the top players care about.

Only the 40-plus temperatures could put a spanner in the works, so thankfully for my dwindling bank balance the roof was closed and Williams broke the number four seed in game eight before serving the set out 6-3.

The American dominated on serve in the opener, but it was Dementieva that lead 2-0 at the start of set number two after breaking Williams for the first time.

The advantage did not last too long though, as Dementieva's former brittleness on serve resurfaced.

She served eight doubles in the second set, combined with 20 unforced errors and those numbers are never going to beat Williams in a grand slam semi-final.

The number two seed served the match out for a 6-3, 6-4 victory and she moves in to [1.46] for the title.

Williams' opponent was to be decided next on Laver, as an all-Russian affair took centre stage.

My outright cash had been on Vera Zvonareva from the start and three consecutive victories over her opponent, Dinara Safina, meant that I was quietly confident about this one too.

I was to be disappointed though, as Zvonareva failed to come to terms with the slightly different conditions under the still-closed roof and Safina upped her game considerably from the level of her previous matches to take the opening set 6-3.

The second was pretty turgid stuff, as Safina returned to her former error-prone self, but Zvonareva failed to take advantage and when she suffered a bad call followed by an unsuccessful hawkeye challenge at 3-3, it was more or less all over for her.

It went to a breaker, which Safina took and she progressed to meet Williams in the final, despite making 42 unforced errors.

Finally, the roof was opened and it was time for part 18 of the Roddick v Federer series and we all know the woeful head-to-head between the two, but could the new streamlined Roddick wobble the Swiss maestro in a similar vein to Tomas Berdych?

As so often in the past, things did not start well for the American as he was broken in his second service game and Larry Stefanki watching courtside could only look on with that familiar perplexed yet cheerful look about his countenance.

Stefanki would have been heartened momentarily when, in the very next game, Roddick earned a break back point, but optimism soon faded as Federer recovered the situation and took the first set 6-2 with the help of a hawkeye challenge that really annoyed the American.

Roddick upped his game in the second set and looked like he might at least take it to a tie-break, but a sloppy game 11 allowed Federer the opportunity he needed and he took full advantage to lead 6-5.

Nine consecutive points meant that the three-time champion moved into a two set lead and his price of [1.02] looked generous if anything, as Fed didn't look like he was likely to have a third set blip, while Roddick must have been somewhat low on morale to say the least.

That frustration continued into set three and Roddick earned a code violation in game five for the second or third in a series of audible obscenities following a netted forehand.

He managed to fight off break points to win that game, but more followed at 5-5 and a fierce crosscourt forehand from Federer was too hot for Roddick to handle and it gave the Swiss maestro the chance to serve for a place in the final at 6-5.

Another sublime forehand down the line gave Federer the straight sets win and he moves in to [1.84] to collect his fourth Australian Open men's singles title.