Australian Open Day One Review: Ivanovic is through but fails to impress

Australian Open Betting / Sean Calvert / 19 January 2009 / Leave a Comment

Sean Calvert pulled an all-nighter to report back to Betfairians on all the action from day one of the Australian Open, including easy wins for Berdych and Djokovic, a not-so-easy win from Ana Ivanovic and heartbreak for British hope Anne Keothavong.

The top players may not agree, but as far as I'm concerned, you can't beat the Australian Open in January.

Who cares about the whining of Nadal, Djokovic et al when you can settle back in the warmth of your home amidst the grip of a bitter English winter and watch the world's finest tennis players slug it out in 40 degree heat.

It was with this attitude that I availed myself of some decent coffee and with my list of 'certainties' pre-selected next to me, I eagerly surveyed the match schedule before opting for Robby Ginepri ([3.0]) v Tomas Berdych ([1.48]) out on Court 3.

This looked to me to be the most competitive of the early matches, as Berdych is always worth opposing as favourite and the recently engaged (to Lucie Safarova) Czech world number 21 has perhaps had his mind on other things so far this year, as his results have been poor.

Ginepri's form had also been patchy, but he normally steps it up in Slams, so I thought this might be a speculative starting point for the night.

Sadly, due to a combination of extremely annoying technical problems, I was stuck with Eurosport's coverage, which started rather bizarrely with a confused David Mercer having to step in to commentate on Ana Ivanovic's match in place of the supposed team of Chris Bradnam and Jo Durie.

The coverage then disappeared and the ever-reliable Mats Wilander kindly stepped in to discuss the likely favourites for the women's singles before the live coverage returned with not Bradnam and Durie, but Simon Reed and Frew McMillan.

Ivanovic, resplendent as ever in a fuchsia dress, started appallingly against Julia Goerges and soon went 3-1 behind on what most people know as the Vodafone Arena, which is now called the Hisense Arena - whatever HiSense maybe?

The Serbian number five seed was playing the kind of tennis that I often display down at the local municipal, but somehow her German opponent caught the Ivanovic nerve bug and lost the plot to lose the first set 7-5 with a wild backhand that only just about stayed in the arena.

The win soon followed for Ivanovic, but her price increased accordingly to [12.0] after another shaky performance.

I was also keeping an eye on Xavier Malisse v Michael Llodra out on Court 21, as I sensed an upset there.

The layers had the Belgian at [1.78] against the Frenchman's [2.28], which I personally thought was the wrong way around, so armed with my first decent wager of the tournament, my thoughts were never too far away from the Court 21 scoreboard.

Meanwhile, Ginepri was getting soundly beaten by Berdych; Eurosport's coverage kept going off for no apparent reason; one of my 'certs' Soderling went a set down to Kendrick and I couldn't find the scores from Court 21.

It was all going wrong and the tournament was less than an hour old.

Finally, news filtered through from Court 21 and it wasn't great. Malisse had won a tight breaker 10-8 and he went on to cruise through 7-6, 6-1, 6-1. Hmmm.

Bad news for Llodra backers, but at least I could console myself with the fact that I hadn't backed Feliciano Lopez, who after coming back from two sets down against Euro-giant Gilles Muller, lost 16-14 in the decider. Five-and-a-half hours! Not what you want in 35-degree heat really.

Ginepri had surrendered meekly in straight sets, but my multiple was looking good at least with five in and only Janko Tipsarevic and Roger Federer to come.

Elsewhere title contenders, Andy Roddick [now 85], Novak Djokovic ([9.4]) and Juan Martin Del Potro ([38]) all eased through in straight sets, as did Marat Safin ([170]) and Marcos Baghdatis ([180]), but Sydney finalist Jarko Nieminen retired in the second set of his clash with Paul-Henri Mathieu ([1000]).

On Court 3, the number one British woman, Anne Keothavong had a tough opener against former top five player Anna Chakvetadze, but the Brit was in decent form and the Russian had slipped down the rankings following a series of poor displays.

After losing the first set meekly, Keothavong got to break point at 5-5 in the second, but a wild backhand brought a despairing cry of "Nnnooooo!!" out of David Mercer.

However, the Russian was beginning to live up to her nickname of Choke-vetadze, as she began whingeing to the umpire about some music that was apparently putting her off. She should try playing at Flushing Meadows.

From 4-2 down in the breaker, the Brit advanced to 5-4 on serve and 'The Choke' bottled it again with two wild forehands, handing the set to Keothavong.

There was controversy at the start of the third set as according to an incredulous Mercer, Chakvetadze was serving first in the decider incorrectly and it took the veteran microphone man a good while to calm down.

The Brit eventually realised, just as Mercer labelled proceedings 'Quite extraordinary' and it seemed to put Anne off. Her opponent raced into a 5-0 lead following a string of errors from Keothavong.

A mishit forehand from Keothavong found the net at match point and her racquet hit the floor along with her hopes of glory and the umpire can expect a visit from a seething Mercer, who hasn't seen anything quite like it in all his 25 years of commentary apparently.

So, no real shocks on Day One then so far, with Federer and Nalbandian still to play.