Nieminenenenen

I would not be myself if I did not begin this post with a big AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, as is my wont whenever Novak Djokovic gets beaten by someone he shouldn't have. How about Jarkko Nieminen? He played a fabulous match - and this has to be the best win of his career. He's never beaten a top five player before - and in my humble opinion, he couldn't have picked a better one to beat.

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I don't think this is going to have too much bearing on the Open - Djokovic could be playing his way into form - but I would not be unconcerned, were I in the Djokovic camp. That's all I'm saying. Along with AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

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It's going to be an interesting match, this final - who would have picked a Nalbandian/Nieminen match? Certainly not me. It's going to be intriguing to see an inform Nalbandian at the Open - he has got potential to beat any of the top four. He's in the Djokovic quarter, and that would be a very interesting match indeed. I was gunning for him to be in the Nadal quarter, because that would be interesting to the nth degree, but we cannot have everything. I'm going to pick him over Jarkko, but then I picked Djokovic over Jarkko as well. Who knows what Nieminenenenen can pull out of the bag this time?!

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The women's final was a very interesting match as well. It is beyond me why Elena Dementieva can hit such powerful, penetrating groundies and then have a serve which is the equivalent of caressing her opponent with a natural yoghurt (pop culture reference - props to anyone who gets it, as you clearly have excellent taste.) Imagine her game with, say, Serena's serve. She'd be unstoppable. Hell, put Safina's serve on her, and she'd be #1 in a flash.

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Dinara herself did not play badly - I think she got outplayed, mostly. Elena's on a hot streak. What did get me was how frickin' mean her coach was to her! Seriously, oncourt coaching is a dodgy enough enterprise, without your coach coming out and launching a tirade of abuse at you. Maybe that's how Dinara operates - she needs someone to be super-hard to help her knuckle down or whatever - but it didn't even really sound like constructive criticism to me... I hate oncourt coaching. I think it's ridiculous and should be thrown out the window, baby, bathwater and all. If you even mentioned the possibility on the ATP tour, there'd be uproar. Why is it all right on the WTA tour? The girls are not stupider than the guys!

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Speaking of the ATP tour, and the Player Council President in particular, he has a final himself today at Kooyong - which I cannot watch because of work, which saddens me greatly. It's going to be an interesting tussle, Roger vs. Stan - obviously you pick Roger, but Stan obviously knows his game so well... and they're such good mates. I bet that match will be a pleasure to watch - for all the people that aren't me!

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Oh, and props to Marija Mirkovic! I lied yesterday when I said Mr Milkshake was the only Aussie, male or female, left in qualies. Here's hoping Marija can pull it out over Kimiko Date Krumm and win herself a place in the main draw!

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Today's Results

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AAMI Classic (Kooyong)

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Stanislas Wawrinka def. Fernando Gonzalez, 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (1-7) 6-4
Marcos Baghdatis def. Marin Cilic, 6-3 6-2
Carlos Moya def. Ivan Ljubicic, 7-5 3-6 7-5

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Medibank International (Sydney)

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Men's Draw

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Jarkko Nieminen def. Novak Djokovic, 6-4 7-6 (7-3)

David Nalbandian def. Richard Gasquet, 6-4 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Elena Dementieva def. Dinara Safina, 6-3 2-6 6-1

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Heineken Open (Auckland)

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Juan Martin del Potro def. Robin Soderling, 6-4 6-3

Sam Querrey def. David Ferrer, 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

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Moorilla Hobart International (Hobart)

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Petra Kvitova def. Iveta Benesova, 7-5 6-1