Australian Open, Melbourne, GS 2000, Jan 16-29, 2023

[prashanthm]

Australian Open, Melbourne, GS 2000, Jan 16-29, 2023

First Grandslam of 2023 is almost here.... and the doubles entry list is out, which seems to be only thing we can cling on to off late ...

As expected, no one close to being in the Men's Singles qualies...

In Men's doubles,

Rohan Bopanna / Matthew Ebden - with a local player, possible 10th seeds, will get a lot of big court attention
Ramkumar Ramanathan / Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela - comfortably in the main draw...
Cut-off at 149....
Yuki Bhambri / Saketh Myneni - 4th in the ALT list..... most of us expected this and discussed that they missed a trick towards the end of the season by not playing that one/two additional weeks... It will be pretty close, but we'll have to wait and see for the next 3 weeks...
N.Sriram Balaji / Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan - 11 OUT, will take a miracle for them to get in...

No one in Women's Singles, KKT is 39 OUT of qualies...

In Women's doubles,

Anna Danilina / Sania Mirza - possible 7th seeds
Cut-off at 141....

[sameerph]

So, we will not have anyone in singles qualifying for grand slams in men or women for the first time since 2004 I think almost after 18 years. Quite bad and hope this changes and Karman, RamK, Prajnesh, Sumit can change this and make it to grand slam qualies later in the year.

Hope Yuki-Saki make it in doubles, they are actually 3 out as Demoliner above them alternates has already signed up in main draw with another partner.

Early entry list for juniors is out and Aryan Shah, Manas Dhamne and Yuvan Nandal are in boys singles main draw, in girls singles, Shruti Ahalawat is 5 out from main draw.

[PKBasu]

Yuki confirmed to me in an SMS (in response to my congratulations for the title and query about AO) that they were headed to the Australian Open. He didn't say how but they certainly deserved the Asia-Pacific wildcard, being the closest to make the main draw of any Asian pair.

[PKBasu]

They will make their Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open as the Asian Wildcard pair!

It will be their debut as a pair, but won't be Yuki's doubles debut at the AO. He and Michael Venus won the Asia-Pac doubles wildcard playoff in November 2013, and went all the way to R3 in the 2014 Australian Open doubles main draw.

[arjun2761]

Yuki confirmed to me in an SMS (in response to my congratulations for the title and query about AO) that they were headed to the Australian Open. He didn't say how but they certainly deserved the Asia-Pacific wildcard, being the closest to make the main draw of any Asian pair.

Yes, they are in the draw against the 14th seeds Peers and Mies. Tough matchup but they have the quality to make a match of it…

[Omkara]

They will make their Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open as the Asian Wildcard pair!

Vow. This is great news. The brightest spot in Indian tennis.

[Rajiv]

Comparatively an easy opener on paper for Ram and his partner against the Tsitsipas Brothers, but one never knows the Sr Tsitsipas can raise his doubles game.

While a tough encounter for Saki/Yuki against the 14th seeds Peers/Mies.

And Rohan /Ebden should be comfortably through to the next round if they match up their billing of 10th seeds against Miedler/Eller.

[prashanthm]

Pleasantly surprised with the wild card for Yuki/Saki... Hopefully they'll make the most of it....

[arjun2761]

Yes, it will be great for YukiSaki and Ramk to win at least a round here. One win gets them 90 points and two wins 180 points, so a real chance to move up in the rankings if they can get wins.

[Dinesh]

Sania and Rohan team up for one last time(?) to play in the AO Xd draw. They play wildcards Luke Saville and Jamie Fourlis. Winnable match.

[Dinesh]

An Indian kid won his first qualifying round at the AO today. Kriish Tyagi.

[sameerph]

Yuki-Saki were up a break 6-5 in the first set and Yuki was serving at 40-15 but got broken. And then lost the tie break 5-7.

Opportunity lost.

[prashanthm]

At *6-5 40-15, I was getting ready to post 'WOW WOW WOW!', but here I am trying 'BUMMER BUMMER BUMMER!!!' at the end of first set...

[prashanthm]

Second set
What a topsy-turvy second set.... went down a break and it was looking bleak at 4-5* and our team even saved two match-points, broke back and had two set points at 6-5*, couldn't convert....
went down a mini-break in the tie-break, but came back strongly to take the tie-break 7-4, and with that the second set...

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,90)/ Saketh Myneni (IND,74) v. (14) Andreas Mies (GER,22)/ John Peers (AUS,38) 67(5) 76(4) 00*

[prashanthm]

Final set
What a start to the final set as Yuki/Saki break in the first game... *1-0
3 comfortable holds on either side... 3-1*
They had a look-in on their opponent's serve at 15-30 with a great FH return from Saki, but then it went to 40-30, and then to Deuce with a great return from Yuki... Ad-in, Wonderful lob from Yuki to make it Deuce #2, netted BH return from Saki Ad-in and they hold with a UFE from Yuki... *3-2

Some poor shot choices and co-ordination meant that Saki loses serve... So, the final set is now back on serve... 3-3*

Good volley by Yuki... 0-15, good volley by opponents 15-15, good back-court play and volley finish by Saki, 15-30, good volley by opponents 30-30, half-lob by Saki handled wonderfully by opponents 40-30... Yuki went hard a FH return, and it looked like a mishit and landed just inside 40-40... Forceful volley from Mies Ad-in, nice FH inside-out return by Yuki and hit back even better by Peers... *3-4

DF by Yuki... 0-15, netted ground stroke by Yuki 0-30, FH CC winner by opponents 0-40, finish off at the net to break Yuki's serve at love... 3-5*

And, Mies serving for the match...

Two good returns, one each by Yuki and Saki... 15-30... Yuki tried to go BH DTL with his return and misses... 30-30, Yuki tried to make a point out of a smash and almost made it... 40-30 and netted FH gives Mies/Peers the match...

It all went down south so fast after being up 3-1 in the decider...
A very close match in the end... If only our guys converted one of the two set-points in the first set, things could have turned out differently...

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,90)/ Saketh Myneni (IND,74) l. (14) Andreas Mies (GER,22)/ John Peers (AUS,38) 67(5) 76(4) 36