{"id":1004,"date":"2023-01-25T20:47:33","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T18:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/?p=1004"},"modified":"2023-01-25T20:47:33","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T18:47:33","slug":"aussie-open-day-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/2023\/01\/25\/aussie-open-day-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie Open – Day 10"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Day 10 and there’s has been a shift at the top of the leaderboard. Another 5 teams have been eliminated as well after the losses to Rublev and Pliskova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day started off with unseeded Linette playing the 30th seed, Pliskova. The 30th seed has had an impressive performance up until the quarter-finals as she has not dropped a set up until this point. Her opponent Linette has knocked out Kontaveit, Garcia and Alexandrova while only dropping 1 set so both players headed into the encounter in pretty good form to say the least. Linette was the player to serve first in this encounter and was broken first game. A great start for Pliskova, however she could not back up the break and the match was level once again at 1-1. The set went on serve up until Linette led 3-2. Linette then broke the Pliskova serve to love and looked in command in the opening set of the match. She managed to hold from 30-30 to lead 5-2 and Pliskova managed to then hold to make the Polish player serve out the 1st set. Linette did struggle as she was 30-0 up before losing 3 points in a row to have to save a break point. Thankfully Linette won the next 3 points and the opening set was hers 6-3. She was just 1 set away from a grand slam semi-final. The 2nd set started off well for both players. Pliskova nearly broke to lead 3-1 but Linette managed to stave off the break point and level the set at 2-2 and the it was Linette’s turn to let a break point slip by in the very next game. At 3-3, once again it was Pliskova under pressure on serve and once again it was Pliskova who managed to come out of the game without being broken. At 5-5, Linette gave herself a great opportunity to break as she led the game 15-40. Pliskova made an unforced error to hand the break to Linette who was now going to have to serve to book her spot in a grand slam semi-final. Just as the first set, Linette was 30-0 up before losing 3 points and giving a break point opportunity to Pliskova. However just as the first set Linette saved the break point and won the next 2 points which meant she took the match and she was into a grand slam semi-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2nd ladies quarter-final of the day was next and it was between 5th seed, Sabalenka and unseeded Vekic. Sabalenka has looked almost unbeatable so far as she has not dropped a set and has hardly looked like dropping a set so far. Vekic on the other hand had to win her 1st round in a super tiebreak and had dropped a set in her 4th round encounter against Fruhvirtova. Sabalenka was therefore a heavy favourite in the 2nd ladies quarter-final. Sabalenka served first and took her opening service game comfortably while Vekic really had to battle to win her first service game. Sabelenka had made an early statement in this match. Vekic however settled after her first service game hold and so nearly broke Sabalenka in the 3rd game of the match. Sabalenka had to save 3 break points in that 3rd game. Sabalenka then won the Vekic service game to love and led the 1st set 3-1. Vekic then conjured up 3 break points herself and managed to take the 3rd one and we were back on serve at 3-2. An incredibly long service game was played at 2-3 for Vekic. Vekic having to save 2 break points but only taking her 5th game point opportunity. It was level again at 3-3. Both players continued to struggle on serve as Sabalenka then was 15-40 down and had to save a 3rd break point after saving those 2 before managing to hold her serve and lead 4-3. This 7th game hold of serve proved vital as she broke Vekic in the 8th game to lead 5-3 and held her service game after saving yet another break point to take the opening set 6-3. It still felt however that both players were well and truly able to win this match. Vekic served first in the 2nd set and it felt important in terms of the match that she held her first service game which sadly she could not. Sabelenka was once again taken to deuce before winning her first service game and establishing a 2-0 lead. Sabalenka was then up 0-40 again on Vekic’s serve. Vekic impressively saved all three but couldn’t save the 4th and she was a double break down and a set down. It would take a miracle for her to win from here. She broke to love which was a good start as she tried to make a comeback and it was 3-1 second set to Sabelenka. However a break back is not a break back unless you able to hold your next service game which Vekic once again was unable to do. Sabalenka now led 4-1 and with an impressive service game led 5-1 and was a game away from a grand slam semi-final. Vekic finally won a service game to force Sabalenka to serve it out. It nearly worked for Vekic but sadly she couldn’t convert either of her 3 break point opportunities which meant Sabalenka took the set 6-2 and with it the match. The 5th seed still yet to drop a set as she faces a formidable opponent in unseeded Polish player, Linette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tommy Paul was playing Ben Shelton is what would be an all American quarter-final. Both vying for their first grand slam semi-final and a chance to possibly play in Sunday’s final. The 1st set was always going to be important for both players and it went to a tiebreak with Paul managing to come out on top 8-6. He then used that momentum to take the 2nd set 6-3 and he was a set away from the semi-finals. However at the back end of the 3rd set, he was unable to put Shelton away and the young American managed to force the match into a 4th set as he took the 4th set 7-5. Paul however at the back end of the 4th set managed to hold his nerve and take it 6-4 and he was through. The first American to reach the Australian Open semi-finals since Andy Roddick did it in 2009. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last match of the day was the big one between 5th seed Rublev and 4th seed Djokovic. Djokovic started off impressively…he took the 1st set 6-1 with a double break and made Rublev look like a full as he was holding serve so easily while also always creating an opportunity to break the Rublev serve. The 2nd set followed exactly the same trend as Djokovic once again took the set by a double break 6-2 and he was on cruise control in this quarter-final match. Rublev needed to hold his first service game at the start of the 3rd set but sadly he was unable to which meant that all Djokovic needed to do was hold serve for the rest of the match. This is exactly what Djokovic did as he ended up serving out the match to love to win the set 6-4 and book a semi-final meeting against the unseeded Tommy Paul. Is there anyone that can stop him and is that man named Tommy Paul?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onto the fantasy leaderboard and another 5 teams were eliminated from the fantasy competition. These teams were ‘Slamdunk’ who currently sit in 31st spot, ‘Serve with Eish’ who sit in 47th, ‘Nutty Choice’ who are sitting 50th, ‘Net Gains’ were also eliminated as they sit in 56th and the last team eliminated were ‘Runners and Riders’ who will remain in 2nd last spot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the top end of the leaderboard however we have a new leader after day 10. ‘Sinner’s Injuries’ have finally made their move. They have slowly but surely moved up the leaderboard and today the moved up 3 spots to take the lead of the fantasy tournament. ‘Down Under’ and ‘Groundstroke’ are tantalisingly close to the leader as they are 1 point behind in a joint 2nd. Our leader for so long has fallen to 4th, ‘Live once Serve Twice’ now found themselves 3 points off the lead. ‘Lynda’s Team’ had a good day too has she entered the top 5 for the first time and is just 4 points behind the leader. This is heating up very nicely at the top. Anyone could take this title now…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Top Half<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Bottom Half<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Results from day 10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Linette defeated Pliskova(30) – 6-3; 7-5<\/li>
  • Sabalenka(5) beat Vekic – 6-3; 6-2<\/li>
  • Paul beat Shelton – 7-6(6); 6-3; 5-7; 6-4<\/li>
  • Djokovic(4) beat Rublev(5) – 6-1; 6-2; 6-4<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Semi-Finals to watch on day 11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Rybakina(22) vs Azarenka(24) (10:30)<\/li>
    • Linette vs Sabalenka(5) (11:45)<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Day 10 and there’s has been a shift at the top of the leaderboard. Another 5 teams have been eliminated as well after the losses to Rublev and Pliskova. The day started off with unseeded Linette playing the 30th seed, Pliskova. The 30th seed has had an impressive performance up until the quarter-finals as she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australian-open-2023"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1008,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions\/1008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}