This exhibition event gets underway tomorrow (well, strictly speaking later today for us Brits). With Federer and Haas both withdrawing (stomach flu and shoulder problems respectively) the players are:

Roddick
Gonzalez
Safin ( :wub: )
Nalbandian
Davydenko
Murray
Baghdatis
Ljubicic


The schedule of play for the first day is:

Wednesday January 9 - 4 matches from 11am

Davydenko v Baghdatis

followed by

Roddick v Ljubicic

followed by

Gonzalez v Nalbandian

followed by

Murray v Safin

out of interest, the BBC in their report on this tournament seem to have neglected to mention that it's an exhibition event and are all over-excited about the prospect of Murray winning 2 tournaments in a row..... :rolleyes:

Typical British Media!

Will you be supporting Safin over Murray Jo? Or is that a silly question? :hmm:

let's see - i like them both, and i'd like to see both of them win but in the end it's gotta be beauty over the beast every time :wub: :wub: :wub: :P

(please don't lynch me Murray fans - just a joke :P )

ooooooo c'mon Safin! a little warm up to get you in the mood....

GOOOO BAGHDADIS!!!!! :wub:

So you'll be supporting Murray then? :P :P

you might want to run for real this time...

:chainsaw: alert :alert:

GOOO A RODDDDD

But over Xmas and the New Year Jo's tastes may have changed and she may now be a Murray Maurader rather than a Safin Sexualite.... (Sexualite???? What the hell does that mean?) :hmm: :hmm:

I mean.... even from a male perspective Murray is a bit of a stud... :wub: :wub: Imagine your hand running through his hair....

sexualite is a fab new word!

and are you trying to make me ill???

errrrrrrm, no

Pebs and Liam......you guys can deny it all you want.... I can tell you both fancy Murray and want to share a battered mars bar over a candle lit dinner with the young Scots stud.... :ok:

:ban:

:whip:

i know where im putting my mars bar :blush:

whats the image I cant see - is it where you are sticking your mars bar?? :blink:

Thanks god the Mars bar ended up being over a dinner rather than anything else! I thought the worst then :lol:

I she doing a Marraine Fauthful? :lol: Well in a manner of speaking cos he is a bloke ...

Day 1: Wednesday 9th January 2008

Marcos Baghdatis def. Nikolay Davydenko (6-4 4-6 6-1)
Andy Roddick def. Ivan Ljubicic (6-3 6-0)
Marat Safin def. Andy Murray (6-1 6-4)

Not that we can read too much in to Kooyong results, but good wins for Baghdatis and Safin ( :clap: ) Not too much of a surprise that Roddick beat Ljubicic though.

It appears that Nalbandian has had to pull out with a back problem of some sort. based on his interview it looks like he's hoping to be ok for the AO :shrug:

Wow Safin turned over relatively easily there. Even for an exhibition that's farily surprising given their form. What was up that mountain for Safin? Inspiration perhaps?

I was expecting a tighter match or a Murray whitewash against Safin :blink: Well played to Safin though, trouble is you can't read anythign into it becuase we all know how changeable he is. Shame given hsi talent, Jo needs to give him a kick up the backside :lol:

well, i read his interview and he seems quite positive at the moment. He's been working hard for the last month and a half apparently - and he generally seems more confident. I know you can't read much in to Kooyong, but I'm sure beating an in-form Murray quite so convincingly will have done wonders for his confidence. let's hope he continues for the rest of the week :ok:

Draw for this evenings matches:

Thursday January 10 - 3 matches from 11am

Murray v Ljubicic

Followed by

Safin v Roddick

Followed by

Davydenko v Klein (who was the replacement for Nalby - i think he's the Australian junior champion or something)

Safin vs Roddick could be interesting :blink:

interesting isnt the word i would use :P :P :wub:



vs

safin looks a bit pale there.... :blink:

who cares, look at his chest :blush:

it mustbe an old photo he looks quite young

:yahoo: Baggy and Safin

Would love to watch the match between Safin and Roddick :(

Okay I think I need a cold shower now :lmaao: :lmaao: Also don't know how you feel Dinky but I like Safin with the shaggy, curly hair. Congrats to Marcos B

I think i prefer him with shorter hair, but the shaggy, ringlet-stylee was quite cute i thought :wub: :wub: :wub:

i prefered the clean cut, shorter haired younger version. He played better then if nothing else :huh:

like its his hair you are noticing....

or maybe thats just me :unsure:

i notice everything about that man....in some detail.... :wub:

btw, Pebs, you seen the Hewitt result?

:unsure: nope... is it one I will like?

in answer to my own question...

yes I will :D

Murray beat Ljubo 2-1 and will play Klein in the 5th/6th place match.
Roddick beat Safin 6-3 6-3 in the battle of the brawn and will now face Baggy or Gonzo in the final. CMON ANDY :yahoo: :yahoo: (Roddick that is!!)

Marcos Bagdatis took barely over an hour to beat Fernando Gonzalez 62 75.
It could have been a good match and the first couple of games looked promising but then Gonzalez started playing horribly, three double faults in one game was only the start. There were glimpses of the great Gonzo but most of it was very, very bad.
It's good it was here rather than the Aus Open, let's just hope he's got it out of his system
Bagdatis is looking good

Marcos Bagdatis took barely over an hour to beat Fernando Gonzalez 62 75.
It could have been a good match and the first couple of games looked promising but then Gonzalez started playing horribly, three double faults in one game was only the start. There were glimpses of the great Gonzo but most of it was very, very bad.
It's good it was here rather than the Aus Open, let's just hope he's got it out of his system
Bagdatis is looking good

Day 3: Friday 11th January

Marcos Baghdatis d Fernando Gonzales (6-2 7-5)
Andy Murray d Brydan Klein (6-2 7-6(4))
Nikolay Davydenko d Ivan Ljubicic (6-0 7-6(1))

Interestingly, Davydenko opted not to play Klein yesterday - possibly something to do with the heat??? :unsure: