Jamie Baker in action at the moment against karlovic.....still early, but at least it's still on serve :ok:

jamie's holding his own so far. come on you plucky little underdog you!

Tommy Robredo down a set and a break to Zverev. :yahoo: Thought this might be on the cards, but never truly believed it. Keep it up son.

jamie folds right at the crucial moment 4-6!

and now he's down a set and break. he evidently sucks ass at playing tennis.

Robredo is getting schooled by Zverev - a serve volleying German who's great to watch, the next Boris Becker perhaps? He's a set and a double break up.

Karlovic is dispatching of Baker easily. When you can't hold your serve against Ivo, you're in trouble... a set and break down.

jamie breaks back in the 2nd. he's the greatest player of all time.

he folds again for 4-6 what a chump!

jamie baker has save 2mps and is serving for the 3rd set!

he bottles it again but he's flying in the tb

he wins a set. come on jamie 2 more.

well done on Baker for getting a set off Karlovic :ok: i really hope he's proud of himself 'cos he did do well there.

Youzhny is currently two sets up on Montcourt but is about to be two breaks down in the third set...... :shrug: hope he wakes up.....

:) Youhzny's got it back on serve in the third set!

good match from Gasquet so far - 6-0, 6-1 2-2 against Lindahl

and Wawrinka already a break up on benneteau :ok:

just looking at the completed matches so far, out of the 22 matches played, 7 of them have been 5 setters :o

I see Gasquet managed to lose the third set 6-3 :doh: although he's a break up in the 4th now :ok:

Moya has just lost the first set to Koubek :unsure:

Moya takes the second set in a tie-break......this could go on a while :unsure:

liking Viktor in the Nadal match so far - hasnt looked too daunted by prospect so far although when Nadal starts reading him a bit better we shall see.

Love this guys serve! he sort of lollops into it! not really seen that before but it works for him. Nadal looking good too - quite trim as Sam Smith seems to insist on saying every five seconds :rolleyes: - but she has a point.

Currently on serve 3-2 with Nadal now serving - and hes already faced a break point...

Back later! :chesire:

Nadal taking the first break and starting to crank it up a little. Viktor being forced all over the court and looking like it! Finding a little sweat in dealing with the big guns! But some nice play from him... not sure he wont cave a bit now but hoping he'll keep it up for a good match.

Nadal to serve for the first set.

Nadal gets the break at 4-4, a little predictably, but this isn't easy for him. Troicki's attacking the net and making life difficult - I should think if it carries on this way the final scoreline will be three tight sets for Rafa.

Elsewhere, Moya is preparing for another epic match a la Nadal in Chennai, having dropped the third set 7-5 to Koubek.

EDIT: Troicki (pronounced more like "Trotsky" by the BBC commentators :doh: ) has broken back! :blink: That wasn't supposed to happen.

sod the caving apparently - Viktor takes back the break!

I missed the bloody play (I need a laptop infront of the telly!) so not sure how much was Rafa tightening up but... who cares? game on! the crowd loved it!

oooh....this is a more interesting match than i expected it to be.... B)

Ooh... Troicki hits a purple patch, holds serve and then gets 0-30 on Rafa's, two points away from the set but then missed a routine midcourt forehand that would have got him to 0-40. A Hawkeye-assisted ace takes us to 30-30, but then a poor unforced error from Rafa gives us set point! It's saved though after an epic rally which Nadal pretty much controlled throughout. A bad miss from the Serb followed by a good serve give Rafa the game... will that be Troicki's best chance of having an impact on this match? Tiebreak.

:lol: I should imagine thats exactly what Rafa thought at the time...

Viktor looks to go slightly off the boil for the tiebreak though, some mishits and UFE just creeping in and Rafa takes it.

I hope Viktor can keep up the level of play but I am expecting him to wane slightly and Rafa to start to run away with it a bit now - but lets hope not :)

Meanwhile, the Moya marathon continues....4-4 in the fourth

and Moya goes out :huh:

Must have jinxed it - Moya loses in 4.

Moya out. :( 6-4 to Koubek in the fourth - great win for him mind.

Troicki's going nowhere just yet, breaking Rafa to take a 2-1 lead in the second set!

nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bugger.

Lloyd calls Djokovic 'Joykovic'...seriously, can't they even attempt to get names right? It's pathetic!

Anyway, very disappointing to see Moya go out - I thought we may get a Moya vs. Nadal special :(

oops, nearly forgot...

:blink:

Viktor takes the early break with some lovely playing! Not afraid of the net this boy and certainly likes slamming it down the line to piss Nadal right off!

Nadal breaks back courtesy of a typically Nadalesque point, with lots of chasing and scrambling and a great lob to counter a Troicki dropshot. 4-4.

I should think he'll win in 3, maybe 4, but unless he improves drastically, he's gonna go out soon.

Hmmm, scrappy start from Nadal doesn't bode particularly well. He shouldn't have issues holding off 'Trotsky' ( :angry3: at Beeb inability to pronounce any Serbian names) and he could well find himself dispatched by the likes of Roddick...

I am not watching this, but from what I gather Troicki has gone out there and played some pretty good net tennis?

slightly off-topic, but there's a cyclist called Bjarne Riis who the cycling commentators insisted on calling Barney Rice...... :blink:

i've just been for lunch and Nadal and Troicki are still in the 2nd set???? :wacko: i'm slightly surprised - i kinda thought that after losing the 1st set tie-break that Troicki would capitulate and make it a bit easier for Nadal :shrug: glad to be proved wrong.....

I am considering writing to John Lloyd detailing how Djokovic is not, and never will be pronounced, Joykovic. :yikes:

Rafa takes second set, it may be a well fought battle thus far, but I wonder how much more Troicki can now take? We all know of Nadals unique ability to grind players into the ground...!

I tell ya, I am knackered from watching these two!

Yep Viktor has gone out there and given a good account of himself - although, I reckon fatigue is setting in a bit now and he's not quite lifting the ball high enough - but all credit to this guy - I expected him to wane in this second set and he's giving it his all.

Third set might prove different again as hes now down two sets to love and feeling it - but Nadal is not having the best of games either - and if his game doesnt pick up, he may well be a surprise earlyish exit.

Yes....and himself in the process. I said in another thread that I would not be surprised if he was going to be out of the top 5 by EOY....and though I am not watching, I can see he is struggling to win a match v a qualifier on a slow court. It's now past midgnight over there...everybody has gone to bed except Nadal and the poor guy that is being dragged in those long rallies. Will Nadal recover quickly enough for the second round? A genuine question!

I should imagine Nadal will reach the fourth round. He's probably got two French guys next two matches, Serra then Simon, who are good players but not mentally capable of pulling off the upset. Even the R4 doesn't look hard, but if he comes up against an on-form Calleri, PHM or even Koubek, he'll be in trouble.

He looks home and dry here though, a break up on the third.

I see Nadal going through ok, he's still good enough to challenge to the latter stages, although the risk of a big hitter does loom over him.

I do wonder every year how playing such a physically exhausting game will take its effect on Nadal, and the longevity of his career. Then along comes the clay season, and puts paid to those musings!

I'll be interested to see if he's at his best again this clay season - unless he's a Marvel comic creation, surely his game will have to take its toll at some point? :shrug:

Phew...Nadal is through thank heavens :D and I can go off to lunch now.