Quality Tennis Discussion / 2016 Australian Open contest

**Posted by Forehand_lob** 1/17/2016 9:17 am

Sorry for getting it up so late. I'll keep it open until you enter, funches.

THE RULES

1. Pick quarterfinalists, semifinalists, finalists, and champions for both ATP and WTA draws. You will receive 7.5 points for each correct quarterfinalist, 5 points for each correct semifinalist and finalist, and 20 points for each correct champion. Djokovic and Serena are only worth 10 points.

2. SUBSTITUTE PICK: Pick a player from each draw to replace one of your quarterfinalists. If this player makes the quarters, they will take the place of whomever you picked in that section of the draw

3. BIGGEST LOSER: pick the highest seed that will lose in the earliest round from each draw. The player must be a top-16 seed. You get 5 points if your seed is the highest to lose and 2 points if your seed falls in the same round as the highest seed to lose.

EXTRAS

***Unseeded quarterfinalists are worth an extra half point for every seed they take out en route.

***WTF bonus: if you have a pick that makes it to the quarterfinals that no one else made (not even as a substitute pick), you'll gain an extra 5 points for it. WTFs only valid if we have more than 2 entries.

**Posted by Forehand_lob** 1/17/2016 9:46 am

Men

Djokovic v. Tsonga
Federer v. Berdych
Nadal (Anderson) v. Wawrinka
Lopez v. Murray

Djokovic v. Federer
Wawrinka v. Murray

Djokovic v.Murray

Djokovic

BL: Simon

Women

Serena v. Sharapova
Radwanska (Stephens) v. Kvitova
Kerber v. Muguruza
Venus v. Halep

Serena v. Radwanska (Stephens)
Muguruza v. Halep

Radwanska v. Halep

Radwanska

BL: Bacsinszky

I'm going traditional for the men and wacky for the women.

**Posted by funches** 1/18/2016 12:29 am

ATP

Quarterfinals

Djokovic over Nishikori
Federer over Kyrgios
Raonic (Wawrinka) over Nadal
Murray over Isner

Semifinals

Djokovic over Federer
Raonic over Murray

Final

Djokovic over Raonic 7-6, 6-4, 6-4

Biggest Loser: Simon

WTA

Quarterfinals

Serena over Bencic
Stephens over Kvitova
Azarenka over Kerber
Halep over Pliskova

Semifinals

Serena over Stephens (Bouchard)
Azarenka over Halep

Final

Serena over Azarenka 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

Biggest Loser: Bacsinszky

**Posted by funches** 1/18/2016 12:31 am

I don't even think Radwanska will get past the second round, so your wacky picks will kill me if you're right.

**Posted by Forehand_lob** 1/22/2016 8:03 pm

I'm curious, did you really think Bouchard would take out Radwanska?

We both had Halep going deep and she's our BL on the women's side. On the men's side, Verdasco took out Nadal, making him our BL.

Sloane Stephens continues to mystify, as she follows up winning a tournament with going out in the first round of a slam. Just like the US Open!

**Posted by funches** 1/22/2016 8:59 pm

Yep, I thought Bouchard would beat Radwanska. Going into the tournament I was not impressed with Radwanska's three tournament victories in a row, which included a 1-2 round robin performance at the WTA Championships when she needed Halep to blow five set points in the first-set tie breaker to avoid being eliminated.

But Radwanksa has played quite well so far. She's always susceptible to an in-form power player, but it's going to take exactly that to beat her.

Last edited by funches (1/25/2016 3:34 pm)

**Posted by Forehand_lob** 1/25/2016 8:08 am

Quarterfinal results:
Forehand_lob: 4 men, 4 women
funches: 5 men, 3 women

We are very even here. Given that he needed a long, long match against Simon, I give Nishikori a reasonable chance of beating Djokovic.

I'd say that Kerber is due a win against Azarenka, but Azarenka will probably win. I had a weird dream that involved seeing an article indicating that Sharapova beat Serena, but I think that can probably only happen in dreams.

The Keys v. Zhang match is painful to watch. Keys is obviously badly injured, and with no tiebreak in the 3rd set, I don't see how she wins.

**Posted by funches** 1/25/2016 3:32 pm

My tape ran out right after Keys won the first set. I went online and was shocked at the score. It was another hour before I read what happened.

The other night, I went to bed with Gavrilova up 6-0, 1-0 on Suarez Navarro. As one of nine people left in the Talk About Tennis survivor pool, I had Gavrilova to win that match. Got up the next day and watched the rest on tape, stunned. If Gavrilova had won and then beaten Radwanska (a long shot, yes), I would have won the contest outright because the other six people left would have taken Radwanska while I, who already had used Radwanska in the first round, would have taken Serena.

I will be very surprised if the women's final is not my predicted Serena v. Azarenka, but I'd love to see Radwanska beat Serena if they play in the semis. I love Kerber's game, but she's been clobbered by Azarenka every time they've played, including a couple of weeks ago. I don't think she believes she can beat Azarenka.

Last edited by funches (1/25/2016 3:33 pm)

**Posted by funches** 1/25/2016 3:35 pm

Nadal, by the way, has a good chance of finishing dead last in the men's draw. He lost to Verdasco, who lost to Sela, who lost to Kuznetsov, who lost to Monfils, who will lose badly to Raonic, who most people expect to lose to Murray, who most people expect will lose to Djokovic.

**Posted by funches** 1/26/2016 9:17 pm

Thank goodness I was wrong about Azarrenka.

Never in a million years would I have expected Kerber to save five set points to win in straight sets (the reverse I could have seen), but she's always had the game to complete at the top. Now that she finally appears to have the self-belief, I hope she takes advantage of it by pushing Serena to the brink in the final. She has the game to hang with Serena.