TENNIS TUESDAY: Murray Has 2nd Hip Operation, Simona Picks A Coach, Kiki Wins Again, Canada Has Davis Cup Success

ANDY MURRAY HAS SECOND HIP SURGERY TO END CHRONIC PAIN
3-time major champion Andy Murray had a "hip resurfacing" operation last week in a last-ditch attempt to extend his tennis career and to end chronic pain in this joint. This happened a few days after he returned home after losing a 5-set thriller in the first round of the Australian Open against Roberto Bautista Agut.

SIMONA HALEP PICKS NEW FULL-TIME COACH
Former World #1 Simona Halep has finally found a replacement coach for Darren Cahill. She has selected the former coach of David Goffin, Thierry van Cleemput. The two started working together informally last month in Melbourne before she played her epic match against Serena Williams in the 3rd round.

KIKI BERTENS WINS THRILLER AGAINST DONNA VEKIC IN RUSSIA
Kiki Bertens defeated Donna Vekic in the final of the WTA Premiere level tournament in St. Petersburg 7-6(2) 6-4. the current World #8 has won 3 tournaments in the last year, including two on hard courts.

SHAPOVALOV AND AUGER_ALIASSIME POWER CANADA IN DAVIS CUP
Youngsters Denis Shpovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime together were able to power Canada over Slovakia to take their nation into the final of the revised Davis Cup.

2019 AUS OPEN: Djokovic Wins 15th Major, Record 7th Aussie Title

As expected, World #1 Novak Djokovic defeated World #2 Rafael Nadal to win his record 7th Australian Open title, his 15th major and 3rd consecutive. This was the pair's 53rd meeting 8th in a major final and Nadal's first straight sets loss 6-3 6-2 6-3 ever in a major final. Djokovic had an astonishing 9 unforced errors in 3 sets (26 games) to Nadal's 28. Djokovic is now 7-0 in Australian Open finals and 15-9 in major finals, compared to Roger Federer's 20-10 and Nadal's 17-8 records.

Many people had predicted Djokovic would win, but no one predicted that he would demolish his rival so completely. The last time they played in the Australian Open finals, 7 years ago in 2012, the match was a 5-set classic that lasted nearly 6 hours! The win places Djokovic just two behind Nadal and now 5 behind Federer, and gives him another chance at the Nole Slam if he wins the French Open this year, which is very possible, if not likely.

2019 AUS OPEN: Men's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs. Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2]

This is my prediction post for the 2019 Australian Open men's final. Last year I correctly predicted that Roger Federer would beat Marin Cilic in the 2018 Aussie Open men's final.  This year I have correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals, 2 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. I also incorrectly predicted the winner of the 2019 Aussie Open women's final between Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova.

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] d. Lucas Pouille (FRA) [28] 6-0 6-2 6-2. This match demonstrated that the World #1 is playing at a very high level. Pouille is a very good player who although previously had not had very much success in Melbourne in this years tournament he beat Borna Coric and Milos Raonic.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2] d. Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRK) [14] 6-2 6-4 6-0. The 21-year-old Greek phenomenon who dispatched 2-time defending champion Roger Federer in four sets really thought that he had a good chance to win against Rafa Nadal and the legendary Spaniard gave the youngster a master class instead. It's pretty unusual to have 6-0 sets in major semifinals (since both players have made it through 5 rounds of play to make it to this level) so it is significant that both Djokovic and Nadal were able to do this to their opponents this year.

MEN'S FINALS PREVIEW

This is the record 53rd meeting between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, and their 8th meeting in a major fnal (Nadal  leads 4-3) while Djokovic leads their overall head-to-head 27-25. The two have played an Australian Open final before, in 2012, and Djokovic prevailed in a nearly 6-hour marathon that left both combatants doubled over in pain during the trophy presentation afterwards. Djokovic has won the Australian Open title 6 times and currently has 14 majors, just 3 behind Nadal's 17 majors (just 1 in Australia and 4 on hard courts). He has also won the last two majors contested (2018 US Open and 2018 Wimbledon) so is on a 20-match grand slam winning streak.  Many people say that Nadal has looked amazing all tournament, and he has not dropped a set reaching the final, but Djokovic has actually spent slightly less time on court (due to a disappointing second set retirement by Kei Nishikori in their quarterfinal match). It should be an amazing matchup, hopefully as high quality as their showdown in the Wimbledon semifinals was last year, where both players were at their best simultaneously. I feel like that if both players are playing their best tennis in Melbourne then Djokovic will come away the winner. MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic.

2019 AUS OPEN: Osaka Wins 2nd Major Title And Reaches WTA #1

Despite my prediction to the contrary, Naomi Osaka defeated Petra Kvitova 7-6(2) 5-7 6-4 to win the 2019 Australian Open singles title, her second consecutive major title at the tender age of 21. Additionally, with the win Osaka will assume the top ranking on the women's tour on Monday, becoming the first player of Asian descent, male or female to reach World #1. Kvitova will be World #2.

How The Match Was Won

The first set was a high quality affair, with both players hitting their marks on their serve and defending break points well. To me this, was where I started to doubt that Kvitova would win the match, when in the 7th game Osaka went down 0-40 but was able to save all 3 breakpoints, primarily from missed service returns. As one of the commentators said, Kvitova wasn't playing the scoreboard well. She was consistently going for too much on important points and often missing. In some sense, it takes guts to continue going for her shots instead of playing it safe, so maybe there was no way she was going to win this match playing at the level she had access to on that day. To me, it was clear that this was not the Peak Petra that we had previously seen in her two appearance in major finals. Osaka raised her game at exactly the right time, and ended up winning the tiebreaker 7-2.

In the second set, Kvitova went up an early break but Osaka was able to break back immediately and snatched the momentum to win 4 games in a row and eventually earned three consecutive match points as Kvitova served to stay in the match 3-5. Astonishingly, Kvitova started playing some of her best tennis at this point and saved all three match points. When Osaka went to serve for the championship she was promptly broken before she had a championship point on her own serve and the momentum had clearly switched. Osaka had a full meltdown and ended up double faulting on set point to lose the second set 5-7.

In the third set, Osaka recovered from her meltdown and stoically played solid and powerful tennis while Kvitova couldn't maintain the momentum from winning the second set and eventually was broken in her second service game. Osaka didn't look back from there and this time when she served for the championship she reached triple championship point, and eventually won the match and the title on her 5th match point.

Implications Of The Win

Osaka became the first player, male or female, to win their first two consecutive major titles since Jennifer Capriati won the 2001 Australian Open and French Open. The Japanese player became the first female player since Serena Williams to win back-to-back major titles in 2003 on her way to her first Serena Slam. By reaching World #1 at age 21 and winning 2 major finals Osaka assures that she will be entered into the Tennis Hall of Fame. In fact, many observers are suggesting that her ascendance marks a phase change at the top of woman's tennis, where it is now conceivable that even if Serena Williams were to play her very best tennis, she may not win against Osaka.

2019 AUS OPEN: Women's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Naomi Osaka (JPN) [4] vs. Petra Kvitova (CZE) [8]

This is my prediction post for the 2019 Australian Open women's final. Last year I incorrectly predicted that Simona Halep would beat Caroline Wozniacki in the 2018 Aussie Open women's final.  This year I have correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals, 2 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. I will also predict the winner of the 2019 Aussie Open men's final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

WOMEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Naomi Osaka (JPN) [4] d. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [7] 6-2 4-6 6-4. This was actually quite a good match but it was overshadowed by the dramatics of the round before, when Pliskova completed one of the all-time historic comebacks, amazingly against Serena Williams. She came back from 1-5 30-40 down in the final set and won the last 6 games of the set after Serena roller her ankle and failed to win another point on serve, despite having four match points. So, one would have thought that Pliskova would realize that she's playing with "house money" and come out blasting against Osaka but that is not what happened. It's clear now that Osaka has the game and mentality to get to the top of the women's game and she has demonstrated that repeatedly in the last 6 months.

Petra Kvitova (CZE) [8] d. Danielle Collins (USA) 7-6(2) 6-0. Although Pliskova's upset of Serena was historic, in some sense Collins 6-0 6-2 win over 3-time major champion Angie Kerber in the fourth round is even more astounding. The 25-year-old American had never won a grand slam match before and she ended up winning 5 matches in a row in Melbourne. For one set she held Kvitova to a tiebreak set, the first player in the tournament to stay even with the 2-time major champion for so long this year. Collins has a feisty personality, enjoying the competition and the fight. She is an excellent counterpuncher and handles pace quite well. Hopefully this breakthrough will give her the confidence to make a bigger splash on the women's tour.

WOMEN'S FINALS PREVIEW

Last year's final featured two players in Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki who had not won a grand slam, who were also competing for the #1 ranking in the world (although they had both held it previously). This year, the final features two players in Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova who have both won a major but who have not reached World #1. If Osaka wins she will become World #1 at age 20, the youngest since Wozniacki did it in 2011. If Kvitova wins, she will become the oldest player to reach #1 for the first time. The two are taking undefeated grand slam final records in to this match, with Osaka 1-0 (2018 US Open, d. S. Williams) and Kvitova 2-0 (2014 Wimbledon d. Bouchard; 2011 Wimbledon d. Sharapova) so someone will experience their fist major final loss today. Kvitova has an amazing 26-7 record in finals and has won her last 8 on the tour. She is contending for the #1 spot because of her all-round stellar play on the tour, including wining the Sydney warm-up tournament over Ash Barty, while Osaka is going for her second consecutive major title.  Amazingly, the two have never played on tour before, so this is their very first meeting. That will almost certainly result in a very nervous start for both players. I would be shocked if P3tra doesn't live up to her name and the match end in straight sets. (Neither player has lost a set in a major final before either.) Their games are very similar, they play big babe, first strike tennis. Kvitova has the fact that she's a lefty in her favor, but Osaka has the more consistent serve. Osaka is possibly the better athlete, but Kvitova's amazing record in finals is very convincing to me.
 MadProfessah's pick: Kvitova.

2019 AUS OPEN: Men's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's semifinals at the 2019 Australian Open. Last year I correctly predicted 2 of 2 women's semifinals and 2 of 2 men's semifinals. This year I have correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and  correctly predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs Lucas Pouille (FRA) [28].  World #1 Novak Djokovic had a mismatch with Kei Nishikori to reach his seventh semifinal in Melbourne while Lucas Pouille is playing in his first major semifinal of his career. In fact, Pouille was 0-5 at the Australian Open and has now won 5 matches in a  row at the tournament. Surprisingly, the two have never met on tour so  there's no head-to-head influence a prediction here. There's no question that Pouille could beat Djokovic, but will he? Very unlikely. In fact, Djokovic has always won the title in Melbourne (six so far) when he reaches this level of the tournament. Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic.

Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) [14] vs Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2]. 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas has already had a dramatic impact on the tournament by defeating 2-time defending champion Roger Federer in the 4th round. He was able to follow up that huge win without a letdown by defeating Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarterfinal. Because of that he has to face 17-time major champion Rafael Nadal, who took out another #NextGen player in Francis Tiafoe in the quarterfinal. The two have already played twice and Nadal won both matches, relatively easily in 2018. Even though Tstsipas is already better than he was last year, I still don't see how anyone prevents another Djokovic-Nadal final. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

2019 AUS OPEN: Women's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the women's semifinals at the 2019 Australian Open. Last year I correctly predicted 2 of 2 women's semifinals and 2 of 2 men's semifinals. This year I have correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and  correctly predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals. I will also predict the men's semifinals this year.

Serena Williams (USA) [16] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [7] vs. Naomi Osaka (JPN)[4].  Wow! One round after outlasting the World #1 Simona Halep in a very high-quality 3-set match Serena Williams led Karolina Pliskova 5-1 40-30 in the 3rd set when she was called on a foot fault on match point. After serving she played a point where she rolled her ankle and from then on she could not win a point on serve. Serena ended up having 4 match points in all and losing all of them (generally on outstanding play by her opponent). Once the score was even at 5-all Serena still couldn't hold serve and was broken at love and then saved 2 match points before losing on her 3rd. So, former World #1 Pliskova will face off for the right to play in her first Australian Open final with the reigning US Open champion Naomi Osaka, who dismissed Elina Svitolina in straight sets. Pliskova and Osaka have played 3 times and Pliskova leads 2-1, including a tight straight sets win in the Tokyo final. Pliskova was impressively impassive against Serena today but I still give the edge to Osaka because of her experience and the fact I think she's a better athlete. PREDICTION: Osaka.

Petra Kvitova (CZE) [8] vs. Danielle Collins (USA).  Danielle Collins has already won more money here by reaching the semifinals than she has in the rest of her career combined. She is playing against a 2-time major champion. Amazingly, these two players have played once before (just a few weeks ago) and Kvitova won a relatively tight 3-set affair featuring two tiebreak sets. In this match which is much more important I would be shocked if the player with more experience does not make it through. PREDICTION: Kvitova. 

2019 AUS OPEN: Women's Quarterfinal Preview and Predictions

Here are my predictions for the women's quarterfinals at the 2019 Australian Open. Last year I did not predict the quarterfinals. This year I have also predicted the men's quarterfinals.

Simona Halep (ROU) [1] Serena Williams (USA) [16] vs. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [7]. Serena Williams is playing in her 50th(!) major quarterfinal while her opponent is playing in her seventh. Serena has won this tournament seven times (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017) and is looking like she really wants to get her record-tying 24th major title here in Melbourne. She played the best match of her post-maternity come back to notch her 17th win against a reigning #1 by defeating Simona Halep in a very high-quality 3-set match 6-1 4-6 6-4. Her opponent will be former #1 Karolina Pliskova who eliminated 2-time major champion Garbine Muguruza in straight sets in exactly an hour. Curiously, the one time that Pliskova defeated Serena, it was at the 2016 U.S. Open, one round after Serena won a brilliant match against Halep. Will history repeat itself?  I seriously doubt it. PREDICTION: Serena.

Petra Kvitova (CZE) [8] vs. Ashleigh Barty (AUS) [15].  This is a reprise of the 2019 Sydney final, which was won by Kvitova in a 3rd set tiebreak. Presumably that experience should give the Czech 2-time major champion the edge against the craft Aussie who will almost certainly have the entire crowd rooting for her. It's very possible this could be another barn burner of a match. Peak Petra is unplayable, but did Kvitova peak too early be dispatching the teenage phenom Ananda Anisimova the round before in straight sets? Has Barty finally realized she has the tools to hang with the big babes now that she outlasted Maria Sharapova 6-4 in the 3rd set? This should be an exciting match-up. The winner will play the winner of the Serena-Pliskova match so the final will still be a fair distance away.  All that being said, I think experience may be dispositive. PREDICTION: Kvitova.

 Naomi Osaka (JPN) [4] vs. Elina Svitolina (UKR) [6].  This may be the most exciting of the four quarterfinals. These two players are the closest in ranking of any of the match-ups  with Svitolina holding a tight 3-2 lead in their head-to-head, including both times they played in 2018, with all 5 meetings on hard courts. That being said, is Osaka really the same player after having won a slam (2018 US Open) by defeating her idol Serena Williams? Probably not, but neither is Elina Svitolina, having won the 2018 year-end championship by outlasting Sloane Stephens. Osaka has had to problem solve her way through two tricky opponents in the last two rounds (Anastasja Sevastova and Su-Wei Hseih) while Svitolina survived the barrage against Madison Keys to win a see-saw 6-2 1-6 6-1 slugfest. Playing Keys is a good preparation for playing Osaka but there's no question that Osaka is a smarter player than the American. Svitolina is the women's tour version of Sascha Zverev and it is definitely time for her to breakthrough at a major. Is this the match that does it? I think it is very possible, but now I give Osaka the edge because she has more experience, despite being significantly younger. PREDICTION: Osaka. 

Angelique Kerber (GER) [2] Danielle Collins (USA) vs. Sloane Stephens (USA) [5] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS). Collins announced herself last year when she kicked Venus Williams out of the Miami Open. Prior to this year, the 25-year-old American had never won a match in a major and in Australia she engineered one of the most jaw-dropping scorelines of the entire tournament, a 6-0 6-2 drubbing of 3-time major champion Angelique Kerber.  Her opponent is Pavlyuchenkova, who was able to outlast Sloane Stephens in a surprising victory. Neither of these players really have any right to be in a major semifinal and will be major underdogs to reach the final against the winner of the other quarterfinalist. In these situations, I usually go with the person who is the better athlete.  PREDICTION: Collins.

2019 AUS OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview (and Predictions)

Here are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the Australian Open for 2019.  I will also predict the women's quarterfinals.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs Kei Nishikori (JPN) [8].  Nishikori has had an incredibly rough path to get to his 3rd consecutive major quarterfinal (and tenth overall). Three of the four rounds at this year's Australian Open have been 5-set matches and two of those have been decided by a final set 10-point super tiebreaker where Kei has been substantially behind but ended up getting to 10 points first. Since Djokovic has won the last two majors (2018 Wimbledon d. Kevin Anderson and 2018 U.S. Open d. Juan Martin del Potro) and is a 6-time winner in Melbourne he is widely viewed as the prohibitive favorite to win the 2019 Australian Open. However, he has not been winning as convincingly as one would expect from the World's #1, dropping a set in each of his matches against #NextGen opponents Denis Shapovalov and Daniil Medvedev. That being said, Djokovic has an overwhelming 15-2 head-to-head advantage against his quarterfinal opponent and must be considered a favorite to reach his 7th Australian Open final. Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic.

Sascha Zverev (GER) [4] Milos Raonic (CAN) [16] vs Borna Coric (CRO) [11] Lucas Pouille (FRA) [28].  Lucas Pouille  had never won a match at the Australian Open before this year despite playing it every year since 2014. Now, with Amelie Mauresmo as his coach he has won four in a row, taking out another #NextGen member in Borna Coric to reach his first major quarterfinal in three years (and the 3rd in his career). His opponent will not be the World #4 but instead will be the resurgent Milos Raonic who is trying to return to the top of men's tennis after an injury that took him out of  contention for most of 2018. Sascha Zverev has been one of the surprising disappointments in the men's game despite winning the biggest title of his career (the 2018 ATP Tour Championships) by defeating Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer along the way. Zverev won only two games in the first two sets before demolishing his racket and the third set was a tight affair but Raonic won the tiebreaker and the match. Interestingly, Raonic is 3-0 against Pouille, including a win on grass last year so he should go into this match-up with a lot of confidence, and the experience of playing in his 9th career quarterfinal (3-5 record). Mad Professah's pick: Raonic.

Marin Cilic (CRO) [6] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) [22] vs Roger Federer (SUI) [3] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) [14]. Roberto Bautista Agut (or RBA as everyone calls him) has yet to lose a match in 2019, and is playing some of the best tennis of his life. He has an incredibly difficult draw, but has made it this far. Some of the scalps he has collected in Melbourne include Sir Andrew Murray's, 2018 Australian Open finalist Marin Cilic, and the highest ranked #NextGen player Karen Khachanov. However, he may have met his match in the brilliant Stefanos Tsitsipas who took out Roger Federer, the 2017 and 2018 champion, in four scintillating sets. The 20-year-old Greek has a big game and the maturity of some years his senior so I would not expect a mental let down despite the task of building on his paradigm-shifting win. Mad Professah's pick: Tsistipas.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2] vs Francis Tiafoe (USA).  No one really has expected Nadal to do well here because his record in hard court tournaments is so hit or miss. However, it should not be forgotten that he has won the US Open three times (2010, 2013, 2017) and the Australian Open once (2009) and reached the final here three other times (2012, 2014 and 2017). But the Spaniard has yet to drop a set in four rounds of play, which bodes well for his ability to go late in the tournament. His opponent will be 21-year-old Francis Tiafoe playing in his very first major qurtaerfinal, and the first time he has been the last American remaining in a grand slam draw. Tiafoe has already taken out two very good hard court players in Kevin Anderson and Grigor Dimitrov but there's nothing that prepares one for the tenacity and power of Nadal. Surprisingly, the two have never played before and that might give Tiafoe a chance to make some inroads, but I would be surprised if he wins a set. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

2018 AUS OPEN: Federer Wins 20th(!) Major Title, Record 6th #AusOpen

As I predicted, Roger Federer won his record 20th major singles title, defeating Marin Cilic 6-2 6-7(5) 6-3 3-6 6-1 in the Australian Open final. Federer becomes the first man to reach 20 major singles title, following Margaret Court (24), Serena Williams (23) and Steffi Graf (22). His win also means he is in a tie with Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson for the most Australian Open titles (6). He has won 20 major titles while playing in 30 major finals (both are records). 2018 is the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Open Era tennis and 200 major tournaments have been played, so Federer has appeared in 15% of those finals and won 10% of them. That's an insane number. The last 5 major championships have now been won by either Federer or Rafael Nadal and it is better than even money that Nadal will win his 11th French Open title this year to make it 6 in a row.

Federer is still at #2 on the list of singles titles won with 96, just 13 behind the top position of 109 held by Jimmy Connors. Can he win 13 more titles before he retires? I wouldn't put it past him!

MEN'S FINAL REVIEW

Despite the fact that the men's final started at 3:30am I set my alarm and woke up to watch the match live. The match began as well as it possible could have for Roger Federer as he went up a double-break hold (4-0) and eventually won the first set in 24 minutes. However, the second set was much closer as Cilic started making fewer errors and more winners. Federer's serve was a key factor to him staying in the match to weather the periods in which he was being outplayed by Cilic, and he ended up hitting more aces than his 6-foot-6" opponent. In the tiebreak Federer earned a minibreak first but immediately lost it when Cilic hit a service return winner to even the breaker at 3-all. Then Cicil earned a minibreak and closed out the set with an easy overhead smash. In the third set Federer got an early break and maintained his serve to nurse the lead to 6-3 and a 2-1 set lead. Then he got another early break in the 4th set and at 3-1 it seemed the match would be over soon. For some reason he completely lost the rhythm on his serve (his first serve percentage in the 4th set ended up being 36%!) and ended up losing 5 consecutive games to lose the 4th set 3-6. The fifth set started well, as Federer went up 40-15 in his first service game but then had to save another 3 breakpoints to hold serve. As often happens, Cilic found himself in trouble on his serve after failing to win breakpoints the game before and went do 3-0 in the final set. They both held and then while serving down 1-4 Cilic made multiple backhand errors and got broken to go down 5-1. Federer easily held serve, hitting a kick second serve on championship that just kissed the sideline leading to a return error by Cilic. Aftr a challenge confirmed the serve was n, the match was over!

2018 AUS OPEN: Men's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Roger Federer (SUI) [2] vs. Marin Cilic (CRO) [6]

Here are my predictions for the 2018 Australian Open men's final. Last year I correctly predicted Roger Federer would beat Rafael Nadal in the men's final and also correctly predicted  1 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. This year I predicted correctly 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 2 of 2 men''s semifinals, 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals. I incorrectly predicted the results of the women's final this year.

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Marin Cilic (CRO) [6] d. Kyle Edmund (GBR) 6-2 7-6(4) 6-2.  This match continued to showcase Cilic's improved movement and the deadly weapons he possesses when his confidence is high and he goes for his shots. His first serve is extremely dangerous regularly getting into the 130 mph range and his backhand and forehand are hit deep and hard. Edmund can probably outmatch him for power on the forehand side (but not accuracy) and something was ailing the young Brit which made him unable to move his feet fast enough to be able to hit more forehands to make this a competitive match. Without his best weapon, the result was never really in doubt.

Roger Federer (SUI) [2] d. Hyeon Chung (KOR) 6-1 5-2 RET.  This match was even more impacted by injury than the first semifinal. Sadly, Chung, who had been battling blisters for the last week or so, could not even complete the second set as the pain became too great and he retired before he could fall down 2-0 down in sets to Roger Federer. Clearly his movement was becoming more hampered by his injury and I don't fault his decision to stop, but I do think he could have waited one more game "just for appearances."

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Although this is technically a reprise of the 2017 Wimbledon final, no one expects a repeat of the quality of that match, which was hampered by Cilic's lack of movement (again, due to blisters--good socks are very important in tennis, people!!). After all, on his way to winning the 2014 US Open Cilic basically destroyed Federer in straight sets in the semifinals so he most definitely can win this match. However, in 9 meetings that is the only match he has won, and there's no question both players are playing better tennis now than they were then. Most commentators expect a 5-set match but I think Federer will be able to get it done in four sets. Happily, I don't think physical stamina will play a big role in the outcome of the match, but even if it does I would still give the edge to Federer.

The two have both won majors before, so Cilic is hoping to become the 5th multiple slam winner (and youngest member of that group, at age 29) in the era of the Great Trivalry in Men's Tennis (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic) who have won an astonishing 47 major titles among them. Regardless of the result, the Croat will become the World #3, his highest ranking to date and is showing his all-court game by reaching the final of 3 of the four majors. Because Federer winning here would just repeat last year's result Nadal will still be #1 but the lead has been reduced, but Federer has a fair amount of points to defend in the Spring North American hard court season, having won both Indian Wells and Miami last year as well. But really the key point of this match is whether Federer can win his 20th major title in his 30th major final appearance at age 36. I believe he can, and amazingly, may even go further this year. If he does win his 20th, will that make him more likely to retire earlier than he planned?

 Mad Professah's pick: Federer.

2018 AUS OPEN: Wozniacki (Finally) Wins 1st Major, Returns To #1

Despite my prediction to the contrary, Caroline Wozniacki won her first major singles title by defeating Simona Halep. The score was 7-6(2) 3-6 6-4 and some observers are calling it the greatest Australian Open women's final ever. I would strongly disagree with that assessment, but it was 2 hours and 49-minutes of long rallies and incredible gets, and probably did exceed the great Halep-Kerber match of the women's semifinals.

Wozniaciki's major win in Melbourne puts her entire career in perspective; Now, along with her 67 weeks at #1 (sure to be extended as she resumes the top spot in women's tennis on Monday), 2017 year-end championship win and three major final appearances means that  at age 27 she is certain Tennis Hall Of Fame material. Halep falls to 0-3 in major finals, but it is clear she is getting closer and she should have many more opportunities if she continues to play at this level. She can look to Wozniacki for inspiration that long waits are worth it!

2018 AUS OPEN: Women's Quarterfinals Preview and Predictions

Here are my predictions for the women's quarterfinals at the 2018 Australian Open. Last year I did not predict the quarterfinals. This year I have also predicted the men's quarterfinals.

Simona Halep (ROU) [1] vs. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [6]. The current World #1 appears to have recovered from her epic (15-13 in the 3rd!) win over American Lauren Davis from the 3rd round when she dispatched hard-hitting Naomi Osaka with dispatch in the 4th round.  Pliskova is a former #1 and has reached a hard court final in New York  in 2016. However she has never advanced past the quarterfinal in Melbourne, and she lost in this round against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at this stage last year. Although Pliskova can pummel the ball, she is very limited in her movement, which is Halep's great strength. This has been the case in their first 6 matches, 5 of which have been handily won by Halep. I don't think this match will deviate very much from this trend. PREDICTION: Halep.

Angelique Kerber [21] (GER) Garbine Muguruza (ESP) [3] vs. Madison Keys (USA) [17] Caroline Garcia (FRA) [8]. Although technically the expected match-up in this quarter was a showdown between the #3 and #8 seeds, no one is that surprised to see the 2016 Australian Open champion and the 2017 US Open finalist fighting each other for this semifinal slot. Muguruza was dispatched by the amazing Su-Wei Hsieh who also eliminated Aggie Radwanska and came within a handful of points at eliminating Kerber in the last round. Keys has been bludgeoning her way through the draw, and has not even come very close to losing a set (after being down 3-5 in her first round match Keys closed out that match by winning the final 4 games). The head-to-head between Keys and Kerber is not good for the young American, with the German former World #1 leading 6-1. Kerber is an expert at blunting power and Keys has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to switch to another game plan when her power hitting game fails to blast through her opponent. Will 2018 be the year Keys figures out how to win matches against the world's best counterpunchers? I don't think she's there yet.  PREDICTION: Kerber.

Elin Mertens (BEL) [16] Venus Williams (USA) [5] vs. Elina Svitolina (UKR) [4].  Svitolina is one of the most winningest players on the women's tour but she is yet to match her ranking at a major. (You could call her the Sascha Zverev of the women's tour!) Despite being World #4, Svitolina has only reached the quarterfinals twice in her career, both times at Roland Garros on clay. This is very strange, because she is a hard-hitting player who moves well and is very consistent. That being said, I believe she will finally reach her first major semifinal by winning this match against her talented (but overmatched) opponent. PREDICTION: Svitolina. 

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) [2] vs. Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) [7]. Wozniacki is living on borrowed time after she came back from an astonishing 1-5 down in the 2nd round, saving multiple match points along the way. Since that freeing escape Caroline has not even come close to losing a set in the tournament and after winning her biggest title of her career by beating Venus in the WTA Year-End Championship in Singapore I believe she has the confidence to go all the way and finally end her reputation as "the best player to be ranked #1 and never win a slam." Suarez Navarro is a tricky player, but she is exactly the kind of player that Wozniacki has to be able to get past in order to reach her goal of becoming a major champion.  PREDICTION: Wozniacki. 

2018 AUS OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview and Predictions

Here are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the 2018 Australian Open. Last year  I did not predict the quarterfinal rounds. This year I will also predict the women's quarterfinals.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [1] vs Marin Cilic (CRO) [6].  This is the only quarterfinal match-up that was predicted to occur at the beginning of the tournament if results followed the seedings. In a tournament with lots of upsets it is significant that this match-up persisted. Nadal is playing excellent tennis and has only lost one set in four matches while Cilic has lost 2, one against Pablo Carreno Busta and another against Vasek Pospisil. The main problem for the hard-serving Croat is that he has played Nadal 6 times before and only won 1 match (and 3 sets out of 14 played) and half these matches occurred after he became a major champion himself. In fact, he has lost their 5 meetings in a row, including their one grand slam meeting, which was in Melbourne in 2011. That being said, Cilic does believe that he can beat Nadal and he has the game that could do it as well. I suspect he will win at least a set, and possibly even two but I don't see how he wins three. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) [3] vs Kyle Edmund (GBR) Jack Sock (USA) [8]. Dimitrov has not been playing his best tennis for most of this tournament, but Melbourne often does bring out his best stuff, as he proved in last year's epic 5-set semifinal against Nadal. This year he had to survive a surprisingly tough early test against young American Mackenzie McDonald in the second round by coming back to win 8-6 in the 5th after losing the 4th set 6-0! I wonder if anyone has ever won a major tournament after suffering a bagel set loss in an earlier round? Fortunately for Grigor, after coming through a much-hyped showdown with Australian "It" boy Nick Kyrgios in 4 tight sets, his game seems to be peaking. He faces Briton Kyle Edmund who is playing in his very first major quarterfinal, which should give the now experienced Top 5 stalwart a key edge in this important match. Can we hope that lightning will strike 2 years in a row and we will have another amazing Dimitrov-Nadal semifinal match? I think we will, and this time I hope for a different result. Mad Professah's pick: Dimitrov.

Tennys Sandgren (USA) Dominic Thiem (AUT) [5] vs Hyeon Chung (KOR) Sascha Zverev (GER) [4].  This is the most unlikely men's major quarterfinal in years. 21-year-old Chung was ranked #58 coming into the tournament and is the first player from South Korea, male or female, to reach a major quarterfinal. His opponent, World #97 Tennys Sandgren is the American male player to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals in over 20 years. They both had very impressive wins to reach this round. Sandgren eliminated Dominic Thiem in 5-sets while Chung was even more impressive by defeating 12-time major champion (6-time Australian Open champ) Novak Djokovic without losing a set. The las time these two played there were 20 ATP ranking points, this time there will be 720 points, which is more than the final of all regular ATP tournaments except at the Masters Series or Majors. One key factor here will be which player will fare better in their first high-stakes showdown. Here I give the edge to Chung because he won the 2017 NextGen championships last year. Mad Professah's pick: Chung.

Roger Federer (SUI) [2] vs Tomas Berdych (CZE) [19] David Goffin (BEL) [7].  This a rematch of last year's 3rd round match when it became clear that Federer's form after a 6-month gap was high enough that he might actually have a shot at winning the tournament. These two have played 25 times on tour and Federer has a commanding 19-6 lead, but that means Berdych has beaten Federer 6 times before so that he should be confident that he can do so again.  Federer has looked fine all tournament long, and despite his draw looking much tougher than Nadal's at the beginning of the tournament, it has not turned out that way. If he gets past Berdych (which should happen), it is very difficult to see him not reaching the final, where perhaps another Fedal final awaits? I can't wait, eihter! Mad Professah's pick: Federer.