Australian Open update

Keys is clocked.  Angelique Kerber decimated Madison Keys in their quarterfinal match.  Kerber was very sharp, but Keys rushed her service games and made many uncharacteristic unforced errors.  Her play was similar to her loss in the US Open final, which suggests to me that she has an issue with nerves in high pressure matches.

Halep dispatches Pliskova.  Karolina Pliskova, a player a great serve and terrific hands at the net, once again had her poor footwork and court coverage exposed by Simona Halep, who won comfortably.  A Kerber/Halep semi looms, and that should be epic.  On the other side, Caroline Wozniaki continues to move methodically and quietly through the draw.  She will face Elise Mertens, a 22 year old surprise winner over Elina Svitolina.  I pick Caroline to reach the final. 

Nadal out.  After a hard fought 4 ½ sets against Marin Cilic, Rafa Nadal retired with what appeared to be a strain of the psoas major muscle, the action of which is to flex the hip.  After the match Nadal complained that the tour doesn’t sufficiently protect players’ health, by which he means that there should be more clay court tournaments.  Imagine how Roger Federer, the greatest grass player ever, feels about that, when there are many more clay than grass tournaments already.  Cilic will now play Kyle Edmond of Great Britain.  That could be interesting.

Chung presses on.  Hyeon Chung of Korea dominated Tennys Sandgren in their quarterfinal.  This guy looks like the real deal.  He gets Federer next.  Roger beat Tomas Berdych yet again, in straight sets yet again.  Roger got off to a slow start in the Berdych match, which I believe relates to his age.  Were I his coach, I’d tell Roger to elect to receive more often when he wins the toss.  He can then get loose in the first game, and he is still on serve if he loses it.  It’s hard to predict how the Chung/Federer match will go.  Chung is on a hot streak, he beat Djokovic in straights, and he has nothing to lose.  Of course the money has to be on Roger, whose smorgasbord of skills must be very hard to deal with when seen for the first time.  Once possible weakness in Chung’s game is that he gets very few free points on serve.  It’s hard to win consistently without getting some easy service games.