Valencia Open QFs
Oct. 26th, 2013 10:17 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meobnalNow that the day is split in Day and Night sessions, these are long days! I didn't get to sleep till 1:30, so you get my update from yesterday this morning :)
The practice courts were now also being shared by the juniors and the wheelchair competition, which some practice sessions in between the gaps. When I got there in the morning some of the wheelchair matches had already started.
The other courts had juniors (few things are as amusing in the morning to see as tiny junior players walking around carrying racquet bags bigger than they are) and after that Ferrer came to practice with Sa. Unfortunately, I got stuck at the far side, photographing into the backlight from the windows.
They were replaced by Feli and Isner getting ready for their doubles.
Lining up that backhand.
After they'd left I first thought another junior match was gonna start. Turns out it was Peers who was waiting for Murray to come practice :p
Hey, it's hard when you know all these doubles players by name, but not by face cos you never get to see them on a stream. I stayed on till they finished and then made my way to the Agora for the end of Nieminen v Youzhny.
Besides the bottle cap thing, they now suddenly started doing bag checks too. Tho they're not exactly thorough with it. I don't really know what they look for since they don't mind you bringing food and none of them speak English so I can't answer any of their questions. Once they realise I don't speak Spanish, they usually just let me go through anyway.
Nieminen not liking the Hawkeye result
They were half way in the second set when I got in. I'm glad it went to three sets, cos this was a very entertaining, tight match. The best QF of the lot.
Then came Chardy v Tursunov.
Dimi ::facepalm::
Always hard to start a match right after a long match before, cos 90% of the crowd had left for a break. And compared to the excitement of the end of the first match, this felt dull and the atmosphere stayed pretty dead throughout. Tursunov was his usually permanently mildly annoyed self, which didn't help getting the crowd involved either.
The Agora filled up again for Ferrer v Janowicz. I was surprised he was the day session for the second time. Surely he's their main attraction?
I love how Ferru can completely befuddle big hitters (I even forgive him when he does so to Delpo on occasion). Still, I didn't expect him to bagel JJ on an indoor hard court :D Especially after JJ took the second set. Ferru was due dropping a set anyway :p
Now there was just about an hour's gap till the night session would start. Cos Tursunov needed his 'suitable rest' before his doubles match with Nieminen v Murray/Peers, that match on Crt 1 had been held back and had only just started. I got there on the first change-over.
With practically all the day session ticket holders being in the Agora for Ferrer, it was virtually empty when I got there. But a few change-overs later the entire crowd from the Agora had made it's way over (now that this was the only thing still going in the day session) and it filled up completely.
Like their match v M&m, Nieminen was the weak link on serve and Tursunov was up-and-down again. Unlike M&m however Murray/Peers were solid on their own serve and didn't give NT any room to recover.
Despite the one-sided scoreline, this had some of them most entertaining doubles tennis I'd seen so far.
The end of this one connected almost perfectly again with the start of the night session and Almagro v Fognini.
With the two of them, there has to be drama, hasn't there? Tho it looked like a testy match, they were very friendly at the net so all was well. Nico's beef was more with Fabio's fans anyway.
Last of the evening was Feli/Isner v Peya/Soares.
This took a while to get going, but by the second set the points got longer and Isner's lobs got higher and higher. I swear he was just trying to hit the roof. It got to a match TB, which Peya and Soares handled with a lot more experience.
The practice courts were now also being shared by the juniors and the wheelchair competition, which some practice sessions in between the gaps. When I got there in the morning some of the wheelchair matches had already started.
The other courts had juniors (few things are as amusing in the morning to see as tiny junior players walking around carrying racquet bags bigger than they are) and after that Ferrer came to practice with Sa. Unfortunately, I got stuck at the far side, photographing into the backlight from the windows.
They were replaced by Feli and Isner getting ready for their doubles.
Lining up that backhand.
After they'd left I first thought another junior match was gonna start. Turns out it was Peers who was waiting for Murray to come practice :p
Hey, it's hard when you know all these doubles players by name, but not by face cos you never get to see them on a stream. I stayed on till they finished and then made my way to the Agora for the end of Nieminen v Youzhny.
Besides the bottle cap thing, they now suddenly started doing bag checks too. Tho they're not exactly thorough with it. I don't really know what they look for since they don't mind you bringing food and none of them speak English so I can't answer any of their questions. Once they realise I don't speak Spanish, they usually just let me go through anyway.
Nieminen not liking the Hawkeye result
They were half way in the second set when I got in. I'm glad it went to three sets, cos this was a very entertaining, tight match. The best QF of the lot.
Then came Chardy v Tursunov.
Dimi ::facepalm::
Always hard to start a match right after a long match before, cos 90% of the crowd had left for a break. And compared to the excitement of the end of the first match, this felt dull and the atmosphere stayed pretty dead throughout. Tursunov was his usually permanently mildly annoyed self, which didn't help getting the crowd involved either.
The Agora filled up again for Ferrer v Janowicz. I was surprised he was the day session for the second time. Surely he's their main attraction?
I love how Ferru can completely befuddle big hitters (I even forgive him when he does so to Delpo on occasion). Still, I didn't expect him to bagel JJ on an indoor hard court :D Especially after JJ took the second set. Ferru was due dropping a set anyway :p
Now there was just about an hour's gap till the night session would start. Cos Tursunov needed his 'suitable rest' before his doubles match with Nieminen v Murray/Peers, that match on Crt 1 had been held back and had only just started. I got there on the first change-over.
With practically all the day session ticket holders being in the Agora for Ferrer, it was virtually empty when I got there. But a few change-overs later the entire crowd from the Agora had made it's way over (now that this was the only thing still going in the day session) and it filled up completely.
Like their match v M&m, Nieminen was the weak link on serve and Tursunov was up-and-down again. Unlike M&m however Murray/Peers were solid on their own serve and didn't give NT any room to recover.
Despite the one-sided scoreline, this had some of them most entertaining doubles tennis I'd seen so far.
The end of this one connected almost perfectly again with the start of the night session and Almagro v Fognini.
With the two of them, there has to be drama, hasn't there? Tho it looked like a testy match, they were very friendly at the net so all was well. Nico's beef was more with Fabio's fans anyway.
Last of the evening was Feli/Isner v Peya/Soares.
This took a while to get going, but by the second set the points got longer and Isner's lobs got higher and higher. I swear he was just trying to hit the roof. It got to a match TB, which Peya and Soares handled with a lot more experience.
