Australian Open 2012 Play-off FINALS SUNDAY- by James A. Crabtree

Written by: Staff on 10th December 2011

Australian Open 2012 Play-off FINALS SUNDAY- by James A. Crabtree |

The weather report said there was a storm coming and that play would in all probability be halted. The storm they predicted didn’t come, only a fog created by one James Duckworth.

Greg Jones started aggressively, hitting hard, net rushing, putting his opponent on the back foot and for the first set and some of the second it worked. Nineteen year old Duckworth started the year ranked 742. Since then he has climbed an impressive 468 spots to 274 and their is obvious reason for this. Without question he is a player on the rise, and now he is a player one win from a guaranteed spot in the Australian Open main draw, after dismantling the higher seed with a versatile use of spins and tempo prevailing in the third set.

He will go onto face the number two seed Marinko Matosevic who also lost his first set to Michael Look. Matosevic, the world number 201 won of the play off the event last year only to falter in his Australian Open first round match with Lithuanian Ricardas Beranki. He, undoubtedly, wants to improve on this performance and needs to clear the Duckworth hurdle first.

Meanwhile 15 year old Wimbledon junior champion Ashleigh Barty days as a junior player seem numbered. The impressive consistency queen triumphed over No.6 seed Arina Rodionova to reach the final of the Australian Open 2012 Play-off. She goes on to face the hard hitting Olivia Rogowska, setting up an enticing contrast in styles against a friend and hitting partner.