Five quick hits: Double-bounce trouble and Ben says ‘boo me’

Source : ABC NEWS

A missed double-bounce call has raised questions over the Australian Open’s lack of Hawkeye, an unseeded Italian hits one of the shots of his life and we have an all-Australian mixed doubles final.

Here are the quick hits from day 11 of the Australian Open.

1. Double trouble

Since COVID, many major tennis tournaments have done away with linespeople in favour of Hawkeye calling all lines in real time.

That means challenges on line calls are a thing of the past, but if you’ve been listening before every match of this year’s Australian Open, players still have the right to challenge double bounces.

But to do so, players have to stop mid-rally and risk losing the point if they’re wrong. And that’s where American eighth seed Emma Navarro fell down in her quarterfinal loss to Iga Świątek.

Already down a set, Navarro dinked in an excellent drop shot that had Świątek on the run and forced the second seed to slide and fully extend to get the ball back.

Navarro then sprinted forward and lobbed from beneath the net, before Świątek got back and wheeled around to rip a backhand winner.

The ball was barely past Navarro when she turned to the umpire that missed the call to protest that her opponent had not, in fact, reached the drop shot in time.

The replays proved her right, but it was too late. The point gave Świątek a hold of serve and she didn’t lose another game for the rest of the match.

In the next match on Rod Laver Arena, Lorenzo Sonego learned from Navarro’s error, successfully reviewing a missing “not up” call to win a point against Ben Shelton.

2. Lorenzo bends physics to his will

With tennis players displaying never-before-seen levels of athleticism these days, it can be tough to put a ball anywhere on the court that is out of their reach.

But Lorenzo Sonego found a workaround in his quarterfinal against Ben Shelton.

At full stretch reaching for a bullet-like Shelton backhand, Sonego got so much backspin on his volley that it looped over the net, bounced, and pitched sharply backwards, spinning away from a sprinting Shelton, with the second bounce ending up on Sonego’s side of the net.

Shelton couldn’t help but smile as he jogging into the net, shaking his opponent’s hand in recognition of his mastery.

3. Shelton gives fans permission to boo

Ben Shelton has never played an Australian Open final and he was certain, no matter who he ended up playing, the crowd would be against him.

“Well if it’s the home favourite, Alex de Minaur, 100 per cent you guys can boo me, you can throw stuff at my head. I understand,” he said on court after winning his quarterfinal.

“And if it’s the number one in the world, it’ll probably be the same. I’m looking forward to it. I know I’ve got a few people out in the crowd who are gonna be pulling for me too.”

But perhaps, after watching Jannik Sinner dismantle the local favourite, the Rod Laver Arena crowd will get behind the 22-year-old American on Friday.

4. Four-Aussie final

The local fans watched their last hope in the main singles draw go down when Alex de Minaur was thumped by world number one Jannik Sinner, but day 11 featured a whopping four Australians reaching a final at their home slam.

No matter that it was all the same final.

The mixed doubles decider will feature not one, not two, but four Australians.

Olivia Gadecki and men’s doubles Olympic gold medallist John Peers beat second-seeded Kiwi pair Erin Routliffe and Michael Venus, before wildcards Kim Birrell and John-Patrick Smith joined them in the final with a win over Brits Olivia Nicholls and Henry Patten.

It’s Smith’s first trip back to the mixed final since a runner-up finish in 2019 with compatriot Astra Sharma.

5. What time are the women’s semifinals today?

It’s semifinal time! 

First up on Rod Laver Arena, from 7.30pm AEDT, world number one Aryna Sabalenka takes on the 11th-seeded Spaniard Paula Badosa.

Straight after that match ends, world number two Iga Świątek takes on America’s Madison Keys, the 19th seed.