Australian Clash 2.0

Duckworth gets to face another Australian, having just sent O'Connell packing...

Well, I was quite high on O'Connell in this match against Duckworth, based on the matchup and his qualifying round. We got something completely different; Duckworth simply destroyed him! They were actually scheduled to play the day before, and instead it became a match in extremely tough conditions on a small court without a lot of attention. O'Connell really struggled to find his first serves at the right time, and Duckworth was returning well, with both his backhand and forehand. Truthfully, I found him really excellent at managing the conditions. Now, the conditions today will likely be a bit more "normal", but it is encouraging that Duckworth is coming off such a clean first round. Yes, it's a much tougher test now, facing the top Aussie ;) However, I think it is quite clear that ADM still has some work to do to reach his top level. While his game makes it hard for him to lose against a lot of opponents that he should beat, he is still having some bad dips, and it's definitely safe to say that he is lacking "clutchness" right now; just look at his recent straight-set loss to Nakashima.

It's important to have some kind of weapons against ADM, at least a bit of power, a decent serve, and the ability to finish points at the net. ADM destroys players who are "well-rounded" and who just grind from the baseline. Duckworth can play with variety; he is good at coming to the net, and his serve and forehand are at least decent... so for me, he is not completely helpless in this matchup. Actually, Duckworth has managed to keep the scorelines rather respectable in both their meetings, even if it was a few years ago...