Today was the worst day of my trip so far. I got to the tournament grounds at around eleven o'clock, and play was supposed to start at eleven and fifteen. It was raining like hell. I set and wrote some stuff down, listened to music, ate a little and did some Sudokus (four, actually, and hard ones, which just shows you the state I was in). The rain just wouldn't go away. I was soaking wet, my socks were wet and I was quite miserable.

At around two and a half o'clock, I decided to go back to the apartement, because I couldn't take it anymore. I made it back to the apartement at around four, and play started close to five. The next bus was unfortunately only at six, so I took it and missed Calleri's win over Verdasco completely, but watched some of the other matches.

Chela d Youzhny 6-2 4-6 6-4

I was so much for Youzhny in this match. I can't stand Chela. Due to the rain, this match was at Grandstand court, which is a really small and intimate court, so I was seating around two meters away from the players. Chela is even uglier from up close, he curses constantly, spits and is just generally disgusting. Youzhny is just alright. I sat near Chela's coaching team, and told them Calleri had defeated Verdasco. They were quite surprised.

The rain did Chela very good - the conditions were really slow and Youzhny couldn't do as much damage with the serve and with his net game as usually. Chela was just solid, hit a few good forehands and had a stable service game. He actually served for the match at 5-3 and had a match point, but Youzhny came back. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough and Chela will play in an all Argentinean final against Calleri. Well, at least I know for sure who I'm going to be cheering.

Koubek/Kohlschreiber d Melzer/Knowle 6-4 7-5

Well, I already declared my love for Philip, who was today on court with three different left-handed Austrians. I discovered that Knowle hits two-fisted shots from both sides, also on volleys. He thinks he's Frew Macmillan. I don't get what is so good about Melzer/Knowle, I think they're only ranked so high because they play together alot. Knowle is really not an impressive player, Melzer is the leading force of the duo by every aspect and Knowle missed so many easy shots, doesn't have an impressive serve nor really good volleys.

Melzer was quite good today, but the most amazing player on court was Stefan Koubek. I don't know how many of you remember his great runs at the starts of both 2002 and 2003, when he made the Aussie Open quarters and won the Doha title. He is a very impressive player - quite short and small, but hits the ball very hard and is fast as a tiger. He played some really great tennis, chasing down smashes and hitting some unbelivable reflex volleys. I'll be all for him and Philip in the final, which they'll play against...

Suk/Marach d Damm/Pala 7-6 (7) 6-4

I really only wanted to see this match due to Cyril Suk, the most ancient player on tour. Agassi is a child next to him. He looks younger than, say, Sanguinetti, but he'll be forty years old at January. He is not a bad player, though Marach did most of the work. Damm and Pala are really quite boring, Damm is a little bit more impressive, but Pala looks like he's working at an office... When you realise that these guys are two of the world's highest ranked doubles players, you can understand why doubles is not a huge success. Either way, Austria will have a tournament winner - either Marach or Koubek.

Tommorow is finals day - Vamos Calleri, don't let chubby Chela win his first title in over two years.