Day: January 16, 2014

Organiser John Douvartzidis said more than 30,000 people were expected to flock to the Semaphore foreshore for the event on Saturday and Sunday.

What’s your favourite aspect of the festival? Comment below.

Mr Douvartzidis said a highlight of this year’s program was X-Factor Greece contestant Maria Stavropoulou.

Stavropoulou lives in Sydney but travelled to Greece for the competition in 2009.

“She’s the premier Greek female singer in Australia,” Mr Douvartzidis said.

“That’s going to attract a massive crowd.

“She has a massive following Australia-wide.”

There will also be a range of Greek dance groups performing, along with four live bands, up from the usual two.

Mr Douvartzidis said the highlight of the festival for most people was the scrumptious Greek food.

He said festival-goers particularly looked out for yiros, souvlakia, calamari, spanakopita (spinach pie) and Greek sweets like loukoumades (deep-fried dough soaked in honey).

“The food is unbelievable,” he said.

“You won’t find better food anywhere. It’s spoken about by everyone.”

Volunteer Alexandra Vakitsidis said she was looking forward to sharing Greek culture and food with all the visitors to Semaphore.

“Some people can’t go and visit Greece and the island and we make it easier to see what we have in Greece,” Mrs Vakitsidis said.

The festival, in its 35th year, is run by 250 volunteers from the Greek Orthodox Community of Port Adelaide and is the church’s main fundraiser.

Events start at 11am on Saturday and 10am on Sunday, and run until midnight on both days.

Entry is free.

Details: http://www.semaphoregreekfestival.com.au

Nadal – Kokkinakis   6 – 2   2 – 1   2 – 0    Nadal was in a considerable degree of trouble in this game as he faced two break-points on his serve at 15-40. However, the Aussie squandered both those opportunities as the top seed produced two great serves to bail himself out of that tricky situation.

1 – 0    Nadal gets the break here at the outset of the second set and with that takes a 1-0 lead. Even though the Aussie came up with a massive serve to put the game at deuce, the Majorcan wasn’t to be denied as he eventually won the game by drawing Kokkinakis into an error.

Nadal – Kokkinakis   6 – 2    With 16 winners and a 93% winning rate on his first serve points Nadal literally had a walk in the park in the first set as he secured it with a 6-2 score-line in just 32 minutes. Moreover, he committed just the three unforced errors all through the set – a sign that Rafa was at its very best in the set as he faced no problems at all in moving around his rival from one side to the other of the court and reaped rich rewards for his tactics as he broke the Kokkinakis serve twice to accomplish a 5-2 lead. Thereafter, in the ensuing game he served out the set with a perfect hold to love.   5 – 2    Nadal complete control of this first set now as he breaks the Aussie’s serve for the second time and will now serve for the set in the next game. The top seed is playing some fabulous tennis at the moment and is dominating the proceedings with the assistance of his heavy ground-strokes particularly from his forehand wing.

4 – 2    Nadal continues to serve big and into the backhand corner of the Aussie on most occasions than not and with that ploy he cruises through to a love hold to double his lead to 4-2. The former champion is all over the local lad at present and is simply overstretching him with the help of his lefty serves. 3 – 2    Some big serves help the Australian to hold his serve and keep himself right behind the World No.1. Kokkinakis has been serving fast and hard and has unsettled the Spaniard by mixing his serve.

3 – 1    Nadal confirms the break which he accomplished in the previous game with a hold to 15. With a couple of body serves that jammed into the body of his opponent, the World No.1 takes full control of the points in the game to stretch his lead to 3-1. 2 – 1    After a brilliant beginning to the match, Kokkinakis drops his guard in the third game of the match and with that loses his serve to hand over an early break to the World No.1 in this first set. The Spaniard will now look to consolidate the break in the next game.

1 – 1    Even though Kokkinakis struck two brilliant winners in this game, the 2009 champion was still able to hold on to his serve with ease as he fired in three aces – one at the T and two out wide to put the set at 1 game all.0 – 1    The Australian youngster makes a fine start to this match as he holds on to his serve to 30. He didn’t look nervous at all as he served really well and also hit the ball with great depth and precision.

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This would be the first meeting between the two players with the Spaniard coming into the match as an overwhelming favorite.

Up next on the Rod Laver Arena is a match between the World No.1 Rafael Nadal and the Aussie youngster Thanasi Kokkinakis for a place in the third round.

DAY 4 – SELECTED MATCHES
Elina Svitolina def Olivia Rogowska 6-4 7-5
Karin Knapp def by Maria Sharapova 3-6 6-4 8-10
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def Thomaz Bellucci 7-6 6-4 6-4
Rafael Nadal v Thanasi Kokkinakis, 2pm @RLA
Blaz Kavcic v Roger Federer, 5pm @Hisense
Nick Kyrgios v Benoit Paire, 7pm @MCA
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova v Victoria Azarenka, 7pm @RLA
Andy Murray v Vincent Millot, Last match @RLA