So we are approaching the end of the first week of the Aussie open in Melbourne Park, and the 3rd round matches are now complete, and there has been some excellent tennis on display from the players.
First off starting with the guys, in the 3rd round there was plenty of good stuff, Roger Federer took on the tallest man on the tour, Ivo Karlovich, in what proved to be quite a tough encounter, as in the first two sets, Fed was pushed to the limit, by the big serving Croatian. But in the 3rd Fed was fortunate to come through them, and in 3rd set, Federer got the break and closed it out, winning 7-6, 7-5, 6-3. Clearly Federer was quite relieved to get by the giant Croat, as he shouted many big come on's at crucial points. Next up for Federer will be Bernard Tomic, who in the past has made some pretty arrogant comments about Lleyton Hewitt, which didn't go down too well, so here's hoping Federer will teach him a lesson, personally I can't see an upset there. Rafa on the other hand a pretty easy passage into the 4th round as he defeated Lucas Lacko in 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, and Djokovic today simply blasted Nicolas Mahut off the court, albeit who was injured, winning with devastating scoreline of 6-0, 6-1, 6-1. To be honest though so far, Djokovic has had a pretty easy passage through so far, and no big names to test him, but that could change in the next round as he faces previous World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt, who has come through in an excellent match against the big Canadian Milos Raonic.
It was great to see the former World No.1 make it through as it was a very tough encounter with the big serving Milos making life difficult for the Aussie. However he will seriously be up against it with Djokovic, and I sincerely doubt he can pull off an upset, so the best we can hope for is a fairly tight match, but this match will definitely be the first proper guage of just where Djoko's tennis is at. If its a straight forward win or a total rout, then the rest of the draw should be cacking themselves, but we will soon find out, but frankly there will be only one winner, and sadly for Lleyton it won't be him, but it will be an intruiging one, and he will get the full support of the crowd to cheer him on, one way or another.
So onto Andy Murray quickly, who had a very entertaining match with the eccentric Frenchman Michael Llodra, as they both played a fair bit of what had to be exhibition tennis. But Andy was in complete control right from the start and put in a terrific performance, as he was more than good enough for Llodra, winning in straight sets in 6-4, 6-2, 6-0. The two also traded some extraordinary points, particularly the winning point for the 2nd set for Muzza, as they played close to the net and Llodra pulled off a hotdog lob, which Andy deflected to win the set, and he tumbled backwards over his heels! It was also good to see in the post match interview that Andy showed his light hearted side to the crowd, when he was given some left-field questions, such as who his favourite film star is, who he preferred Kate or Pippa (Middleton, the royal lassie with the upstaging dress!) and also making a crack about going tonight and "getting hammered!". Next up for Andy will be Mikhail Khukushkin, who upset Gael Monfils in 5 sets, the two of them have previously met in Brisbane and it was tough match, but I'm sure Andy will come through it, either in straights or 4 sets.
Now onto the ladies, which saw some fine tennis as well, although there were quite a few easy straight set wins for the top seeds. To start with Serena Williams, who simply blew Greta Arn off the court in very easy win in 6-1, 6-1. Maria Sharapova also put in an equally impressive performance by dismissing last year's US Open semi finalist Angelique Kerber in 6-1, 6-2. Sabine Lisicki however had a tougher test against the former World No.1 Svetlana Kuznetsova, as she needed 3 sets to get past her. Victoria Azarenka, who up until also had a straight easy run, met her first tricky customer with the talented German Mona Barthel, who after an easy first set, pushed Vika much more in the 2nd set. Azarenka also at one point in the 2nd set lost the rag on court as she wanted to challenge a point that was clearly out, but she had no challenges left, so ended up rowing with the umpire. Vika also went off the court to some boos from the crowd, but at least she is through to the next round with a 6-2, 6-4 win. Caroline Wozniacki however made short work of her opponent Monica Niculescu with a 6-2, 6-2 win, but she too will face her first tough test against Jelena Jankovic in the 4th round. Kim Clijsters, the defending champion also impressively made it through easily against the Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in 6-3, 6-2, where she will next have a rematch of her final last year with Li Na, so that promises to be a really good one, and just maybe Li can get revenge??? And finally Petra Kvitova got the easiest passage through as her opponent Miria Kirilenko, who was forced to retire with injury in 6-0, 1-0 ret.
So that sets up some pretty exciting tennis for tomorrow on both the mens and ladies side of the net, Roger Federer taking the cocky Bernard Tomic on, so I expect a lesson will be given out. Rafa will face his fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, which could be either easy or difficult. Tomas Berdych will take on Nicholas Almagro, which could also prove to be very tricky, and what could be a very exciting match, is Juan Martin Del Potro against the talented Austrian, Philipp Kolschreiber. On the ladies we will have as I said Kim Clijsters vs Li Na, which will get top billing, and the Wozza vs the Jankor, which should be very good. Additionally on the ladies we will also get another very promising match between Agnieszka Radwanska and Julia Goerges and Victoria Azarenka against Iveta Benesova. So its all good and plenty to look forward to.
So that's it for now.
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