Right so now I thought I would do the first leg of the 4th round matches at the Australian open for the men's and ladies, as there was plenty of excitement on Rod Laver arena today (or tomorrow night if you are in Melbourne). So let's gie it a look.
Starting with as usual the ladies, we saw Angelique Kerber, the fifth seed take on the in form Russian player Ekaterina Makarova for a place in the quarter finals, and naturally Kerber was the favourite here. However things proved to be quite different as Makarova put in a fine effor to derail Kerber from reaching her first Australian open quarter final with a straight sets win of 7-5, 6-3. This sees Makarova make her second consecutive quarter final in Melbourne, where she will next face the woman I will discuss next.
And that lady is Maria Sharapova, who so far has been in absolutely formidable form, and has shown a form that has even put Serena Williams to shame! Maria's 4th round opponent was Kirsten Flipkens, the Belguim player, and just like in her previous rounds, Maria showed no mercy as she absolutely hammered the Belgian, conceding just one game as she steamrolled her way to a 6-1, 6-0 drubbing. This shows further evidence of just how scarily good Maria's form has been in this tournament, and so far she has only dropped a mere 5 games on her way to the quarter finals, which is just staggering. Maria as I said will next face Makarova for a place in the semis, and I predict that she might do the same Makarova as well, but we will wait and see. Whatever happens, Maria is going to be mighty mighty hard to stop in this form.
In other ladies matches we had Agnieszka Radwanska, who was up against Ana Ivanovic, in what promised to be a competitive match. But Ana just made too many unforced errors, and Aga as she usually does, hardly made any at all, with her steady and unbelievably consistent level that she has shown over the last 12 months or so. Aga also continues her winning streak, as she remains unbeaten in 2013 with a perfect 13-0 record so far, and she has yet to even drop a set this year! However she might start dropping one when she plays Li Na next in the quarter finals, who made it through in straight sets against Julia Goerges with a 7-6. 6-1 win.
In fact its going to be quite interesting who is going to be in the last four as I think that the top four all have an excellent chance of making it there, and I think from thereon in we might just be treated to some great tennis. And let's hope so as it has to be said most of the ladies matches so far have been won quite easily, especially by the top seeds, so let's hope they are put to the test and we see some tighter contests in the next few days.
So moving onto the men first off we had David Ferrer on court playing Kei Nishikori of Japan, and surprisingly Nishikori lead their head to head 2-1 coming into this match, so it promised to be a tight one. But it proved to be anything but as Ferrer made short work of Nishikori by dispatching him in three easy straight sets, with an emphatic score of 6-2, 6-1, 6-4. Ferrer will go on to face his compatriot Nicolas Almagro, who won his match after Janko Tipsarevic retired from their match, which will see Almagro advance to his first Aussie open quarter final, so that promises to be a pretty good match, but I see Ferrer coming through. Next up we we had Tomas Berdych who so far has been in really good form in the tournament, but he faced his first potential threat with the big Kevin Anderson, who had a serve big enough to challenge Berdych's. The first two sets went to Berdych easily enough, but in the 3rd they shared a mammoth tiebreak, which eventually saw Berdych seal the win to reach the quarter finals in 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(13). And Berdych will go on to face the winner of the next match I will discuss...
Which was between the World No.1 Novak Djokovic, and Stan Wawrinka, the world no.17, in what was a potentially intruiging encounter, which might have seen Nole been given a bit of test. However the words a bit of a test turned out to be something of an understatement as the Swiss No.2 came with his A game in full swing against Novak. And for Stan, starting off so good, winning the first set and going 5-2 up in the 2nd, Novak had no answer whatsoever for the Swiss player, who was just on absolute fire. However Nole fought back in the 2nd set to level 5-5, and he went on to break Stan to level the match. In the 3rd set, Stan went a break down, which let Nole serve out for a 2 sets to 1 lead. However in the 4th set we were treated to some electrifying tennis as neither man gave an inch on their serve, and they played a pulsating tiebreak, which Stan won to take the match into a decider. And the 5th was an epic in itself and both players were locked in a battle of the wills as they kept holding onto their serve (at times tentatively). That is until 11-10, which Stan serving to make it 11-11, Djokovic seized his chance, needing three match points, he took the initiative and played a terrific backhand cross court to close an unbelievable match in just over 5 hours, with an exhaustive scoreline of 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6(5)-7, 12-10.
This was without a doubt so far the match of the tournament and both players couldn't have put anymore into that match than they did. Novak once again in this match, even when he looked seriously down and out at a set and 5-2 down in the 2nd, dug deep from his bottomless well of belief and somehow got the job done. And even after 5 hours of play, Novak while undoubtedly tired, still looked relatively fresh, and throughout the match he didn't call for a trainer once, which makes you appreciate just how fit the guy really is! And for me I think its safe to say that he can still win this tournament, as so far he has defied the physical odds that were stacked against him, just like he did last year when he beat Rafa in that exhaustive epic 6 hour final. So despite the fact he has another tough match ahead of him with Tomas Berdych, I really do think he can come through it, as he said so himself in his press conference afterwards, and that's why he is the best player in the world.
As for Stan Wawrinka well he too deserves a great deal of credit for his amazing performance in this match, as he played what must have been the match of his career, and its a great shame that he lost it, as he had several break point chances to beat Novak, but somehow the Serb just kept hanging in. But I'm sure the Swiss player will take great heart from this match as it shows he does have what it takes to stay with the best, and when he is on form, it takes one hell of an effort to beat him.
So that's it for now, I will report back once the second leg of quarter finals are over, which sees an exciting set up on both the mens and ladies. On the ladies, Victoria Azarenka is up against Elena Vesnina of Russia for a place in the quarter finals, which could be intruiging (or just a doddle). Serena Williams will also have a potentially tricky opponent in Maria Kirilenko (again Russian) who has been on form in recent months. Sloane Stephens, who knocked out Laura Robson, is also in action against the Serb player, Bojana Jovanovski. And finally in what could be the ladies match of the day, Caroline Wozniacki will take on Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russian again!) for a place in the quarter finals, which will be really tough, and I hope Caroline wins it.
As for the men, Andy Murray will be in action against the Frenchman, Gilles Simon, who has been struggling physically after his epic 5 set match with Gael Monfils on Saturday there. Simon could however, if he has recovered well enough, still pose a threat to Andy, however the Muzza has been in good form so far, despite a dip in performance in the 3rd round, he's still to drop a set in the tournament, so we'll see how it goes. In all French clash and what could be a terrific match we also have Jo-Wilfried Tsonga take on Richard Gasquet, for a place in the quarter finals, and that could be a really good one! Another in form Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy will also be in action with the Italian player, Andreas Seppi, so the winner of that will be a possible quarter final opponent for Andy Murray. And finally in what could be the match of the day, Roger Federer will take on Milos Raonic, and they have always had close matches in their previous encounters, but Roger has won all of them, so we can expect the Swiss maestro to come through it, but hopefully it will be a great one.
So that's it for now, more to follow soon!
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