Right so now get onto the men's matches from the first four days of the Australian open which saw plenty of stuff going on and there was a fair share of drama on the men's side of the net as there were various retirals and injuries from the exertion of playing in the heat, but more on that later. So let's have a look at the men's matches....
Starting with Day 1 we had Stanislas Wawrinka who opened up play for the men on Hisense arena as he played Andrey Golubev and he had little trouble getting past Kazakh who retired in the 2nd set as the Swiss No.2 secured his 2nd round placed with a 6-2, 4-1 win. David Ferrer up next opened up play for the men on the Rod Laver arena and he faced Alejandro Gonzalez which he defeated with ease in a comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win. Novak Djokovic, the defending champion next up played against the Slovakian player Lukas Lacko in an entertaining opening round for the Serb, which saw him in good form, and despite being pushed to a 2nd set tiebreak which he won, Nole never looked to be in trouble and he won the match comfortably in 6-3, 7-6, 6-1. And lastly Tomas Berdych got his campaign off to a confident start as he beat Oleksandr Nedovyesov in straight sets in 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
So quickly in other matches on Day 1:
Jerzy Janowic the giant bean Pole won against wildcard Aussie Jordan Thompson in a five set battle which saw Jerzy come back from two sets to love down to win in 1-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.
And Denis Istomin took down former Melbourne finalist Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 scoreline.
Moving onto day 2 we saw the other three of the big four out in action as Rafa, Roger and Andy are all drawn in the same half of the draw, which isn't too kind on any of them but that's how it goes (as Nole seems to have had it quite cushily this time.... well so far!). And the action started with Roger Federer taking on another Aussie wildcard, James Duckworth, whom the Swiss maestro dismissed in 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Andy Murray also had it pretty easy in his first round as he shook off the cobwebs off his comeback into 2014 and put in an effortless performance against the Japenese player, Go Soeda as he defeated him 6-1, 6-1, 6-3. This was a terrific performance from Andy which sees his season get off to a solid start in the majors, but wether or not he can maintain this over the next two weeks remains to be seen. After that Rafa was in action as he played Bernard Tomic in what promised to be quite a match, however it turned out to be an anti-climax as Tomic, who injured his groin was forced to retire after just the first set which gave Rafa safe passage into the 2nd round after just 6-4. And lastly Juan Martin Del Potro had a tough encounter against the American player, Ryhne Williams as it took four tight sets to get past him with Delpo winning in 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
And as quick round up of the other matches on day 2 we had:
Andreas Seppi who took on the home favourite Lleyton Hewitt who the Italian stunned after an epic pitch battle, with Hewitt coming from two sets to love down to level the match and despite serving for it himself he missed his chance and Seppi took his to break the Aussie and he closed it out in 7-6, 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 7-5. This was a bit of a letdown I'm sure for the home crowd (well more than a bit I'm sure!) and I was hoping to see Hewitt get into the 2nd round as well, but in the end it wasn't to be.
Jo Wilfried Tsonga had a fairly comfy ride in beating the Italian player Filippo Volandri in 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.
And last of all is Gael Monfils who has made a good comeback in 2014 so far and he defeated the American Ryan Harrison in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
And last of all John Isner was forced to retire in his match as he suffered a foot injury as did Ivan Dodig of Croatia who even said after his match he feared for his life out there and that he couldn't walk for 30 minutes after the match. So I think that was a big hint to the organisers to do something about it!
Now onto Day 3 which saw Novak Djokovic take to the courts again and he played the plucky Argentine, Leonard Mayer for a place in the 3rd round. And Nole once again proved too strong for his opponent as he defeated Mayer in just under two hours with a 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 victory, which sees him continue his fairly serene progress toward another title defence. David Ferrer had a much tougher time however against the Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino as he dropped the 2nd set but he came back strong to finish it in four with a 7-6, 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 score. Tomas Berdych wasted little time in his match as he sped past another French layer Kenny De Schepper with a confident 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 result. And lastly Stan Wawrinka had a tough test on his hands as he faced off against the Colombian player, Alejandro Falla whom he overcame in 6-3, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.
And quickly as a rundown of the other matches:
The in form Canadian player Vasek Pospisil managed to take down another Aussie player Matthew Ebden after a tough four setter which Vasek won in 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-1.
Richard Gasquet also made it into the 3rd round as he made it past the former World No.3 Nikolai Davydenko in straight sets in 7-6, 6-4, 6-4.
And lastly Sam Querrey took out the 23rd seed Ernests Gulbis to reach the 3rd round comfortably in 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.
Sooooo now its time for day 4 which saw the organisers of the tournament FINALLY invoke their extreme heat policy and got the players off court for a few hours to cool down as they also closed the roofs on the Rod Laver and Hisense arenas. So to kick off we first up had Rafael Nadal face off against the promising youngster Thanasi Kokkinakis, whom the World No.1 ended up giving a lesson in how to play the game as he beat the young Aussie in just 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. Having played his first full match, Rafa is looking in pretty good form although he has not been tested so far that will change as his draw continues but I can only see good things ahead for Rafa in Melbourne with a strong chance of reaching the final at the very least.
Andy Murray went on to face an unusual challenge in the French player Vincent Millot as Andy got off to a good start as he broke his opponent twice in the first two sets to take the lead. In the 3rd set however Andy started to suffere a puzzling dip in form and before he knew he found himself 5-1 down at the hands of the rejuvenated Frenchman who took a medical timeout for his calf injury. However despite serving for the set, Millot could not find an answer for what happened next as Andy reeled 23 straight points in a row to fightback to break his opponent's serve three times as he served it out with ease to claim a bizarre 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 victory.
This was a strangely subdued performance from Andy who as we all know can vary from one match to the next in consistency and quality and it seemed to be a strange dip in form during the 3rd set, but it was still remarkable how he managed to close it out. But Andy will definitely need to step up his game against his next opponent Feliciano Lopez who so far has looked impressive in Melbourne and if their last match at the US Open is anything to go by where Andy had to battle past Lopez in four tight sets, then he surely will have his hands full, but here's hoping he can come through it and it should be a good match.
After that we had Roger Federer who faced off against the Slovenian player Blaz Kavicic, which after breezing to a two set lead saw Roger face his first mini test of the tournament when Blaz took the mighty Fed to a tiebreak and Blaz took a 3-0 lead. However it didn't last long as Rog broke back and manufactured a break of his own as he sealed the break and the match with a comfortable 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 victory. So far Roger is looking pretty good in Melbourne and the early signs are encouraging for him although no doubt the rounds will get tougher and Andy Murray could very well be his quarter final round opponent, which if they both get there and its anything like their superb encounter last year in Melbourne, it could be a real treat to watch.
And quickly to summarise the other matches on Day 4:
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came through a tricky encounter against the big hitting Brazilian, Thomaz Bellucci with a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 win, which still sees the Frenchman yet to drop a set.
Gael Monfils also made progress as he beat the American player, Jack Sock, in straight sets 7-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Another French player Benoit Paire also made good progress as he battled past another Aussie, Nick Kyrgios after he came from two sets to love down to win a five setter in 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
And finally in the biggest upset of the tournament so far, Juan Martin Del Potro went down in a stunning defeat against the Spaniard, Roberto Autista-Agut who managed to outlast big Delpo and put in an incredible performance to win in five sets 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, 7-5. This was a big surprise which I'm sure not many people saw coming although perhaps Delpo hadn't prepared as well for Melbourne during the off season as the other top guys maybe, who knows? Anyway that's the biggest casualty of the men's event so far and I'm sure more will follow.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrright so that's it for my posts on the Australian Open and I will be back in a couple of days to cover more action from the Australian open.
Until the next one, bye for now!
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