Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!

The Australian Open is my favorite Grand Slam tournament to watch because it's the only Slam that's played in a timezone that won't reset my body clock. I can watch the day session turn into the night session without watching the night turn into morning here. For the past few days it's been Australian Open all day, all the time, courtesy of Star Sports, and I've been a happy tennis fanatic glued to my television.

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STEAMROLLER: Roger Federer has been flinging aside his opponents so far. His most recent result has him bageling Florian Mayer of Germany. However, another German could prove to be a road block for the top seed, should Federer make their fourth round match by beating Max Mirnyi later today.

The player in question is Tommy Haas, who had a stellar warm-up to the Australian Open by beating Federer in first-round action at the Kooyong Classic last week. That tournament, while an exhibition, has been the stomping ground of the world's top players seeking some match play in the week leading up to the Australian Open. Haas made the Kooyong final where he fell to Andy Roddick in straight sets. Nevertheless, Haas seems to have carried over the momentum from beating the world number one into his first week at the AO. Sans ponytail and longtime coach Red Ayme, the unseeded Haas defeated 14th seed Richard Gasquet in the first round, bageled American Paul Goldstein in the second round, and dashed Australian hopes by defeating home wildcard Peter Luczak in four sets. Haas likes his chances, should the match-up with Federer materialize.

From BBC Sport:

"I obviously would have liked to play Roger later in the tournament should he win tonight, but I'm unseeded and had no choice," said Haas.

"But I believe I have the variety in my game to give him some trouble. I like to think I'm playing some good tennis."

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BACK IN THE SADDLE: Martina Hingis's first-round match had many a longtime tennis fan salivating (myself included). In the weeks prior to the Open, she made the semifinal at the WTA Gold Coast tournament, but crashed out to Justine Henin-Hardenne in the first round at the Sydney International tournament the following week.

Could she play at her best level in a Slam again? Would the Australian Open tournament committee get their wildcard’s worth? Rod Laver Arena at night seemed a pretty big stage for a match between wildcard and the number 30 seed, but Hingis showed her class as a multiple Slam winner. In her 6-1,6-2 defeat of Vera Zvonareva, the Swiss Miss moved the Russian to tears (literally) with her wide array of angles and strokes. The same style of play brought her through a 6-1,6-1 victory over Emma Laine. Hingis would have faced Mary Pierce in the third round, but the fifth seed Pierce had been upset by Iveta Benesova.

This morning, Benesova pushed Hingis in their first set with her leftie serve and powerful strokes, but Hingis still prevailed in straight sets and moves on to the next opponent. That will be Australia's own Samantha Stosur. The crowd may be on the Australian’s side, but bookies have put Hingis as their second favorite behind Justine Henin-Hardenne to win the Aussie title.

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RUSTY WAS RUSTY: Last year, Lleyton Hewitt broke his pattern of early exits from his home Slam by battling through many a five-setter and making the final. This year brought no such performance from him, though he did play a five-setter in his first round match. He squeaked out the win against Robin Vik in the first round, losing the second and third sets before rallying back to win the last two sets. Hewitt then faced Juan Ignacio Chela in the second round, a rematch of a bad-tempered third round match from last year's Open. To refresh our failing memories, here's how last year's match went, courtesy of The Tribune India:

A bristling Lleyton Hewitt won a bad-tempered encounter with Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the fourth round.

[...]

The first three sets were of high quality but the match burst into life early in the fourth with some unsavoury scenes.

Chela appeared to get angry with Hewitt for his on-court gesticulations, fired a serve which the Australian had to jump to avoid being hit by.

After Hewitt had broken for a 2-1 lead, he seemed to mutter an obscenity towards Chela and the Argentine was then seen to spit in Hewitt’s direction.

The spat galvanised Chela and he broke back for 4-4, only to drop his own serve immediately, and Hewitt held on to reach the last 16.

There was no such hostility this year, but this time around it was Chela who won the match.

From The Scotsman:

Hewitt has failed to make the third round of a grand slam event only once since 2002, at Wimbledon in 2003 when he was defending champion. The 24-year-old was a losing finalist here in 2005 and has been struggling to regain his best form after missing the last two months of last season with leg and foot injuries, and the birth of his first child.

He may be renowned for his doggedness, but Hewitt's loss to Chela also followed early departures in warm-up events in Adelaide and Sydney. "I was giving it everything I had out there, I just wasn't up to it," Hewitt said.

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BREAKTHROUGH: After threatening twice last year to win a Masters Series title, Ivan Ljubicic seems poised to make a breakthrough at the Australian Open. The Croatian player had never been past the third round of a Slam before his resounding win yesterday over Feliciano Lopez put him through to the fourth round. Ljubicic is seeded to meet second seed Andy Roddick in the quarterfinal.

Roddick, who faces Marcos Baghdatis in the fourth round, hasn’t exactly been put through the wringer in his matches. Although there was some trepidation that he could go out in the first round as he had done in the 2005 US Open, Roddick banished those memories to the past by straight-setting his last three opponents. His third-round clash with Julien Benneteau was an exercise in confidence: Roddick had it, and Benneteau didn’t. I was in a chat with fellow tennis fans when Benneteau tried a dropshot.

Adam: good drop shot!
deb: ???
Noelle: not!
Adam: benneateau hit the worst dropshot ever
Noelle: and it landed in the service box
Noelle: on his side of the court
Adam: it bounced before the net

Ljubicic won his two meetings versus Roddick last year and has showed a steady improvement in his play over the past year. Could this late bloomer be a dark horse contender for the title? He’ll have to face 2002 Australian Open champ Thomas Johansson first.

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WITHOUT WILLIAMS: Both Serena and Venus Williams won a Slam tournament last year, but they aren’t in contention for the Australian title anymore. Venus was the first to fall, knocked out in the first round by Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetlana Pironkova. Serena’s first round opponent Na Li and second round opponent Camille Pin didn’t have the consistency or the power to topple the defending champion, but Hantuchova took advantage of Serena’s poor fitness to win their third round match in straight sets.

From the NYTimes:

"I think we all know how well she can really play," said Hantuchova, who had not won a set in her three previous matches with Williams. "But to her credit, I thought she kept fighting until the end. She never gave up, and at the end of the second set, it could have gone either way, so I really did feel the pressure of her really competing."

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As the Slam is set to go into its second week in two days, there have been the standard steamrolling of opponents as well as expected and unexpected upsets. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Aussie Open time. As they say: bring it on!

posted by Noelle De Guzman @ 8:59 PM