Day 14 of Australian Open: Federer wins #16.

Message to Andy Murray:  Do not call out anyone anymore if you are going to play like a scared little girl.  Murray "called out" Roger Federer just a few days ago saying he wanted to beat him in the final.  The only person he ended up beating was himself as he fell in straight sets to Federer 6-3, 6-4, 7-6.

From the beginning Murray looked nervous. Thats exactly how he played too.  The moment seemed to be too large for him.  Murray wasn't going for his shots, instead he was more content to sit back at the baseline and play defense.  Federer picking up on this was like a surgeon.  Precisely picking apart and confusing Murray with drop shots.  Federer looked like a cold blooded killer in the first set.  Showing no emotion as he dismantled Murray.  Federer: wins 1st set 6-3.

Federer broke early in the 2nd set to take a comfortable lead.  After falling down a 2nd set break, Murray was finally able to find some of his game, and hit some winners with confidence.  It was a little too late, Federer was able to hold on to the slim lead and take the 2nd set 6-4.

The 3rd set saw a much more aggressive Andy Murray.  Murray began the set by hitting winners and keeping Federer back on his heels, and playing defense.  Murray was able to get an early break in the set.  With the break came some emotion from Murray.  He was "fist-pumping", and waving to the crowd to "get up" and make some more noise.  Finally the Andy Murray many people wanted to see had arrived.  Murray up 5-3 in the set had a chance to serve out the set and make this a more competitive match.  But like the champion he is, Federer broke back and put the match back on serve.  (Here is an odd note:  at 5:55 a.m. Eastern Time in the U.S. the match was tied 5-5 in the 3rd set.)  The set stayed on serve, and went to a tiebreaker.

The tiebreaker was one of the best ones you'll ever see.  Murray had 5 different set points, all negated by the excellent play of Federer.  Roger had 2 championship points turned away by Murray, but was able to claim the title on his 3rd championship point, winning the tiebreaker and match 7-6 (13-11 in the tiebreaker)

Two streaks remain intact with the Federer win.  Federer keeps his streak alive of never losing a match when up 2 sets to love.  And Andy Murray must wait a little longer to break the 74 year drought since the British have claimed a Grand Slam event champion.

Murray's game came on a little too late to make the match interesting.  Federer had the experience and game to take care of business and win his 16th Grand Slam championship.  Maybe this is what Murray needed, and now he has the knowledge to better prepare himself for future grand slam finals.

*** I forgot to mention in previous blogs that Leander Paes and Cara Black won the mixed doubles.  Leander is the man.

News and Notes:

Rafael Nadal and Lleyton Hewitt will both be out for some time with injuries.  Nadal had an MRI taken on his injured knee, and a slight tear was found.  He is expected to be out of action for around 4 weeks.  Hewitt's injury is slightly more serious.  Hewitt had to have minor hip surgery on his right hip.  He said this setback will not force him to retire, but that he expects to be back by the French Open.

Day 13 of the Australian Open: Serena goes back-to-back

Serena Williams was able to defend her title against rival Justin Henin in 3 sets. 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.   This was her 5th Australian Open title, and 12th overal Grand Slam title, tying her on the all-time list with Billie Jean King. 

Even with the majority of the crowd behind her, Henin wasn't able to pull off the mild upset, and cap off what was an amazing run, beating 5 seeds on her way to the final.  This was a "rusty" Henin, can you imagine how she will be playing come May when the French Open rolls around.? 

All credit goes to Serena.  She was a little banged up, but used her desire and toughness to carry her through to another win.  I personally cannot stand how she acts, or how she carries herself most of the time, but as a tennis player I cannot help but have a small amount of respect for her.  She's good...very good.  No, I'm not changing my feelings about her.  I will still root against her every match she plays, but I cannot deny that she is definetly the best WTA player right now.

This will not be the last time you see a Henin-Williams matchup late in a Grand Slam event this year.  These 2 look like the cream of the crop and will be factors in every grand slam.

One more pic of Serena Williams.  Isn't she pretty?

Thats if you like lady-boys.

Bob and Mike Bryan won the mens double championship by beating Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.

Day 14 Preview:  Mens Final

Rafael Nadal has made the call.  He has gone on record saying, Andy Murray will beat Roger Federer.  Murray after his win over Marin Cilic, basically called out Roger Federer.  Saying that he wanted to meet and beat the #1 player in the final.  Federer then went out and sent a message to Murray by "bitch-slapping"  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga around.

This is setting up for some fireworks tonight.  Murray is on top of the world confidence wise, calling out Fed.  Federer is harnessing all his great talent, and then you put on top of it hes probably pissed off and wants to crush Murray.  Nadal is saying Murray will win.  I guarantee if you asked who Tsonga would pick to win, he'd go with Roger.  He doesn't want to mess with that shit anymore.  Mirka, dirka, birka will be in the box making faces.  After Murray's mom gets done with his laundry, she should be there as well.  BG, "Killer Cahill" in the booth on ESPN.  Does it get any better than this? 

I picked Murray to win it all before the start of the tournament, and I'll stick with my pick.  (I also picked Serena to win.  So I may sweep.  Just a sidebar to toot my own horn)  But Federer is scary when pissed off.  I might be leaning towards him, but I will stick with Murray. 

I'm hoping for Murray to win, just to see the possible chance of Federer crying like a bitch, like he did last year when Nadal beat him for the Australian Open title.

Please God, no more Pam Shriver.

Day 12 of the Australian Open

Roger Federer once again showed his dominance in Grand Slam events, by laying a whipping on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.  Federer looked as if he had something to prove, or a message to be sent to his next opponent Andy Murray, and the world.  Federer was in the zone, able to make shots from all areas of the court.  After the match saying "Tonight was one of those nights where I had an extra split second to think where i was going to play the ball."  When the greatest player of all-time is focused and on his game there isn't much you can do, other than sit back and take your punishment like a man.  And that is just what Jo-Wilfried Tsonga did, he absorbed a thrashing.

Also in Womens doubles, the Williams sisters won the doubles title in straight sets over Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6-4, 6-3.

Day 13 Preview:  WOMENS FINAL

The womens final is the match of the day at Rod Laver Arena.  The ladies final will be played during the evening, featuring the #1 seed Serena Williams and Justine Henin. 

This match will be all about toughness.  Henin has struggled in a few of her previous rounds, but found a way to win.  Serena has struggled as well on occasion, but seems to find an extra something when being pushed or in trouble, and facing being eliminated.  Both women are mentally tough, probably the toughest on tour, and its no coincidence that this toughness has brought them to the finals.  Serena has been hampered by a bum leg and in her semifinal win she looked exhausted.  Henin hasn't really been showing strains physically, her strains have come from a inconsistent serve and getting some of the court rust off after almost 2 years away from the game.

Its all going to come down to who wants it more.  Both women I feel really want it, but there is something about Serena Williams, that when she is pissed off, and motivated she is scary.  Henin has owned the Williams sisters in the past, and has beaten Serena the last 3 times they faced each other in a Grand Slam event.  That streak will probably come to an end in the final.  Serena even hobbled is playing like she is on a mission, and will not be denied of defending her crown.  Couple that with Henin's unimpressive play during most of the tournament, it looks like it will be a bad night for the Belgian.  I'll be rooting for Justine, but I like Serena in straight sets. 7-6, 6-3. 

Day 11 of the Australian Open

Day 11 was a bad day for the two Chinese women.  Na Li hung with Serena Williams the whole way through, but didn't have enough to beat the defending champion.  Serena who looked fatigued from the day before was playing at about 75%, but that was still enough to win 7-6, 7-6.  Li had her chances to make a match of it and force a third set, but when it got close Serena would put out the fire and did enough to stay ahead.

In the other womens semifinal Justine Henin put on a clinic in beating Jie Zheng.  Zheng couldn't do much of anything and that led to her not being able to compete with the Belgian former #1.  Henin sat on,  and just ate up Zheng's low speed serves.  Henin was able to make shots at will, and was a force at the net, overwhelming the small Zheng.  Zheng was able to show good movement and decent groundstrokes, but unforced errors and a lack of a serve is what did her in.  It took less than an hour for Henin to throttle Zheng 6-1, 6-0

In the night match Andy Murray was able to put himself into the mens final by taking a four set victory and ending the run of Croatian, Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.   Cilic took an early lead by winning the first set, but after the first set Murray took control and won the next three to put himself into his 2nd career Grand Slam Final.  He'll face the winner of Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Day 12 Preview.

The only singles match of the day will be the second mens semifinal between Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  The match will be a night match at Rod Laver Arena.  (How wonderful, another 3:30 am starting time.)  I really don't see how Tsonga can pull the upset on this one.  Tsonga did beat Federer the last time these two played, but it wasn't a best-of-five match at a Grand Slam.  Tsonga is dealing with the fatigue of having to go 5 sets in his last 2 matches.  Federer is on a mission and focused, which is a scary thing for someone having to play him.  Federer will win in 4 sets.  Setting up a rematch of the 2008 U.S. Open final that Federer won fairly easily.

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Day 10 of the Australian Open

Day 10 at the Australian Open started out beautifully.  Venus Williams managed to choke away a victory against Na Li.  Even in the twilight of Venus Williams' career, one thing everyone knows is that you don't let someone as powerful and talented as Venus get out to a fast start.  That is the very thing Na Li did.  Venus started the match on fire, and a combination of Li mistakes led to a easy first set in favor of Venus.  The second set started out like the first had ended.  Venus went out to an early lead and was only two points away from a routine straight set victory when Na Li found another gear in her game.  Down 3-5 and two points away from going home, Li started playing some of the best tennis of her career.  She then fought back and forced a 2nd set tiebreaker that she was lucky enough to win to even the match up at one set a piece.  Venus slowed the Li momentum by taking a quick 2-0 lead in the 3rd and final set.  Li like before came back and evened the set 2-2.  The set continued like this the rest of the way with each player struggling to hold serve.  At 5-5 Li was able to get a break of serve to put the match at 6-5, and then hold her service game for a joyous upset of Venus Williams.  2-6, 7-6, 7-5.

One Williams down, one to go...

With Venus being eliminated and the thought of Serena possibly being next to be sent home got me excited.  The way Victoria Azarenka started out against Serena Williams only added to my excitement.  Azarenka with a howling screech everytime she made contact with the ball was able to play "her" game and be on the offensive against the #1 player in the world.  Serena was forced to play defense for most of the first set, and Azarenka was able to do enough on offense to take the first set 6-4.  The start of the 2nd set was amazing, with Azarenka playing out of her mind hitting winners down each line, as Serena ran ragged at the baseline. Azarenka was up 4-0 in the 2nd set and looking at a semifinal matchup with Na Li next.  This is tremendous!!  Roddick eliminated the day before, and now both Williams' getting beat.  Can this get any better?  Then shit hit the fan.  Just as well as Azarenka was playiing, Williams matched it and then surpassed it.  Azarenka didn't choke.  Serena was just that damn good.  With her back against the wall and nothing to lose Serena was hitting every ball as hard as she could, but the thing was, they were landing in.  The onslaught was on.  Serena down 0-4 came back and blew by Azarenka, beating the Belarussian in a 2nd set tiebreaker 7-6.  Serena playing at an elite level, and Azarenka playing at a solid level was no match after that.  Serena put the match to an end with a dominating 3rd set, winning the match 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.  What a crappy day of tennis this has turned out to be.

Now it was the mens turn to take the court.  #1 seeded legend, Roger Federer and the hot Nikolay Davydenko playing for a berth into the semifinals.  In the first set Federer was "unfedereresque" in his play, making 19 unforced errors and basically giving the first set to Davydenko 6-2.  After the terrible start to the match and the loss of the first set it seemed Federer got "pissed" and flipped a switch to his game.  After that it was bad news for the Russian.  Federer took control of the rallys and dominated each of  the next two sets, winning them 6-3, 6-0.  The 4th set was a little more competitive than the previous three.  Both players holding their ground, but there is a reason Federer is probably the greatest of all time, and its for this reason.  He doesn't lose these types of matches (well rarely).  When there is an opportunity to pull the plug on an opponent and put him away he normally does it.  That is exactly what he did, winning the final set 7-5 for a final score of 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5.

In the night match Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga went head-to-head to see who would join Federer in the semifinals.  The first two sets were as close as close could be.  Each going to a tiebreaker, with each player winning one.  With the match tied going to the third set, Novak Djokovic went on the offensive and took control of the match with a easy 6-1 set in his favor.  Djokovic now with the finish line in sight was ready to put Tsonga away.  Tsonga won the first game of the set, and in the second game it looked as if Djokovic was getting ill.  Looking sluggish on the court and staring at his box, Djokovic found himself down 0-2 all of a sudden.  After that second game Djokovic motioned to the chair umpire that he had to go "throw up".  So off the court Novak went to do his business.  A few moments later Djokovic returned to find a shell of himself.  It was all Tsonga after the bout of food poisoning/lack of conditioning.  Tsonga took the 4th and 5th sets easily to win his second straight 5 set match. 7-6, 6-7, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Day 11 Preview:

All matches will be played at Rod Laver Arena.

The two women semifinals are scheduled along with the mens semifinal between Andy Murray and Marin Cilic.

Serena Williams and Na Li will be the first singles match played on Day 11.  Serena will put away Li in relatively easy fashion.  Everyone get ready for a Patrick McEnroe, Pam Shriver, Mary Jo Fernandez "slurpfest".  ESPN acts as if she is "christ-like",  she can do no wrong, even when threatening line judges.  The only disagreement they have is about who gets to kiss her ass first.

The 2nd womens semifinal will be Justine Henin and Jie Zheng.  I cannot see a way how Henin loses this match.  She has the experience and the all around better game than Zheng.  This match will be closer than the previous one, but Henin will move on to face Serena in the final.

The Andy Murray - Marin Cilic semifinal will be the featured night match at Rod Laver Arena.  Cilic coming off 2 straight 5 set struggles will be no match for Murray.  Murray has not lost a set yet, and was crushing Rafael Nadal when the Spaniard retired with a bum knee.  Murray is on top of his game and will continue on to the final with a 4 set victory over Cilic.

Day 9 of the Australian Open

THANK YOU MARIN CILIC!!  I want to thank Marin Cilic for taking out "asshat" Andy Roddick in 5 sets.  The match began with Cilic and Roddick holding serve throughout the whole first set, which led to a tiebreaker that Cilic was lucky enough to win. First set to Cilic 7-6.  After the first set Roddick was showing discomfort in his right shoulder.  In between sets, Roddick had a trainer come out and give his shoulder a rub down and give Andy some pain killers for the problem.  Cilic was able to break fairly early in the 2nd set and was able to hold on to win the set 6-3.  With Roddick in serious discomfort and Cilic up 2-sets-to-none, Roddick continuing on was in question.  You could tell Andy was in some pain when after serves and big forehands he would grimace, and also just by listening to his grunts when hitting strokes.  It wasn't a true grunt it was more of a moan of pain.  To Roddick's credit he did not retire after the second set, and took the court for the start of the third set.  With Roddick's shoulder not at 100%, the American took on a different strategy for the third set.  It wasn't the hard hitting, shot making Andy.  He turned himself into more of a finesse player trying to hit his spots, and not trying to overpower Cilic.  The new style of play and the shoulder injury seemed to play with Cilic's psyche.  Before he knew it, Cilic was down a break and Roddick had won the third set 6-3.  Roddick now riding some momentum, and Cilic possibly losing a little confidence and getting tired from the warm Australia Day sun resulted in another set like the third.  Roddick improving and Cilic's game fading resulted in a 6-2 fourth set in favor of Roddick.  Cilic was now facing a 5th set for the 3rd time in this tournament, and for the second straight match.  Roddick still isn't better, but the pain meds seem to be starting to work.  It looked as if Andy Roddick was going to gut out a victory over the young, inexperienced Croatian.  But it was Cilic who showed his toughness both physically and mentally.  He had the opportunity to fold under the pressure Roddick was placing on him, but chose gut it out and take the match with a gritty 5th set win.  Cilic moves on to his first ever Grand Slam semifinal 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3.

Its too bad that while the Australia Day fireworks went off, that the match going on at Rod Laver Arena was a dud.  The anticipated matchup between Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal wasn't the epic that many had hoped for.  Murray started the match strong and was able to get a break to cement a 6-3 first set victory.  The second set saw Nadal break early, but Murray was able to break-back on Nadal's next service game.  The rest of the set was on-serve with the set ending in a tiebreaker that Andy Murray won.  Down 2 sets to none, Nadal had a trainer come out and look at his knee.  It looks like the knee tendinitis that bothered Rafa for most of the 2009 season was starting to flare up.  This was the beginning of the end for Nadal.  Murray held, broke Nadal, and held serve again to take a commanding 3-0 lead.  Down 2 sets and 0-3 in the third, Rafa said "No Mas" and gave Murray the quarterfinal victory.  With the defending champion now eliminated, it will be a Murray-Cilic semifinal.

The first womens match of the day was a face-off between Justine Henin and #19 seeded Russian Nadia Petrova.  Henin continuing on the track of a comeback, and Petrova who was on a good run of her own. Petrova quietly took out heavyweights in Clijsters and Kuznetsova, and looking good doing so.  This time it was her chance to beat Henin and put the Russian on the map finally.  This match was ugly from the beginning.  Neither player could execute, or find their range. This had to be Henin's worst showing of her comeback thus far, and on the other side you had Petrova talking to herself and getting frustrated.  This was a match of both mental and execution errors.  In the end Henin made less errors and was mentally stronger in her straight set victory. 7-6, 7-5.  By the look of the score one might think, "wow, what a great match", well that couldn't be more farther from the truth.  Henin is lucky she was playing Petrova and not anyone else.  If it had been someone else, the Belgian would probably be booking a flight out of Melbourne right about now.

The second womens quarterfinal was Jie Zheng of China, and Russian, Maria Kirilenko.  Both players being big surprises for making it as far as the quarterfinals.  Neither players were seeded in this tournament, but you would of never guessed that by looking at Jie Zheng.  Zheng the small Chinese girl who looks like a water bug on the court with her quickness out-played her Russian opponent.  Zheng was too quick, and got to every shot Kirilenko hit, and hit it back just as hard with more accuracy.  I came away being impressed with Zheng after watching her dismantle Kirilenko 6-1, 6-3.  The only thing she really needs to work on, and it could become a problem is her serve.  Zheng rarely hits 100 m.p.h. on her serve, and may be a problem facing a veteran like Henin in the next round or a possible finals matchup with a Williams sister, who are known to sit on someones serve.  Zheng just hopes to play like she did against Kirilenko, and Henin to play like she did against Petrova.  If that happens China will have its first Grand Slam finalist.

Day 10 Preview:

The quarterfinals will wrap up, and the semifinal matchups will be set at the end of the day.  All quarterfinal matchups will be played at Rod Laver Arena.

The first match of the day will have another surprise woman from China,#16 seed Na Li against the #5 seeded American, Venus Williams.  Unfortunately for Li, she will not reach the semifinals like her countrywoman Zheng.  Although I do not see Venus just crushing Li.  Venus will have her moments where she struggles, but will find her game in time to defeat Na Li in a tough first match of the day.

Following right after her sister, Serena Williams will take the court against Victoria Azarenka.  These 2 players met last year in the 4th round of the Australian Open.  In the early goings of that match Azarenka was blistering her forehand and was manhandling Serena.  Then a bout of the flu/heat exhaustion/food poisoning took their negative effects on Azarenka leading to Azarenka being forced to retire from the match and giving Serena the first of a couple gifts (also the roof closing bullshit against Kuznetsova) that led to her winning the AO title last year.  I'm hoping this year will be different, but I don't see this match going well for Azarenka.  She will not be forced to retire like last year.  It will be Serena's play that wears down the fragile Belarussian who calls Phoenix, Arizona home now.  Serena will have too much firepower, and win the match in straight sets.

Roger Federer and Nikolay Davydenko will start off the mens quarterfinals today.  Federer who has been breezing by, and not being really tested by his opponents will face Davydenko who is coming off a long 5 set victory over Fernando Verdasco.  Davydenko may be a little wore down for this match, but will use the memory of him defeating Federer the last two times these two met up to fuel him.  Federer will also be fueled by them matches and will look to exact revenge on the Russian.  A well-rested, motivated Federer is a scary thing, and Davydenko will not have the answers today to beat Federer.  Roger will win this match in 4 sets and continue his streak of Grand Slam semifinal appearances.

The night session at Rod Laver Arena will showcase the 2nd mens quarterfinal.  Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will engage in a rematch of the 2008 Australian Open final that Djokovic won in 4 sets.  Djokovic has not had any trouble yet in this years AO.  Tsonga is coming off his first ever 5 set match, in which he edged Nicolas Almagro.  Tsonga will be a little tired, and Djokovic is playing like a champion so far in the past week and a half.  This all equals out to a repeat of 2008, and Djokovic will once again claim victory in 4 sets and earn the right to face Federer in the semifinals.

Day 8 of the Australian Open

Nikolay Davydenko had just won the first 2 sets against Fernando Verdasco, and the momentum was about to shift to Verdasco, but nobody knew about it.  While the 3rd set was about to begin, and a match also being played at Hisense Arena, ESPN chose to throw Patrick McEnroe, Pam Shriver, and "Killer" Cahill on tv and just bullshit about the happenings of the tournament.  After a little bullshitting, they chose to put Billie Jean King on and tell some stupid ass stories.  King I realize is a tennis legend, but of late she really doesn't have a lot to say that is worth listening to.  Just useless banter.  ESPN would rather air this garbage for almost a half hour rather than show live tennis.  Hey ESPN, this is the type of shit you do when there are NO matches going on.  Not when Fernando Verdasco is beginning his comeback to push the match to its very limits.  Just because its not the Williams broth..eh, sisters or "Douchebag" Roddick playing doesn't mean people want to see the matches being played.... Just another reason on how ESPN manages to fuck up tennis coverage in the United States.

Lets get to the match that ESPN chose to not show in the middle for most of the 3rd set:  Davydenko who has been on a hot streak the last few months and has managed to put himself in the discussion as one of the favorites for this tournament, was facing Fernando Verdasco who last year at this time was on his best run in a Grand Slam making it to the semifinals in the '09 Australian Open.  Verdasco came out and took an early break in the first set, but Davydenko stormed back in impressive fashion and controlled the rest of the first set taking it easily 6-2.  The two players battled, holding serve for most of the 2nd set, until Davydenko was able to break late in the set and capture the 2nd set 7-5.  The 3rd set began, and I have no clue what happened, because of ESPN's ineptness, but when they finally decided to show the match again Verdasco had raced out to a 4-1 lead.  Davydenko managed to break and get close, but Verdasco was able to hold on to win the set 6-4.  The 4th set was a battle between Verdasco double faulting, and Davydenko showing signs of fatigue.  Battling through service error after service error, Verdasco was able to win the 4th set in a tiebreaker (7-6) and force the weary Davydenko to go the distance.  At this point Davydenko is looking tired and run-down.  Verdasco not playing extremely well, has managed to make this a 5 setter and his elite conditioning was helping stay in the match.  But it was Davydenko who stood strong and capitalized on Verdasco's errors to win the match by winning the last set 6-3.

Davydenko will now have to face Roger Federer who took Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.  Federer's dominance over Hewitt continues and now the #1 player in the world who should be fresh will face a wore down Davydenko in the quarterfinals... Novak Djokovic went up against Lukasz Kubot, and as predicted destroyed the Polish contender in straights 6-1, 6-2, 7-5... Next up for Djokovic will be the man he faced and beat in the 2008 final to claim his first and only Grand Slam championship, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  Tsonga was taken to deep waters for the first time in his career.  Shockingly Tsonga had never been 5 sets until the #26 seeded Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro gave him all he could handle.  Tsonga took the first 2 sets, and just like his fellow Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco he turned it up a notch, and won the 3rd and 4th sets.  Tsonga now in his first 5th set of his career had to struggle to win 9-7 in the 5th over Almagro who would not quit.  Almagro made a good showing of himself in this tournament, and now looks to continuing this momentum throughout the year.  Match score: Tsonga 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7, 9-7.

Biggest upset of the day came on the womens side of thing.  Na Li took out the #4 seeded Caroline Wozniacki.  Wozniacki was struggling with a injury and managed to hit a measley 4 winners throughout the match.  The match itself was ugly with a ton of serves being broken, but the Chinese woman Li was able to outlast Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3... Li's will have to face Venus Williams in the next round after Venus beat Francesca Schiavone in a match that saw the Italian come out strong in the first set and just crumble in the 2nd and 3rd.  Venus was able to win the 3 setter 3-6, 6-2, 6-1... Serena Williams had little trouble taking out the last Australian woman Samantha Stosur in straight sets. 6-4, 6-2... Victoria Azarenka was able to get passed Vera Zvonareva in 3 sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.  I did not see the match, but it looks as if once falling behind or losing the 2nd set Zvonareva just mailed it in.  She seems to be a total whack-job.  With the win Azarenka gets to exact revenge on Serena for what happened last year.  In the '09 Australian Open, Azarenka was kicking Serena's ass in the early going, until Azarenka had to retire due to a bout of heat exhaustion,flu, diarhea, or all of the above.  The gratification of watching Serena get her ass pounded was personally taken away from me.  So now hopefully Azarenka will be fit and ready to pick up where she left off last year.

Day 9 Preview:

The quarterfinals begin today for half of the women and men, with all 4 matches being played at Rod Laver Arena.

The first match of the day will be the continuation of Justin Henin's comeback, and Nadia Petrova who is on a hot streak of her own.  This will be a rematch of Justine's comeback match that happened just a couple weeks ago.  In that match Henin was able to figure out the Russian and win.  I don't see much different happening.  I like Henin in 3 sets.

The 2nd match of the day will between two unlikely opponents to reach this far.  Jie Zheng and Maria Kirilenko are both unseeded and blazed a upset trail to get to this point.  This match will see the end of the line for Jie Zheng.  Kirilenko to advance in straight sets.

Andy Roddick and Marin Cilic will take the court following the completion of the two womens quarterfinal matchups.  I will be rooting for Cilic to pull the upset and send "asshat" Andy back home, but I think the young Croatian is still a little too green and inexperienced.  Unfortunately, Roddick will advance with a 4 set victory.

The match of the day will be the first night match at Rod Laver Arena.  Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal will battle to see who advances to the semifinals.  Its tough to call a winner on this one, but I will go with Murray to eliminate the defending champion and advance in a 5 set classic.

Have I ever mentioned how bad ESPN is?

Day 7 of the Australian Open

Damn you, Andy Roddick!!! Stealing the hopes I had for you to be eliminated.  Maybe I should blame the "cheating Chilean" Fernando Gonzalez for just falling apart at the end of the 4th set, and mailing in the 5th set.  When it was all said and done in the early morning of Melbourne, Australia, Roddick had a 5 set victory over Gonzalez 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Roddick will now face my upset special pick Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals.  Cilic the #14 seed from Croatia needed 5 sets to knock out the #4 seeded Juan Martin Del Potro.  Del Potro wasn't his normal self, due to a wrist injury and I'm sure that contributed to his not-so-spectacular Aussie Open.  But Cilic deserves a ton of credit for getting the win. 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.  Hopefully Cilic's streak continues in a win over Roddick.

Andy Murray started off a little slow against John Isner, needing to win the first set in a tiebreaker.  After that first set Murray started to get the timing and tendencies of Isner figured out and cruised to a straight set win. 7-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal had the tough challenge of facing "Dr. Ivo" Ivo Karlovic's serve.  Rafa managed to break Dr. Ivo 3 times throughout the match in his victory, but Karlovic did manage to take a set off Nadal.  6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4  Nadal will now face Murray in a very intriguing quarterfinal.

In a battle between Belgians, Justine Henin outlasted the up and comer Yanina Wickmayer in a tough 3 set match.7-6, 1-6, 6-3... Next up for the former #1 Henin will be Nadia Petrova who continues on taking out some of the favorites.  Just a couple days ago it was Kim Clijsters getting a beatdown from Petrova.  This time it was Svetlana Kuznetsova.  Petrova showed a solid all around game in beating her fellow Russian. 6-3, 3-6, 6-1... Jie Zheng put the last nails into my Australian Open womens bracket when she beat Alona Bondarenko, who I had taken to advance to the semifinals.  Thanks, Jie for taking out "Flying Bondarenko Sister" Alona in straight sets. 7-6, 6-4.... Zheng will now face another player who is on a roll, Maria Kirilenko.  Kirilenko benefited from an unfortunate injury that Dinara Safina had sustained months ago.  Safina's back was a problem once again.  She was unable to run and move on the court from spasms and it locking up on her.  She tearfully had to retire with Kirilenko leading 5-4 in the first set.

Day 8 preview:

Rod Laver Arena

The first match of the day on Rod Laver Arena will be between the #6 seeded American, Venus Williams and the #17 seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy.  SCHIAVONE WITH THE UPSET!! on this one.

The following match will be a good one with Fernando Verdasco and Nikolay Davydenko facing off.  Davydenko is on a hot streak, and its been over a year since Verdasco has defeated anyone in the top 10.  With them two factors I look forward to a Davydenko victory in 4 sets.

The final day match at Rod Laver Arena will be Serena Williams and Samantha Stosur.  I really don't see how Stosur can pull the upset.  Unfortunately Serena advances in straight sets.

In the first night match of the evening session Roger Federer gets to go against Lleyton Hewitt, and pretty much all of Australia who will be in his corner.  It will take more than that to stop "Fed"  I like Federer in straight sets.  Well maybe, just maybe Hewitt can steal a set.

The final match of the day will be a tough match to call between Victoria Azarenka and Vera Zvonareva.  Both women are playing well, and both are volatile and subject to complete meltdowns.  Then there is the factor that Azarenka's former coach is now Zvonareva's coach.  This match is a coin flip, but I will have to slightly favor Azarenka winning this in a tough 3 setter.

Hisense Arena.

The first singles match of the day at Hisense Arena will showcase #4 seed Caroline Wozniacki and #16 seed Na Li, who has been looking impressive this first week.  Wozniacki will be tested by Li, but will come out the winner in a struggling 3 sets.

The following match will have the #3 seed Novak Djokovic and Lukasz Kubot of Poland.  The only way Kubot can advance is if he is given the gift of a walkover, like Mikhail Youzhny handed to him.  Djokovic will steamroll Kubot in straights.

And the last match on Hisense will be the charasmatic #10 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nicolas Almagro.  Like the Djokovic match, I don't really see how the underdog Almagro has a shot in this one.  Tsonga should take this one in straight sets as well.

ESPN still sucks.

Day 6 at the Australian Open

Day 6 of the Australian Open provided many short matches and a few that never reached completion.  Almost half of the matches on the mens side were either retirements or walkovers.

Starting with the men.  The most anticipated match of the day between Marcos Baghdatis and Lleyton Hewitt didn't match the hype.  Baghdatis during his walk onto the court looked already tired.  In the first set he played like he was tired, as Hewitt took the first set 6-0.  After the set Baghdatis had a trainer look at his shoulder, and try to "rub out" whatever it was that bothering the Cypriot.  In the 2nd set Hewitt broke Baghdatis to go up 4-2, and that is when Baghdatis put up the white flag and layed down and quit.  Giving Hewitt the 6-0, 4-2 retirement win.  Baghdatis' coach said that his player was perfect in practice and that he never mentioned his arm or shoulder hurting.  This looks like the case of someone falling behind and pussing out of actually digging down and competing.  Its a shame David Ferrer lost that match to Baghdatis, because if he hadn't, hell Hewitt and Ferrer could still be out there playing right now.  I guess spending time at the beach on your off day payed off Marcos.  Maybe it was the frisbee throwing that jacked up your arm.

Roger Federer cruised to a straight set victory over Albert Montanes 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, and now faces Hewitt in the 4th round... Fernando Verdasco had no trouble with Stefan Koubek.  Verdasco took the first set 6-1 with Koubek winning only 9 points all set, and with a probable beatdown coming, Koubek retired... Nikolay Davydenko beat up on Juan Monaco for a easy victory 6-0, 6-3, 6-4... Novak Djokovic crushed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-1, 6-2... Lukasz Kubot had the easiest time of anyone moving to the next round.  Mikhail Youzhny his scheduled 3rd round opponent pulled out of the tournament with a wrist injury.  So Kubot gets the free pass to get his ass kicked by Djokovic in the next round... Jo-Wilfried Tsonga needed 4 sets to take out the tough German, Tommy Haas 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 and will now face Nicolas Almagro in the 4th round after Almagro beat Alejandro Falla of Colombia in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

The womens side saw their fair share of lopsided matches as well.  Serena Williams overwhelmed the young Spaniard, Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-3...  Aussie, Samantha Stosur will be Williams' 4th round opponent as she easily got past Alberta Brianti of Italy 6-4, 6-1...  Vera Zvonareva cruised to a straight set victory over Gisela Dulko 6-1, 7-5.  Now Zvonareva will face her coaches' ex-protege Victoria Azarenka who advanced with ease over Tathiana Garbin 6-0, 6-2... #4 seed Caroline Wozniacki advances to the 4th round after beating Shahar "the fork" Peer 6-4, 6-0... Na Li outlasted Daniela Hantuchova in by far the closest match of the day involving the women. 7-5, 3-6, 6-2... In a minor upset Francesca Schiavone the #17 seed easily handled the #10 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets 6-2, 6-2... Schiavone now has to play Venus Williams in the next round.  Venus took down Aussie favorite Casey Dellacqua 6-1, 7-6.

Day 7 Preview:

The first match of the day at Rod Laver Arena will be between the #5 seed Andy Murray facing off with American #33 seed John Isner.  I like Murray to beat the piss out of Isner in straights.

The match following Murray-Isner on Rod Laver will be "Dr Ivo" Ivo Karlovic and the defending champion Rafa Nadal.  Nadal should cruise to victory, but look for Dr. Ivo to take a set off Nadal.  Nadal in 4 sets.

The first night match at Rod Laver Arena is a battle between two Belgians.  Justine Henin continuing her comeback faces the alleged "roider" Yanina Wickmayer.  Both players should be seeded, but for different circumstances are not.  Henin will scrape by with a tough 3 set victory.

And the final match of the day at Rod Laver Arena will be #7 seeded American, Andy Roddick playing the #11 seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.  I'm really hoping for a Gonzalez victory, but Roddick will win this one in 4 sets.

Over on Hisense Arena, the first match of the day will be between "Flying Bondarenko Sister" Alona and Jie Zheng.  Alona will get past the tough Chinese woman in 3 sets.

A battle between fellow Russians will follow.  Nadia Petrova coming off the destruction of Kim Clijsters will play the #4 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.  Kuznetsova has too much game for Petrova, and will win in straight sets.

In probably what will be the match of the day, Juan Martin Del Potro will have to deal with the tough Croatian Marin Cilic.  I look for this match to be the match of the day and also the upset of the day, as Cilic takes out Del Potro in 5.

The final match on Hisense also has the chance to be moved to Rod Laver Arena, all depending on scheduling and time.  The match will be between #2 seeded woman Dinara Safina and upset minded,  Maria Kirilenko.  This should also be a close tough match.  Kirilenko's nice run will come to an end with Safina winning in 3 sets.

ESPN's tennis coverage sucks.  Nobody cares about watching reruns of the Williams sisters and Roddicks matches.  Instead try showing more LIVE tennis...Crazy concept, I know.

Day 5 of the Australian Open

Day 5 finally saw the heat and humidity many associate with the Australian Open.  Temperatures reached into the mid 90's F with humidity, making it a sticky stiuation in more than one way for some players.  Play on the court saw many of the higher ranked players winning, but not without some trouble.  A lot of the matches went the distance or were extended past straight sets, with a few upsets as well.

On the womens side of things, "Flying Bondarenko Sister" Alona started the day by making my upset of the day ring true by throttling a disinterested Jelena Jankovic.  Jankovic was more worried about what everyone else was doing around the court, and blowing her nose due to allergies or a cold than playing the match.  This recipe equaled a easy straight set victory for Bondarenko 6-2, 6-3...  Justine Henin had a very difficult time with the #27 seeded Russian, Alisa Kleybanova.  Kleybanova took the first set off Henin, and hung tough through most of the second until a late break of serve gave Henin the advantage and the 2nd set.  The heat and humidity seemed to wear down on Kleybanova, which led to her running out of gas and Henin taking a tough 3 set victory 3-6, 6-4, 6-2... Fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer will be Henin's next opponent in the 4th round.  Wickmayer had a minor hiccup with Sara Errani in the 2nd set, but won the first and 3rd sets fairly easily to advance.  6-1, 6-7, 6-3... What the hell happened to Kim Clijsters?  Nadia Petrova is a solid player, but she isn't that solid to totally destroy Clijsters 6-0, 6-1.  I did not see this match, so I am not sure what happened, but it had to a combination of things for it to be a score as lopsided as that...Svetlana Kuznetsova, I thought would have an easy time with Angelique Kerber, but the German put up a fight and won the first set and made Kuz go 3 sets to claim the victory. 3-5, 7-5, 6-4  Kuznetsova and Petrova will now meet in the next round...  Jie Zheng upset #11 seed Marion Bartoli on Day 5.  I'm starting to get the idea that Zheng is a slow starter.  Just like in her 1st round match Zheng lost the first set, and came back over seeded Frenchwoman. 5-7, 6-3, 6-0.  By looking at the score it looks like Bartoli might of wilted due to the heat as well... Maria Kirilenko continues off the momentum of beating Maria Sharapova in the 1st round.  Kirilenko beat Roberta Vinci in 2 tough sets 7-5, 7-6...  Dinara Safina continues to quietly plug along.  Safina easily beat Elena Baltacha 6-1, 6-2 and will now face the tougher test, Maria Kirilenko in the next round.

Andy Roddick advances to the 4th round after beating Feliciano Lopez in 4 sets.  Lopez, the Spaniard who thinks he is a model won the first set off Roddick, but then went into "nutjob" mode yelling and talking to himself even when he did things well.  When you see that, you know the end is near.  Roddick moves on 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6...  Roddick's 4th round opponent will be Fernando Gonzalez, who was forced to go 5 sets in the Australian heat.  Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan would not go down without a fight, and in the process giving the Chilean a mess of a time.  The "Cheating Chilean"  came out on top though 6-7, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4...  Marin Cilic and Stanislas Wawrinka faced off just a couple weeks ago in Chennai, India and Cilic came out on top, and took the title in a tough 3 set match.  This meeting between the two was similar with Cilic winning once again 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3... Cilic will now face Juan Martin Del Potro who had two battles on Day 5.  The first was a bee that kept landing on Del Po's back and bothering the big Argentine.  The most pesky nusance was German, Florian Mayer who would not go out easily, and made Del Potro earn a tough 4 set victory. 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5... Andy Murray had no major troubles knocking out Florent Serra in straight sets 7-5, 6-4, 6-4... American "Big" John Isner pulled the upset on the #12 seeded Frenchman, Gael "monchichi" Monfils in 4 sets 6-1, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6  Isner now gets to have his ass kicked by Murray in the 4th round...  In a battle of fellow Croats, "Dr. Ivo" Ivo Karlovic beat up on the 24th seed Ivan "L" Ljubicic, winning in 4 sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6... "Dr. Ivo" now has a date with the defending champion Rafael Nadal who handled Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

Day 6 of the Australian Open will have Roger Federer in action. Also Jo-Willie Tsonga, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, and Fernando Verdasco.  The womens side will feature the Williams broth...eh, sisters as well as a Caroline Wozniacki- Shahar Peer matchup along with other top seeds like Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka, and Sam Stosur.

Match of the day will be Lleyton Hewitt vs. Marcos Baghdatis.  Hopefully this will be a match similar to the one that happened in 2008.

I don't really see a major upset for Day 6, but I will say a minor one will happen when #22 seed Daniella Hantuchova takes out #16 seed Na Li.

Day 4 of the Australian Open

Day 4 was the completion of the 2nd round for both the men and the women.  It was also the end of the tournament for former finalist and former #1 in the world Ana Ivanovic.  Ivanovic lost her 2nd round matchup with Argenitne, Gisela Dulko.  Maybe this is who Ana is now.  Maybe 2 years ago was a fluke, and that was not the real Ivanovic.  Maybe fame, looking pretty, and having famous athlete boyfriends is more important in her life than making the sacrifice on the practice courts and winning tennis matches.  Ana Ivanovic, say hello to Nicole Vaidisova on the way down for me.

Dulko now has to deal with Vera Zvonareva in the next round.  Zvonareva had no trouble in booting Iveta Benesova out of the tournament... Serena Williams steamrolled Petra Kvitova, and now faces Carla Suarez Navarro who took out Andrea Petkovic... Italy's Alberta Brianti upset the #21 seed Sabine Lisicki...  Samantha Stosur earned a 3rd round matchup with Brianti, by defeating Kristina Barrois in straight sets... Tathiana Garbin's cinderella story continues when she beat Yaroslava Shvedova, but now gets to face Victoria Azarenka who crushed Stefanie Voegele...  Caroline Wozniacki disposed of Julia Goerges and now has a 3rd round date with Shahar Peer who defeated Tsvetana Pironkova...  Daniela Hantuchova got passed Sofia Arvidsson...Hantuchova's next opponent will be Na Li who outlasted Agnes Szavay...  #10 seed Agnieszka Radwanska had little trouble in beating Alla Kudryavtseva... Francesca Schiavone advances to play Radwanska after a win over Julie Coin...  Aussie, Casey Dellacqua continues her tournament with a win over Karolina Sprem, but now has to face Venus Williams who beat Sybille Bammer.

The best match on the mens side had to be the "choke job" David Ferrer pulled against Marcos Baghdatis.  Yesterday I correctly predicted that this would probably be the match to see on Day 4.   The first set was full of serves being held, but not easily.  Quite a few deuce games were played and it was tough for each player to hold serve, but holding serve is what they did until the last game of the set when David Ferrer broke Baghdatis to take the first set.  The 2nd set was the same as the first.  Tough baseline play and a break by Ferrer is what propelled him to a 2 sets to love lead.  After the 2nd set on the changeover Baghdatis was visibly upset with himself and his rackets.  Making sure to smash a couple, and grab another out of his bag that had never been used and still in the plastic.  He then smashed that one as well.  This seemed to have a good effect on himself, and pumped up an already pro-Baghdatis crowd.  The crowd was very vocal and in the Cypriat's corner.  Ferrer with the crowd against him came out quickly once again and broke Baghdatis to take the quick lead in the set, but Baghdatis quickly broke back and charged the crowd once again.  The 3rd set went to a tiebreaker which is an achilles heal for Ferrer, and his terrible record in tiebreaks continued with Baghdatis taking the 3rd set 7-6 and giving him new confidence.  The 4th set was Baghdatis raising his game a notch and taking the set 6-3.  The fifth set is not new for either of these players.  Baghdatis played the long epic match with Hewitt a couple years ago that went until 5a.m., and David Ferrer doesn't seem comfortable unless it goes the distance.  Its almost like he makes sure to give everyone their moneys worth.  The 5th set was brutal for Ferrer, Baghdatis was on fire hitting all types of shots and also putting more chinks in the armor of Ferrer by out-volleying him and making him run with drop shots.  Baghdatis was cruising to a easy 5th set victory, when he was hit with a bout of cramps.  Falling to his knees, getting up and jumping up and down and stomping around like his leg had fallen asleep.  With his legs cramping he hit an ace against Ferrer.  That point was basically the story of this match.  Just when you thought Ferrer had something going, Baghdatis would say "NO!" and stomp out them hopes as if it was a bothersome cramp.  Gimping around Baghdatis then played a little serve-and-volley putting away a  nice volley and walking back to the baseline taking time to kiss the little patch of Cyprus on his shirt.  This was Marcos' day, and unlike his miracle comeback in Davis Cup, Ferrer was on the opposite end of a magical 5 setter.  Baghdatis took the 5th set and match 6-1... Baghdatis now gets to avenge that tough loss to Hewitt in the next round as the Australian had a little trouble in the beginning with Donald Young but came out the straight set victor.

#1 seed Roger Federer's dominance continues beating Victor Hanescu easily...  Next up for Federer is Spain's Albert Montanes who defeated Stephane Robert of France... Fernando Verdasco pounded Ivan Sergeyev and now will play veteran Stefan Koubek in the 3rd round, after Koubek defeated Ivan Dodig...  #6 seed Nikolay Davydenko easily got passed Illya Marchenko, and now will play the #30 seed Juan Monaco who got the victory over Michael Llodra...  Novak Djokovic lost the 1st set to Marco Chiudinelli, but got on track and took the match in 4 sets...  Dennis Istomin will be Djokovic's next opponent after he beat Michael Berrer of Germany...Mikhail Youzhny won easily over Jan Hajek and faces Lukasz Kubot who took out Santiago Giraldo...  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was a straight set victor over Taylor Dent...  Tommy Haas will be Tsonga's next opponent after he got passed Serb, Janko Tipsarevic in 5 sets... and #30 seed Nicolas Almagro continues his Australian Open with a win over Benjamin Becker, and will face little-known Colombian, Alejandro Falla who easily defeated the guy that upset Robin Soderling, Marcel Granollers.

I just want to quckly point out how retarded Pam Shriver is.  Recently Serena Williams has come out and said that her fine for the bullshit she pulled at the U.S. Open is unfair and, has gone as far as playing the gender card and saying that if she was a man she wouldn't of been giving such a severe punishment.  Her punishment was a measly $90,000 dollar fine.  She did not have to miss any court time or tournaments.  Hell she made $500,000 grand for singles and doubles at the U.S. Open alone.  Not to mention the 1 million+ she won for winning the year end event.  Yet she complains its too much.  So getting fined less than 20% of your U.S. Open purse, and not missing any tournaments  is unreasonable?  According to old crotchety Pam Shriver it is.  I'll give credit to Mary Jo Fernandez and Pat McEnroe for saying the fine was bullshit and she should of been hit harder with a steeper fine and suspension.  Then Shriver had to pipe in trying to show off her knowledge saying that in the NBA if you berate an official, and there was one incident where a player purposely shoved an official and the fine was $25,000.  Well Pam, you need to include the player was also probably suspended and losing game checks for the incident.  So it was substantially more than $25,000.  What a fucking retard.  She is becoming the Skip Bayless of ESPN's god-awful tennis coverage.  You have Tipsarevic-Haas in the middle of a 5th set, and they think its more fit to show Serena beating the piss out of some jobber and then going to the studio to talk about and re-show the U.S. Open incident that happened over 4 months ago.  Like seriously, WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!  So Serena is pissed that she isn't properly being treated because she is a woman.  Next time Serena, pull out your dick.  I'm sure its probably bigger than mine, and I'm sure Pam Shriver will be all over it.  Maybe that will get you the respect you so deserve... Anyways, enough about that.

Day 5 has Safina back in action along with Roddick, Del Po, Nadal, Kuznetsova all on Rod Laver Arena.  The upset of the day will be the first match on court at Hisense Arena, where "Flying Bondarenko sister" Alona will end Jelena Jankovic's Australian Open.  Hisense Arena will also have the match of the day, Clijsters and Petrova who will be the first match of the night session and will be the one to watch.

Day 3 of the Australian Open

It was another perfect day for tennis in Melbourne for the players and fans on Day 3.  Temperatures in the high 70's F, with low humidity.  All matches were played with no delays, and that is always a good thing.

I guess ESPN's Brad Gilbert might of actually been right in saying James Blake had a chance to beat #4 seed Juan Martin Del Potro.  Blake and Del Potro had the "marathon match" of the day.  The match went 5 sets with both players needing to be looked at and get treatment for various problems.  Del Potro was visibly wincing in pain near the end of the match and Blake needed his shoulder rubbed down.  This match took a lot out of both participants, but Del Potro was just a little better winning 10-8 in the 5th.  This probably is the early leader for match of the year.  The greatest part was after winning and pumping his fist, Del Potro put his hands down to his thighs as if to say, "I have some huge balls".  Classic I tell ya...classic.

Another great match going on at the same time next door in Rod Laver Arena was the Henin-Dementieva match.  Henin's comeback continues as she beat the #5 seed Dementieva in straight sets 7-5, 7-6.  It was probably the closest straight set match you can see.  The match lasted well over 3 hours and was a tough back-and-forth battle.  The amazing part is how mentally and physically tough, and also tournament ready Henin is after a 18 month layoff, in which she didn't touch a racket for a year after her announced retirement.  It looks like the "Williams killer" may be back, but she needs to get that ball-toss fixed or she will have problems in future matches.

In other Day 3 matches:

Andy Roddick advanced easily over Thomaz Bellucci in straight sets...Roddick will face Feliciano Lopez in the next round as he disposed of Rainer Schuettler.   #21 seed Tomas Berdych was upset by Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan... #11 seed Fernando Gonzalez easily defeated Marsel Ilhan of Turkey... Marin Cilic outlasted Bernard Tomic in 5 sets... Stanislas Wawrinka had little trouble with Igor Kunitsyn and now has a date with Cilic in the 3rd round...Juan Martin Del Potro's next opponent will be German, Florian Mayer who upset the #29 seed Viktor Troicki... Andy Murray "smoked" Marc Gicquel in straight sets...  Florent Serra will be the next to get their ass kicked by Murray, as he defeated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland... John Isner battled fatigue and cramps to fight off the tough little leprechan Louk Sorensen of Ireland...  Gael Monfils had little trouble with Antonio Veic, and will be Isner's next opponent...  "Dr. Ivo" Karlovic continued his big serving ways when he won against Julien Benneteau.... #24 seed "L" Lubicic defeated another Kazahki Andrey Golubev...  #27 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber had a minor hiccup against Wayne Odesnik in winning in 4 sets...  Rafael Nadal punished young Lukas Lacko of Slovakia.

Alisa Kleybanova defeated Sorana Cirstea, and will now face Justine Henin next... Sara Errani continues on with a victory over Ekaterina Makarova...  Yanina Wickmayer will face Errani in the next round after beating #12 seed Flavia Pennetta in a minor upset...  Kim Clijsters won in straight sets over veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn...  Clijster's next opponent will be Russian, Nadia Petrova  who got passed Kaia Kanepi...  German Angelique Kerber pulled the upset on #26 seed Aravane Rezai...  Svetlana Kuznetsova schooled some young girl named Pavlyuchenkova, and will now face Kerber in the 3rd round...  Jelena Jankovic had little trouble with Katie O'Brien...  "Flying Bondarenko sister" Alona advances after beating Polona Hercog...  In another mild upset Jie Zheng outlasted #24 seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez...  Zheng will now face Marion Bartoli who beat up on Sandra Zahlavova...  Maria Kirilenko continued her winning ways against Yvonne Meusburger...  Roberta Vinci will face Kirilenko next after beating American, Vania King...  "Brit" Elena Baltacha pulled the upset on "Flying Bondarenko sister" Kateryna...  And my upset pick did not come through, as #2 seed Dinara Safina easily handled Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.

Day 4 features big names like: The Williams sisters, Novak Djokovic, Lleyton Hewitt, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Ivanovic, Azarenka, Federer, and Davydenko.  But the match of the day has to be the first one of the day at Hisense Arena, which will feature David Ferrer and Marcos Baghdatis.  This has the makings of a 5 set thriller, so don't miss it.  Since ESPN blows ass check it out on the tennis channel's website... upset of the day will be Janko Tipsarevic over #18 seed Tommy Haas.

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Day 2 of the Australian Open

Day 2 had both the mens and womens #1 seeds in action.  Roger Federer was given a brief scare by Russian, Igor Andreev in Rod Laver Arena.  Andreev came out blasting a booming forehand that gave Federer fits, and gave the Russian the first set.  Federer took the 2nd set and Andreev had a great chance to win the 3rd and go up 2 sets to 1, but nerves got the best of him and Federer won the 3rd in a tiebreak.  The 4th set Andreev mailed in and Roger took the final set and match easily.....Serena Williams top seeded woman had no trouble destroying Urszula Radwanska.

The mens first round was completed on Day 2, some of the highlights were:  Marin Cilic put Fabrice Santoro back into retirement with a straight set victory..... Fernando Verdasco had a little trouble in disposing Aussie, Carsten Ball... Tsonga, Davydenko, Djokovic, Monfils, Hewitt, Haas, Berdych, Wawrinka, Montanes, Troicki, Almagro, Kohlschreiber, and Isner were all seeds that won....  David Ferrer beat Frederico Gil into submission, when the Spaniard,  Ferrer took the first 2 sets 6-0, 6-0, and went up 2-0 in the 3rd Gil decided to end his suffering and retired.  He had no injury of any kind other than probably a bruised ego.  He was nice enough to stop and sign some oversized tennis balls for fans after being demolished and quitting....Mikhail Youzhny defeated Richard Gasquet in a long 5 setter that went deep into the night... It was a big shocker when Robin Soderling lost to Marcel Granollers in a 5 set first round matchup....Sam Querrey, Jeremy Chardy, Tommy Robredo, and Juan Carlos Ferrero were also bit by the injury bug on a busy day 2.

All of the womens matches that were suspended or postponed by rain on the first day were completed.  The whole first round is not finised, with a few 1st round matches to be played on day 3....High seeds Jelena Jankovic, and Venus Williams won easy first round matchups... Sam Stosur, Ana Ivanovic, Aravane Rezai, Agnieszka Radwanska, Marion Bartoli, Francesca Schiavone, Carla Suarez Navarro, Nadia Petrova, Sabine Lisicki, and Alona Bondarenko were seeded players that also advanced to the 2nd round.... The #25 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues and #23 seed Dominika Cibulkova were upset victims.  Cibulkova had a 5-1 lead in the 3rd set against American, Vania King, but proceeded to lose the next 6 games and the match 7-5 in the 3rd....Day 2 also saw the end of Melanie Oudin's Australian Open.  The American made a bunch of noise at the U.S. Open, but has not done dogshit since.  I thought I heard someone say America had their Justine Henin? Yeah, right.

Day 3 will provide a finish to the womens 1st round and a few of the womens 2nd round matches.  It will also be the start of the 2nd round for half the men as well, and also feature the start of the doubles.... The days premier match will have to be the night match between Elena Dementieva and Justine Henin.  A match where I see Dementieva outlasting Henin in a 3 set battle...Rafa Nadal, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki will also be in action.... The big mens match has to be a 2nd round matchup between Juan Martin Del Potro and James Blake.  According to a few of the turds at ESPN, Blake has a great shot at beating the U.S. Open champion.  Yes, the same James Blake that won all of 3 matches in the last 6-8 months.  Hopefully Del Potro makes them eat their words and destroys Blake easily... And finally my upset of the day will be Czech, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova ending #2 seed Dinara Safina's Australian Open.

Day 1 of the Australian Open

Rain and an upset were the stories of the Australian Open on Day 1.  On and off, then finally On rainfall postponed many of the outer court matches for almost an hour to begin the day.  After a short delay matches were being played, with an occasional rain delay.  Later in the day, the rains once again fell which led to many of the matches being postponed or cancelled.  Laver and Hisense arenas both have retractable roofs, so play was unharmed and continued as scheduled while the rain fell outside.

The big story on the court was the upset loss of Maria Sharapova to the hands of fellow Russian, Maria Kirilenko.  Sharapova displaying her new Nike dress, was run ragged for over 3 hours by Kirilenko, who matched groundstroke for groundstroke with the #14 seeded Sharapova.  Sharapova's loss comes with a bitter-sweet taste in my mought.  Sweet, because I personally don't like her all that much.  She seems to have this "my shit don't stink" attitude, and she believes she is more special than she really is.  Her tennis talent is good, but not all that outstanding.  Then like a lot of these female tennis players they think they are talented fashion designers.  All I can think back to is how Sharapova did a bit with NFL quarterback Matthew Stafford and she acted like "I'm the shit, so take my advice.  If you don't, you'll be a total moron."  Give me a break, Maria.  Your arrogance during that TV bit and your basically running off the court without any acknowledgement was pretty classless.  So thank goodness, I won't have to see you on ESPN any longer.  Two weeks of Pam Shriver's complaining is enough.  The only bitter thing about Sharapova losing is I had her in the quarterfinals in my bracket.  I guess the tradeoff is worth it in the end.

Radek Stepanek was the only seeded player on the mens side to be upset on day 1.  "Dr. Ivo" Karlovic used his big serve to keep Stepanek off balance and pull off the mild upset.... The other matches went pretty much as planned.  Nadal, Murray, Clijsters, Henin, Dementieva, Roddick, Del Potro, Kuznetsova, Fernando Gonzalez all advanced with little trouble....  #27 seed Alisa Kleybanova ended Aussie fan-favorite Jelena Dokic's run before it could start...Dinara Safina didn't look dominant, but did get the job done against Rybarikova to advance to the 2nd round....Flavia Penetta, Kateryna Bondarenko, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Ivan Ljubicic are other seeds that won their 1st round matches.

Almost half of the scheduled Day 1 matches are still yet to finish due to the rain so day 2 will be a busy one, with Federer, the Williams sisters, and the great David Ferrer in action.  Can't wait to see more Pam Shriver, I'm counting the minutes down.