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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