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.