DAY-6 OF THE 2012 AUSTRALIAN OPEN TONIGHT
3rd round play continues tonight (Saturday in Melbourne) with the 2012 Australian Open. Petra Kvitova scored the early match on Rod Laver Arena and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will play first on Hisense.
Other notables in action tonight include Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic, American Vania King vs. Ana Ivanovic (win-able match for Vania!)…Plus early Saturday morning matches with Serena Williams, Andy Murray and the biggest match for locals so far: Lleyton Hewitt vs. Canadian Milos Raonic as the last match on Rod Laver Arena.
Friday’s 3rd round play saw more disappointment for the Americans as John Isner and Christina McHale were both knocked out of the tournament. McHale didn’t stand a chance against Jelena Jankovic, losing (6-2, 6-0). Isner lost terribly in the 5th set (6-1) to Feliciano Lopez of Spain.
Federer and Rafa rolled-on, as did Juan Martin del Potro, Tomas Berdych, Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Na Li won easliy as Anabel Medina Garrigues retired after 3-games, the Bryan Brothers advanced over Hewitt and Luczak, and Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond continue to dominate their opponents.
Bernie Tomic continues to play lights-out, winning a tough 5-setter over 13th-seed Alexandr Dolgopolov…so the Aussies still have two dogs in the hunt. But Bernie now has to face Federer in the Round of 16; Roger will be going for his 1000th career match victory.
With Isner’s post-match presser – he talked about how American men’s play (worst in Australian Open history) has been “very disappointing.”
He continued: “That’s not a good effort from the Americans this tournament. And, you know, I knew going in today I was the last one left and I wanted to keep on going, but it just didn’t happen. But it’s very ugly, to be honest, to have no one in the round of 16. We’ve got to try to rectify that next time the big tournaments roll.”
The last American to win in Melbourne was Andre Agassi in ’03.
Let’ talk fines…after his 5th-set tie-break loss to Isner in the second-round, David Nalbandian tossed some water on James Earl Jones…I mean chair umpire Kader Nouni (best voice in tennis, as far as I’m concerned – seriously…the guy’s pipes are amazing). David was fined $8-grand for the incident. Oh – and check out Marcos Baghdatis busting racquets during a change over in my previous tennis post – he was fined a couple thousand bucks for that…calm tirade.
Mats Wilander is out of the hospital and resting comfortably in the hotel, after his tumble at his Melbourne apartment this week where he lacerated his kidney. Here’s the presser from his organization Wilander on Wheels:
“To give everyone an update on Mats’ condition… Mats has been released from the hospital and is recovering at a hotel. In the end, Mats received a blood transfusion of three units of blood (a little less than a litre) and accepted the transfusion well! He is healing properly and hopes to be on his feet shortly for GAME SET MATS! He will not be playing tennis for at least one month. WOW’s schedule for the month of February will need to be postponed. WOW is hopeful to resume operations sometime in March…. Thanks for everyone’s concerns.”
