Day three of the Australian Open has come and gone and there weren't many surprises.
Novak Djokovic took out Ryan Harrison in straight sets 61 62 63 and he looks in ominous form early on. He was hitting the ball as hard as I've ever seen him hit it and at least in these early rounds, he seems to be much more offensive and is playing almost Agassi-like. Ferrer and Berdych must be taking notice of this new super-aggressive play from the Serb.
If there is one thing I'll say analytically, it's that Djokovic returned Harrison's bombing serve with such ease in the same way Federer destroyed Roddick's serve - he just blocked it back deep and automatically took control of the point. The scary thing is that Ryan was serving very well, getting near 70% of his first serves in, yet he was broken 5 times and never really held easily when he did. And Novak was even better on serve - he served at 75% for the match!
If I'm being honest with myself, it's hard not to see Djokovic lift the title here. He is so dominant on the plexicushion and believe it or not he looks even better than he did in 2011.
Davis Cup hero of last year Radek Stepanek beat Feliciano Lopez
decisively 62 62 64, and he now gets the lucky privilege of playing Nole
next round. Sorry Radek!
Other action:
- Maria Sharapova became the first woman since 1985 (Wendy Turnbull) to win her first two matches of a Grand Slam 60 60. She looks scary good at the moment and I'd be shocked if she didn't make the final now. Venus Williams won her match handily setting up a blockbuster 3rd round match between her and Maria.
- Samantha Stosur lost to Zheng Jie 64 16 75 in heartbreaking fashion. She was up 5-2 in the 3rd set but proceeding to implode after that, losing five straight games. Her entire game went away and you know there must be some serious psychological issues with her and this tournament, since she's never made it past the fourth round. First round loss last year, second round this year. And I'm sure this loss is more painful.
- David Ferrer beat American Tim Smyczek in four sets, 60 75 46 63. He looks good as he always does and will play Marcos Baghdatis next, who took out Tatsuma Ito in 4.
- Last year's Paris finalist Jerzy Janowicz came back from a two set deficit to take out Somdev Devvarman 67(10) 36 61 60 75. The big guy plays Nicolas Almagro next, which should be a very enteraining match. Jerzy could pull the upset there if he has enough gas in the tank.
- World #8 Janko Tipsarevic needed 5 sets to beat Slovakian Lukas Lacko 63 64 36 46 75. Lacko came back from a break down in the fifth but it was not enough and he falls to 0-13 against top 10 players. On the other side, Tipsarevic has played 18 matches at the Australian Open and 9 of them have been 5-setters. Amazing!
- In sad news, Brian Baker, who missed many years with injury problems, was forced to retire against Sam Querrey with a serious injury that forced him to be wheelchaired off the court. Here's praying that it's nothing too serious and he can be on the court soon. Baker won the first set in a tiebreak and would have potentially won the match. He was playing in his first ever Australian Open at 27 years of age.
- Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic won their matches to set up a clash between the two Serb countrywomen. That should be a fun, drama-riddled circus ride. Madison Keys rolled over #30 seed Tamira Paszek and the young 17 year-old American plays Angelique Kerber next. It will be tough for her to win, but she's been touted as a future Grand Slam champion and after seeing her performance against Paszek, I have to think she will win a Slam in the future.
- Brit Heather Watson and Aga Radwanska set up a 3rd round clash with straight set wins. That could be a good match but with the form Aga is in, winning 11 straight matches now to start the year and not dropping a set yet (!) she should win in straights.
The top half of the men's side and the bottom half of the women's side features some amazing matches for Friday. On the women's, you have as previously mentioned Ivanovic/Jankovic and V. Williams/Sharapova, but there's also Georges/Zheng, Watson/Radwanska, Kerber/Keys, and Makarova/Bartoli. On the men's you get Verdasco/Anderson, Melzer/Berdych, Benneteau/Tipsarevic, Almagro/Janowicz, and Ferrer/Baghdatis.
Looking forward to day four, there are many great matches on the card. Federer vs Davydenko should be very good and for Fed's sake I hope Davy isn't as good as he was 3 years ago when they played. Serena, Murray, Kvitova (plays Laura Robson - should be great match of the lefties), Wozniacki, Gasquet, Tsonga, Tomic, and Delpo. Delpo plays Benjamin Becker, so it will be a meeting of the two men who retired American legends Agassi and Roddick. Sleeper match of the day for the men could be Simon vs Levine.
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