The year's first Grand Slam kicks into it's 2nd week. but we have already seen some scintillating Tennis, which makes us believe that we've already lived a whole Slam. But to remind you again, only Day 7 of the Australian Open has passed by and here are today's surprises:
Surprise #1 : (2) Rafael Nadal bt. Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 : Now you ask, why this was a surprise! I'd say the scoreline was surprising. Karlovic is a giant bomber (6'10") , is a given. But the way Rafa, managed to beat him, in a convincing 4-setter, wasn't really expected. This surely shows that Rafa has come off well, after a disaster ending to last year. I expected Karlovic to stretch Rafa to five sets, given his rocketing serves. But Rafa didn't allow that to happen. That surely sounds a warning bell to Rafa's next opponent, and a nasty one too, Andy Murray.
No-Surprise #1: (5) Andy Murray bt. (33) John Isner 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-2 : yawwnnn!! This surely was expected, although the 1st set TB did surprise me a bit. Now, Murray bumps into Rafa, once again.The two are known to have a pretty entertaining history. Although Rafa leads head-to-head 7-2, the real contest on court is much more closer than that. Especially, coz the 2 times Murray has beaten Rafa is on hard courts, albeit fast ones (Rotterdam 2009 and US Open the year before). But these hard courts at AO are slower and so, suited to Rafa's style of play. Also, Rafa is the defending champ here (remember last year's semis and finals!!), that gives him a reason to fight Murray's gritty style of play even more. And looking by the way Rafa is playing this year, I expect to him to wrap up Murray in four sets.
Surprise #2 : Maria Kirilenko bt. (2) Dinara Safina 5-4 (ret) : Yes, Dinara's injury is a real surprise. The first set had already lasted 54 minutes, when Safina gifted a first ever Grand Slam QF berth to her compatriot. Safina says her sudden back injury is so bad, that she can't even lie down. But Russians have their other Maria now. Go Makiri !!
Surprise #3 : Jie Zheng bt. (31) Alona Bondarenko 7-6(5), 6-4 : I bet you didn't notice this result today. Zheng has once again proved that she's currently the best Asian player. She would consider herself lucky, she doesn't have to deal with Safina now. She next plays aforementioned, Maria Kirilenko. So we are definitely guaranteed a surprise semi-finalist. If Zheng wins, she would equal her own best showing at Slam (remember she reached Wimbledon semis a couple of years back). If Kirilenko wins, she would enter her first ever Slam semis. I am rootin more for Zheng though, after all it's the Grand Slam of Asia-Pacific !!
And now, being an Indian, I always like to write substantially about Indian players at any Slam. Well, to start with, I would like to report that Sania Mirza is out of the years' first grand slam. Sania and Mahesh Bhupathi, who won their first Mixed Doubles title last year at AO, disappointed all of us when the Mixed Doubles draws came out this year. Sania and Mahesh weren't playing. Not just playing with each other, they weren't playing Mixed Doubles at all. This meant first-week exit for Mahesh at a Slam after such a long time. He had already lost in Men's Doubles R1, partnering Max Mirnyi.
And today, Sania too went out of the tournament. She and Spanish veteran Virginia Ruano-Pascual (10th seeds) lost 6-4, 6-3 to whom I call, the Petronas-Towers-pairing of this years' AO, Alisa Kleybanova and Francesca Schiavone. But that apart, I have always felt, Sania / Virginia don't seem to best of combos. Sania can play power from the baseline, while Virginia has much more variety off baseline, and both of them have average serves. Althogh Sania has some pretty solid volleys, she prefer to stay back and rely on her ground-strokes for winners. Sania has always combined well, with someone having good net play, if not bigger serves, like for example, Bethanie Mattek. But having said that, Virginia has had some good success on Clay, so it'll be interesting to see how Sania / Virginia pair up on the dirt of Europe, provided they decide to continue their partnership AND Sania doesn't injure herself.
Okay enough of Sania now. Let's move over to Leander Paes. This guy has proved himself time and again, when other Indians have faltered. At AO this year, he's the only Indian player to go into 2nd week. Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy play their 3rd round match tomorrow against big-serving Americans, John Isner and Sam Querrey. Lee also plays his R2 Mixed Doubles tomorrow, partnering Women's Doubles No. 1 player, Cara Black. Paes / Black play Rik de Voest / Akgul Amanmuradova tomorrow. I am hoping BIG from Lee in both draws. Let's cross our fingers!!
An update on Indian Juniors here : Yuki Bhambri, who won Boys' Singles title here last year, is not playing this year as a Junior and has decided to focus on ATP Challengers and Futures Circuit. In his absence, we had Vaidik Munshaw in Boys' Singles draw. But he too bowed out in his opening round in 2 tough sets, losing 6-4, 7-6(5) to Blegian 13th seed, Arthur de Greef. But we haven't lost hopes in Juniors as yet, Rishika Sunkara won her opening Girls' Singles match 6-4, 6-2 against Japenese Miyu Kato. She faces 3rd seed Daria Gavrilova next.
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