Australian Open 2013: Day Four Highlights

A day that saw over 55,000 thousand people in attendance in blistery and exceedingly hot weather, Day Four at Melbourne Park was truly the scene of scintillating tennis action – from morning till late night.

Hot Weather No Pressure

The heat might have been crippling for some, but for the seeds opening the day’s account, it appeared to be nothing as they shrugged off their respective opponents with ease. Azarenka lost just one game in her 55-minute encounter while Serena Williams swept Spanish Garbine Muguruza, giving her just two games in the process in the Rod Laver Arena. Murray and Kirilenko too made fast work of the job at hand, just as easily as Caroline Wozniacki and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga finished their second round matches.

‘Let’s Go Bernie, Let’s Go’

Bernard Tomic is one youngster that everyone is talking about at the Australian Open. He’s famous these days, perhaps as infamous as he was towards the latter part of the last season, and the fact that he was facing a possible match-up against Roger Federer in the third round added to his scrutiny. Facing German Daniel Brands, Bernie took to the Rod Laver Arena amid the Heard and the Fanatics roaring and displaying their support for their local boy. It did take four tough sets and a score-line of 6-7, 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 for Bernard to finally get into the third round to be played on Saturday.

Random Miscellany, Trivial Not

Amidst the seeds, there were those that took to the show courts. Canadian Milos Raonic in the bottom of the draw, in Federer’s quarter, crushed Czech Lukas Rosol in straight sets, while German Kohlschreiber brushed away Israeli Amir Weintraub equally easily. Meanwhile, American youngster Sloane Stephens, Spanish Carla Suarez Navarro and Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko were some of the women who put on a spirited performance while skipping under the radar of the mainline courts at Melbourne Park.

Gael Monfils, who was coming after a long injury layoff, had to fight off Chinese Taipei player Yen-Hsun Lu in an error-prone five setter. Serving out for the match, Monfils committed five DFs – and 14 overall – before forcing his opponent with an unreturnable shot on his sixth match-point. The three-and-a-half hour encounter was mentally draining as it was physically exhausting, though with the way it ended it suddenly seemed too soon and too fast; almost anticlimactic.

Upset Matches, Upset Players

Svetlana Kuznetsova started off with the day’s share of upsets, with her win over Su-Wei Hseih in straight sets. Other casualties that fell were Marcel Granollers to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, Richardas Berankis over Florian Mayer and unheralded Serbian Bojana Jovanovksi over Lucie Safarova, though these seemed like undercurrents flowing through the Australian Open draw.

Double the Action, Double the Trouble

Doubles’ first-round action which began on Day three saw its continuation on Day four. Seeded second, defending champions Leander Paes and Radek Stephanek lost without much ado to the Israeli-South African pairing of Jonathan Erlich and Kevin Anderson. Eighth seeded Polish team of Fyrstenberg and Matkowski were also upset by the Australian pair of John Peers and John-Patrick Peers. The Williams sisters however continued to blitzkrieg their doubles’ opponents as they entered the second round with a 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Flashy Tennis, Flashy Boots

Roger Federer is one tennis player who rarely experiments with his apparel or shoes. But in his third round match against Nikolay Davydenko, Federer did some flashy experimenting with pink shoes. They weren’t gaudy but did make all eyes turn to the shoes first – possibly, even before eyeing Federer’s shot-making and movement on the court. Alongside his flashy shoes, Federer’s performance too was equally bright and bubbling as he went on to win the match with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory to meet the awaiting Bernard Tomic.

The Robson Factor

If Gael Monfils and Yen-Hsun Lu’s match was erratic, it had no comparisons with the Laura Robson-Petra Kvitova match in the evening session. Faults and errors flew back-and-forth between the two lefties as though both were trying to compete for an altogether different reason. Kvitova went to win the first set with two breaks of serve, though Robson took the next and the deciding one – with a comparatively better margin of errors and double faults.

Special mention to Ms. Kimiko Date-Krumm, who continued to set an example yet again with a straight set victory over Shahar Peer. Her body might not be what it was years ago, but her spirit is still willing as she lives to fight another day Down Under.