2011 Australian Open has been full of excitement and surprising results which have captured the attention of the tennis world in the first week.
The story of the week is all about Alexandr Dolgopoov, the 22 year old Ukranian who is ranked 46th and pulled off two major upsets, on the men’s side. Dolgopolov took out 2008 Australian Open finalist Jo Wilfried Tsonga in five sets, in the third round. Dolgopolov had an even more impressive five set victory over fourth seed Robin Soderling, who was a major contender for the Aussie Grand Slam, in the next round. Dolgopoov is one of the favorite to win this tournament in online sportsbook odds.
When 8th seeded Andy Roddick lost his fourth round match in straight sets to Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka that was another upset on the men’s draw. To fellow compatriot and good friend Roger Federer, Stan fell in the quarterfinals.
In order to defend the Australian Open title, Federer has shown vulnerabilities on his quest. In opposition to Gilles Simon, he struggled in five sets in his second round match. Fed dropped the second set against Tommy Robredo, in the fourth round. Against Novak Djokovic, who lost only one set so far, the Swiss maestro will have to play his best game in the semifinal.
History was made as Francesva Schiavone defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in a fourth round match that lasted four hours and forty four minutes, in the women’s competition as well as the epic duel on Rod Laver Arena became the longest women’s Grand Slam match.
Even though it wasn’t enough to beat first seed Caroline Wozniacki, Schiavone put up a tough fight in the quarterfinal. As Wozniacki and Clijsters might meet on championship day in Melbourne, there is a good chance of a 2009 US Open repeat final.
With all guns blazing in a 4hr 48min epic five-setter, the never-say-die Australian, Lleyton Hewitt went down typically against fierce rival David Nalbandian in a disappointing first-round exit from his record 15th straight Australian Open.
On day two of the Australian Open, David Nalbandian and the conquered Lleyton Hewitt drew upon in their match in Melbourne that straddled midnight echoed fistfights of 200 years ago. From the combatants, the game demanded every drop of sweat and they kept giving for sets that lasted 40 minutes, 47, 40, 68 and an unbelievable 93, lasting for 4 hours and 48 minutes.
To the Open, it was Hewitt’s fifth winless visit and he has been on the end of some difficult draws. In the fourth round, bowing out to Roger Federer twice and Fernando Gonzalez in the early rounds. Hewitt failed to protect his ranking points for a fourth-round loss to Federer here last year. He is expected to slip from a pre-tournament 54 to around 70.
Last year Hewitt made the 4th round of the Australian Open. When rankings are updated in late January, Hewitt is set to descend. For his first round loss at Melbourne this season, he has only earned 10 ranking points. To get back into the seedings for Grand Slams, he will need some very strong results soon. Failing that, like Nalbandian, he runs the risk of drawing tough first round opponents, in big tournaments and that will hurt his chances of going deep into draws.
Before stumbling to a 3-6 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-1) 9-7 loss, unseeded Hewitt had the first-round match at his mercy midway through the fourth set. In the 12th game of the fifth set, he held two match points after launching an extraordinary recovery from 3-5 in the decider.
