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.
The ATP summer hard court season of 2010, named as the Olympus US Open Series, officially kicked off by the Atlanta Tennis Championships. After nine years, once again Atlanta has the privilege to host some of the world’s best male tennis players.
There has already been plenty of action during the qualifying stages on the weekend, although Monday July 19 was the opening day of the Atlanta Tennis Championships. There were some doubles matches and only a few singles matches, on day one.
The Americans had a great start and won their first round matches in Atlanta, as Michael Russell, Rajeev Ram and Mardy Fish. Over Karol Beck, Ram won 6-4 7-6(4), Russell upset eight seed Benjamin Becker 6-3 6-3 and Fish took out James Ward 6-1 6-2. Ukranian Illya Marchenko and the German veteran Rainer Schuettler were the other first round winners.
On the doubles side, fellow Americans Ryan Sweeting and Robby Ginepri were taken out by James Blake and John Isner 3-6 6-4 10-3. The duo of Jonathan Erlich and Janko Tipsarevic knocked out top seeds Fleming and Skupski. Additionally, Kevin Anderson and Michael Russell defeated fourth seeded doubles team of Hutchins and Kerr. Overall, for the Americans on the singles and doubles sides, it was an excellent day.
First seed Andy Roddick is the focus of the tournament. There are expectations for Roddick to make a real impact in the hard court season leading to the US Open, after a disappointing early loss at the grass courts of Wimbledon. Roddick will face Rajeev Ram in the second round and he got a bye in the first round.
