Slam Stories

They’re underway down under. Day four of the 2010 Australian Open saw the advancement of top seeds on both sides. Let’s get up to speed. Roger Federer highlighted the men’s matches by stamping out an emphatic victory over Romania’s Victor Hansecu. Fed faces Albert Montanes in the next round. Defending champion, Rafael Nadal, thumped a lesser opponent in Lukas Lacko. The Slovkian was bumped in straight sets by the Spaniard. America’s biggest name, world number seven Andy Roddick, continued his march toward the second week of the grand slam event. Roddick defeated Feliciano Lopez in a tight four set match. Lopez’s strong volleying and stifling backhand winners kept him in the match, but his errors handed Roddick the breaks he needed. The Texas native dropped a tie-breaking first set at Rod Laver Arena before progressing on the next three to close out the deal. Lopez and Roddick matched aces, with 29 a piece. Third seeded, Novak Djokovic, dispatched Switzerland journeyman, Marco Chiudinelli, after losing the opening set. Djokovic shouldn’t have a problem with his next opponent, Denis Istomin. Cyrpus native, Marcos Baghdatis, staged a rally from two sets down to book a place in the third round too. Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up, nipped number 17 David Ferrer in five sets. Hometown hero, Lleyton Hewitt, is Baghdatis’ next opponent. Last year’s match between Hewitt and Baghdatis was an epic. Hewitt knocked off Donald Young in three sets. Twenty-two year old Scot, Andy Murray, supplanted France’s Florent Sarra in a relatively easy Friday match. Murray’s serve and return was effective, and he used his power and precision to record 49 winners against the Frenchman. John Isner will face Murray next. The red hot Isner took out Gael Monfils by blazing over 100 winners against the 12th seed. Isner belted aces and saved a critical set point with an unreturnable blaze before bested Monfils in four sets. Number nine seeded Fernando Verdasco’s win over Ivan Sergeyev set up a meeting with Stefan Koubek next. The tournament’s number ten upstart Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had a three set triumph over American Taylor Dent. Tsonga will face off with the 18th seeded German player, Tommy Haas. Ivo Karlovic, Marin Cilic, and Ivan Ljubicic were a trio of Croatians also advancing in the men’s draw.
Serena and Venus Williams eased into the third round on the women’s side. The siblings are still very much in the mix for another singles title after holding court in Oz. Serena stomped Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic and Venus survived Austrian Sybille Bammer. Serena takes on the 32 seed, Carla Suarez Navarro and Venus will tackle unseeded, Casey Dellacqua. A pair of comeback Belgians are on course to collide in the quarterfinals. Justine Henin-Hardin sailed to a three set victory against Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova to set up a much anticipated meeting with fellow Belgian, Yalina Wickmayer. Kim Clijsters, another Belgium native was snipped by Nadia Petrova 6-0, 6-1 as her return to the Australian Open fell well short of a championship. The 2004 Aussie runner up was ranked 15th in this tournament but the 19th ranked Petrova pulled off a stunning upset. Svetlana Kuznetsova, another contender on the women’s side, advanced to the next round with an impressive torching of Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchekova. The 24 year old French Open champion put on a dazzling display in determined fashion and will next play German Angelique Kerber. Dinara Safina cruised past her feasible opponent. The second seed bruised Britain’s Elena Baltacha 6-1, 6-2. Safina will face fellow Russian, Maria Kirlenko, in the next round. Kirlenko is a difficult out. She ousted Roberta Vinci in straight sets after the Italian forced a second set tie breaker. A pair of underrated unknowns will battle it out in the third round when Jie Zheng and Alona Bondarenko play. The Ukrainian Bondarenko manhandled Jelena Jankovic and Zheng zipped past the tenth seeded, Marion Bartoli. Australian daughter, Samantha Stosur, is also still alive in the women’s draw. The Brisbane born Stosur has never made it beyond the fourth round as a singles player in a Grand Slam. Other names moving on for the women were number seven, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and the ninth-seeded Russian, Vera Zvonareva. Agnieszka Radwanska and Li Na also advanced.

Parting Points: Song of the day- Simon and Garfunkul’s “The Sound of Silence”

The Mets swapped Gary Matthews, Jr. for the Angels’ Brian Stokes.