AO Day Six: Damp Squib

There isn’t really that much to say about last night’s action; it was all a bit lacklustre, exemplified by the much-anticipated Hewitt-Baghdatis match which ended after a set and a bit when Baghdatis was forced to retire with a shoulder injury.

So on Lleyton Hewitt goes to face Roger Federer in the round of sixteen after Federer beat Montanes in straight sets. Lest we forget, Federer is 16-7 against Hewitt, with Hewitt’s last victory coming in 2003. Or to put it another way: Rusty is screwed.

It was obviously the day for retirements, as in addition to Kubot’s walkover from Youzhny to face Novak Djokovic, Stefan Koubek retired after a 16 set against Fernando Verdasco.

Verdasco will face Nikolay Davydenko in what should be a really interesting match, after Davydenko, in full-on terminator mode, crushed poor Pico, 60 63 64.

Also into the round of sixteen is Nicolas Almagro, who beat Alejandro Falla in three, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who provided the only real thrills with a four set win over Tommy Haas, 64 36 61 75.

Love you, Jo.

Things were not that much more exciting on the women’s side. Serena and Venus both progressed in straight sets over Carla Suarez Navarro and Casey Dellacqua respectively, and Caroline Wozniacki beat Shahar Peer 64 60.

Wozniacki will face Li Na after she beat Daniela Hantuchova in three sets, triumphing 62 in the third. This means there are two Chinese players in the fourth round of a Slam for the first time ever. Impressive stuff.

And Francesca Schiavone shellacked Agnieszka Radwanska 62 62. ‘Shellacked’ means what I think it means, right?

So that was that. I hope tonight’s more exciting …

Men’s Results

Singles – Third Round

[1] R Federer (SUI) d [31] A Montanes (ESP) 63 64 64
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) d D Istomin (UZB) 61 61 62
[6] N Davydenko (RUS) d
[30] J Monaco (ARG) 60 63 64
[9] F Verdasco (ESP) d [Q] S Koubek (AUT) 61 ret. (illness)
[10] J Tsonga (FRA) d [18] T Haas (GER) 64 36 61 75
L Kubot (POL) d [20] M Youzhny (RUS) w/o (right wrist)
[22] L Hewitt (AUS) d M Baghdatis (CYP) 60 42 ret. (right shoulder)
[26] N Almagro (ESP) d A Falla (COL) 64 63 64

Doubles – Second Round
[3] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) d L Arnold Ker (ARG) / H Tecau (ROU) 75 63
M Kohlmann (GER) / J Nieminen (FIN) d C Fleming (GBR) / K Skupski (GBR) 36 64 63
A Clement (FRA) / J Erlich (ISR) d F Lopez (ESP) / R Schuettler (GER) 63 75
F Gonzalez (CHI) / I Ljubicic (CRO) d 
C Ball (AUS) / S Huss (AUS) 57 76(3) 75
I Karlovic (CRO) / D Vemic (SRB) d [WC] K Hensel (AUS) / G Jones (AUS) 36 75 75
J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA) d
J Benneteau (FRA) / S Darcis (BEL) 64 60
L Mayer (ARG) / H Zeballos (ARG) d I Andreev (RUS) / E Korolev (KAZ) 63 62

Women’s Results

Singles – Third Round
(1) Serena Williams (USA) d. (32) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) 60 63
(4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. (29) Shahar Peer (ISR) 64 60
(6) Venus Williams (USA) d. (WC) Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 61 76(4)
(7) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 60 62
(9) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Gisela Dulko (ARG) 61 75
(17) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. (10) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 62 62
(13) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Alberta Brianti (ITA) 64 61
(16) Li Na (CHN) d. (22) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 75 36 62

Doubles – Second Round
(8) Mattek-Sands/Yan (USA/CHN) d. Jankovic/Perry (SRB/USA) 62 46 61
(9) Vesnina/Zheng (RUS/CHN) d. Razzano/Wickmayer (FRA/BEL) w/o (lower back soreness)
Azarenka/Kuznetsova (BLR/RUS) d. (14) Groenefeld/King (GER/USA) 63 46 63
(15) Kirilenko/A.Radwanska (RUS/POL) d. Baltacha/Dekmeijere (GBR/LAT) 60 62
Dushevina/Rodionova (RUS/AUS) d. Szavay/Vinci (HUN/ITA) 64 36 62