This Year's Marcos

Like I've said about four billion times, I'm not very nationalistic when it comes to tennis. I go for the personalities, not the Aussies. But damn if I wasn't cheering my lungs out for Casey Dellacqua last night!

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I love a good underdog. Maybe Casey is this tournament's Marcos...? (Though I have another contender for the position, who I'll talk about later.) She played a fabulous match last night against Amelie Mauresmo - really, really fabulous. One of the things people say about Federer (and I'd imagine they say it about Justine Henin as well) is that he often defeats opponents before they come onto the court, because they're afraid of him. I think that might be one of the keys to his game, actually - he's said before that he respects everyone, but fears no one.

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Well, Casey Dellacqua played with no fear last night, and that's what won her the match. It must be a bit overwhelming, when you know your opponent is expected to pound you into the ground, but at the same time, I can see how it gives you a certain level of freedom. No pressure. No expectations. You can just give it your all and see how you go.

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I really like her game, especially when she goes for the lines. She hit some sweet shots last night, some awesome winners. But her real strength was that she just didn't go away mentally. A lot of low-ranked players, coming up against a Mauresmo and losing the first set, might give up. But she didn't. Maybe it was the strength of her first two matches that kept her going - they both went three sets, and both times she won 8-6 in the third. The match against Schnyder must have been especially heartening - she lost the first set, but won the match.

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What I really like about her is that she has an 'I can do it' mentality. You could see it - she steeled herself, went for her shots, and came up with the goods.

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She plays Jelena Jankovic next. Jankovic is one of the best players in the world, but she is carrying that hamstring injury from the Hopman Cup and she hasn't been playing spectacularly well here - her first round match against Paszek went to 12-10 in the third. So can Casey do it again? We'll see...

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Meanwhile, what a great match from Philipp Kohlschreiber! He is my other contender for the role of Marcos this year. It wasn't necessarily a poor match from Roddick - not one of his best, but not awful - but Kohlschreiber played awesomely. He's started off this year great, with that win in Auckland, and I think he might shoot up the rankings a bit this year. Top twenty for sure, if not top ten. His backhand is gorgeous. It's not the driving weapon that Safin's is - which is probably my favourite backhand in the game after Federer's - but he places it so well, and knows how to spread out the court... at this rate, he's scheduled to meet Rafa in the quarters, and if Kohlschreiber keeps playing like this, I think he's a real chance of taking him out - which I confess I would like to see! I have a soft spot for Rafa, but it's nothing compared to my one for Federer, and I don't want him gaining any more ranking points here, thank you very much!

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And go Hsieh Su-wei! A qualifier, into the round of sixteen! Didn't I pick her weeks ago? Didn't I? How good am I?

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Australian Open Results - Day 5

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Men's Draw

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Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Andy Roddick, 6-4 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 6-7 (3-7) 8-6

Rafael Nadal def. Gilles Simon, 7-5 6-2 6-3

Richard Gasquet def. Igor Andreev, 6-3 6-2 4-6 6-4

Nikolay Davydenko def. Marc Gicquel, 6-3 6-2 6-3

Jarkko Nieminen def. Mardy Fish, 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-1

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-3 6-4 6-2

Mikhail Youzhny def. Ivo Karlovic, 6-2 6-4 6-2

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Stefan Koubek, 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 5-7 8-6

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Women's Draw

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Justine Henin def. Francesca Schiavone, 7-5 6-4

Jelena Jankovic def. Virginie Razzano, 6-2 4-6 6-1

Maria Sharapova def. Elena Vesnina, 6-3 6-0

Serena Williams def. Victoria Azarenka, 6-3 6-4

Elena Dementieva def. Shahar Peer, 6-2 6-0

Nicole Vaidisova def. Ai Sugiyama, 6-3 6-4

Casey Dellacqua def. Amélie Mauresmo, 3-6 6-4 6-4

Hsieh Su-Wei def. Aravane Rezai, 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-4