Waiting for Fedot

Back at that Internet cafe on Flinders St. This is Jodi reporting to you on Day 2 on the Australian Open - another day when it was UNBELIEVABLY hot. Great tennis - not so good for the skin. But the things we must sacrifice.

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I wanted to see more matches, so I trawled around looking for good ones. I started off by watching the first set of Kei Nishikori and Jurgen Melzer on Court 6, which is a pretty decent sized court, but the stands were PACKED with Japanese fans supporting their man. He played pretty well while I was there - kid has got some serious shots! - but then he fell away a bit and Melzer ended up winning the match in straights, which sucked from a Star perspective.

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I went and trawled the practice courts after that, hunting for the elusive Fed, but he wasn't there, so I caught the second set of Anastastia Pavlyuchenkova and Tathiana Garbin on Court 19. I really like Pavlyuchenkova, and she won that set 6-2, but then she lost the match... so maybe I am cursed or something. It certainly wasn't a match of very high quality, from what I could see... both girls were missing a lot. A LOT. But obviously someone has to win.

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There were rumblings of a Fed practice at one, so I waited around... again, no materialisation. The TV crews said that it'd been rescheduled to four, and the crowds vanished like they'd been evaporated (which, in the heat, entirely possible.) I went and caught the last two sets of Richard Gasquet and Diego Junqueira on Show Court 3 - getting a seat in the shade, which is a rare achievement at Melbourne Park! That was a good match to watch - Gasquet is playing better than I've seen for a while. But then I got very lucky - it finished just in time for me to head over to Court 11 (a TINY back court) and grab a good seat for Ernests Gulbis against Albert Montanes. There was this adorable little Latvian family cheering for their boy - it was great! As well as a woman sitting beside me who was salivating over Gulbis, said he was 'the cutest on the ATP tour' and nearly had an aneurysm when I told her he was only twenty... but that is another story.

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Gulbis looked totally excellent, winning in easy straights. I only caught the first set, because I had to run off to this elusive Fed practice, which, once again, did not materialise. I headed offsite for a quick very early dinner, getting back at just on five, when who decided to start practicing when I was gone? Fed. Typical. Still, I only missed a couple of minutes and managed to worm my way to the fence - my shortness paid off! He spent ages and ages signing autographs, and he was wonderful with his fans. He is such a lovely man.

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That left me with an hour and a bit to kill before the night session started, so I went over and watched Dmitry Tursunov and Flavio Cipolla on Court 10. I caught the first set and a bit - Tursunov was clearly on top in the first, but he was down a double break in the second when I left, and I'm not sure what happened after that - I hope I'm not cursed again!
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I was in nearly the same position in Rod Laver Arena, and as that was a good spot, I was happy. The Stosur/Zakopalova match was a good match, but the crowd seemed a bit ho-hum about Sam, which I was surprised at, given the reception Casey Dellacqua got last night. Maybe Casey is a favourite or maybe it was just a quieter crowd. Who can tell? Anyway, I was glad it was straights, because I was anticipating another long men's match, but Rafa ANNIHILATED Christophe Rochus. The whole crowd got behind Rochus and cheered like crazy people when he won a game, but it no avail. That one was a whitewash, and I was back before midnight.

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Funny story to end on: there were these drunk old women behind me, and you know Rafa's wedgie-picking habit? So he was picking his wedgie, and one of them yells out 'PICK ME INSTEAD!' at the top of her lungs, and the whole stadium heard and cacked themselves at her. Ah, public humiliation...

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Today's Results

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Australian Open

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Men's Draw

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Rafael Nadal def. Christophe Rochus, 6-0 6-2 6-2

Fernando Gonzalez def. Lleyton Hewitt, 5-7 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3

Andy Murray def. Andrei Pavel, 6-2 3-1 retired

Gilles Simon def. Pablo Andujar, 6-4 6-1 6-1

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Juan Monaco, 6-4 6-4 6-0

Chris Guccione def. Nicolas Devidler, 6-4 6-2 6-2

James Blake def. Frank Dancevic, 6-4 6-3 7-5

Tommy Haas def. Eduardo Schwank, 6-3 6-3 6-4

Gael Monfils def. Martin Vassallo Arguello, 6-1 6-3 7-5

Richard Gasdquet def. Diego Junqueira, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-4

Fernando Verdasco def. Adrian Mannarino, 6-0 6-2 6-2

Densi Istomin def. Vincent Spadea, 6-2 7-5 6-4

Stefan Koubek def. Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3 6-2 6-2

Jurgen Melzer def. Kei Nishikori, 7-5 6-2 6-1

Michael Berrer def. Carsten Ball, 6-2 6-4 6-3

Andreas Beck def. Colin Ebelthite, 7-5 6-1 6-0

Igor Andreev def. Peter Polansky, 5-7 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-4

Nicolas Almagro def. Nicolas Massy, 6-4 6-4 3-6 506 6-3

Flavio Cipolla def. Dmitry Tursunov, 4-6 6-2 7-6 (9-7) 7-5

Marcel Granollers def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-0

Sebastien de Chaunac def. Steve Darcis, 2-6 6-3 0-6 6-2 6-2

Ernests Gulbis def. Albert Montanes, 6-3 6-2 6-3

Ivo Karlovic def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-3 6-4 6-4

Ivan Ljubicic def. Igor Kunitsyn, 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (9-7) 5-7 6-3

Fabio Fognini def. Andrey Golubev, 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 6-2

Arnaud Clement def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-3 2-6 4-6 6-2 6-1

Radek Stepanek def. Nicolas Lapentti, 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4

Dudi Sela def. Rainer Schuettler, 1-6 6-2 6-4 6-4

Roko Karanusic def. Florent Serra, 6-3 1-6 6-3 3-6 6-3

Mario Ancic def. Wayne Odesnik, 7-5 6-4 4-6 6-2

Guillermo Canas def. Dieter Kindlmann, 3-6 7-5 5-7 6-0 7-5

Victor Hanescu def. Jan Hernych, 3-6 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-4) 8-6

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Women's Draw

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Serena Williams def. Yuan Meng, 6-3 6-2

Elena Dementieva def. Kristina Barrois, 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 6-1

Venus Williams def. Angelique Kerber, 6-3 6-3

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Anastasia Rodionova, 6-2 3-6 6-3

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-6 (9-7) 4-6 6-1

Flavia Pennetta def. Mara Santangelo, 6-2 5-7 6-2

Victoria Azarenka def. Petra Kvitova, 6-2 6-1

Patty Schnyder def. Kristina Mladenovic, 2-6 6-4 6-2

Dominika Cibulkova def. Chanelle Scheepers, 6-0 6-0

Amélie Mauresmo def. Olga Govortsova, 6-4 6-3

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Isabella Holland, 6-1 7-5

Zheng Jie def. Camille Pin, 6-3 6-3

Peng Shuai def. Francesca Schiavone, 7-6 (7-4) 6-1

Sabine Lisicki def. Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-4 6-3

Alona Bondarenko def. Olivia Rogowska, 5-7 6-3 6-2

María José Martínez Sánchez def. Tamarine Tanasugarn, 7-5 6-3

Iveta Benesova def. Vera Dushevina, 6-4 0-6 6-2

Gisela Dulko def. Anastasiya Yakimova, 6-3 5-7 6-3

Carla Suárez Navarro def. Roberta Vinci, 7-5 6-4

Samantha Stosur def. Klara Zakopalova, 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-0)

Tathiana Garbin def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-4 2-6 7-5

Virginie Razzano def. Jarmila Gajdosova, 6-1 6-7 (2-7) 6-4

Chan Yung-Jan def. Hsieh Su-Wei, 6-3 6-3

Akgul Amanmuradova def. Melanie Oudin, 6-1 6-4

Melinda Czink def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-2 6-2

Lourdes Domínguez Lino def. Ekaterina Bychkova, 6-3 6-0

Julie Coin def. Elena Vesnina, 6-4 4-6 6-1

Severine Brémond def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-2 6-1

Tatjana Malek def. Ayumi Morita, 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

Elena Baltacha def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 6-1 6-4

Sesil Karatantcheva def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 2-6 6-1 6-2

Jessica Moore def. Christina McHale, 1-6 6-3 9-7