Friday, January 23, 2009

Federer ousts Safin at Australian Open; Cilic, Berdych, Baghdatis pull off upsets

In the lower-portion of the men’s draw on Friday at the Australian Open in Melbourne, No. 19 Marin Cilic, No. 20 Tomas Berdych (pictured) and Marcos Baghdatis pulled off impressive upsets to advance to the fourth round. In a highly anticipated match between former champions, World No. 2 Roger Federer outplayed Russian Marat Safin to advance to the fourth round, while defending champion and World No. 3 Novak Djokovic defeated American lucky loser Amer Delic in a thrilling four-set match.

Cilic, who put his name on the ATP radar after reaching the fourth round in Melbourne last year, ousted No. 11 seed David Ferrer, 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-4. The 20-year-old Croatian fired seven aces, hit 33 winners, won 68 percent of first serve points, won 20 of 27 net approaches and was able to break serve 4 times throughout the match. Cilic, currently ranked at a career-best No. 20, will next
face No. 8 seed Juan Martin Del Potro for a place in the quarterfinals. Del Potro came from behind to defeat Gilles Muller, 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-3, 7-5. Both players won a singles title in their season opener, Cilic winning the Chennai title over Somdev Devvarman, while Del Potro defeated American Sam Querrey in the championship match in Auckland.

Berdych came from behind to defeat No. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the fourth round for the third consecutive year. Both players hit a large amount of unforced errors, Wawrinka hit 49 and Berdych hit 46, but it was the Czech star that smashed 49 winners compared to only 39 by Wawrinka. The 23-year-old was also able to break serve five times compared to only once by Wawrinka. In a repeat of his fourth round match in 2008, Berdych will next take on Federer for a place in the quarterfinals.

In a match that finished just after 1:00 a.m. local time, Baghdatis easily defeated No. 23 Mardy Fish, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. The popular Cypriot who reached the 2006 finals in Melbourne, smashed 34 winners, won 80 percent of first serve points and was able to break serve on six occasions. Baghdatis will clash in the fourth round against Djokovic.

In a night session blockbuster that featured three-time champion Federer and 2005 champion Safin, the Swiss former World No. 1 prevailed without much trouble, winning 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(5). Despite Safin hitting 14 aces and 33 winners compared to only nine aces and 26 winners by Federer, the 13-time Grand Slam champion took control by breaking serve three times, while Safin had no break point opportunities throughout the match. Federer now leads the series 10-2 against Safin. Federer, who lost in the semifinals last year to Djokovic, improves to 44-6 at the Australian Open.

In an exciting afternoon match on Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic prevailed against Delic, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), in three hours and six minutes. After dropping the second set, which was the first set he has lost in his last ten matches in Melbourne, Djokovic regrouped to win the third set at ease after Delic dropped serve at the beginning of the set. The 26-year-old Delic held two set points late in the fourth set but Djokovic was able to get back in the game by consecutive big serves. After falling behind 1-3 in the tiebreak, Djokovic recovered quickly and would win the match as Delic netted a return of serve on match point. The 21-year-old Serbian smashed 11 aces, won 79 percent of first serve points and was able to break serve three times.

Other Third Round Results from Friday
No. 7 Andy Roddick def. Fabrice Santoro, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
No. 21 Tommy Robredo def. Yen-Hsun Lu, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Believe it or not I thought the Fed-Express would lose to Marat in 5 sets. I was very wrong.

Justin Cohen said...

Brian D, thanks for the comment.

I think many tennis fans thought the unpredictable Marat Safin might pull off some magic on Rod Laver Arena the other night against Roger Federer.

Federer showed the world that he still has plenty of amazing tennis left in him.