(6) Juan Martin Del Potro lost to Jeremy ChardyBy far the biggest casualty in the men's draw so far. Indeed, the only player in the top ten to lose before the fourth round this year is Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro. Looking somewhat sluggish, Del Potro went down two sets to Jeremy Chardy before slogging his way back into contention. But with a solitary break in the 5th going the way of the Frenchman, it was the upset of the tournament so far. Some impressive hitting from Chardy saw him tally up 78 winners on the way to the victory and a shot at the quarter finals if he can get past his next opponent, Andy Murray.
(12) Marin Cilic lost to (21) Andreas Seppi
At Roland Garros in 2012, Andreas Seppi was on the brink of an historic upset when he went two sets up in the third round against the World #1 Novak Djokovic. On that occasion, the Serb was to fight back to claim his place in the next round. Another five set encounter was in store for the Italian again today, and this one he made sure of by dumping Croatia's Marin Cilic out of the competition and booking his place in the last 16 of a slam tournament for the first time in his career. With a final score of 67 63 26 64 62 Seppi will be assured of a climb into the top 20 of the rankings when they are recalculated after the Open.
(17) Philipp Kohlschreiber lost to (13) Milos Raonic
Although Milos Raonic took some time to warm up to the match, he eventually found a way through the German's defences to post a 76(4) 63 64 victory in just under two hours. Raonic will face #2 seed Roger Federer on Monday. In all three of their meetings in 2012, the Swiss veteran came out on top, but Raonic will be hoping to make it fourth-time-lucky at Melbourne Park this year.
(20) Sam Querrey lost to (15) Stanislas Wawrinka
With Stanislas Wawrinka's three set defeat of Sam Querrey, no US male has made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the second year running. With both John Isner and Mardy Fish sidelined with injury, Querrey carried American hopes, but ultimately went down whimpering to Wawrinka on Saturday 76(5) 64 75.
(22) Fernando Verdasco lost to Kevin Anderson
Spain's fourth best singles player lost out to unseeded South African Kevin Anderson 46 63 46 76(4) 62. The towering Anderson had improved his ranking to #31 going into the event, but missed the cut on a seeding by a week. Along with Chardy, he is one of only 2 unseeded players left in the draw.
(24) Jerzy Janowicz lost to (10) Nicolas Almagro
An over-exuberant Polish contingent of the crowd couldn't lift Jerzy Janowicz enough to see him post a victory and make the second week of a Slam for the first time in his career. With spectators being evicted from the stands, Nicolas Almagro kept his cool to defeat the tall 24th seed 76(3) 76(4) 64.
(26) Jurgen Melzer lost to (5) Tomas Berdych
Making his way quietly through the draw is Czech Tomas Berdych who made light work of his R3 opponent, Jurgen Melzer. Facing the unseeded Anderson in the next round, Berdych will feel confident of making the quarterfinals.
(28) Marcos Baghdatis lost to (4) David Ferrer
In 2012 Marcos Baghdatis infamously smashed four racquets in quick succession during his second round loss to Wawrinka, frustrated at himself for a poor performance. This year, there was no histrionics as he was simply outclasses by the ultra-consistency of David Ferrer, eventually losing out 64 62 63 to the relentless retrieving game of the Spaniard.
(31) Radek Stepanek lost to (1) Novak Djokovic
As is typical of his lengthy career, Radek Stepanek progressed in the Australian Open exactly as was expected of him, no more, no less. Advancing to the third round before coming up against a higher seed (this time the world #1 Novak Djokovic) the Czech went down in a three-set defeat 64 63 75. A hugely entertaining contest, if more for Stepanek's on-court antics than his play, it was an inevitable outcome to his Australian Open campaign.
(32) Julien Benneteau lost to (8) Janko Tipsarevic
More of an ordeal than a contest, another 5-set contest saw Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic make life difficult for himself against the #32 seed. Handing his opponent a break late in the first set, Tipsarevic eventually regrouped to level the match in the second, but again went down in the third to leave himself 2 sets to 1 adrift. As the errors crept in to the Frenchman's game, a sign of the increased fatigue that he appeared to be feeling as the match went on, Tipsarevic was to take the final two sets to book his place in the last 16.
Seeds remaining in the draw: 14
Image via ESPN
4 comments:
Jeremy Chardy's next opponent is actually Andreas Seppi, not Andy Murray -- he has to beat Seppi and Murray has to beat Gilles Simon for them to meet in the quarterfinals.
It's also interesting that there are still two unseeded players left in the men's draw. The only unseeded player to make the AO QFs since Tsonga's 2008 run was Dolgopolov in 2011. Maybe Chardy (or Anderson, if he catches Berdych on an off day) can become the latest?
Haha - I'm going to suggest that I only put the errors in to see if anyone actually reads the post! Thanks for picking me up on this one though - I'm obviously a round ahead of myself.
The non-seeded players through this far are interesting. I think Bernard Tomic can count himself exceptionally unlucky - coming up against Federer so early. Had he drawn a better section of the draw (say a R3 against Cilic or even someone like Tipsarevic) he could well have made the fourth round.
Really wanted to see the bad blood match between DP and Murray, but Chardy deserved the win and should be an interesting battle with Murray.
Del Potro's exit was surprising, but had he got that far, I wouldn't have expected him to trouble Murray too much.
I haven't really seen too much of Chardy's play to say too much about his chances against Murray. BUt as I am a Murray fan, I hope Murray can get through the match without expending too much energy - as he'll need to conserve if he is to face either Tsonga or Federer in the next round. And he hasn't really be tested too much so far.
Post a Comment