Day 6: Bagels And Breadsticks

Lemme tell you, if I had a ticket for yesterday's matches I would demand a refund, especially if it was for the night session on Rod Laver. Those folks got a set and a half of men's tennis, and a set and a bagel of women's, which the European commentators declared an "exciting and strategic affair". I don't know what they were watching. When Shahar Pe'er gives away the entire match, and I'm not exaggerating, it's not exciting, strategic or engaging otherwise. When I previewed the day, I wrote that I didn't see much on the roster that made me salivate.

I shoulda stopped right there.

A walkover, two retirements, and a whole lot of phoned in performances produced boring, lopsided matches with zero excitement. You'd have to go to a bakery to find more bagels and breadsticks. The losers left the premises full of carbs.


AP

Only two sets of tennis, one of each side, advanced past 6-4 in a set. The most drama on the day came in the sixth game of the first set of Serena Williams' beatdown of Carla Suarez-Navarro. It took 22 minutes, almost twice the time it took to run up a 5-0 lead, for her to fight through 6 break points, 13 deuces, and 8 set points (after missing the 7th, she was so frustrated she sat down right in the middle of the court) to close out the set.

There were no wars.


Getty

Crowd favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga almost had to play his first(!) five-setter, but clearly didn't feel like it. So when a slightly hampered Tommy Haas served for the fourth set, Tsonga raised his game, broke back and ran away with the last 10 points to take the match and make the second week Down Under for the third straight year.

As for the rest, the scorelines speak for themselves.

Men's 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

Women's 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

Men's 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 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