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Sport

Sharapova meets Henin next

Nirmal Shekar

Bopanna and Ram upset Paes and Hanley

— Photo: AP

STEAMING AHEAD: Serena Williams stayed on course to defend her title with a facile win over Nicole Vaidisova.

Melbourne: Unlike their male counterparts, they are unlikely to force fans to reset their Circadian clocks and go to bed after breakfast. But, from the evidence of the first week at the Australian Open championship here, it is obvious that the women at the top of the pecking order are ready for some jolly good jousting during the second week.

Just a few hours after local hero Lleyton Hewitt finished his day at the office at a time of the day that BPO workers in Gurgaon or Bangalore may be better used to leaving work than professional tennis players, Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova played as if Tennis Australia had threatened to charge them exorbitantly for court-time and quickly set up an intriguing quarterfinal meeting on Sunday.

The defending champion, Serena Williams, for her part, left nobody in any doubt about how hungry she was for her fourth Australian title as she disposed of Nicole Vaidisova 6-3, 6-4 to make the last eight.

Things are never that easy for the Aussie battler Hewitt. For him, every point is hard work; every set is a marathon effort; every match is an epic. And so it was against Marcos Baghdatis on Saturday night.

Getting on court close to midnight, Hewitt won the last point of the seat-edge thriller at 4.40 a.m. on Sunday.

Asked what time he was likely to get to bed, Hewitt, who won 4-6, 7-5, 5-7, 6-7, 6-3, said, “Still have massage and a lot of stuff. Maybe 7 or 7.30.”

Welcome, then, to the 24 x 7 Open. The action never stops here.

Rude good health

Even if a female version of Roger Federer is nowhere to be seen, and arguments early in the fortnight in a Slam are generally settled quickly and without drama, women’s tennis at the top is in rude good health. And, if the promise of the first week is kept, there could be some scintillating action over the next six days.

Henin, who raced past Su-Wei Hsieh of Taipei 6-2, 6-2 in the fourth round, is probably playing the best tennis of her career.

Sharapova, who outplayed her countrywoman Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0, is free of injuries, her serve is back to its awesome best and her focus can put a Buddhist monk to shame.

Serena says she is keen to reclaim the top ranking and has stopped trying to popularise her tennis-is-not-everything credo. Everything, then, points to a dramatic second week.

“She (Sharapova) is back at her best level. She’s a real fighter. She’s a champion. Against her I will have to be a hundred per cent all the time,” said Henin.

Her quarterfinal opponent returned the compliment. “Currently, she (Henin) is the one to beat. She is on a pretty good winning streak. I am looking forward to it,” said Sharapova.

Serena was seldom in trouble against Vaidisova. The Czech girl has a big serve and a forehand that can make timid opponents break into a cold sweat at night. But her go-for-broke style suited Serena who calmly advanced her cause.

Vaidisova’s best chance of coming back into the match came when she broke back to 4-4 in the second set but she failed to hold and Serena wrapped up the match in quick time.

Seeds ousted

Two men’s seeds in the top 10 were ousted by their own countrymen.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who resembles a youthful Muhammad Ali, doesn’t sting like a bee; he comes at you like an out-of-control 16-wheel truck on a highway downhill.

And today, it was all a bit too much for Tsonga’s countryman, the eighth seeded Richard Gasquet. While Tsonga got past Gasquet 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 6-3, Mikhail Youzhny, seeded 14, outplayed fellow Russian Nikolay Davydenko, seeded four, 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-1.

Superb attacking game

Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna and his partner Rajeev Ram, an American of Indian origin, played superb attacking tennis to beat Leander Paes and his Australian partner Paul Hanley, the fifth seeds, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6) to advance to the third round of the men’s doubles event.

Bopanna and Ram combined well and played confident tennis in the third set tie-break. Serving at 5-6 in the tie-break, Bopanna came up with two big serves and then returned to an onrushing Paes’s feet on the next point. Paes’ backhand failed to cross the net and Bopanna had taken a significant step forward in his career.

Also through to the third round were Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas. The pair beat Yves Allegro and Kristof Vliegen 6-1, 6-4.

In mixed doubles, Bhupathi and Sania Mirza got past Alicia Molik and Nathan Healey of Australia 6-1, 6-4 to make the second round.

Earlier, Sania and her Australian partner Alicia Molik completed a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina of Russia to advance to the third round of the women’s doubles event.

In the boys’ singles event, India’s Yuki Bhambri, seeded eight, beat Giorgio Portaluri of Italy 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 and Karunuday Singh beat another Italian, Daniele Pinudu, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.

THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seedings

Men’s singles: Fourth round: 24-Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt 29-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(9), 6-3; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt 8-Richard Gasquet (Fra) 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 6-3; 14-Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-1; 2-Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt 23-Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) 6-4, 3-0 retd.

Third round: 22-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) bt 10-David Nalbandian (Arg) 6-1, 6-2, 6-3; 5-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Vince Spadea (U.S.) 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

Women’s singles: Fourth round: 1-Justine Henin (Bel) bt Hsieh Su-wei (Tpe) 6-2, 6-2; 5-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt 11-Elena Dementieva (Rus) 6-2, 6-0; 7-Serena Williams (U.S.) bt 12-Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) 6-3, 6-4; 3-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) bt Casey Dellacqua (Aus) 7-6(3), 6-1.

Third round: 9-Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (Esp) 6-2, 6-3; 14-Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) 6-1, 7-6(8); Marta Domachowska (Pol) bt 24-Li Na (Chn) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4; Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt Sabine Lisicki (Ger) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Men’s doubles: Second round: 6-Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) & Mark Knowles (Bah) bt Yves Allegro (Sui) & Kristof Vliegen (Bel) 6-1, 6-4.; Rohan Bopanna (Ind) & Rajeev Ram (U.S.) bt 5-Paul Hanley (Aus) & Leander Paes (Ind) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6).

Women’s doubles: Second round: 6-Sania Mirza (Ind) & Alicia Molik (Aus) bt Nadia Petrova & Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Mixed doubles: First round: Sania Mirza & Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) bt Alicia Molik & Nathan Healey (Aus) 6-1, 6-4.

Boys’ singles: First round: Yuki Bhambri (Ind) bt Giorgio Portaluri (Ita) 6-3, 2-6, 6-1; Karunuday Singh (Ind) bt Daniele Piludu (Ita) 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Girls’ singles: First round: Bojana Jovanovski (Srb) bt Janaki Gunuganti (Ind) 6-1, 6-3.

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