Day 6: Dog Fight

ESPN's Darren Cahill calls him a bull terrier. He'll grab hold of your leg and never let it go. Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic took hold of two-time defending champion Roger Federer in a third-round match and didn't let go till Federer prevailed 10-8 in the final set. The drama equalled that in the Andy Roddick - Philipp Kohlschreiber epic that finished earlier in the morning.

The Australian Open is officially awake.

I don't know how anyone really thought Janko was going to win the match. But he didn't let Raja go till 10-8 in the fifth set by playing exquisite, courageous tennis.

And he didn't choke.

Roger showed why he's a 12-time Slam champion. The way he played his returns at 8-8 was nothing short of brilliant. The way he served it out was worthy (almost) of all the praise he gets. I wish I could be a fan.

But I got what I wanted. Finally. A player not named Rafael Nadal played Raja on a big stage, latched onto his leg and bullied him all the way to the wall.

And he didn't choke.

Tipsy, baby, you the man.



No Country For Old Men



Who's that bald guy running around like he was born to win five-set matches? James Blake made his own personal history today. He beat Sebastien Grosjean for the first time in four tries, and he rallied from a two-set deficit for the first time in his career to bring his five-set record to 2-10. But wait, there's more. He was also down a double break in the fourth set and 1-4 in the tiebreak. Clutch.

Grosjean, a 29-year-old tour veteran and father, was worn out from his five-set win over qualifier Robin Haase in the previous round. But he had such a huge lead in the fourth set, physical exhaustion isn't the main reason he wasn't able to hold on.

Blake simply refused to lose. A controlled, composed performance was just what the situation required and that's exactly what James gave. With Sam Querrey's loss to Novak Djokovic, if Vince Spadea loses his rain-delayed third-round match against David Ferrer tomorrow, James will be the last American man standing at a Slam for the first time in his entire career. His own personal history.

Upset Specials



Maria Kirilenko and Anna Chakvetadze can both be described as Martina Hingis with a serve. Both take the ball early to make up for the lack of pace on their groundies, both change direction of the ball with ease, both play tennis like chess. But on this day, MariaK was too tough to take, even after dropping the first set in a tiebreak. Tough to be the No. 6 seed in the third round. Just ask Roddick. MariaK advances to the first round of 16 at a Slam in her career.



Agnieszka Radwanska knocked off the No. 2 seed at the US Open. She did the same at the Australian Open today, this time in the form of one Svetlana Kuznetsova. I guess the Polish girl has become the bane of Russians in the early rounds of Slams. For Sveta's part, she was simply terrible. Aggie will play yet another Russian in the next round after Nadia Petrova and Ekaterina Makarova's rain-delayed match is completed tomorrow.



Marin Cilic had his knee tightly wrapped, but his game flowed freely. Discovered by Goran Ivanisevic, the Bosnian-born giant has officially announced his arrival. No. 7 seed Fernando Gonzalez, last year's runner-up, had few replies to the questions the Croat asked. Late in the match, Gonzo's shoulder gave out and Marin munched on serves slow as molasses in January. With this upset, the Chilean's ranking will fall out of the Top 10 into the mid-20s.

Midnight Madness

Hometown hopeful Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis coudn't start their match till just before midnight. The dog fight extended the day session into night and with Venus Williams' quick dismissal of Sania Mirza, Tennis Australia broke its own rule of not beginning a match after 11:00PM.

So despite dozing in and out for most of the middle of the night here in the States, the morning sun is shining brightly on the snow and ice outside, and I'm watching extended live coverage of tennis on cable television. Going on eleven straight hours. Freshly brewed, strong coffee in hand. Credit where credit is due: ESPN has finally put the tennis fan first.

I'll drink to that. Let's all drink to that.

Photo of the Day


Click to enlarge. (AFP/Getty Images)