Day 5: Split Pea Soup

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 22: The sun sets over Hisense Arena in the third round match between Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia during day five of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 22, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.
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That's what the atmosphere in Melbourne looked like yesterday. And it made the tennis difficult to watch. Players were sluggish during the points and labored between.

Justin Henin escaped when her Russian headcase opponent wilted.

Kim Clijsters was flattened when her Russian headcase opponent didn't.

In both cases, I hear, the commentators opined all sorts of reasons why the Belgian sisters couldn't hang when their opponents were overpowering them. I only saw the Henin match and had to mute the sound as the excuses rushed like water from a broken dam. From Toheeb:

Ouch Clijsters is out. The ladies on ESPN were really bad though. It was as if their sister was losing. They kept coming up with loads of reasons why Clijsters was losing. I LOLed when one of them said she was losing bcos she knew Henin was in her side of the draw. That made my night right there. I like Clijsters, but they took it to another level.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 22: Andy Roddick of the United States of America serves in his third round match against Feliciano Lopez of Spain during day five of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 22, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.
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John Isner of the U.S. serves to France's Gael Monfils during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 22, 2010.
Reuters

Andy Roddick and John Isner advanced in four tight sets so for the first time in a long time, two American men are in the second week of a Slam.

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic wipes her forehead during her match against Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 22, 2010.
Reuters

Jelena Jankovic is a wasteland.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 22: Rafael Nadal of Spain plays a backhand in his third round match against Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany during day five of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 22, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.
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Despite a mental lapse that cost him a set, Rafael Nadal whizzed by.

Russia's Dinara Safina waves after defeating Elena Baltacha of Britain during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 22, 2010.
Reuters

Dinara Safina, to whom no one is paying much attention, will probably make the finals again. Won't that be a trip.

Croatia's Ivo Karlovic returns a shot to compatriot Ivan Ljubicic during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 22, 2010.
Reuters

Ivo Karlovic can actually break serve more than once in match. Who knew?

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 22: Spectators show their support in the third round match between Andy Murray of Great Britain and Florent Serra of France during day five of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 22, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.
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Andy Murray is cruising, but he's still not imposing.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 22: Maria Kirilenko of Russia celebrates winning a point in her third round match against Roberta Vinci of Italy during day five of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 22, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.
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Maria Kirilenko has backed up her first-round upset over the other Maria with two wins, but appears to be on one leg.

A few of my predicted wars actually materialized.

Supporters Fernando Gonzalez of Chile watch his game against Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan during their Men's singles third round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 22, 2010.
AP

Chile attacked Kazakhstan.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 22: Jie Zheng of China celebrates winning her third round match against Marion Bartoli of France during day five of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 22, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.
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China bulldozed France.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 22: Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia is congratulated by Angelique Kerber of Germany after winning her third round match during day five of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 22, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.
Getty

Russia defeated Germany.

Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium waves to the crowd after winning against Italy's Sara Errani at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 22, 2010.
Reuters

Belgium bombed Italy.

Marin Cilic of Croatia celebrates after beating Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland during their Men's singles third round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 22, 2010.
AP

And Croatia invaded Switzerland.

::

The Australian Open. Unpredictable as ever.

Men's Singles - Third Round

[2] R Nadal (ESP) d [27] P Kohlschreiber (GER) 64 62 26 75
[4] J del Potro (ARG) d F Mayer (GER) 63 06 64 75
[5] A Murray (GBR) d F Serra (FRA) 75 61 64
[7] A Roddick (USA) d F Lopez (ESP) 67(4) 64 64 76(3)
[11] F Gonzalez (CHI) d E Korolev (KAZ) 67(5) 63 16 63 64
[33] J Isner (USA) d [12] G Monfils (FRA) 61 46 76(4) 76(5)
[14] M Cilic (CRO) d [19] S Wawrinka (SUI) 46 64 63 63
I Karlovic (CRO) d [24] I Ljubicic (CRO) 63 36 63 76(7)

Women's Singles - Third Round

(2) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. Elena Baltacha (GBR) 61 62
(3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. (Q) Angelique Kerber (GER) 36 75 64
(31) Alona Bondarenko (UKR) d. (8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 62 63
Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (11) Marion Bartoli (FRA) 57 63 60
(19) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. (15) Kim Clijsters (BEL) 60 61
(WC) Justine Henin (BEL) d. (27) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 36 64 62
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. Roberta Vinci (ITA) 75 76(4)
(Q) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. Sara Errani (ITA) 61 67(4) 63

Men's Doubles - Second Round

[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d R de Voest (RSA) / S Lipsky (USA) 67(4) 64 64
[2] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) d A Montanes (ESP) / M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) 63 63
[5] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) d I Kunitsyn (RUS) / D Sela (ISR) 63 62
E Butorac (USA) / R Ram (USA) d [7] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) 62 36 76(2)
J Brunstrom (SWE) / J Rojer (AHO) d [8] M Granollers (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) 63 67(5) 64
[11] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) d P Amritraj (IND) / S Devvarman (IND) 61 63
S Bolelli (ITA) / A Seppi (ITA) d [14] M Damm (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) 76(5) 63
[17] J Melzer (AUT) / P Petzschner (GER) d F Fognini (ITA) / P Starace (ITA) 63 62
P Marx (GER) / I Zelenay (SVK) d R Junaid (AUS) / P Luczak (AUS) 76(5) 64

Women's Doubles - Second Round

(1) Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) d. Gullickson/Uhlirova (USA/CZE) 62 62
(2) Williams/Williams (USA/USA) d. Olaru/Savchuk (ROU/UKR) 61 62
(3) Llagostera Vives/Martínez Sánchez (ESP/ESP) d. Peer/Voskoboeva (ISR/KAZ) 76(5) 64
(4) Hsieh/Peng (TPE/CHN) d. Jans/Rosolska (POL/POL) 63 62
(6) Raymond/Stubbs (USA/AUS) d. Coin/Pelletier (FRA/CAN) 62 75
(7) Kleybanova/Schiavone (RUS/ITA) d. Czink/Grandin (HUN/RSA) 75 64
(10) Mirza/Ruano Pascual (IND/ESP) d. Bacsinszky/Garbin (SUI/ITA) 76(3) 63
(WC) Peers/Robson (AUS/GBR) d. (12) Chuang/Peschke (TPE/CZE) 63 64
(13) Dulko/Pennetta (ARG/ITA) d. Borwell/Kops-Jones (GBR/USA) 75 62
Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) d. (16) Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE/CZE) 76(2) 62

Women's Doubles - First Round

(11) Kudryavtseva/Makarova (RUS/RUS) d. Dellacqua/Erakovic (AUS/NZL) 26 62 61

Mixed Doubles - First Round

(1)Cara Black/Leander Paes (ZIM/IND) d. Sophie Ferguson/Carsten Ball (AUS/AUS) 75 75
Jarmila Groth/Samuel Groth (AUS/AUS) d (4) Nuria Llagostera Vives/Michal Mertinak (ESP/SVK) 76(5) 76(4)
(8) Elena Vesnina/Andy Ram ( RUS/ISR) d. Alicia Molik/Matthew Ebden (AUS/AUS) 60 63
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