Janko Tipsarevic quit. He had Fernando Verdasco on the ropes, up 2 sets to 1. Verdasco's body language indicated he didn't believe he could win. He landed awkwardly on his ankle and appeared to be in a lot of pain...
The ninth-seeded Spaniard was on his way out. In his career, Tipsarevic has several victories over top ten players, and showed no signs of cracking in this one. He served for the match. Verdasco found a way to break. Tipsarevic broke back and served for the match once again. Verdasco broke him one more time. But this time, he broke his spirit. They went to a fourth set tiebreaker, but Janko Tipsarevic punished himself for not closing out the set by giving the set away. Verdasco blanked him in the tiebreaker then bageled Tipsarevic in the fifth. With Fernando serving for the match, Janko didn't even make an attempt to return the last few serves, which all went for aces, until finally ending the journeyman Serb's waking nightmare. It was very difficult, not to mention disappointing, to watch a player defined by an underdog's fighting spirit completely wilt and surrender. Kudos to Fernando Verdasco for not giving in or giving up when everything was going against him and battling until the last point.
Venus Williams slugged it out with her pesky opponent, Sandra Zahlavova, of the Czech Republic. Zahlavova could rival Sharapova for sheer grunting power and volume. Venus seemed to be matching her scream for scream. But then Venus hit a ball and let out a shriek of another kind... pain. Venus seemed to pull her groin or injure her hip. Zahlavova took the first-set tiebreak in dramatic fashion. Venus went to the locker room for treatment in between sets. The commentators and crowd wondered for a moment if Venus would do something she's never done before in a Grand Slam... retire from the match. Venus walked to her bench and ended the suspense by unwrapping a brand new racket. The first game of the second set was full of tension. Would Venus be too injured to continue? The answer was no. Venus gutted out the game and swept the set, 6-0. The third set much tighter, but Venus somehow found a way to get the break and close out Zahlavova, 6-4. Pure guts.
As if the daytime drama wasn't enough, primetime served up some of its own surprising thrills. Roger Federer looked to be on cruise control against the French former top-tenner, Gilles Simon. In their two previous head-to-head meetings, Simon beat Fed both times. Simon began to assert himself in the third set as Roger's game hit a rough patch. And to Simon's credit, he rode the momentum to win the third set 6-4, then duplicate the score in the fourth. In a tense fifth set the outcome really was in doubt for a spell. In the sixth game, Federer finally secured the break of serve and screamed out into the night. The pressure had clearly built up in the Mighty Fed and the release was relatively huge for the normally stoic Swiss maestro. Simon fought off a couple of match points in the next game to hold serve, but could not stop Roger from serving out the match. Tremendous win for Federer. Unbelievably dramatic day at the Australian Open. One can only hope every day of the tournament will be like this one.
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