Australian Open – Day 3 (2R)

The match of the day occurred on Court No. 8, where 22-year-old Jerzy Janowicz took on Somdev Devvarman. The Indian has slipped to No. 551 after missing most of the 2012 season with a shoulder injury, but he reminded on Wednesday that he was a top 100 player once. In a very tense tie-break, he blew a 5:1 lead, then saved four set points to take it after 79 minutes. The third and only s.p. on Janowicz’s serve was crucial – Devvarman played a shaky forehand which might have clipped the line. Janowicz thought otherwise and exploded, collapsing to his knees and yelling at the umpire (Marija Cicak): “How many times!?”, referring to earlier alleged bad line-calls. The Pole was frustrated in the 2nd set, and when he lost it, seemed quite disinterested for a while. It helped him to let loose though. Over the next two and a half sets, he was hitting winners all over the place, especially from the forehand side (41 winners overall!). Devverman was completely helpless, seemingly bothered by his left wrist, but powerful strokes caused blisters on Janowicz’s right hand, and things got complicated – the Indian rallied from a 1:4 (15/30) & *2:5 deficit. At 5-all Janowicz forgot about the blisters and a new series of massive shots (inside-out FH winner on second match point) booked his place in the third round. “What did I learn today? [That the] most important thing is you have to fight for every single ball till the end. I was losing already two-sets-to-love and I kept on fighting,” said Janowicz, whose Russian peer – Evgeny Donskoy [82] arrived in Melbourne with an infamous 1-11 record (St.Petersburg ’10: his only win), now has already won two within three days after a 5-set victory over compatriot Mikhail Youzhny 3-6 7-6(3) 6-2 3-6 6-3. Brian Baker has unbelievable bad luck to injuries. He had suffered plenty of them, and when it seemed that nightmares of surgeries are behind, he’s going to take another longer break from the sport because of injury. In the 3rd game of the 2nd set he pulled up lame as he was running to the ball after winning 1st set against Sam Querrey. “Something rubbed back and forth and… I couldn’t straighten my leg. I’ve never had knee problems in my life,” he said after leaving the court with tears in a wheelchair. “He’s the last person that deserves anything like that, with his five or six surgeries already,” Querrey said of Baker. “He does everything right, treats his body great, just trying to come back, and then something like that happens, it’s just so unlucky.” Baker had a reasonable chance to make his Davis Cup debut next month against Brazil. Querrey faces Stan Wawrinka, whose opponent (Tobias Kamke) retired as well – the German did it after two full sets being 3-6 6-7 down. David Ferrer won nine opening games against “lucky loser” Tim Smczek, but the American of Polish origin, started to hit solid shots and pushed the Spaniard to a 4-set work, even rallying from a 1:3 deficit in the 3rd set (6-0 7-5 4-6 6-3). Court No. 6 is a lucky place for Julien Benneteau in duels with fellow Frenchmen. Last year, he survived a dramatic 5-setter with Gilles Simon, this time struggled past Edouard Roger-Vasselin 4-6 7-5 7-6 7-6 in 3:34 hrs, being on verge to lose all winning sets (two points away in sets No. 2 & 3, saved four set points on return in the last set). Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic, showed no mercy during night session against Ryan Harrison on Rod Laver Arena. The 20-year-old American was improving with each set in regard of games (1, 2, 3) and time (20, 30, 41 minutes), to no avail. At the same time, Djokovic’s compatriot, Janko Tipsarevic was involved in a dramatic contest with Slovakian Lukas Lacko on Showcourt No. 2. It looked like a routine 3-set victory as Tipsarevic broke in the opening game of the 3rd set after 7 ‘deuces’ having a two-sets-to-love cushion. Lacko broke back immediately and took control over the match for two sets. In the decider, both guys delivered entertaining flat ball-striking, ‘Tipsy’ had two match points leading 5:2*, Lacko leveled and could do it once again in the 12th game as he led 40/15. The Serb managed to get four points in a row, the last two with cross-court passing-shots.

Longest match: 4 hours, 0 minutes. Jerzy Janowicz d. Somdev Devvarman 6-7(10), 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, 7-5
Most aces: 20 – Evgeny Donskoy, defeated Mikhail Youzhny

5-set barometer:

18-12 Mikhail Youzhny, 16-8 Janko Tipsarevic, 16-15 Jurgen Melzer, 4-5 Lukas Lacko, 2-2 Jerzy Janowicz, 1-0 Evgeny Donskoy, 1-1 Roberto Bautista Agut, 1-3 Somdev Devvarman