Australian Open – Day 7 + 8 (4R)

So called “sweet sixteen” turned around into a “bitter sixteen”. That was pretty obvious that Nadal would beat Cilic and Federer would outplay Robredo without any problems, but we could expect much more from Verdasco, Almagro, Roddick and Melzer in their matches against respectively: Berdych, Djokovic, Wawrinka and Andy Murray. Unfortunately the 4th round didn’t deliver any drama and emotions: five straight set wins, two short 4-setters and one 5-setter, also a short one – a sensation of the tournament, Alexandr Dolgopolov survived the second consecutive match in a short 5-setter, after beating Tsonga (2:19 h), needed only 2 hours 36 minutes of mixing slices and top-spins to eliminate Soderling, who always play poor tennis at the Australian Open, this year advanced to the 4th round for the first time. Definitely the biggest success in his career, Dolgopolov accepted calmly; does he think a Grand Slam quarterfinal is not a peak of his abilities? Seemingly, his next match against Murray looks like the easiest one to predict – last year’s finalist Murray has been in a terrific form – in his first four matches has not lost more than three games in a  set! Murray comments after destroying Melzer: “The matches are definitely going to get tougher. I’m not expecting to go through the tournament winning matches like that, with that score line. So I’m ready for that mentally when it does get tough. Where there has been tight moments, like today it was right at the beginning of the match, went up a break, got broken straight back, I managed to break him in the next game“.

Longest match:
2 hours, 36 minutes: Alexandr Dolgopolov d. Robin Soderling 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2

Most aces:
24 – Stanislas Wawrinka, defeated in three sets  Andy Roddick

5-set barometer:

7-9 Robin Soderling
3-1 Alexandr Dolgopolov