After hiding quietly in the shadows for most of this Australian Open, there have been a few sightings of The Radwanska in Melbourne over the last few days. Yesterday, #1-ranked Victoria Azarenka was lucky to escape an upset bid by Jamie Hampton, and in the first match today the highest-seeded woman (#5) yet was sent packing.
Then, for the first time at this slam, The Radwanska came out at night.
Naturally, Aga Radwanska's match with Ana Ivanovic began just after the sun set. Also not surprisingly, it began with A-Rad breaking AnaIvo's serve, then holding her own at love. Soon, the Serb decided that she didn't want to just be stepped on, so she fought back. A little. Silly Serb. In game #4, Ivanovic took a 30/love lead on A-Rad's serve, and a shot on the right sideline was called in to seemingly give her a 40/love lead and a shot to get back on serve. But Aga took a close look at the mark and challenged the call, which was soon changed to Radwanska's favor.
Naturally.
After saving two break points, she held for 3-1, then raced through the rest of the set, winning it 6-2 by holding at love, and committing just two unforced errors in the set. In the 2nd, Radwanska opened with another break and went up 2-0. Ivanovic played better in the stanza, earning five set points in total. Of course, Radwanska saved them all (she was 7-0 when facing BP on the night). Aga went up 4-2, then served at 5-4. That's when The Radwanska decided to show off.
A-Rad's sixth ace of the match got her to match point, and then another serve seemed close to ending the night, but it was called wide. Agnieszka challenged and, naturally, she was right. Ace #7 put the final period at the end of the 6-2/6-4 match in which the Pole made just four errors. It extends her 2013 winning streaks to thirteen matches and twenty-six sets.
After the match, an on-court interview with Australian TV's Sam Smith produced some potentially intriguing information. I mean, if you care about the fate of the world as we know it. Referring to how cool and unemotional Aga always is on court, Smith asked if she was the same off it, and if anything ever annoyed her.
"A lot of things, actually," Aga said with a bright smile. "Slow drivers, for example." When pressed for more, she added, "And when my internet is not working," saying it makes her "so angry."
Hmmm, so could The Radwanska be defeated with a traffic jam and an electromagnetic pulse? Or would that just make The Rad even more angry? We do know that Ula will be of no help, as Aga told Smith that her sister never annoys her and is, in fact, "cool." Oh, well. Turns out, naturally, our "favorite" alter ego is just as lethal at night as it it during the day. And now Aga is being disarming, too.
But I don't even want to think about what It'd be like if Aga couldn't check her email.
=DAY 7 NOTES=
...one year after upsetting Serena Williams in the Round of 16 in Melbourne, Ekaterina Makarova got a shot at #5-seed Angelique Kerber on Day 7. While #19-seed Makarova entered with a 1-14 career mark against Top 5 players, Kerber is the only current Top 10 player who has never reached a slam singles final. Today, though, you could have sworn that it was the Russian, not the German, who was fighting to avoid becoming the first Top 5 seed to fall at this AO.
Right from the start, Makarova was aggressive in the face of a seemingly passive and tentative Kerber. She broke her early on for a 2-1 lead, then came back from 15/40 on serve to stay a step ahead at 4-2 a few games later. After another break for 5-2, Makarova seemed to experience a slight case of nerves. Kerber took advantage, getting back both breaks, the second after the Russian was up 40/15 on serve, to level things at 5-5. But all it took to turns things back in her favor was for Makarova to cease bending to the moment for an instant. When she did, she broke Kerber for 6-5 and then served out the set.
Five games into the 2nd set, Kerber was treated by a trainer for a back injury, then when Makarova again seemed to be ready to melt a bit in the moment (she'd nearly done so a round earlier, losing a 5-0 3rd set lead on Marion Bartoli before winning 6-4), Kerber failed to capitalize. Up 4-3, Kerber held two breaks points for a shot to serve for the set. On the second, more winnable point, she failed to effectively put away two overheads which Makarova, in Kerber-esque style, kept the point alive with good defense, then badly missed a volley which should have ended the game and gotten her back into the match. Given a reprieve, Makarova made the German pay for her inability to win the big point. After having trailed 15/40, the Russian held for 4-4 and effectively put down the tiring Kerber in short order from there. Winning 7-5/6-4, Makarova advanced to her second consecutive AO quarterfinal.
...a little bit later in the afternoon, the player whose excellence has made more noise than any other player during the first week took to the court. And, from the start, the Maria Sharapova who put together back-to-back double-melon wins, and 28 straight games, wasn't in evidence. Instead, the slightly-off player who popped up in the closing moments of her 3rd Round match against Venus Williams began play on Day 7.
Kirsten Flipkens held serve for 1-0, putting Sharapova behind on the scoreboard for the first time at this AO. After getting a break of serve for 2-1, Sharapova then struggled through a twelve-minute serve game in which she served three double-faults and faced three break points. No matter, though, as Sharapova won the game anyway.
Of course, from there, the "impostor" then left the building, replaced once again by SuperPova.
Well, for the most part. After dropping game #1, Sharapova won twelve straight games for the third time in four matches, defeating the Belgian 6-1/6-0. With her win, Sharapova sets another record at this AO by allowing a total of just five games en route to a slam quarterfinal. Still, she was under 50% in her 1st serve percentage, though she was winning 80% of the points when she did get the ball in, and had more unforced errors than winners.
Is it enough of a crack for Makarova, or someone else, to soon exploit? We shall see.
In contrast, is there any more top player still alive in the women's draw who's gotten there with as little fanfare as Li Na? The #6 seed, a past AO runner-up, took down Julia Goerges on Day 7, 7-6/6-1, to rid the women's draw of Germans.
Ah, but can she rid it of Radwanskas? For the next two nights, while The Radwanska Threat Level alternates between "Concern" and "Alarm" (offcially, though, it's been raised one level), Na will sleep under this, just to get her in the mood:
...in a Mixed match-up of former #1-ranked doubles partners who didn't part ways amicably, Liezel Huber (w/ Max Mirnyi) defeated Cara Black (w/ Paul Hanley). Earlier in the day, in her 3rd Round doubles match with Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, as the #6 seeds, Huber had been part of a losing effort against Silvia Soler-Espinosa & Carla Suarez-Navarro. Elsewhere, defending Mixed champions Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Horia Tecau were taken out in their 1st Round match by Lucie Hradecka & Frantisek Cermak.
In doubles, #12-seeded Venus & Serena knocked out the #5 seeds, Nadia Petrova & Katarina Srebotnik.
...in juniors, Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko upset #9 Christina Makarova (USA), while Hordette Elizaveta Kulichkova upset #17-seed Ilka Csoregi (ROU).
...DAY 7 "LIKE":
-- ESPN2, showing the crazy variety of the Pole's game, checking off all the different shots shown by A-Rad on a "Radwanska Shot List" as the match progressed.
...DAY 7 "WHAAAAA?????":
-- on Tennis Channel, Jon Wertheim issued mid-tournament grades, and some -- an "A" for the U.S. women and Sharapova, a "B" for Kimiko Date-Krumm -- rang true, but one surely didn't. Now, to be fair, Wertheim admitted to "grading on the curve" and not issuing anything below a "C." But, really, if Sam Stosur's results at this AO REALLY were worthy of a "C" (average) grade on an American cable TV network, then it's no wonder that the American educational system isn't held in anything close to the esteem that it formerly enjoyed. Really, a "C?" Man, that's not grading on a "curve," that's grading on a loop.
...and, finally, while ESPN2's Pam Shriver finally realized that a certain Belgian named Flipkens was actually named "Kirsten," Tennis Channel's Martina Navratilova was overhead called her "Kristen" on Day 7.
Well, Shriver and Martina DID used to play doubles together... so I'm still going to have to blame Pammy for this.
*WOMEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Victoria Azarenka/BLR vs. Elena Vesnina/RUS
#10 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS
#3 Serena Williams/USA vs. #14 Maria Kirilenko/RUS
Bojana Jovanovski/SRB vs. #29 Sloane Stephens/USA
#6 Li Na/CHN def. #18 Julia Goerges/GER
#4 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL def. #13 Ana Ivanovic/SRB
19 Ekaterina Makarova/RUS def. #5 Angelique Kerber/GER
#2 Maria Sharapova/RUS def. Kirsten Flipkens/BEL
*MEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. #15 Stanislas Wawrinka/SUI
#5 Tomas Berdych/CZE def. Kevin Anderson/RSA
#4 David Ferrer/ESP def. #16 Kei Nishikori/JPN
#10 Nicolas Almagro/ESP def. #8 Janko Tipsarevic/SRB
Jeremy Chardy/FRA vs. #21 Andreas Seppi/ITA
#14 Gilles Simon/FRA vs. #3 Andy Murray/GBR
#7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/FRA vs. #9 Richard Gasquet/FRA
#13 Milos Raonic/CAN vs. #2 Roger Federer/SUI
*WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA) vs. #12 Williams/Williams (USA/USA)
#4 Makarova/Vesnina (RUS/RUS) vs. Soler-Espinosa/Suarez-Navarro (ESP/ESP)
xx vs. xx
xx vs. xx
*MEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. Bracciali/Dlouhy (BRA/CZE)
xx vs. xx
xx vs. xx
Bellucci/Paire (BRA/FRA) vs. #13 Granollers/M.Lopez (ESP/ESP)
*AO "IT" PLAYER WINNERS*
2006 Samantha Stosur, AUS
2007 Shahar Peer, ISR
2008 Casey Dellacqua, AUS
2009 Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP
2010 Maria Kirilenko, RUS
2011 An-Sophie Mestach, BEL (jr.)
2012 Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
2013 Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
TOP QUALIFIER: #1q Lesia Tsurenko/UKR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #2 Maria Sharapova/RUS
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Cagla Buykakcay/TUR d. Tamarine Tanasugarn/THA 4-6/6-2/10-8
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Laura Robson/GBR d. #8 Petra Kvitova/CZE 2-6/6-3/11-9
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: 2nd Rd. - Laura Robson/GBR d. #8 Petra Kvitova/CZE 2-6/6-3/11-9
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #2 Maria Sharapova/RUS (def. O.Puchkova/RUS)
FIRST SEED OUT: #32 Mona Barthel/GER (lost to K.Pervak/KAZ in 1st Rd.)
UPSET QUEENS: Russia
REVELATION LADIES: United States
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Australia (1-6 in 1st Rd.; 1-7 overall)
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Lesia Tsurenko/UKR & Valeria Savinykh/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Madison Keys/USA (3rd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: #9 Samantha Stosur (2nd Rd.)
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: Nominees: E.Makarova, M.Kirilenko, B.Jovanovski, S.Stephens, E.Vesnina
IT (Fortysomething): Kimiko Date-Krumm/JPN (at 42, oldest AO MD match winner)
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: S.Kuznetsova, C.Wozniacki
CRASH & BURN: #9 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost to J.Zheng in 2nd Round; led 5-2 in 3rd and served for match at 5-2 and 5-4)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: #10 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN (down 3-0 in the 3rd set vs. Lisicki in 1st Rd.; had lost back-to-back 1st Rd. slam matches)
LADY OF THE EVENING: Early Nominees: L.Robson, M.Sharapova
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
All for Day 7. More tomorrow.
