Oz 8- Wobbling Mathildas

And on Australia Day 2009, the Mathildas ceased to waltz. Instead, they wobbled.


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A day after Rod Laver hosted one of the longest, most entertaining days of grand slam tennis in recent memory (it was akin to the old Super Saturday set up at the U.S. Open), bodies of fallen players were seemingly strewn all over the grounds of Melbourne Park.

No, there wasn't another chair-throwing incident or streaker (yet, at least), it was just the unlucky combination of fluke accidents (Zheng Jie falls and injures her wrist, precipitating a retirement five games into her match against Svetlana Kuznetsova, who must have some sort of black magic working on her opponents when it comes to injuries), the usual wear-and-tear (Gael Monfils, retiring in yet another big match) and an illness possibly made worse by the heat (Victoria Azarenka).

It was the latter instance that was the saddest, for Azarenka looked ready to put Serena Williams to the test in their QF meeting. The teenager from Belarus had won the 1st set with a game that was about as complete as could be expected, and she had the confident look of a player ready for her close-up. She had three break point chances to go up 2-0 on Williams in the 2nd, but Serena pulled out the five-deuce game thanks to a few ill-timed (no pun intended) Azarenka errors. Then, with Serena leading 3-2, Azarenka was overcome by something.

She didn't look well at all. Her cheeks were red. A week after pulling out of Sydney with a viral illness, she simply was having a hard time of it.

Returning after being tended to off the court, Azarenka seemed worse than she'd been when she left. Trying to play out a service game, she was wandering around behind the baseline, her balance obviously off as she wobbled with every step, whether she was trying to find the safety of the court's shadows or was emerging from them. More than once it appeared as if she might literally faint. Finally, she made the only decision she could, the hard one where she was forced to admit it wasn't her day. She retired with a 6-3/2-4 lead, and Serena heads to the QF to face the similarly short-matched Kuznetsova.

In a tournament in which Jelena Dokic has been the top story, and where Dinara Safina has at times looked like she could only be beaten by the tiny little Dinara Safina that lives inside Dinara Safina's head who sometimes comes out at the most inopportune times for Dinara Safina and creates havoc until Dinara Safina manages to shove her back into the recesses of Dinara Safina's mind, it should be noted just how big of an experience gap there is between Serena and the other seven remaining players in the women's draw as far as Australian Open results go.

While Serena has won three Oz titles and reached the QF six times in her career, the only other 2009 quarterfinalist to have ever previously advanced this far in the Australian Open is Kuznetsova, and she last did it four years ago. Yep, that means of all the quarterfinalists at this tournament from 2006-08, only Serena has managed to do it again at this tournament.

*RECENT OZ QUARTERFINALISTS, w/ '09 RESULTS*
=2008=
Daniela Hantuchova - 3rd Round
Justine Henin - retired
Ana Ivanovic - 3rd Round
Jelena Jankovic - 4th Round
Agnieszka Radwanska - 1st Round
Maria Sharapova - injured/did not play
SERENA WILLIAMS - IN QF
Venus Williams - 2nd Round
=2007=
Anna Chakvetadze - 2nd Round
Kim Clijsters - retired
Martina Hingis - retired
Shahar Peer - 1st Round
Lucie Safarova - 3rd Round
Maria Sharapova - injured/did not play
Nicole Vaidisova - 1st Round
SERENA WILLIAMS - IN QF

If only Azarenka could have been able to stand up a little better and longer -- and Alize Cornet been able to hit one more shot, for that matter -- this tournament might have REALLY been broken wide open.

Of course, it still could be.



=DAY 8 NOTES=
...now that's what I'm talking about. Finally, Elena Dementieva fully looked the part in her dismantling (well, at least until she led 5-0 in the 2nd set) of Dominika Cibulkova in their QF match. Test passed with flying colors.

Ditto for Carla Suarez-Navarro, who easily took out fellow Spaniard Anabel Medina-Garrigues in straight sets. Thus, AMG remains slam QF-less for her career, while CSN has now reached two in the last seven months. Not only that, but this is the second time the 20-year old has reached the QF in her debut at a slam (her final 8 run at Roland Garros was also in her Paris debut) -- and she's only played in four slams thus far in her career!

I'd say that's enough for her, as the youngest of the quarterfinalists, to earn this year's Oz "It Girl" award. Spreading the wealth a bit, I'll move the "Zombie Queen" title to Safina's column thanks to her come-from-behind win over Cornet the other day.

...so much for Andy Murray wiping "Fred Perry in 1936" from the British sports lexicon, huh? Could we be about to witness #14-seed Fernando Verdasco become the latest in the long line of surprise Australian Open men's finalists? Of course, Rafael Nadal might have something to say about that. His game is looking positively beastly dominant so far. It's a good thing, since he IS wearing that multi-colored short-sleeved shirt that looks like something I might have worn when I was in kindergarten. I guess he manages to pull off the look, though.

...the "big" 1st Round meeting in the Girls singles didn't turn out to be an epic, as #5-seed Laura Robson took out Christina McHale 7-5/6-3. No idea whether or not McHale had to be helped from the court afterward, but I'm sure Robson had SOMETHING cheeky to say about her day to SOMEONE, even if it was many hours later when hardly anyone was listening.

...Middle-Round Awards come tomorrow.

...and, finally, after having already played three of her four matches under the lights on Laver, Jelena Dokic will get a fourth nighttime date against Dinara Safina on Night 9 in the QF. Yes, this would seem to be a logical place for her trip down the yellow brick road to finally end in this tournament, but crazier things could -- and have -- happened. I mean, today we very nearly saw an ill young player wander around like a drunken sailor and fall face-first onto the new blue court behind the baseline, after all.

Who's to say? We could be about to witness the craziest grand slam run EVER carried out to the extreme reaches of what we THOUGHT was reality barely a week ago.




*2009 FINAL 8's BY NATION- WOMEN/MEN*
4...RUS (Dementieva/Kuznetsova/Safina/Zvonareva)
3...ESP (Suarez-Navarro/Nadal/Verdasco)
2...FRA (Bartoil/Simon)
2...USA (S.Williams/Roddick)
1...ARG (del Potro)
1...AUS (Dokic)
1...SRB (Djokovic)
1...SUI (Federer)
--
PLUS: winner of Blake/USA vs. Tsonga/FRA

*RECENT "IT GIRL" WINNERS*
2008 AO: Casey Dellacqua, AUS
2008 RG: Dinara Safina, RUS
2008 WI: Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
2008 US: Coco Vandeweghe, USA
2009 AO: Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP

*MOST Oz SINGLES QF-or-better - 2000-09*
6...SERENA WILLIAMS
5...Kim Clijsters
5...Lindsay Davenport
5...Justine Henin
5...Martina Hingis
4...Amelie Mauresmo
4...Maria Sharapova
4...Venus Williams
3...Jennifer Capriati
3...Patty Schnyder
2...Daniela Hantuchova
2...SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA
2...Monica Seles



*WOMEN'S SINGLES QF*
#16 Bartoli/FRA vs. #7 Zvonareva/RUS
#3 Safina/RUS vs. (WC)Dokic/AUS
Suarez-Navarro/ESP vs. #4 Dementieva/RUS
#8 Kuznetsova/RUS vs. #2 S.Williams/USA

*MEN'S SINGLES QF*
#1 Nadal/ESP vs. #6 Simon/FRA
#14 Verdasco/ESP vs. TBD
#7 Roddick/USA vs. #3 Djokovic/SRB
#8 del Potro/ARG vs. #2 Federer/SUI

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) vs. #9 Hantuchova/Sugiyama (SVK/JPN)
Dechy/Santangelo (FRA/ITA) vs. #11 Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez (ESP/ESP)
#12 Dellacqua/Schiavone (AUS/ITA) vs. Groenefeld/Schnyder (GER/SUI)
#10 Williams/Williams (USA/USA) vs. #16 Hsieh/Peng (TPE/CHN)

*MEN'S DOUBLES QF*
Kubot/Marach (POL/AUT) vs. #6 Fyrstenberg/Matkowski (POL/POL)
#3 Bhupathi/Knowles (IND/BAH) vs. F.Lopez/Verdasco (ESP/ESP)
Bolelli/Seppi (ITA/ITA) vs. TBD
Fish/Isner (USA/USA) vs. #2 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA)




TOP QUALIFIER: Elena Baltacha/GBR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Dominika Cibulkova/SVK
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: q3 - Stephanie Dubois/CAN d. Urszula Radwanska/POL 6-4/6-4
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd: Suarez-Navarro d. V.Williams 2-6/6-3/7-5
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Agnes Szavay/HUN (1st Rd.- Voskoboeva/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: The French
REVELATION LADIES: The Kazakhs
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR, Alberta Brianti/ITA, Sesil Karatantcheva/BUL-KAZ (2nd Round)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (xx)
IT GIRL: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Jelena Dokic/AUS
CRASH & BURN: Venus Williams/USA (lost in 2nd Rd.)
ZOMBIE QUEENS: Dinara Safina/RUS (down 2-5 in 3rd, & 2 MP to Cornet in 4th Rd.)
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (xx)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx



All for Day 8. More tomorrow.