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Ana Ivanovic upset Serena Williams down under last evening, the largest upset of this year’s Australian Open so far, and she did it in convincing fashion, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Ivanovic ripped sizzling returns on Serena’s serve (almost unheard of) both with her forehand and backhand returns. She had a great game plan and she stuck with it and it paid off. In fairness to Serena, it was revealed that she had tweaked her back and was playing a bit injured. She certainly did not look at her best, way too many unforced errors and her lack of movement was telling. Taking nothing away from this huge win for Ana, Serena was very gracious in her post match interview. Ivanovic had never taken a set off Serena in their previous matches and this victory sends her into the quarterfinals and snaps Serena’s twenty five match winning streak. Well, Serena will go home, work hard, and just come back better. Hopefully this will propel Ivanovic back into the top ten and send her deeper into this tournament as well as the remaining Grand Slam tournaments this year. After becoming number one and winning the French Open in 2008 she has really struggled and with a new coach on board, she really is blossoming. Her next opponent will be the new darling of the tournament (not that Ana is not loved as well by the Aussie fans!), Eugenia Bouchard of Canada. She even has her own cheerleading team! It also brings a smile to Li Na, who also advanced as this really opens up her half of the draw. Azarenka moved on in straight sets as well.
On the men’s side, Stan Wawrinka (the other Swiss guy), Djokovic, and Berdych all advanced in three sets while David Ferrer had a bit of a struggle and needed four sets to move on.
Tonight…it is a big one…4th round matchup for Mr. Federer vs. J. Tsonga. If Fed can get through this one, he will likely face Murray in the quarterfinals. Come on Roger…get it done. It is the 4th match on Rod Laver so it will be in one of the evening time slots televised on ESPN2. I am afraid it is going to be in the wee hours of Monday morning but will have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, there is some football on today! Broncos host Patriots in first game (AFC title game) and then later, San Francisco visits Seattle (NFC title game). Made my picks yesterday (Broncos and Seahawks) and I believe I will stick with them!
Also tonight, the series finales of the ABC show Betrayal airs at 10:00 pm EST. Cannot wait! Sure to leave us hanging…
Until later
