AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 5 | Ivanovic Out, Federer IN

Well it seemed that the third round of the Australian open is gonna witness some marvelous tennis between Federer and Safin but in the end it was the classy Swiss master who came out with the flying colors as he defeated the Russian 6-3 6-2 7-6.

In the womens draw a Major upset came in the form of Ana Ivanovic as the 5th seed and the last year Runner up was defeated by Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2. It came as a shocker for the former world no.1 as she finished with 50 unforced errors to just 23 winners.

WINNERS: Men: No. 3 and defending champion Novak Djokovic, No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro, No. 19 Marin Cilic; No. 21 Tommy Robredo.

Women: No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, No. 3 Dinara Safina, No. 7 Vera Zvonareva, No. 10 Nadia Petrova, No. 15 Alize Cornet, No. 16 Marion Bartoli.

LOSERS: Men: No. 11 David Ferrer; Women: No. 19 Daniela Hantuchova, No. 25 Kaia Kanepi.

When it was over, Kleybanova dropped to the ground on both knees, pumped her fists and blew kisses to the crowd. Ivanovic appeared to be nearly in tears as she walked off court, throwing a towel to someone in the crowd.

The Serb’s loss came on a day that the late match between second-ranked Roger Federer and former No. 1 Marat Safin—which the Swiss star won in three sets—was supposed to produce the biggest news.

Instead, ethnic violence erupted between nationalist fans after Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the defending men’s champion, beat Bosnian-born American Amer Delic.

One of several thrown chairs hit a woman and left her briefly unconscious. Insults and water bottles filled the air. Arrests were made, with dozens of people ejected from Melbourne Park.

This was what organizers had feared when they announced before the tournament that they were instituting a no-tolerance policy for disruptions.

In a rematch of the 2005 men’s semifinal, won by Safin en route to the championship, was dominated by Federer, who again looked sharp in his pursuit of a 14th Grand Slam title that would tie Pete Sampras’ record, winning 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Federer never faced a breakpoint, and the mercurial Safin’s growing frustration nearly boiled over when he was called for a foot-fault on his second serve. That gave him a double-fault and Federer a 4-1 lead in the third-set tiebreaker. Safin rallied to lead 5-4 before Federer ran off the last three points, the last on a backhand winner down the line.


“He gave me quite a few free points in the first two sets, but after that he got tougher,” Federer said. “I’m pretty lucky I got through in three.”

Safin has said he is unlikely to continue playing after this year. Federer clearly would miss him.

“I always like to play Marat,” Federer said. “We go back, we like playing each other. It doesn’t matter who wins.”

No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, who won a warmup tournament in New Zealand, extended his winning streak to seven matches. No. 19 Marin Cilic of Croatia ousted No. 11 David Ferrer of Spain.