We’ve rounded the halfway mark of Australian Open 2009, and by the close of play tonight, the eight quarter-finalists in the men’s and women’s singles championships will be locked in.
It is the top half of the men’s draw and the bottom half of the women’s draw in action on Day 8 at Melbourne Park, with the match-ups getting more delicious as the tournament builds to its climax.
If you thought the men’s fourth round clash between world No.1 Rafael Nadal and Chilean Fernando Gonzalez has a golden ring to it, you’re right – it is their first meeting since the final at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing last August. Nadal accounted for Gonzalez 6-3 7-6 6-3 to break their 3-3 deadlock in head-to-heads, with the Australian Open 2007 finalist committing a staggering 64 unforced errors to Nadal’s 41.
The No.13 seed will need to be far more efficient in the third match on Rod Laver Arena today, but he can be comforted by the fact his most recent victory over Nadal was here at Australian Open 2007, a comprehensive
6-2 6-4 6-3 triumph in the quarters.
What will also be of interest is how much petrol Gonzalez has in the tank given two of his first three matches have been five-setters – the first round against Lleyton Hewitt and Saturday night’s four-hour epic against Frenchman Richard Gasquet, which was decided 12-10 in the fifth.
While Gasquet has been eliminated, his countrymen Gilles Simon (sixth seed) and Gael Monfils (12) will kick-off proceedings at Rod Laver Arena today, with the winner to play Nadal or Gonzalez. This is the first time they have met, but as compatriots and members of the upper echelon of the men’s game they will be only too aware of what skill-set the other brings to the court.
Two crowd favourites will lock horns in the night session on Rod Laver Arena – American ninth seed James Blake and last year’s finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seeded fifth. Their only previous meeting was on the Frenchman’s home turf – the Masters Series event in Paris last year – and Tsonga won 6-4 6-3.
Fourth seed Andy Murray takes a commanding 5-0 head-to-head lead over No.14 seed Fernando Verdasco into the day’s final match on Hisense Arena, including three victories in 2008.
Three of the four women’s singles matches today will be staged on Hisense Arena, beginning with the all-Spanish affair between giant-killer Carla Suarez Navarro and 21st seed Anabel Medina Garrigues, who are yet to meet.
Suarez Navarro already has the scalp of Venus Williams at the tournament, and is playing with a freedom and adventure that suggests more upsets aren’t beyond her.
The winner of their clash will play the victor of the Elena Dementieva (No.4 seed) and Dominika Cibulkova (18) match.
The Russian and Slovakian split their two meetings in Miami and Montreal last year, suggesting that another tight tussle awaits.
In the other sector of the draw, eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova will be looking to make it three from three when she takes on China’s Jie Zheng, while the only women’s match on Rod Laver Arena pits world No. 2 Serena Williams against 13th seed Victoria Azarenka from Belarus.
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