Roger just beat Haas in 5 sets. Haas almost came back from 2 sets down. Phew. I can't wait to see this.

I agree that the Hingis love that the commentators have is a bit grating. Yeah, it's a decent comeback story, but what has she exactly been doing these past few years? She recovered from her injury a long time ago and then seemingly just faded away and quit. It's not like she was Monica Seles and got stabbed in the back. In any case, I'd much rather see Monica Seles or Anna Kournikova make a comeback than Martina.

I'm annoyed that Andy Roddick is out, because it seems inevitable that Bitter Beer Face Federer is going to win again. I hate how the media has all but annointed him as the winner from the start. The official australianopen.com site posted an article that said something like "Roger Federer's march to the championship title just go a lot easier when #3 seed Lleyton Hewitt was defeated in the second round." When you can say something like that in Round 2 of a tournament, it ceases being interesting for me. The women's side is very exciting right now. Still a lot of great players left in the draw. The men's side? Zzzzzzzzzzz.

Oh, this isn't off-topic when Brad Gilbert mentioned them first on the telecast, is it? Just wanted to add to this that the band was based in Australia, not NZ.

Chucky ROCKS! It wasn't as easy as her earlier matches, but I'm quite glad she pulled through. I thought she was going to blow the second set and eventually the match. Her tentative wave to the crowd at the end of the match was cute. Stossur was quite impressive.

Loved watching the match between Sharapova and Hantuchova, and cracked up when Mary Carillo said it was a "battle between the cutie pies, and Sharapova wants to be the alpha pie". Their body types are so similar with the extra long legs. Clearly must be an advantage in tennis to be tall and lean.

I haven't really paid much attention to tennis fashion, but is the one piece halter top / skirt thing that Sharapova wears becoming the norm for the women to wear? It just seems to provide so little support.

Yay for Martina. I must say that when she was dominating, I truly despised her. But I now find myself rooting for her. And strangely, I also find her more attractive than I once thought. I'm hoping she continues to do well.

I managed to fall asleep before the Hingis match, to say nothing of the Federer scare, this morning. I hope ESPN replays them in the 2-6 ET block. This is the first time I've missed a Chucky match at the Open.

I hope ESPN will show the match of Patty Schynder and Amelie Mauresmo. I think its going to be and interesting match. Schynder and her ridculous spins, and Mauresmo changing up the shots.

I don’t think that Roddick’s departure really opened up the title that much more for Federer and there are still some great, interesting players left in the draw. I have thought that Ljubicic and Nalbandian were more likely to be able to beat Federer than Roddick as both have more rounded games. Of course, ESPN hasn’t shown any of their matches. But from the feed that I have seen on Star Sports, both are looking good. David is still going on a walkabout about one set per match, but when he is on- he is producing some stunning play.

I think the lower half of the men’s draw is very interesting. Santoro- one of the most entertaining players to watch around making the quarterfinals for the first time ever at the age of 33. Ljubicic, finally progressing far in a GS tournament. Nalbandain- the first player to beat Federer in a final in more than 20 finals. Bagdhatais- a kid with great game and a great personality, and someone who took a set from Federer at the 2004 USO. However, to no surprise, ESPN is doing absolutely nothing to detail about how entertaining this lower half has become. It is a shame because they are really selling it short. And I don’t think it is a given that the winner from this section will be beaten by Federer- not at all. But I could see why people would thing that the men’s draw is a given and a snoozer because ESPN really has not invested an ounce of effort into discussing these players (outside of Baggy after his win.) I think the fact that ESPN has not showed really any of Ivan or David- when they could possibly beat Federer on this surface, is just shortsighted and narrow minded. Thank goodness that you can get the Star Sports feed on the internet. I really enjoy the Star Sports commentating by the way. They seem to be less biased. But, hopefully we will see the David/Fabrice match on ESPN tonight.

And in the upper part of the draw, there is Keifer. Love him or hate him, he is interesting and the commentators never run out of stuff to talk about when he is on the court. And he has had some interesting matches with Federer before. Plus- best legs in the men’s game!

I do agree with you blackwing that it is annoying when the media declares a winner before the tournament is over. And they can get egg on their faces. Last year at the beginning of the Aussie Open the media was implying that it was sewn up for Federer. And during Shaghai- it was almost laughable how the media was implying that Federer had it sewn up. They really gave no chance to the other players. Look what happened in both of those instances.

I do agree that the women’s draw is very exciting. They have not shown enough of Justine Henin Hardine for my taste, and I think she could really be the one to get the title. But we will see her and Lindsay. One reason why I like JHH so much is she is such a fighter. Lindsay, for all of her talent, is sadly not a fighter. You can tell that the commentators get tired of that too- I’ve heard Mary sound extremely frustrated with Lindsay’s tendency to act so mopey.

One thing that really does bug me about all of this tongue-bathing of Hingis, is like others have said- she is not the only smart player out there. But still- so much fun to have her back.

I also loved that line of Mary’s about the battle of the cutie-pies. I have to say, that Maria is someone who has won me over. And in this case, I think it actually could be because of the commentating. Granted, I don’t think Maria’s tennis is the prettiest to look at. But something about announcers always point out what a fighter she is on court has gotten through, and I really do admire her grit.

I loved the line during the Myskina match--I don't know who said it but Carillo was in the booth with him--that Mysikina's always scrappy and feisty about winning. And when she heard a baby crying in the grandstands, "she looked up...with derision." It was a joke, of course. Carillo's all, "Now, waitaminute...!" I'm sure they're were hiding chest-laughs in the booth too, and it made me chuckle for the rest of the match (which Myskina lost).

I'm afraid that if Lindsay's ankle is really bothering her, tonight's match will not be pretty. Justine has been getting to EVERYTHING and if Lindsay has to run a lot, well, match over.

Does anyone know if it that's the match on ESPN2 tonight?

While they were rivals on the court, I remember some of the commentators saying that they were friendly off the court. I seem to remember that they felt they were the only two who could keep the Williamses from winning all the GS titles at one time. I always liked both of them.

As for the current coverage, I wasn't all that pleased with Dick Enberg basically declaring the Hingis/Stosur match over after the first break of serve by Hingis in the second set. It was almost a superstitious feeling that he had jinxed her--besides just being disrespectful to Stosur. Maybe it would have been different if I'd seen the first set, but I just happened to wake up at 2 a.m. MST and the first set had just ended. I was having flashbacks to the Hingis/Capriati Aussie Open match the longer that second set dragged on.

Agreed. Until JHH begins winning big tournaments on a more consistent basis again, however, I don't think they're going to show her much. She doesn't have a hook: she's not American, she's not conventionally sexy, she's not a big comeback story. Unless she's number one, I doubt you're going to see ESPN featuring her very often.

I also thought Nalbandian was the biggest threat. I'm just surprised that Haas turned out to be such an obstacle. Roger was really looking frustrated against him, which is just all kinds of weird. Almost as odd as seeing Tommy with his hair all cut off. Boy looked much better with longer hair and sleeveless shirts.

I think the commentators and Kiss My Grits are correct. The players who have the best chance against Federer are the ones who are well rounded (strong strokes on both sides) and powerful. Roddick isn't the former and Hewitt isn't the latter, which explains why he basically owns them. He's much more likely to lose to Safin, Nadal, Nalbandian, Haas, or someone like that.


That's what happens when you're the overwhelming favorite. (They said that last year, but he didn't win it.) You should enjoy the French Open much more. He'll still be one of the favorites there, but Nadal will take center stage.

I'm psyched that they're going to show the Nalbandian-Santoro match tonight, or so said the announcement at the end of this afternoon's broadcast. Obviously, because I'm a Nalby fan but also because Santoro is so much fun to watch. Hopefully it'll be a good one.

As an old-time Hingis fan, it's hard for me to judge whether they are fawning over her too much. I kept having the same thoughts in my head that they were saying as I watched her this afternoon and through all her matches. I can't believe it! Look at her form! It's like she never left! Could she win this thing?

I have to say I absolutely love Kiefer. He's so feisty out there! Plus, he managed to come back from two sets and match point down in the 1st round which is just amazing. I really hope he and Federer meet in the semis because Kiefer has really challenged him the last three times they have met. That and the legs. I do enjoy his legs ;)

Me, too. It's so exciting! I love their enthusiasm; I have to say I appreciate their fandom sometimes - even when it's for each other: i.e. PMac going all googly over getting to work with Dick and Cliffy.

I watched the first week of coverage from sunny Costa Rica (so not a whole lot of it!) on ESPN Deportes, and I gotta say that I now have a new appreciation for the gang - I don't know quite who those bozos were, but they were hard to take. And I've never seen so much Gaudio in all my life (and you regulars around here will know the net result of that! Gaudio+every night of TV = OopsSorry at the beach...)

Glad to see the second week here, and what a match to start with!

[ot] So Haas's girlfriend must have got the 2 weeks off grammar school...[/ot]

Hee-hee!!

I have to take exception to the complaints about the limitations of the ESPN2 coverage. Dudes, we are seeing live tennis every day and in the middle of the night! Tonight we have Nalbandian-Santoro live in prime time. Now, who honestly ever thought we'd see that?

And previous to tonight I've seen a reasonable amount of Nalbandian and a number of nearly complete Mauresmo matches. Sure, they've shown practically every minute of Roddick, Sharapova and Hingis. But I think it's entirely legitimate that they do so, even if I personally would prefer to watch Ljubicic much more so than Roddick and can't stand Sharapova. All three are leading players and big audience draws. Are they not supposed to care about ratings at all? I can't really blame ESPN for covering their matches in the early rounds of the tournament as well as Davenport, Federer, Hewitt, Mauresmo, Serena, Venus, Hrbaty, Blake et al.

So far, ESPN gets five stars from Harry. Seventy-two hours of coverage before last night and a lot of it live. Whoo-hoo!

Let's be honest, this is only because people like Roddick, Blake, Ginepri couldn't make it to the later rounds. They have to fill the time with someone.

As long as TSN airs Davenport v. Henin-Hardenne at 3.30am (which I am staying up for) I'll be happy with the day's coverage. I remember last year though they didn't air live tennis during one overnight block which I stayed up for and I was pissed with them.

I do agree with Harry that more live tennis coverage is a good thing.

Whew- this Maria/Nadia match has some sloppy tennis. When Tony said that they must be happy that the first set was over, I thought "I'm happy that the first set is over." Unfortunately, the quality is not much improved in the second set. I am most disappointed with Petrova. As Tony said- she was so in form before this match but the wheels came off.

It was a shame that Fabrice just lost all gas in the last to sets with his match with Nalby. It started promising. I loved the crazy point that Fabrice won where Cliff and PMac were giggling about it for a while afterwards. But at the end, it just seemed like a practice session for Nalby. He is looking strong, very strong.

I hope that they show the Baghdatis/Ljubicic match tomorrow at 2. It would be nice if they show all four of the quarters being played today. And the Croatian fans can be just as crazy with as the Greek fans, complete with soccer style shirts and chants.

I have been staying up so late this past week and a half that I will have to watch my Tivo of Lindsay and JHH tomorrow. I'm worried that it will not be as good as it could be because Lindsay's hurting.

I don't know if you were following the tournament last year, ghetto (rat?), but if a name they liked didn't make it through, they they didn't show the resulting match at all, much less show it live in prime time. You cannot tell me there wasn't some college basketball game (men or women), bass fishing, billiards or poker they could have filled that time with. But we saw the match live. A fourth round match, not even a quarter-final.

Plus, several times this year they have shown tennis when it wasn't in my schedule, as opposed to last year when at least once they didn't show tennis that was in the schedule.

I say we all email ESPN our appreciation because they have really stepped it up this year. Let's give credit where credit is due. Lord knows we don't often have reason to do so.

The Fabrice/David match was a QF.

But they have been better about showing live stuff this year than last.

Wasn't tennis scheduled to be shown at 6:30 PST? That's what my Tivo guide said. So if they weren't going to show Nalbandian-Santoro, then who? Junior's doubles? I think if live tennis is scheduled, they'll just show whoever makes it through. I don't think that they're going to show us reruns of the World Series of Poker just because Roddick or Hewitt is no longer playing.

Interesting observation by Luke Jensen on Petrova's attempted "icing the kicker" right before Maria served for the match. I wouldn't have interpreted it that way, but then again, I'm not sitting courtside. What does Petrova say to the trainer in order to get her to take her off the court? "Can you look at this blister on my ass?" "My underwear is causing some chafing?" I just don't see how the trainer gets suckered into participating in that type of gamesmanship.

I really could live without seeing endless shots of the male players's girlfriends in the stands. It is really tiresome to see the biting of the nails and the faraway looks. Enough is just enough.

They aren't so bad with the women. I wonder if it's because they feel some perverse need to repeatedly heterosexualize the guys.

That's right, rainmaker. THIS YEAR they made the commitment to it, whoever won. In previous years' coverage of the Oz Open it would have been bass playing poker, even if "scheduled".

Are you kidding? She had a horrible virus that might come back again. She had pretty bad injuries last year, and she's still one of the best. Plus her game is so pretty.

So we have a Sharapova/JHH semi. Hmm. Go JHH all the way.

It was disappointing to see Lindsay, again, down on herself. She's so mopey out there.

I'm thrilled Nalbandian won and finally got off the court quickly but the match was far less entertaining than I had hoped.

I was pleased to see Nalbandian-Santoro but I have no illusions that ESPN2 was always scheduled to show tennis at that time and it was the only thing available. However, in previous years, they might have shown a taped match at that time, say, Hingis-Stosur or Clijsters-Schiavone. They have been excellent about showing live tennis this year, as well as following a match to its completion rather than switching over to the World Series of Poker at 2am.

Those ubiquitous commercials for the "Grand Slam Channel" makes me think they are really serious about this now. Maybe they are facing more competition from TTC? Who knows.

Also in regards to commercials, I find those car commercials that use that "Ready, Steady Go" music which is the theme of USA's US Open coverage are disconcerting.

It is funny how rarely they show the women's husbands or boyfriends. Compare the amount of times you see Linday's or JHH's husbands versus the number of times they would show a Bec Hewitt.



And she had it rough with her mother dying when she was young, about 13. I can't remember if her father is still alive or if they are estranged but I seem to recall that JHH has essentially been without parents since she was a young teenager.

They did tell that story a lot at the time she won her first French Open- but don't mention it really anymore.

What exactly is her virus? It is a shame because it seems like it always has the danger of coming back.

I will throttle ESPN2 if they do not show the Marcos/Baghdatis match. I heard part of it on Aussie Radio when I was on my exercise bike this morning and wow! It was a five set match. Marcos led was 2-0 sets up, then Ivan brought it to a 5th set. Marcos pulled it out and won the match- woo hoo!

Even if it's James Blake's stunning blonde girlfriend? Yowza. I think she's in this month's Maxim.

So Davenport mopes her way out of a tournament once again. Yawn - what else is new? I really wish she wouldn't have that look when she's losing a match - it's annoying.

Can't stand JHH. She's like a scrappy rat that just won't go away. Have hated her ever since the controversy with Serena when she asked for time but then took the point when Serena double faulted.

It's CMV. Cytomegalovirus. It's a mono-like illness when it hits you as an adult. A lot of kids are infected but never show symptoms. But if you get it as an adult, it's pretty bad and it never really goes away. JHH can get it again if she over trains or over plays. That's why she has to be so careful.

I love Baghdatis! His "sweaty dudes" crowd amused me too. How many times do you get to see Cypriot cheering in tennis anyway?

I like it when a non-Spanish player or coach yells "Vamos!" That's one of the few things I like about Sharapova and her dad. Maybe the only thing. I even like it when a player yells "Come on!" a la Hewitt. I like it when certain players' habits rub off on the others for some reason.

I missed the live JHH-Davenport earlier so I hope to catch the Star Sports replay. But they're replaying Baghdatis-Ljubicic right now, and it's still the first set. Sigh.

OK, Keifer is one sleazy-ass bitch. I officially hate him for his antics-and for getting away with them.

I seriously think he may be a little nutty. Like something is not all right in the head. He has his quirks and just seems odd. His matches are entertaining that is for sure.

I am glad that Grosjean won that racket toss game. That would have been horrible if Sebastian had lost that game- how could he not have been distracted bu Keifer's flying racket? I agreed with Brad in his rage against the umpire and referee. Mary was certainly not amused by the racket toss. Though I must ask- she called Keifer a mutt- what exactly does that mean? She has some very folksy phrases sometimes. I remember how she called Gaudio a chowderhead during the 2004 YEC.

I giggled at the graphic of Cyprus with the yellow arrow that said "Baghdatis lives here!" I may be alone here, but I thought Marcos actually looked rather attractive in a hairy way that little snippet with his hair down. He does have a great smile.

Can't wait to hear the press conference.

I think he's scary. Really. He's obviously "off" in a lot of ways, but you couple that with his manic belligerence, and I'd be frightened. I've never liked him. I used to teach middle schoolers in a rough neighborhood and he reminds me of a couple of them - yet he's less forgivable because he's a spoiled brat and not wrestling with the issues those kids faced.

So I have a hard time watching him. I hadn't seen any matches before tonight, and tried not to focus in too much. I think for me it's the whining. Mary and (name?) did a good job tonight pointing out after the incident that had anything even slightly akin to that incident happened against Kiefer, we'd have never heard the end of it.

Boy sees the world from a dark, dark place.

Kudos to Mary for pointing out the Grosjean graciousness - she could barely muster the energy, I thought, to attend to the job of talking about the victor.

I liked Brad's intensity regarding the situation - and hope something more comes of this.

Mauresmo easily through her Quaters match, Yay! Now onto the Semis.

Now I have a dilemma... I don’t know who to root for in the Hingis vs. Martina match. Whoever wins this faces Mauresmo and I really want her to win her first Grand Slam.

Mauresmo's record again Hingis is not too good at 4-7. But that’s against the old Hingis... that might not matter against the new Hingis... but I don’t know. I've seen all of Hingis's matches at the Aussie Open and she has been playing real good.

Mauresmo's record again Clijsters is even worse at 3-8. Sigh. I think I want Hingis vs. Mauresmo... but I've heard Clijster isn't in the best of health....

ETA Damn Hingis is getting her ass kicked... hopefully she can get it together, i need her to lose against Amelie.

I loved that in the package before Martina's match, Marry called Martina a "haughty, high-handed champion." That's right and that's one of the things I love about Ms. Hingis.

Keifer's little antics? Nutty indeed.

I loved seeing Hingis check out her picture on the wall of champions as she walked out to the court to play Clijsters. And I liked the little sarcastic fist pump after she broke Clijsters and finally got on the board. She's having fun out there and it's nice to see-she honestly seems like the happiest big name women's tennis player.

I want Mauresmo to make it to the final too.

I think Clijsters is either exaggerating or straight up BSing about the extent of the injury. She seems fine.

And the umpire for the Hingis/Clijsters match? Hot.

Fucking Kim, that bitch. Go Sharapova! I loathe the rest of the field.

The only player that bugs me more than Kim is Sharapova. I want both of them sent packing.

And if I I hear Clijsters harp on about her injury one more time I will puke. She has been exaggerating her injuries in the past as well, just to end up winning the whole thing.

Damn right. Fuck Sharapova, that bitch.

Go Mauresmo! Hopefully Clijsters backhand is as fucked up in the Semis as it was against Hingis.

Two things:

1. Yay Clijsters!!! She had me worried there for a bit. Now I don't care who wins, as long as it wasn't Hingis. Actually no, I don't want Sharapova to win either, that ungainly shrieking ostrich. I like Mauresmo, but her constantly failing to pull it off annoys me a bit. I guess I'll root for the Belgians as always.

2. Kiefer is an ASSHOLE. To pull that crap against anyone is bad enough, but to do it to Grosjean? Who is one of MY players? Unforgivable. Like one of the commentators said, that will follow him for the rest of his career, probably the rest of his life, and he deserves it. Bitch. To Grosjean!!! This aggression will not stand, man.

That's why you should be rooting for her to win so she wont annoy you anymore. lol.

Damn, I’m having to stay up until all hours of the morning to see this, but I really wanted to see Hingis win tonight. Now that she’s lost, I don’t really care anymore. Amilie (half a man) doesn’t interest me at all, so I’ll just go back into my cave and wait for the Superbowl.

The thing I love about Federer matches is that the commentators are just as awed as most of us are. Federer made error after uncharacteristic error in that third set (especially the tiebreak)—he was even sweating!—but he got it when he needed. That's just amazing.

Hee hee hee hee.

So it's Amelie v. Kim. Go Amelie! I so want her to win her first GS. Such a lovely (in a mannish sort of way), soft spoken, smart woman, with such fantabulous game and minimal mental strength. Sigh. It's so hard being her fan sometimes.

And of course, I want JHH to beat the ostrich badly. And I do mean badly.

I missed the end of the Kiefer/Grosjean match. Can someone recap what happened? When I went to bed, Kiefer was down a break in the fifth set. I don't like him at all. He's definitely more than a bit nutty, and he's a fool. It was easy for Tim Ryan and Mary to make fun of his antics when they weren't particularly out of line, but apparently something happened that was out of line. Hmmm. I want to know.

The Fed/Davidenko match almost made me late for work. I missed the last set, but the third set was so difficult to watch. Cliff was right when saying that Roger was performing a Houdini act. Davidenko played great. Too bad about the double fault to end the 3rd set.

Henin Hardenne should beat Sharapova. The sharapova vs. petrova match? That was just a bad game all around. So many errors, very few first serves were in play....bleah. Sharapova won, just because Petrova did worse. I still can't believe Petrova lost a 40-0 lead in the final game...into having Sharapova win, by making 6 unforced errors in a row.

The highlights of the Clijsters/Hingis match were great. I must be one of the few mmmmmmMaria fans here. I'd love to see a Sharapova/Clijsters final, and I wouldn't mind seeing the lovely Maria win. Even though she hasn't won a Slam since Wimbledon two years ago, she's been consistently good and has pretty much avoided the "one-hit wonder" talk by continuing to perform at a high level.

My preferred order of winners: 1) Sharapova; 2) Clijsters; 3) Amelie, the Queen of Choke; 4) Henin Hardenne

I wasn't paying full attention to the Kiefer match, but I think he threw a racket and then called for an injury time out, etc. Eh, it probably doesn't matter, because I saw the winner of either him or Grosjean getting pasted by Federer anyways. On the men's side, my preferred order of winners: 1) Nalbandian, 2) Baghdatis, 3) Kiefer, 4) Bitter Beer Face Federer.

And go Bryan boys! Here's hoping they finally win an Australian Open.

I've always liked Grojean, and even more now considering how he handled himself after the match. I would have said "fuck you" to Keiffer.....and the chair umpire.....AND the referee. I hope all 3 of them watched a reply of that point and saw that it clearly showed Keiffer flinging his racquet into the air in an attempt to distract Grojean. What a classless little jerk Keiffer is. I hope Federer cleans his clock.

Clijsters? You're not injured. Sharapova? Stop with the intense, pissed off look at your dad after every point. You both grate.

I hope Mauresmo takes it all. What a great player and a great sportsman. She didn't have to go up to Kraijcek after the match to see how she was feeling from the heat exhaustion, but she did. Kudos to Kraijcek, also, for making the press aware of the fact.

I'm with Brad Gilbert, Mauresmo should easily win this title. Last night was crazy, for minute I thought Hingis would win, and Federer would lose. Anyhow after watching most of her matches, I think Hingis aquitted herself quite nicely; if she could beef up that serve she would be even better. And I hope Federer spanks Keifer.

I came in at the beginning of the fifth set in the Grosjean/Keifer match, and Keifer had called for the trainer after losing the 4th in a tiebreak. Evidently by then there had already been a lot of drama from Keifer's side because the referee had a little talk with him during the break.

I'm floored by Grosjean's ability to act like a gentleman after the match. I'm not sure I would have been able to be gracious at the net like that. I think the racquet-throwing really took the wind out of Grosjean's sails and he looked exhausted by the end.

Is there any point at which the umpire could have started deducting points from Keifer because of his antics? Or is it all left to fines after the match? Seems like losing a few games due to being a jerk would be a lot more painful than paying a few measly thousand dollars after the fact.

And good for Brad Gilbert for expressing his disgust at Kiefer. It was good to hear Brad and Mary taking a stand against his bad behavior. However you feel about their commentary, both seem to have a real love for the game and a real respect for its history.