Well, that spectacular second round of the Australian Open flew by, let's take a look at who didn't survive it!
Despite being 5-2 up in the third set, Stosur lost against Zheng: 4-6, 6-1, 5-7. It looked so promising for Sammy, but shaky service games made her lose her precious lead. It's a damn shame Stosur can't preform better in Australia, but it's bye bye Australian Open for her! Also Cibulkova didn't survive the second round, but after a difficult first round match, it was kind of expected she would fall early in this Grand Slam.
Another second round victim was Kvitova. She also had a 3-0 lead in the deciding set after two fickle sets with ups and downs from the Czech and Laura Robson. The British teenager (with Australian parents, that could explain the tremendous cheer for the underdog!) crawled her way back into the match and forced the eight seed to play beyond 6-6 (no third set tiebreak here!). From that point on, it was just a nailbiting battle with some lovely points. It was Robson who served it out (on the second try after having a 6-5 break earlier): 2-6, 6-3, 11-9. And that amazing British girl is just 18 (birthyear: 1994, can you believe that?!). She'll be facing another teenage wondergirl Stephens in the third round.
Well Serena didn't get beaten by her opponent in the second round, that's for sure. She confirmed it: 'the only one to beat Serena, is Serena herself!' when accidentely hitting herself in the face during a point. Her press conference was to die for, she herself thought the situation was hilarious, check it out: here (under interviews) and for the actual mouth smashing:
The other seeded players didn't have much problem getting to the next round like Kerber, Bartoli, Wozniacki, Na Li and Azarenka. In this incredible heat (over 100F or 40°), it's important to get it over with quickly. And while Radwanska still hasn't lost a set this year, Sharapova has yet to lose a GAME this Australian Open, overcoming Doi: 6-0, 6-0 again.
I'm cursed, I can only think about pudding when watching those white-yellow outfits!
Another surprise story is the 42 year old Japanese Date-Krumm who keeps winning this Australian Open after playing this Grand Slam for the 19th time!
The third round features some great mash-ups, not the least a Sharapova vs. Venus encounter! Other interesting matches: Wozniacki vs. Tsurenko (she downed Pavlyuchenkova in the first round and had a great run as lucky loser in Brisbane!), Watson vs. Radwanska and Ivanovic vs. Jankovic. Keep posted!
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