Andreas Seppi’s defeat of Roger Federer (2) was the big story of the third round. The defeat opened up that quarter of the draw and was especially helpful for Andy Murray and Grigor Dimitrov who have both suffered heavy defeats to Federer recently (Murrayat the WTF, Dimitrov in Brisbane).
Seppi played his solid brand of backcourt tennis, and Federer spoke of how he was weary of the Italian’s forehand and backhand before the match. The Italian was also experienced enough to take advantage of Federer’s ‘bad day’. The win was especially satisfying as Seppi managed to close out the match, a feat he did not achieve back in 2012 in the fourth round of Roland Garros when he led Novak Djokovic two sets to love.
Murray (6) cruised past Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-1, 7-5. He now faces his Wimbledon 2014 conqueror Grigor Dimitrov (10) who had to battle for five sets to get past 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis. Murray will be the favorite to make the semis if he gets past Dimitrov as he has head to head leads over both Kevin Anderson and Nick Kyrgios who will face off in the other last sixteen match in that quarter. Murray, if he makes it to the semis, might want to send a thank-you note to Seppi- the Scot won only one game the last time he met Federer last November.
Impressive displays.
Federer’s subpar display was in stark contrast to the one given by the man man he was seeded to meet in the last four, Rafael Nadal (3). The third seed tore through Dudi Sela for the loss of seven games. It was a return to grand slam form for Nadal who was pushed to five sets by Tim Smyczek in his second round match.
Another impressive display was by defending champion Stan Wawrinka (4) who beat Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 and showed no signs of an elbow injury apparently picked up in his tough second round win. The Swiss will play surprise last sixteener Guillermo Garcia-Lopez who beat Vasek Pospisil in straights. The in form Wawrinka now has a chance to avenge his first round defeat to Garcia at last year’s Roland Garros.
Thomas Berdych (7) was also impressive. The Czech beat Troicki, the in form Sydney champion 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Novak Djokovic (1) was more businesslike than anything in his defeat of Fernando Verdasco (31), winning 7-6, (8), 6-3, 6-4. The Serbian had raced through his two opening matches and was tested by the Spaniard who was a semi-finalist in Melbourne back in 2009.
Feliciano Lopez (12) beat Jerzy Janowicz in straight sets, and Gilles Muller, famous for knocking Andy Roddick out of the 2005 U.S Open, upset another American, this time John Isner (19), in straight sets.
Milos Raonic (8) continued his under the radar progress as he beat Benjamin Becker 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
Worrying moments
Kei Nishikori (5) dropped the first set of his match on a tiebreak to Steve Johnson, but quickly pulled himself together and dropped just six more games.
David Ferrer (9) also dropped a set to Gilles Simon (18), who led him 2-1 on hard courts before their match. The Frenchman came back from 2-5 down in the fourth set playing a sublime mix of defense and offense, to take the fourth set to a tiebreak, but Ferrer secured an immediate minibreak and held serve to close out the match.
Upsets
Kevin Anderson (14) turned the tables on Richard Gasquet (24). The Frenchman led him 4-1 in their head to head, but the South African won in straight sets, and was helped out a little by the Frenchman who choked leads in the second and third set tiebreaks.
Home victories.
Australia had two winners in the last 32, both unseeded. Bernard Tomic beat Same Groth in straight sets and Nick Kyrgios beat Malek Jaziri, also in straight sets.
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