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- Maria Sharapova was matched shriek for shriek, and ultimately defeated by Maria Kirilenko 7-6, 3-6, 6-4. I bet Tiffany & Co are pissed off they spent so much money paying her to wear a pair of earrings for one day.
- Turns out when Sharapova loses the 1st set in a Grand Slam she only wins 30% of matches. However, when she wins the first set she wins 95% of matches. I guess the 66 unforced errors made life a little difficult.
- Peter Luczak came out to play Rafael Nadal on Rod Laver arena apparently the most nervous he’d ever been. He managed to stay with Rafa, and almost take the first set from Rafa (his nerves got the better of him) until the obvious happened and Rafa wore him down. A typical Nadal match – a battle of attrition… Nadal always (just about) comes out on top of that sort of match. Most players can only match his intensity for 1-2 sets.
- While on the topic of Nadal… Whoever is picking his clothes since he got rid of the bicep shirt needs to be fired. The combination of an orange, pink and white striped shirt, white shorts with a diamond pattern and a see-through, raincoat looking jacket was just shit-house, and I’m strongly pro-Nadal. Not a good look.
- Luczak seemed to question his players box a few times as to whether he should challenge a call… They really need to enforce the challenge rules and not let players slowly wander up and stare at the mark for 10 hours before they challenge.
- Andy Murray crushed Kevin Anderson. Kim Clijsters also predictably crushed her Canadian opponent.
- Jelena Dokic returned to Rod Laver Arena (where she is currently down 1-4) looking edgy and emotional. Win? Unlikely.
Retired tennis player Elena Dementieva is a step closer to having the family she talked about when she retired. On July 16 Elena married hockey champion Maxim Afinogenov at the Ritz Carlton in Moscow.
