A fan’s eye view of Day 5 at the Australian Open.
From 40 degrees yesterday to patchy rain and some roof closures today. That’s Melbourne! And fortunately AO isn’t held in Sydney because today was the hottest day on record, reaching 46 degrees C.
In the big matches from the day session, Tipsarevic defeated Benneteau in five sets and Anderson defeated Verdasco, also in five sets.
The day session on Rod Laver finished nice and tidily again, with the three scheduled matches being won in straight sets, giving the team plenty of time to get ready for the 7pm night session.
The night session, hyped up to be a blockbuster, ended up being straight sets wins by Sharapova over Venus Williams and Ferrer against Baghdatis.
Ground Passes and Rod Laver Arena tickets for the middle Saturday (which always draws record crowds) are already sold out.
Watch the Day 5 Night Session Highlights
I’m running a competition to see who can predict the score between Federer and Tomic on Saturday night You can find out more and enter here.
The Seeds
Women
- No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova d Venus Williams 6-1, 6-3
- No. 4 seed Agniezska Radwanska defeated Heather Watson 6-3, 6-1
Maria Sharapova at the Melbourne Sugarpova launch
More photos from the Melbourne Sugarpova launch.
Watch the AO Sharapova v Williams Match Preview
Men
- No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic d Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-3, 7-5
- No. 4 seed David Ferrer d Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
David Ferrer in round 1
Injuries
For the second day in a row I haven’t heard of any retirements in singles matches due to injuries.
Australian Open Day 5 Schedule and Results
Rod Laver Arena Day Session
- Angelique Kerber d Madison Keys 6-2, 7-5
- Na Li d Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-1
- Novak Djokovic d Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-3, 7-5
Rod Laver Arena Night Session
- Maria Sharapova d Venus Williams 6-1, 6-3
- David Ferrer d Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
Hisense Arena Day Session
- Agniezska Radwanska d Heather Watson 6-3, 6-1
- Ana Ivanovic d Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 6-3
- Kevin Anderson d Fernando Verdasco 4-6 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) 6-2
Hisense Arena Night Session
- Tomas Berdych d Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
Margaret Court Arena
- Ekaterina Makarova d Marion Bartoli 6-7, 6-3, 6-4
- Janko Tipsarevic d Julien Benneteau 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
- Stanislas Wawrinka d Sam Querrey 7-6, 7-5, 6-4
Notable Matches On Other Courts
- Julia Goerges d Jie Zheng 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
- Nicolas Almagro d Jerzy Janowicz 7-6, 7-6, 6-1
Updates from 2013 Australian Open so far
Watch the Day 4 highlights
Other Tennis News
Roger Federer
Wins 249th match at Grand Slam Events and sets up Australian TV’s ‘Dream Match’. Davydenko, with 18 losses, is third on all time list of most defeats by Federer. The top two are Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt.
Madison Keys
Headline writers delight in their use of keys. Keys to success and keys to the future.
Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova
Style queens in first match since 2009.
Rafael Nadal
In case you’ve missed it. Rafa will be back soon, playing in his first ATP World Tour event in South America since 2005.
Until next time
Grand Slam Gal
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