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  • Summary of Day 2 - second quarter of the draw

    1/15/08 4:51 PM | Cheryl Murray
    - Novak Djokovic's section of the draw saw all but one seed advance to the second round on Tuesday.

    Radek Stepanek, the only seed to be knocked out, was up 2 sets and a break on American Vince Spadea, only to lose 2-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3. Down 2-4 in the third set, Spadea broke to get back on serve, and Stepanek's game simply fell apart.

    Djokovic advanced convincingly over Germany's Benjamin Becker 6-0, 6-2, 7-6 (5). Djokovic, who performed poorly at the end of 2007, looked fresh and confident; he was too quick and too strong on the important points to give the German a chance. Djokovic plays Simone Bolelli in the next round.

    The number 32 seed, Dmitry Tursunov beat Belgium's Xavier Malisse 6-7( 1), 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 in a bruising 5 set match. Malisse has difficulty keeping his intensity level up, and as is the case in this match, will often take a mental vacation in the middle of the match. Next up for Tursunov is American Sam Querry.

    Australian Lleyton Hewitt was also in good form, beating Belgian Steve Darcis handily 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 to the delight of the crowd at Rod Laver Arena. Hewitt will play little-known Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan.

    Other players advancing to the next round from this section include Marat Safin, who had a good win over Latvian upstart Ernests Gulbis, number 5 seed David Ferrer, and number 22 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero.

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