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  • Round 3 Summary - Third Quarter of the Draw

    1/18/08 11:02 PM | Ricky Dimon
    - Mikhail Youzhny's straight-set destruction of Ivo Karlovic wasn't the only lopsided affair in the third round of the third quarter of the draw. Instead, all four winners posted decisive victories and only one of the four matches extended past three sets.


    Nikolay Davydenko, the fourth and highest seed in the third quarter of the Australian Open, is still alive and kicking after his routine straight-set victory over Marc Gicquel. It wasn't a particularly clean match (Gicquel committed 52 errors and struck just 29 winners, while Davydenko also had more errors than winners, 28 to 24). Still, the favored Russian was more than good enough to take out his French opponent 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. Davydenko broke Gicquel more than half of the time, taking seven of Gicquel's 13 total service games. Often one to break serve and then get his own mediocre serve broken right back, Davydenko held an impressive 11 of his 13 service games. Another notable statistic is that Davydenko, who is usually content to grind it out on the baseline for hours and hours, came to net 24 times and won 18 (75 percent) of those points. He has not dropped a single set through three matches in Melbourne Park.

    As impressive as Davydenko has been so far, perhaps no player has been making more noise at the season's first Grand Slam than Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. After upsetting ninth-seeded Andy Murray in the opening round and cruising past Sam Warburg in round two, the fast-rising Frenchman was back at it again on Thursday, erasing Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Despite playing just three sets and being on court for only one hour and 43 minutes, Tsonga still managed to fire 46 winners past his opponent, including a ridiculous 21 aces. His serve consistently overpowered Garcia-Lopez and Tsonga won 43 of 52 (83 percent) of first-serve points.

    In the fourth round Tsonga will take on fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet, a 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 winner of Igor Andreev. Gasquet wasn't anywhere near as flawless as he was in his second-round thrashing of Feliciano Lopez, striking 45 winners but also 38 unforced errors. Nonetheless, other than a minor hiccup in the third set Gasquet had little trouble with the Russian, who would have preferred a much slower court. Andreev's heavy topspin forehands did not have their intended impact on the new Plexicushion surface Down Under.

    Gasquet and Tsonga have met head-to-head three times in their careers, with Gasquet holding a 2-1 edge.

    Davydenko, who has not dropped a single set through three matches, will next take on fellow Russian and 14 seed Mikhail Youzhny. The two Russians have squared off on three previous occasions and Davydenko has won all of them. Youzhny, however, is playing some of the best tennis of his life right now and should make things extremely interesting this time around.

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