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Andy Roddick reached the Last 4 of the Australian Open for the fourth ‘successive-alternate year' after defending champion Novak Djokovic retired due to illness; early in the fourth set of an absorbing quarter-final clash.

Djokovic got the better of Roddick in the opening set tie-break after 12 flawless service games from both players saw no break points at all in the first set. Djokovic went ahead 4-0 in the early exchanges, and held that advantage to wrap up the tie-break 7-3.

Djokovic had been the more aggressive of the two players throughout that opening set, as he tried to dictate play. Roddick wa s happy to play the counter-puncher and committed only 3 unforced errors.

However Roddick did not let the disappointment of dropping the first set get to him as he broke Djokovic for the first time in the match in the all important seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. Roddick served brilliantly to close out the 2nd set to set up what should have really been a very exciting contest. The 2003 US Open champion conceded just 2 points on his serve in the whole set!

The start of the third set was a bit of a contrast to the others, with the players swapping breaks in the opening service games. Djokovic produced an outstanding effort to win the 3rd game despite being two break points down, and now visibly struggling with his fitness.

An injury time out at the end of the third game did little to restore his condition, as he lost the next five games in a row and the set 6-2.

In the first game of the 4th set, Djokovic produced another Herculean effort to save four break points and stop the run of games that went against him. Roddick however was not to be denied, he broke the champion to love in his following game, and with no light visible at the end of the tunnel, Djokovic decided to end his own misery and retired from the match.

Great result for Roddick, his verbal sparring with Serena Williams seems to have done him some good, the American progressed to his 4th Australian Open semi-final (previously in 2003, 2005, 2007) with a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 2-1 victory.

Roddick will take on his old nemesis Roger Federer in the next round. Federer was in breath-taking form as he completely demolished 8th seed Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 in just 80 minutes. This was the best Federer has played by far this year, and comes as a stern reminder to all his critics that he is still a force to be reckoned with.

In the only other singles action in the morning session, 7th seed Vera Zvonareva reached her first ever Grand Slam semi-final with a 6-3, 6-0 demolition of 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli. Bartoli too struggled with the Melbourne heat, and committed a shocking 26 unforced errors in a match that barely lasted an hour. Zvonareva's opponent in the semi-finals is the no. 3 seed Dinara Safina. Safina again had a marathon encounter today, this time with Australian Jelena Dokic. The Russian finally coming through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

 

Tough day for the Indians

Mahesh Bhupathi & Mark Knowles of the Bahamas, the third seeds struggled past the all Spanish pairing of Feliciano Lopez & Fernando Verdasco 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.

They will take on the Austrian-Polish pairing of Oliver Marach & Lukasz Kubot for a place in the final.

Mahesh and compatriot Sania Mirza will take on the Canadian pair of Aleksandra Wozniak & Daniel Nestor in the mixed doubles quarter-finals tomorrow.

US Open mixed doubles champions Leander Paes & Cara Black (Zim) were dumped out in the 2nd Round at the hands of the talented left-hander Patty Schnyder & South African veteran Wesley Moodie 6-1, 7-5. In rather uncharacteristic fashion Paes & Black struggled with their return of serve, winning just four points against their opponents serve in the opening set.

Leander will play his men's doubles quarter-final match tomorrow.

In the junior boys event, top seed Yuki Bhambri continued to impress with a 7-6 (1), 6-0 victory over local lad Stephen Hoh, and then followed it up with getting back on court a couple of hours later to team up with Liang-Chi Huang (Tpe) to beat Marco Bortolotti (Ita) & Vladzimir Kruk (Blr) 6-3, 6-4.

However, the rest of his compatriots were not quite as fortunate. Kaza Vinayak Sharma was hammered 6-1, 6-1 by Justin Eleveld of the Netherlands. And Kyra Shroff, teaming up with Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, lost her 2nd round doubles match to the no. 6 seeds Christina McHale & Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-1.

Yuki is now the sole Indian flag-bearer in the juniors event.

Photograph Copyright: Tidalist