Journalism of Courage
Numbers told the surprising story for Serena Williams in her fourth-round loss at the Australian Open on Monday. Seven double-faults,including four in one game; 37 unforced errors,and a first-serve percentage of just over 50 percent that had her convinced maybe I should have started serving lefty.
Some other numbers indicated why her 6-2 6-3 loss to Russias Ekaterina Makarova was more of a shock,particularly at this stage of the years first major. She has played 43 singles matches at Melbourne Park since she won the first of her five Australian Open titles in 2003,and Mondays loss was just her third.
I know that I can play a hundred times better than I did this whole tournament, Williams said.
Without Williams,the only major winners still in contention were Maria Sharapova,defending champion Kim Clijsters and Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova. Sharapova will play Makarova in the quarters after she beat Germanys Sabine Lisicki 3-6 6-2 6-3. The 2008 champion blew a 3-0 lead in the opening set,needed three set points to win the second and advanced on her second match point despite making 47 unforced errors and eight double-faults.
Kvitova also had some trouble before beating former top-ranked Ana Ivanovic 6-2 7-6 (2). Kvitova will next play Sara Errani of Italy,who beat 2008 semifinalist Zheng Jie 6-2,6-1.
In the late night match,defending champion Novak Djokovic reached the quarterfinals for the fifth straight year with a 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3 win over former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt. Djokovic was up two sets and a break before Hewitt won six straight games to force a fourth set. But after losing a set for the first time in the tournament,Djokovic regained his composure to ensure all of the top five men reached the quarterfinals. He will next play No. 5 David Ferrer,who had a 6-4 6-4 6-1 victory over French Richard Gasquet of France.
Earlier,two-time runner-up Andy Murray was leading 6-1,6-1,1-0 when Mikhail Kukushkin retired from their fourth-round match with a left hip injury,giving Murray an easy path into the quarters.
Nishikori creates history
Murray will next play Kei Nishikori,who had a stunning 2-6 6-2 6-1 3-6 6-3 win over sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga,the 2008 finalist.The 22-year-old Nishikori became the first Japanese man in the last eight at the Australian Open in 80 years,and only the second man from his country to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal since the Open Era started in 1968.
Shuzo Matsuoka reached the 1995 Wimbledon quarterfinals. Its unbelievable. My first quarterfinal and beating Tsonga,makes me really happy. I hope its big in Japan, Nishikori said.
Bhupathi-Mirza win
Sania Mirza reached the quarter-finals of both womens doubles and mixed doubles events with Elena Vesnina and Mahesh Bhupathi respectively. Sixth seed Sania and Bhupathi,came from behind to beat Czech Iveta Benesova and Austrias Jurgen Melzer 3-6 6-4 12-10 in the second-round match in one hour and 11 minutes. Rohan Bopanna and American Lisa Raymond,also got the better of the Australian pair of Casey Dellacqua and Matthew Ebden 6-4 6-2 in their second round match.
Earlier,Sania and her Russian partner Vesnina downed 12th seeds Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA 7-5 6-3. The Indo-Russian pair were 1-5 down in the first set when they won six straight games to take the opener. They next face second seeds American pair of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond.
