Saving face

Alberto Martin couldn8217;t save the match, so he saved face. The veteran clay-courter finally held his service Tuesday in a first-round match against Andy Murray to avoid a triple bagel.

8226; Alberto Martin couldn8217;t save the match, so he saved face. The veteran clay-courter finally held his service Tuesday in a first-round match against Andy Murray to avoid a triple bagel. Martin was trailing 6-0, 6-0, 5-0 when he prevented Murray from becoming the first player in the Open Era to win a match with all zeroes at the Australian Open.

8220;You probably get one chance in your lifetime to win a match 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. I can8217;t remember it happening,8221; said Murray. The 19-year-old Scot said he spoke briefly to Martin at the net at the end of the match. 8220;I just said, 8216;Bad luck8217;. That was pretty much it,8221; Martin said. 8220;There8217;s not too much you can say.8221;

Missing the flight

8226; Two sets down and facing two break points, David Nalbandian thought his Australian Open campaign was all but over. Then came his opponent8217;s meltdown. Playing on an outside court, Serbian Janko Tipsarevic had the measure of Nalbandian in their first round match, winning the first set in a 5-point tiebreak, the second 6-4 and establishing a 5-2 lead in the third.

8220;I was on the plane back home8221; at that point, said the 8th-seeded Argentinian. But the oppressive heat dropped heavily on Tipsarevic letting Nalbandian climb back to win the third set and sweep the fourth 6-0 before the Serb retired in the fourth game of the Fifth.

Hot Memories

8226; Three-time Australian Open champion Martina Hingis made short work of her first-round opponent in the air-conditioned comfort of a roof-covered Vodafone Arena. After her 6-0, 6-2 win over Nathalie Dechy, Hingis had a chance to reflect on her championship match here in 2002 against Jennifer Capriati in a sweltering Rod Laver Arena, when Hingis virtually melted down and lost in three sets to the American.

8220;I was just exhausted,8221; Hingis said of her finals loss in 2002, the second year in a row she lost to Capriati in the final in Australia. 8220;Some ladies in the locker room on Tuesday 8230; they were like almost joking with me: 8216;Does that remind you of something?8217; I8217;m like, yeah, right.8221;