Australian Fire Power: There has been a tremendous amount of pressure on the top Australian players, Bernard Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt, as they are playing in their home country for this year's first major tournament. The fans expect a strong showing from their hometown players and expect them to perform well on the biggest stage and in front of the home crowd. Mark Edmondson remains the last Australian to win the Australian Open when he beat fellow Aussie John Newcombe in the 1976 final 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1. An Australian hasn't won the Aussie Open in the last 36 years and Australians Bernard Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt are looking to end that drought this year. Both Tomic and Hewitt have advanced to the round of 16 and of their 6 wins, 4 of them have been against seeded opponents. The 19-year-old Tomic has captured the Australian crowd through his tough and competitive victories. Tomic beat Fernando Verdasco and Alexandr Dolgopolov in two long and grueling five set matches. He has been feeding off of the crowd's enthusiasm and all their energy and support. The big 6 foot, 5 inch Aussie said after his victory over Dolgopolov, "Tonight was a really good match and a match that I need to win... I think the crowd made me win so thank you for coming out and supporting me." Lleyton Hewitt has been a home town hero in Australia since his first appearance in the grand slam all the way back in 1997, as he continues to wow the crowd to this day. As always, Hewitt has played very consistently and has limited his unforced errors. In his four set victory over #23 Milos Raonic in the third round, Hewitt had just 32 unforced errors compared to Raonic's 54.
The Dominance Of The Top Four: The women's tennis game has been pretty wide open since 2009. Since the 2009 French Open, 7 different women have won a grand slam. However, the men's game has been dominated by the top four players (Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal Roger Federer, and Andy Murray). Since the 2005 French Open, Juan Martin Del Potro's U.S. Open championship in 2009 is the only time a player aside from Djokovic, Nadal, or Federer has won a grand slam and this year looks no different from any other. The top four players have been dominate thus far and look on a collision course to all meet in the semifinals just like they did at the French Open and the U.S. Open last year. Djokovic has lost a total of 10 games in 3 matches and he has faced just 8 break points in three matches. The four time grand slam winner has hit 80 winners and just 42 unforced errors. Like Djokovic, Nadal and Federer haven't dropped a set thus far and Murray has lost just one set. Nadal and Federer have both won over 80 percent of their first serve points. However, Djokvoic and Federer won't have a lot of fan suport in their next match as the Joker plays Lleyton Hewitt and Fed plays Bernard Tomic. Looking down the road, the biggest threats to stop the top four meeting in the semi-finals are likely Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martin Del Potro, who have Andy Murray and Roger Federer in their quarters respectively.
Marcos Baghdatis's Meltdown: With the top players all having little trouble through the first week and a lack of upsets, as only four of the 16 remaining players are unseeded, one of the highlights of the tournament was Marcos Bagdatis's meltdown. Marcos Baghdatis has been loved in Australia since he made his incredible run to the finals of the major back in 2006. Also, Baghdatis has received huge fanfare and support in Melbourne because of the large Greek-Australian population there. The Cyprus born star has a great following at the tournament. However, in this year's Australian Open in a night match on Margaret Court Arena in the second round, Baghdatis didn't fare as well. While he was down 2 sets to love and a break to #21 Stanislas Wawrinka, Baghdatis had an eruption and an emotional breakdown. To take out his frustration and anger, Baghdatis smashed four of his rackets during a change-over. It was quite a meltdown to witness. Serena Williams said, "I've done that. That's impressive. Wow." 1992 and 1993 Australian Open Champion Jim Courier said, "I hope he gets a share of the YouTube clips. It was such a raw moment."
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