The annual two-week tournament – often referred to as the “Happy Slam” – once again left underdogs and challengers in tears after 14 days of competition. That’s because the elite players in this sport – and no one else – announced to the rest of the world that they’re intent on staying at the top.

Saturday, Serena Williams defended her women’s singles championship and reminded the WTA Tour that she’s still on top of her game. One day later, on a sweat-filled Sunday night at Rod Laver Arena, Roger Federer followed Rafael Nadal’s 2009 crown with his own latest and greatest achievement.

Federer might have lost to Nadal in last year’s men’s singles final at Melbourne Park, but that wrenching five-set loss – played at a very high level for the first four sets of a match Rafa won in five – illustrated how high the bar had been set by two decorated rivals. Federer and Nadal spent the 2009 Australian Open beating back all nascent challengers, and so it must be said that after Federer took home the 2010 men’s singles trophy by beating Andy Murray in straight sets, the “old guard” of proven champions has maintained superiority over and against the rest of the field.

Federer proved to be the better player throughout Sunday’s championship match against the fifth-seeded Murray. A dependable serve combined with airtight focus on every essential point enabled the world’s No. 1 player to produce a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (11) triumph in 2 hours and 41 minutes. While denying Murray his first Major crown and forcing the United Kingdom to wait a few months for its long-sought breakthrough moment, Federer won his 16th Major championship to distance himself from Pete Sampras’s former record of 14 Big Four scalps.

There was no mystery to the sweet supremacy of the Swiss: In a refrain that’s become extremely familiar to every opponent not named Nadal, the most accomplished tennis player of the open era simply lifted his level at the business end of each and every set.

Even though Murray increased his stature over the past two week in Australia, and despite the fact that men’s tennis has managed to produce many different men’s singles finalists in the past year, it’s still the big boys who – with only a few rare exceptions – add to their trophy case at the end of a premium. Serena Williams is to women’s tennis as the Federer-Nadal axis is to the ATP Tour, for only these three players know how to close down opponents. Whenever intrigue entered the building on Sunday night, it was Federer who – like Serena in the women’s final against Justine Henin the day before – found the form and fearlessness needed to tuck away another titanic triumph, adding to his growing legend in the process.

You could talk about the fact that Roger Federer outserved Murray in this match, 66 to 57 percent. You could talk about the fact that Murray thumped only two aces in the first two sets. You could analyze this match by rightly noting that Murray didn’t do enough with the short balls Federer sent his way. All of those elements played a substantial role in deciding this duel, but the most salient piece of commentary that can be applied to this contest is that when the outcome of a set hung in the balance, it was Federer who brought a bolder brand of ball to the stadium.

In the first set, leading 4-3 and 30-all on Murray’s serve, Federer played two virtually perfect points – finishing with an inside-out forehand winner – to break for 5-3. One authoritative hold later, he put the first set under his belt and didn’t allow Murray to get a sniff at an early-stage comeback.

In set two, Federer broke early and was able to hold serve after grabbing a quick 2-1 lead. Instead of feeling the pressure late in the second set, the Swiss only improved his first serve when toeing the line at 4-3 and 5-4. Federer won eight of nine points in those two separate service games, using a mix of aces, service winners, and powerful first serves that set up easy put-away forehands.

And then came the third-set tiebreak that left a lasting imprint on everyone who witnessed it. It wasn’t quite “Borg-McEnroe 1980″ on the fabled lawns of Wimbledon, but a 24-point tussle that lasted over 18 minutes provided a powerful conclusion to the 2010 Australian Open.

Murray had his second set point of the third set at 6-5 in the breaker, but netted a down-the-line forehand approach to the deuce corner. On another set point at 7-6, Murray saw a makeable backhand volley drift wide of the sideline. On his fourth set point, at 9-8, Federer dictated the proceedings and drew a forced error on a defensive lob. On a fifth set point at 11-10, Murray couldn’t do much about a strong first serve from Federer which hit the wide ad corner of the service box. Murray spent his time flinching on set points, while Federer – though hardly error free – was able to deliver the goods each time his Scottish opponent threatened to take this match to a fourth set.

Then, at 11-all, the 15-time Major champion decided to put his foot down in the pursuit of Sweet Sixteen.

Fed hit behind Murray to produce his third championship point, and when Murray netted a backhand at 11-12, it was all over. Just as Serena Williams persevered against Justine Henin and stayed on the mountaintop in the women’s game, Mr. Federer reminded Andy Murray that the Roger-Rafa combo – which has now won 18 of the past 20 men’s singles Majors – is still to be trusted in the biggest tournaments on the calendar.

The Australian Open has now concluded. Serena Williams and Roger Federer made sure the Happy Slam ended in sadness for everyone but themselves.

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Serena Jameka Williams and Justine Henin entered their ultimate Saturday showdown in Melbourne with 18 Major singles titles between them. Because the two iconic athletes were contesting the first Major final in 14 head-to-head meetings, Williams and Henin were assured of creating a 19th Big Four championship inside Rod Laver Arena. The only question was: Who would be able to rise above the pressure in this classic confrontation?

For a while, it appeared that Henin would do the deed, but in the end, it was the world’s best female tennis player who prevailed on the basis of her patience.

Williams did lead this match by a 6-4, 3-2 score, and seemingly had her Belgian foe on the ropes midway through the second set. However, in keeping with the pattern of her career, Henin refused to wilt in the face of an opponent’s resourceful and resolute performance. Just when she was teetering on the edge of a straight-set dismissal, the seven-time Major champion elevated her game.

Serving at 2-3, Henin played a pair of picture-perfect points at deuce to level the set at 3-all. Then, late in the seventh game of the set, Henin gained confidence after her American adversary missed a second serve by a considerable margin. Throughout this match, Henin made a conscious and intentional choice to attack Serena’s second serve with punishing returns.

Most of the night, those high-risk returns zoomed beyond the baseline, but late in the second set, every shot off the Belgian’s racquet found the mark. Playing unconscious tennis and standing on a mountaintop of magnificence, Henin won 15 straight points to not only take the second set, but gain a 1-0 lead in the third and make a dent in Serena’s service game.

For the first time since the 2006 Wimbledon final involving Henin and France’s Amelie Mauresmo, a women’s singles final at a Major tournament had gone three sets. Henin owned all the momentum, and the capacity crowd inside Laver Arena wondered if the unseeded superstar – back from a 16-month hiatus from the WTA Tour – could continue to calibrate her high-risk groundstrokes.

She couldn’t… but in order for that to happen, Serena Williams had to make Henin question herself.

Serving in the third set at 0-1, 15-40, Serena threw down an ace and then dominated the 30-40 point with a series of groundstrokes followed by a forehand volley winner. When she held for 1-all in the deciding stanza, Serena not only avoided trailing by a break; more importantly, she stopped Henin’s hot streak and caused the underdog to feel pressure once again.

That’s when the spell got broken.

After the two champions exchanged breaks of serve, it was Henin who flinched at 2-all, 30-15, in the third. Henin tossed in a double fault for 30-all and then watched Serena smack an intimidating return winner for 30-40. So intent on finishing points with authority, Henin overcooked an easy forehand on break point to give Serena a 3-2 lead. The Belgian bomber, once on Mount Olympus, had come down from her perch. Serena Willams had waited her out successfully, much as Roger Federer waited out Nikolay Davydenko in this tournament’s men’s quarterfinal match from Wednesday afternoon.

The rest was history. Serena won the final three games and captured a riveting 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 decision to capture her 12th Major singles title, tying her with Billie Jean King. Justine Henin helped to make this match memorable, but the only thing people will truly remember as this match fades into the history books is that Serena Williams won the 2010 Australian Open, reminding fans and pundits alike that she’s the best tennis player of a young 21st century.

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No, it’s hard to be overly creative in assessing the second Major final to pair the world No. 1 with Britain’s best hope for a defining tennis championship. When Federer and Murray lock horns on Sunday at Rod Laver Arena, their ballyhooed battle will come down to the two most elemental shots in tennis: the serve and the return.

For Federer, the first serve will be hugely important in the Swiss superstar’s twenty-second Major final. Fed’s second-serve kicker is solid, and it will win him some points, but it’s really on the first ball that the 15-time Major champion must make his move.

Federer depends on a steady stream of cheap points during matches. A copious amount of service points with no more than three strokes enables Federer to feel comfortable on the court and pick his spots as a returner. If the first serve is flowing on a consistent basis, Federer should be able to worm his way out of tight spots and steer the match in his direction.

With all that having been said, the biggest reason why Federer’s first serve will be so important on Sunday is that if he doesn’t convert a high percentage of first balls, Murray will make him pay. The Scotsman, seeking his first Major singles title, owns what is felt by many to be the best return of serve in men’s tennis, with Nikolay Davydenko being a close second.

Murray eats up second serves, and so if Federer has to hit a lot of second balls, he’ll lose a fair share of service points. Murray can then dictate the flow of the match and maintain a steady advantage.

Speaking of Murray’s ability to keep the upper hand, that will happen only if Britain’s best manages to beef up his second serve.

One of the big knocks on Murray’s otherwise resplendent set of skills is a cream-puff second serve bereft of bite or kick. Murray’s vulnerability on second-serve points – which really separate elite pros from also-rans in this sport – kept him from reaching the final round of every Major in 2009.

As he attempts to become the first British subject since Fred Perry (in 1936) to win a Big Four championship, Murray will have to find a second-serve kicker that can bail him out of jail.

If Murray lacks an above-average second serve, Federer will be able to tee off and win points quickly, which will deny Murray the ability to construct extended rallies and engage the Swiss in backhand-to-backhand exchanges that will certainly favor the Scot.

A sure way to assess this match is to identify quick points and distinguish them from prolonged points. The more quick points in this match, the better for Fed. The more extended rallies – particularly on the backhand wing – the better it will be for Murray.

See – that analysis was pretty boring. Yet, it’s hard to look at this blockbuster matchup in a decidedly different way. The fictional character James Bond existed “At Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” On a significant Sunday in Melbourne, Australia, Andy Murray will need to display first-rate service if he is to topple Roger Federer and make tennis history in the country James Bond called home.

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The fifth-seeded Murray – ranked fourth in the world and poised to climb up the rankings in short order – defeated No. 14 Marin Cilic on Thursday night. The Scotsman who bears Britain’s hopes for Grand Slam glory punched a ticket to his second Major final with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 triumph in 3 hours and 2 minutes.

This four-set fightback didn’t just give Murray a fatter paycheck and a place in a prime-time spotlight on Sunday night in Melbourne. This come-from-behind conquest has a chance to be remembered as the moment when a talented contender learned how to comport himself in the biggest pressure cookers the sport of tennis can create.

Davis Cup always tests elite tennis players, but that event is fueled by the fires of nationalism. Moreover, Davis Cup also involves a team concept and the safety net of on-court coaching during a match. This leaves the four Majors as the tournaments that most fully expose a tennis player’s soul.

In Australia, France, England, and the United States, the lure of a supremely prestigious individual championship compels the world’s very best ballstrikers to tear each other apart in mortal combat. Physical fitness is essential to this line of work, but so is the realm between the ears. Without the right mentality under the microscope of Major tournament pressure, a perfect tennis body won’t amount to much in the end. This was the reality staring down Andy Murray in the semifinal stage of the 2010 Australian Open.

Murray, one will quickly recall, lost to Cilic in the fourth round of the 2009 U.S. Open. Murray had his chances in a contentious first set, but failed to capitalize. Cilic, a 21-year-old Croatian, made Murray pay dearly in the form of a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 wipeout that prevented Britain’s shining hope from making even one Major final in all of 2009.

When Murray made the 2008 U.S. Open final, a loss to Roger Federer couldn’t dwarf the emerging sense that the Scotsman was destined for greatness at a very high level. However, when Cilic charged past him in New York, Murray had to wonder if late-round struggles in Big Four events would become a lingering theme of his career. Such a realization represents a bulky form of emotional baggage, the kind of weight that can stifle holistic growth and snuff out a promising tennis journey before it has a chance to blossom.

Knowing that he needed to overcome his past failures at Majors, and knowing that Cilic so powerfully represented those failures over four months ago at the U.S. Open, Murray understandably began this Australian Open semifinal with an all-too-human emotion: fear. While Cilic blasted away from the baseline in the opening set, a tight and anxious Scottish athlete forgot to do the things that made him a top 5 player.

Murray spent the first set (and the first few games of the second) failing to move his feet and hit shots with the aggressive authority witnessed in his demolition of No. 2 Rafael Nadal in Tuesday’s quarterfinals. Seemingly paralyzed at the prospect of losing another big match at a Major, Murray allowed his younger foe to boss him around the court. With Cilic leading by a 6-3, 2-2 score, Murray knew he’d have to summon the strength that great players do when confronted with pressure.

One shot allowed that very process to take place. Given a break point on Cilic’s serve at 2-all in the second set, Murray retrieved a net cord shot by Cilic that bounced in the service box. After Cilic lobbed the Scotsman, Murray pretended to throw up a lob before – at the last instant – clubbing a turnaround forehand winner which zoomed past his stunned Croatian opponent.

Murray broke for a 3-2 lead, but more significantly, he broke through between the ears. After that highlight-reel display, Murray found the confidence that was missing in the first 13 games of the match. The footwork returned to form, the groundstrokes became more penetrating, and untimely errors decreased. With Cilic having played two straight five-set marathons before reaching his first-ever Major semifinal, Murray knew that as long as he enjoyed a neutral position in extended rallies, the odds suggested that his foe would falter.

That’s exactly what happened, as Murray cruised through the last three sets on serve and coasted to a 6-2 fourth set which wrapped up the match. The same Andy Murray who played the first 13 games with a raw bundle of nerves had authored the kind of turnaround that championship-caliber competitors manage to produce. Murray walked off the court with an attitude and a demeanor which suggested that a river had been safely navigated, a threshold successfully crossed. So timid at the start of this Cilic-based challenge, Murray had become a low-key, all-business tennis pro when the smoke had cleared in Melbourne.

The Andy Murray who began Thursday night’s fateful match will continue to lose in the fourth rounds of Majors. However, that’s not the Andy Murray who advanced to the Australian Open finals. As long as the good version of this ballyhooed Brit shows up on Sunday, a nation starved for a tennis champion – the first in Britian since Fred Perry in 1936 – will have a good chance to rediscover what it feels like to support a winner of the highest order.

All that’s left for Mr. Murray is to play the entirety of Sunday’s match with the flinty determination that mowed down Marin Cilic in Australia.

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When one considers the quality of the matchup that’s been established for Saturday’s women’s championship match, Chinese tennis fans would do well to plunk themselves before a television set and drink up the drama that’s sure to unfold when Serena Williams and Justine Henin duke it out for the year’s first Major title. However, it would be hard to blame the people of China if they ignored tennis after Thursday’s difficult day at the central office of the Melbourne Park tennis complex.

On an historic afternoon, two Chinese women contested a pair of Major championship singles semifinals for the first time ever. In the first semifinal of the day, 16th-seeded Li Na took on world No. 1 Serena Williams, the best female tennis player of the past 10 years. In the second semifinal, unseeded Zheng Jie brought her equipment bag to the world’s most famous plexicushion court for a date with one of her idols, seven-time Major champion Justine Henin, the second-best female tennis player of the past 10 years.

One match proved to be a mighty scrap, while the other evaporated into thin air after less than an hour, but in the end, the scoreboard results were sadly the same for China and its two gallant challengers. Serena needed 2 hours and 2 minutes to win a straight-set slugfest against Li, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1), while Henin required just 51 minutes to brush aside Zheng, 6-0, 6-1. Serena and Henin will proceed to a dream final, while China’s two underdogs leave Melbourne Park with hundreds of thousands of dollars and increased respect from the WTA Tour locker room.

In the first semifinal, Li had her chances to write a different narrative against Serena, who had to play the day’s early match so that she could contest the women’s doubles semifinals later that night with sister Venus Williams. Serena’s body was dragging for much of the match, and as a result, the fitter and fresher Li was able to hang with the world No. 1 in extended rallies.

By merely running down balls and keeping the yellow pill within the field of play, Li forced Serena to strike a balance between aggressiveness and patience, between attack-oriented tennis and energy conservation. This tightrope was hard for Serena to walk, and when the underdog gained a 6-5, 30-15 lead in the first set on Serena’s serve, there was a distinct possibility of an emergent upset.

Right then, however, Li flinched. An easy, standard-issue groundstroke flew long for the No. 16 seed, who felt the tension of her first-ever Major semifinal. On the next point at 30-all, Li missed a running crosscourt forehand that, while not exactly easy, merely needed to be bunted into the open court in order to produce a winner. The shot floated into the net, however, and Serena gained another reprieve. The best closer in women’s tennis took advantage, held for 6-all, and then outlasted Li, 7-4, in a sloppy tiebreak that featured six straight points won by the receiver.

In set two, a similar narrative emerged: Li had her chances, but couldn’t convert. Serena would promptly punish her foe for failing to deliver a dagger.

A second straight tiebreak would not only decide the second set, but very likely the outcome of the match. Much as Serena used a second-set tiebreak win to turn around her three-set quarterfinal victory over Victoria Azarenka the day before, Li had a chance to use a second-set breakthrough as a pivot point in a potential three-set conquest of a physically flagging opponent.

In the first few points of the tiebreak, Li dictated the form and flow of the rallies, but nervous errors – particularly at 1-2 and 1-4 – ended any and all hope of an all-Chinese final. Serena displayed spectacular defense to win a 1-all rally in that telling tiebreak, but for most of the eight points played in that sequence, Li simply couldn’t keep the ball between the white lines. The progression of events reminded tennis fans that great champions don’t have to make highlight-reel plays; they simply need to make fewer mistakes.

In the second semifinal, drama briefly entered the building when Zheng, a small woman (under 5-foot-5) but a huge underdog, gained break point on Henin’s serve at 1-2, 30-40. However, a badly butchered forehand from Zheng allowed Henin to hold for 3-1 and breathe a sigh of relief. That one moment – which had a liberating effect on a great champion – enabled Henin to hit freely and overwhelm her less credentialed adversary. A steamroller gained momentum, and never stopped rolling over the next 40 minutes. Without any shred of suspense, the Belgian superstar claimed 12 of 13 games and finalized the ultimate encounter tennis fans have been waiting for.

Chinese tennis fans had a great 12-day run at this tournament. One can only hope they’ll turn on their televisions one more time when two all-time greats take the court in Saturday’s women’s singles final at the 2010 Australian Open.

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Yet, those same people should have realized that when champions are getting outplayed, they can and do find ways to change the flow of a given competition. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be champions in the first place.

Whether you wrote off Serena and Federer or not, it’s impossible to any longer ignore the fact that the two top seeds in the women’s and men’s singles tournaments are simply made of rare and special stuff. Yes, a big comeback does require an adversary to step off the mountaintop and come back to earth, but that same comeback also demands the ability on the part of the champion to ride out a storm, stay close enough to remain a factor, and use a few turning points as emotional fuel for a defining and decisive surge.

Plainly put, Serena and Federer – both in deeper-than-deep trouble inside Rod Laver Arena – used solitary mistakes by their formidable but frail foes to turn matches on a dime. In so doing, these two giants of tennis – with a combined 26 Major championships to their names (11 for Serena, 15 for Federer) – reminded Australian spectators and global TV watchers why they should never be discounted, even in the midst of the deepest and darkest valleys imaginable.

How bleak was Serena’s outlook in her round of eight match against seventh-seeded Victoria Azarenka? The younger Williams sister – moving horribly and using terrible footwork – blew a number of game points in the first set  and created a negative vibe for one and a half sets. With Azarenka storming to a 6-4, 4-0 lead, many tennis watchers assumed that the even-year jinx which has afflicted Serena Down Under (she won the Australian Open in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009) would continue.

But just when you might have thought it was safe to mentally advance Victoria Azarenka into the semifinals, the competitive pride and ruthlessness of Serena Williams returned. The best closer in women’s tennis seized on a brief moment of weakness from her Belorussian challenger to author a comeback for the ages.

With Serena serving at 0-4 and deuce, Azarenka tried a drop shot that didn’t work. Though trailing by a mile and on the verge of defeat, Serena found fire and focus after that one errant play by the No. 7 seed. Serena promptly won that game to get on the board, and before very long, the American was blasting winners all over the court and not making the unforced errors that had sabotaged her whole game for the first one and a half sets. Serena stormed through a second-set tiebreak, and before anyone could adjust to this match’s transformed dynamics, Serena had walked off with a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 win and a spot in the semifinals against China’s Li Na.

For Federer, the pattern was oh-so-similar to the one Serena experienced.

After getting crushed in a set and a half by Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko, Federer gained his reprieve and made the most of it. Already down a set, Federer – serving at 1-3 and 30-40 in the second set – watched Davydenko race inside the service box and net a sitter that should have produced a winner and a double-break 4-1 lead. When Davydenko missed that shot, however, the Russian began to doubt himself, and Federer – being the accomplished performer he is – realized that such a shift had taken place.

Federer turned on the afterburners and acquired the flow and feel that had been missing in the first one and a half sets. The Swiss superstar raced through the back end of the second set and a bagel in the third, giving an increasingly nervous Davydenko absolutely nothing to work with. Davydenko woke up midway through the fourth set and erased a 3-1 Federer lead, but when the chips were on the table, Federer broke “Kolya” at 5-all and then – at 6-5 – served out the match thanks to a barrage of untouchable first serves. It all started with a costly missed volley from Davydenko in the fifth game of the second set.

One moment became a turning point in a crazy quarterfinalk, but that’s largely because Roger Federer was able to see that brief lapse as a gateway toward victory, and not a reason to fade away into the night.

Serena Williams. Roger Federer. They’re in the final four in Australia. Underestimate them at your own considerable peril.

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Before tonight’s women’s semifinals get underway at Rod Laver Arena, it’s worth recognizing the accomplishments of Zheng Jie and Li Na, the two women who stand in the way of a potential Serena Williams-Justine Henin blockbuster matchup in Saturday’s final.

Zheng punched her ticket to the final four in the women’s draw on Tuesday by knocking off Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinals. On Wednesday afternoon, Li – the 16th seed – overcame multiple daunting deficits to knock off sixth-seeded Venus Williams in the round of eight, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5, in 2 hours and 47 minutes. The twin victories put two Chinese women in the final four of a major singles championship for the first time ever. In a century that has witnessed China’s rise as a global superpower, the events between the painted white lines in Melbourne have given the ascendant nation ample reason to celebrate something truly inspiring.

Zheng did make a Major semifinal once before, at Wimbledon in 2008. On that occasion, the diminutive 26-year-old, who stands at under 5-foot-5, got dismissed by Serena Williams. At the time, it was reasonable to think that Zheng’s big run in suburban London was a distinct aberration, so her ability to once again crack the semis at a signature tournament says a great deal about her resilience and perseverance.

As for Li, the long and protracted survival act against Venus Williams, a seven-time Major champion, propelled the 27-year-old veteran to her first-ever semifinal in one of the four Grand Slam events. Li called the win over Venus “the best moment of my life.” Clearly, Li recognized the magnitude of her achievement, not to mention the importance of being able to join Zheng, her compatriot, in celebrating China’s finest tennis hour.

The exhilaration witnessed in Li’s bearing after her quarterfinal-round victory was not just the product of nationalism or the extra-large paycheck that will soon be deposited into her bank account. What had to make this top 20 player so happy in the bright and punishing sun of an Australian summer was the fact that she beat Venus Williams the way Venus has outclassed so many foes over the years.

Like her sister Serena, Venus created much of her fame and fortune by coming back from deficits and racing past opponents near the finish line. Being down 3-5 in the final set was merely an invitation for Venus to reveal the full measure of her competitive attributes, and pull out a 7-5 triumph that would leave an accomplished tennis pro muttering to herself on the other side of the net.

In this match, however, it was Venus who established the early lead, only for Li to take ownership of the afternoon’s most consequential sequences.

Venus cruised in the first set and served for the match at 5-4 in the second, but Li broke to stay in the thick of the fight. In a second-set tiebreak, it was Li who remained composed while Venus’s groundstrokes unraveled, enabling the Chinese underdog to force a third and deciding set.

Venus gained a 2-0 lead that became a 4-2 advantage, but Li was undeterred. The less heralded player on the court became the more confident one, as that two-game deficit turned into a 5-4 lead. Venus broke back for 5-all, but Li found the mental fortitude needed to return the favor, break for 6-5, and eventually close the sale when she nailed a forehand winner.

Maybe, just maybe, Li Na and Zheng Jie will be able to derail the Serena-Henin final that is generating a lot of buzz throughout the tennis community. But even if they don’t prevail in the semifinals, Li and Zheng have already served notice that their careers on the professional circuit have borne more fruit than the nation of China ever had a right to expect.

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Marin Clic

Marin Cilic and Andy Murray are putting their demons behind them. Two young guns in the world of men’s tennis finally showed a readiness to seize one of the biggest prizes in their sport.

Tuesday at the Melbourne Park tennis complex, Cilic and Murray punched tickets in a semifinal showdown. The 14th-seeded Croatian and the fifth-seeded Scotsman registered quarterfinal conquests at the 2010 Australian Open. Cilic outlasted American Andy Roddick, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, in 3 hours and 50 minutes. Murray didn’t get to win a match the traditional way, but the top 5 talent clearly outplayed Rafael Nadal before the Spaniard retired with Murray leading, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 3-0, at Rod Laver Arena.

The greatness of Cilic’s triumph was twofold: First, the Croatian overcame a 4-hour, 38-minute marathon in the fourth round against Juan Martin del Potro and persevered in another extended slugfest.

Secondly, Cilic blew a two-set lead and faced love-40 on his own serve at the beginning of the fifth stanza, but saved those three break points. Having done so, the mentally liberated 21-year-old regrouped and pushed past the injury-hampered Roddick in five sets.

It was just four months ago that Cilic defeated Murray in the fourth round of the U.S. Open but then lost to Del Potro in the quarterfinals. This time, the protege of coach Bob Brett was able to back up one big fourth-round result with another significant success story in the round of eight.

That shift in methodology was readily witn His physical endurance and late-match poise represent the signs of a mature performer who can handle the crucible of crunch-time competition. It’s true that del Potro and Roddick – his last two victims – were both battling injuries, but two years ago, Cilic might not have possessed the internal fortitude needed to take advantage of his wounded adversaries.

For Murray, the story is a little different. While Cilic has cause to celebrate his first-ever Major semifinal appearance, the breakthrough for the pride of Dunblane, Scotland, is more immediate in nature.

Murray played extremely passive tennis in last year’s Wimbledon semifinal loss to Andy Roddick, and interestingly enough, a similarly tame and timid performer got drilled by Cilic himself at the 2009 U.S. Open. As 2010 arrived, the tennis community felt that Murray would not win his first Big Four event unless or until he started to play aggressively and with a much more offense-first focus.
essed against Nadal, a decorated champion and an unsurpassed grinder in tennis.

With a ferocious two-handed crosscourt backhand and lethal down-the-line shots from both wings, Murray constantly surprised his more celebrated Spanish foe. Attacking the net behind bold approaches and big serves he hasn’t always been able to deliver, Murray took the fight to last year’s Australian Open champion, dictating play despite Rafa’s very best efforts.

Though Murray blew a number of chances to break Nadal and serve for the second set as a result, Murray was able to dictate play in the second-set tiebreak that gave him a two-set lead. While Nadal covered the court and chased down numerous balls, it was the Scotsman who found himself regularly in control of rallies, and just as instructively, able to end points with thunderous groundstrokes.

If Murray plays like this, he’ll very likely win the Australian Open. But first things first: In order to reach Sunday night’s final, the man whom Murray must play next is the same person who drummed him out of New York. It’s time for two up-and-coming athletes to see if Marin Cilic’s September conquest of Andy Murray was a fluke occurrence or the sign of things to come.

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Rafael Nadal

There will be a time and place to celebrate the winners of the first two men’s singles quarterfinals at the 2010 Australian Open. (In the next post, actually!) But one can’t comment on two riveting spectacles at Melbourne Park without addressing the acute agony of the valiant competitors who lost on Tuesday.

Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal, for all they’ve achieved in the sport they love so much, were left to wonder how their best efforts – not their best technical performances, but their best and most spirited fights – could lead to such physical pain combined with disappointingly early exits from Australia.

Roddick, the seventh seed, lost to 14th-seeded Marin Cilic in the day’s first quarterfinal, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3. Nadal, the No. 2 seed and the defending champion, lost the first two sets against fifth-rated Andy Murray before retiring in the third set of a match the Scotsman led, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 3-0. While Cilic and Murray entirely earned their spots in the first men’s semifinal on Thursday night, the recognizable opponents they defeated could tell plentifully powerful tales in defeat.

For Roddick, the nature of his loss had to sting in a larger context. Roddick, a 27-year-old who has been through so many tennis wars in his career, has long been a victim of terrible timing. If Roddick had hit his prime years even two years earlier than he actually did, the American likely would have captured at least one Wimbledon, if not two. However, this mainstay in the top 10 on the ATP Tour just happened to develop at the same time that a Swiss fellow named Roger Federer discovered how to blend mental toughness with a full arsenal of shots. As a result, Federer would win multiple Wimbledon, U.S. Open, and Australian Open titles at Roddick’s expense.

But that doesn’t tell the whole story about the terrible timing of Roddick’s lucrative but trophy-poor tennis life.

Bad timing also touched Roddick’s 2005 Wimbledon final against Federer. With Roddick playing his very best tennis and leading the Swiss superstar 4-2 in the third set of a match tied at one set apiece, the skies opened up in suburban London and caused a rain delay. Given a crucial break, Federer regrouped and dominated when play resumed. Because of the weather, Roddick lost one of his best chances to claim a Wimbledon championship.

But an even more excruciating loss would come four years later.

Roddick – at 8-all in the fifth set – had 15-40 on Federer in the 2009 Wimbledon final. Just one more point would have enabled this Texas resident to serve for the crown he had always coveted. But his Swiss foe played two authoritative points, held for 9-8, and eventually won the third set, 16-14, to deny Roddick yet again. A hard-working athlete proved to be in the right place, but not at the wrong time.

This brings us to the loss to Cilic.

Roddick was playing an opponent who had just come off a 4-hour, 38-minute win in the fourth round of this event. Heading into this match, Roddick had a good chance to win by virtue of his physical fitness developed under coach Larry Stefanki.

Instead, Roddick’s body betrayed him at the wrong time. Early in the second set, he asked for an ATP trainer. It was revealed after the match that he felt numbness in two of his fingers along with an achy shoulder that took a lot of pop from his fearsome serve. The lack of punch in Roddick’s groundstrokes was evident against Cilic, who – though inconsistent – was able to lift his level of play in the fifth set.

Basically, if Andy Roddick didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck at all.

And then there was Rafael Nadal’s sad end against his rival from Scotland.

Nadal and Murray played two thrilling sets of tennis that were closely contested and turned on a handful of points. Nadal broke Murray in each of the first two sets, only to get broken back in the very next game. Murray played the best major tournament match of his career (which is saying something for the No. 4 player in the world), but even when he took a two-set lead, Nadal – who moved fluidly around the court – still had a shot to create a protracted battle. If anyone could come from two sets down, the six-time Major champion could.

But then, his dream – and his Australian Open title defense – died.

Nadal felt a twinge in his knee – which has been affected by tendonitis in recent months – on the second point of the second game of the third set. The Spaniard tried to make a go of it, but when Murray held for 3-0, this decorated performer felt there was little use trying to continue. Just when Nadal had seemingly regained a strong measure of health, his balky body spoke up at exactly the wrong time.

Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal have nice problems compared to many, but that doesn’t change the fact that they endured very difficult losses in a tournament they hoped to own.

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The year’s first leg of the Grand Slam series exploded with action in the middle of the first week before taking a breather on Saturday. Now that week two is at hand, tennis fans should once again expect some sensational slugfests in Melbourne Park.

Today, we’ll look at the remainder of the women’s field.

The bottom half of the draw, which starts the fourth round on Sunday (Australia time, of course), features tests of body and mind. The battle of bodies is a Belgian affair, as seven-time major champion Justine Henin drags a somewhat weary frame to the court against countrywoman Yanina Wickmayer, a 2009 U.S. Open semifinalist who hasn’t lost a match this year.

Henin needed 2 hours and 50 minutes to turn back fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva in a second-round heavyweight bout, and she then had to labor for three more sets in a draining third-round win over No. 27 Alisa Kleybanova. Henin’s match against Dementieva was a night match, and her contest with Kleybanova was a day match, so the former world No. 1 had a relatively short turnaround between her previous two matches.

This fourth-rounder against Wickmayer will be a night match, which will give Henin several extra hours for her body to recuperate. If Henin is appreciably fresh, and isn’t hampered by the strain of competition after spending more than a year away from the WTA Tour, she should win. But if the older Belgian is sluggish and tired, the younger Wickmayer owns the punishing groundstrokes that can run Henin ragged.

Nadia Petrova

The main test of the mind comes in that same section of the women’s draw, as two volatile and erratic Russians – Nadia Petrova and Svetlana Kuznetsova – will try to see who can maintain poise and composure for a longer period of time. Both of these women – longtime fixtures in the top 20 (Kuznetsova in the top 10) – get down on themselves at the drop of a hat.

They must maintain a high level of belief even when the flow of the match works against them. The fact that they’ll be playing each other should calm their nerves to a certain extent, but in the final analysis, the realm of mental toughness should decide their match more than any X-and-O considerations.

Whoever emerges from that portion of the women’s draw – Henin, Wickmayer, Petrova, Kuznetsova – will have an excellent chance of reaching the final. In the top half, there’s only one name to keep track of, and that’s Serena Williams.

The defending Australian Open champion, who is also the No. 1 player in the world, faces tests that are tricky, but not worrisome. Australia’s Samantha Stosur will receive crowd support in Monday’s fourth-round match, but Serena is clearly a superior player.

If Serena takes care of business at each stage of the tournament, her toughest pre-final test would likely come against sister Venus Williams, who must get past a credible opponent, 17th-seeded Francesca Schiavone, in the round of 16. Venus could play No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals, but it’s hard to see how the diminutive Dane can match Serena’s power in a potential semifinal. An all-Williams semi is the best possible matchup the top half of the draw can provide.

In terms of the quality of each player left in the women’s draw, Serena and Henin are the class of the field. But if fitness becomes an issue, Wickmayer could surprise a lot of people. And if the Russian contingent displays poise under pressure, Kuznetsova could do some major damage to the rest of the bracket in Melbourne.

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