On day four of the 2011 Australian Open, the men continued to make the seeding committee look good.  However, it was a young Australian, Bernard Tomic, that revived the local fans and kept Australia’s tournament pulse alive.  The unflappable youngster took measure of 31^st seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez and overcame 20 aces to gain the third round with the 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory.

For the vocal local fans, it was a great win and kept the home country’s last man standing in the tournament.  The bad news is that he will have to beat what looks to be an invincible opponent in the top seed, Rafael Nadal, to keep the Aussie ball rolling into the round of sixteen.

Tomic’s steady serve and effective high-risk groundstrokes wore on the 31^st seed.  After losing the second tiebreaker, Sanchez seemed to deflate and lost his competitive edge.  Along with his 20 aces and 47 outright winners, Sanchez committed 47 unforced errors compared to Tomic’s 35 unforced errors and 21 winners.

Tomic will be facing the best of the best on Saturday when Spain’s number one stands across the net.  Nadal led all the top seeds, with the exception of 10^th seeded Mikhail Youzhny, to straight set wins in round two.  Youzhny went the distance in his 6-3, 6-1, 5-7, 4-6, 6-1 win over Slovakian surprise, Blaz Kavcic.

One of Wednesday’s upsets was recorded by Czech Jan Hernych against Brazil’s star Tomaz Bellucci in five sets 6-2, 6-7 (11), 6-4, 6-7 (3), 8-6.  In the end, it was Hernych’s successful 70 percent first serve and 69% first serve winners that framed the victory.  The hard-serving Bellucci had 25 aces compared to just 12 from Hernych.

The other upset was notched by dart thrower and qualifier Marcos Raonic of Canada.  Already established as a promising star of the future, Raonic racked up 21 aces and won an outstanding 88 percent of his first serves recording a straight set 7-6 (3), 6-3, 7-4 (4) triumph over 22^nd seeded Michael Llorda.  The 20-year old from Thornhill, Canada, will next do battle with Youzhny, who will have to be at the top of his game to take out the lone Canadian survivor in the draw.

Talking about big serves, America’s 6’9” John Isner overcame a slow start to fly by veteran Radek Stepanek in four sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.  Isner dialed in 20 aces, committed 39 unforced errors but had 42 winners compared to just 14 for Stepanek.  The American only broke serve 11 percent of the time in 2010, but registered 5 breaks against the fatigued Stepanek.

Big name stars, Nadal (1), Soderling (4), Murray (5) and David Ferrer (7) showed no weaknesses or letdowns.  The big four at the top of the draw won in straight sets, sometimes advancing without a whisper of resistance.

The expectations might have been too high for Juan Martin Del Potro.  The easy going Argentine fell to Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.  Juan Martin had moments of brilliance but they were few and far between as Baghdatis used a trainer’s timeout to slow the momentum of the big hitter.  In the third set, Del Potro seemed to awaken as his serve and piercing forehands finally surfaced.  It proved to be too little, too late.

Stosur, Zvonareva and Clijsters Advance

Despite Bernard Tomic’s continuation in the Men’s Draw, is carry the home nation’s highest expectations.  As a possible winner, Stosur appears to have an excellent chance.  Her topspin serve has proven to be the difference in her two wins thus far.  Against Russian Vera Dushevina, Stosur made it look easy by winning 70% of her first serves in a 6-3, 6-2 win.  The Aussie’s backhand is an important part of her story.  On Thursday, the backhand looked solid.

Stosur will face a stern challenge from the hungry 25^th seed Petra Kvitova who downed Anna Chakvetadze 6-3, 6-4.  The 6’0” Kvitova has some game and a competitive drive.

The women had three seeds taken out on Thursday.  The most notable was Jelena Jankovic (7) of Serbia who went down in straight sets to China’s Shuai Peng 7-6 (3), 6-3.  Jankovic continued a history of failure at Melbourne but this was a big win for Peng, who is looking to break into the top 20 this year.

France’s unseeded Alize Cornet broke down Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (26) 7-5, 6-1.  Sanchez caved in after dropping the first set.  For the veteran Cornet, the win was a rare hard court win over a top 30 opponent.

Romanian youngster Simona Halep played well in ousting a hot Alisa Kleybanova (24) in two sets, 6-4, 7-6 (2).  The win marks Halep’s debut in the third round of a major.

After her thrashing of former number one Dinara Safina, third seeded and bookmaker favorite to win the title, Kim Clijsters said she expected her opponents to show up ready to play.  The comment appeared a slap at the moody Russian’s demeanor.  On Thursday, she again made it look too easy in downing Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3.  Clijsters is playing like the favorite.

But, so is number 2 seed Vera Zvonareva, who rallied to post a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over a game Bojana Jovanovski .  The composed young Serb is a player to watch.

Russian Anastasia Pavyluchenkova (16) looks impressive.  Employing an array of penetrating baseline forehands and backhands the youthful powerhouse looks to be on track for a big tournament.  Her 6-2, 6-2 destruction of German Kristina Barrois kept her under the radar but reflects her potential to go deep in the tournament.

Anastasia will next face Maria Kirilenko’s (18) victor, Czech Iveta Benesova, a 6-3, 6-1 win.  Both young winners made it look pretty easy.  Their matchup will be worth watching.

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