David Nalbandian was fined $8,000 for his outburst on Friday where he threw water at a staff member at the Australian Open. The incident happened in his match against John Isner and frankly I can easily see why he got upset!
Nalbandian commented about his penalty and said, “ridiculous playing this kind of tournament with this kind of umpires.”
Other penalties included:
Julien Benneteau’s $2,500 penalty for verbal abuse is the next highest.
Marcos Baghdatis was fined $1,250 for smashing four rackets on Wednesday.
Overall, I think Baghdatis got the best out of the penalties, it could have been a lot worse! Additionally, it got him a huge amount of press!
Last night (Australian time) I was watching Marcos Baghdatis and Stanislas Wawrinka match. Baghdatis seemed to be in complete control in the first set, but really struggled to close out the set. This seemed to become a trend for the rest of the match.
Wawrinka won the match 7-6 6-4 5-7 6-1.
p.s. Did I mention that Baghdatis broke four racquets during the match! Great to see some emotion on court from a top player (shows it means a lot).
Mens Singles:
A lot happened today in the mens singles. First of all in the key matches with the top players both Nadal, Soderling and Murray advanced quite easily. However, there were a few upsets! Marcos Baghdatis (27) was defeated by Leonardo Mayer in straight sets, Florian Mayer was defeated by Alejandro Falla in four sets, Nikolay Davydenko (28) was defeated by Antonio Veic in a tuogh five set match, and Sam Querrey (24) was defeated by Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets.
The dark horse seems to be Lukasz Kubot who progressed again with a straight sets win over Carlos Berlocq. Kubot has come through some tough matches in qualifying and has already taken out Nicolas Almagro (11) and Carlos Berlocq in the main draw, with both of these players being clay court specialists.
Womens Singles:
Match of the day for me was Maria Sharapova (7) against young French lady Caroline Garcia. Garia was playing some amazing tennis and was making Sharapova look like your average hacker. Garcia was up 6-3 4-1, but then she seemed to remember that she was playing on center court at the French Open against Maria Sharapova. After that she didnt win another game and Sharapova won 3-6 6-4 6-0.
Apart from that all seeds that played today pushed into the next round, apart from Alexandra Dulgheru (27) who lost to Sorana Cirstea 6-2 7-5.
Mens Doubles:
Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimoniic (4) played some great tennis today and defeated Igor Kunitsyn and Ivan Ljubicic. Watch out for these guys in the tournament!
Womens Doubles:
Casey Dellacqua and Rennae Stubbs are an unseeded team to watch in the womens doubles. They just defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm and Shuai Zhang 6-1 7-6.
Slovakian glamour girl, Daniela Hantuchova, is the latest to confirm her attendance at the Brisbane International in January.
The world number 19 was a semifinalist at the Australian Open in 2008 and broke into the top 10 when she reached number 5 in August 2002.
She will be joined by French Open Champion Ana Ivanovic and reigning Australian Women’s Hardcourt Champion Na Li in the women’s draw.
The men’s draw boasts Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marcos Baghdatis, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet and Mardy Fish with the player cut off date, for the tournament ,on the 21 November.
Daniela Hantuchova said “I am really excited about returning to Australia and playing a strong field in the lead up to the Grand Slam.
“I took home some really nice memories last year. It was something very special for me.
“With my preparation this year and the quality field at the Brisbane International, I will be even more ready.
“I love Australia and have played in tournaments there since 2001. I am looking forward to playing in this new event and challenging some high quality players in the lead up to the Australian Open.”
