Day three was a little hectic, as many people came on the weekend to catch one of the biggest sporting events in Melbourne. Tathiana Garbin was top on the list, and she took on Nuria Llagostera. Both players started a little slow, not making too many errors but not really going for too much either. Things were pretty straightforward until 3-all, when Llagostera found herself holding two break points. Garbin managed to pick up her play all of a sudden, and not only held serve, but also took the next 2 games to get the first set under her belt, 6-3.

After missing her matches the previous two days, I headed across Melbourne Park to catch Lina Krasnoroutskaya in action against Janette Husarova. Janette had had a rather limited singles schedule towards the end of 1999, probably to avoid aggravating a slight injury. It's a good thing that I got over to the courts when I did, as Janette was being killed by the young Russian. She had just lost the first set 6-1, and was struggling to keep up at 2-all in the second set. Janette had a considerable support group there urging her on, and she was trying hard, but the long rallies would nearly always end up going to Lina. The rookie gained more and more momentum as the match went on, and didn't lose another game in the 6-1 6-2 routing.

Back on the other court, Nuria Llagostera had managed to take the second set 6-3. Garbin was serving at 1-all in the third set, and suddenly found herself down 0-40. Almost as if she had just been playing the fool in the last bit of the match, Garbin started playing better and saved all three break points, taking the advantage in the process. The game went back to deuce several times, the advantage swinging to-and-fro about a gazillion times before Garbin finally saved her service game. Llagostera also had a long service game, and managed to hold on as well. All of a sudden, the energetic Italian started cracking her first serves in, and held serve at love in the next game. At 3-2, Garbin went up 30-15, and a lob by Llagostera landed long, but wasn't called out. Instead of holding 2 break points, the score was 30-all. Llagostera got the advantage, but failed to capitalize. Garbin took the advantage, but Nuria Llagostera took the initiative to take charge of the rallies early, and not only saved break point, but took the advantage. Watching match opportunity slip away, Tathi quickly took the next three pointn for the break. She managed to consolidate the break easily, and now Llagostera would serve to stay in the match.

When the Spaniard went up to serve, she looked like she had no more hope for the match. She opened her service game with 2 double-faults. However, she suddenly played the next point with a lot more effort and aggressiveness, running all over the court and refusing to give up the point. She managed to prolong match point, but only for a while. Garbin got the next point, and held 2 match points. Llagostera wasn't done, though, and fought hard to save both match points. As I expected, Garbin suddenly woke up, constructed the points better, and took the next two points to win a berth in the main draw. Her first round opponent would be a tough one, former top twenty players Ruxandra Dragomir. And while Garbin had been playing through qualifying matches, Ruxandra had been there from day 1, preparing for the first Grand Slam of the year.