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by Prip Sunday was looking to be a Super Sunday, with the main matches of the day being Hrbaty vs. Safin(2), Sampras(3) vs. Martin, Rafter(12) vs. Henman(8), and Henin vs. Seles(4). With the first week close to over and the tournament going into its second, the juniors were already seen milling about, watching the top players (and possibly their future opponents) in action, perhaps picking up some pointers on how the big kids play. As expected, Kim Clijsters couldn't do too much damage to Lindsay Davenport, in the first match between seeded players. Lindsay took the match 6-4 6-0, although the match was a lot closer than the score indicates. Kim simply made too many errors, especially on the big points, and quite basically had an off day. It appears that the youngster might be going through some phase, or perhaps a rough patch in her personal life. She gives the impression that she is not happy about something, with one or two very small incidents that indicate likewise. Justine Henin played a heartbreaking match against Monica Seles, in which she had her opportunities, but blew it in the end. Choking the match away means that the Belgian will go home early with her 13-match streak, and that Monica is very likely to replace her in the semifinal lineup. Standing in her way is Jennifer Capriati, who found herself down 1-5 against Marta Marrero before the Spaniard totally fell apart, winning only 1 game in the next 12. Monica should take the match in 2. The men's draw has lost its two remaining top seeds. Todd Martin took out third seed Pete Sampras, who failed to impress whatsoever in this tournament, and needs to pick up a new attitude if he intends to stay a contender in the game. Todd knew very well that his opponent wasn't playing well, and stepped up to the plate. Using his extensive past experience against his compatriot to notch only his third win in their 20 encounters, Todd for once concentrated on playing his game, and carried his confidence with him throughout the match instead of getting discouraged. He played a very smart and relaxed match, not pushing too hard, and didn't let the demons from the past haunt him at all. Marat Safin was the surprise of the day though, losing to Dominik Hrbary in straight sets. Dominik has always managed to trouble the 2nd seed, and today was no different. What was different was that Marat failed to pick up his game after a slow start, as he had in his previous matches. Unable to make his shots and pretty much just having a bad day, the Russian was unfortunate that his opponent was also having a good day. Out-rallied on the baseline and reluctant to come into net, Marat also found his opponent running after every ball, and Dominik got to a number of incredible shots. This has left the draw open for Pat Rafter, who won a very convincing match against Tim Henman in what was expected to be a tough battle. Doing an Andrew Ilie impression after the match with his yellow Reebok shirt, Pat discovered that tearing his shirt was probably more difficult than winning his match, and struggled with the hem before giving up and pulling it off over his head. He should come through to replace Marat in the men's semifinal lineup. Andre Agassi got shellshocked early in his match against Andrew Ilie, and had to play a very smart game against the flamboyant Australian to get through. Mustering all the experience he had, he managed to hold on until the Aussie finally ran out of spinach, and won a very entertaining match on center court to get through to the quarterfinals. Instead of having a classic Pete match to look forward to, he will be thankful that Todd Martin did the hard work for him, and looks increasingly good for a title defense here in Melbourne. Magnus Norman and Yevgeny Kafelnikov are the highest ranked players standing in his way at this point, but I believe Carlos Moya to be the biggest remaining threat. New projected semifinal lineup: Men: Kafelnikov (5) vs. Moya; Agassi (6) vs. Rafter (12) Women: Hingis (1) vs. V.Williams (6); Seles (4) vs. Davenport (2) Projected final matchup: Men: Moya vs. Agassi (6) Women: Hingis (1) or V.Williams (6) vs. Davenport (2) |