A popular Australian saying is the phrase "dropping like flies". And it certainly seemed appropriate to describe yesterday's action in the men's tournament which saw injuries cast a shadow over the day's play, with only five of the eight scheduled matches running their course. Marcos Baghdatis and Stefan Koubek retired hurt in their games and Mikhail Youzhny forfeited his match with Lukasz Kubot.
The low-key injury to Baghdatis was a particular disappointment as his match with 22nd seed and home favourite Lleyton Hewitt had looked set to be a real thriller. But the crowd at the Rod Laver Arena were left disappointed as Baghdatis was troubled by a shoulder injury from the start and after being whitewashed in the first set by a ruthless Hewitt, he gave up midway through the second set with score 6-0, 4-2.
The frustrated Cypriot, a finalist in 2006, said: "I just felt some pain in the shoulder. Felt a bit yesterday on the serve, a bit here, and in the match I just couldn't, you know, hit the forehand. "I couldn't control the ball. I was pushing the ball. I was feeling the pain when I wanted to hit the ball on the impact. You know, when you do that, then you stop moving, you stop... everything goes wrong because you're just thinking about the pain and not the forehand and the serve."
Hewitt now faces No 1 seed Roger Federer for a place in the quarter-finals tomorrow after the Swiss player easily disposed of Spain's Albert Montanes, winning 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The Australian has lost to Federer in their last 14 meetings, but is confident he is in the form to cause an upset. "I took it up another notch, which was great," he said. "I hit the ball as well as I have hit it in a long time. It's not gonna be easy against Rog [Federer]. I'll be ready come Monday."
A content Federer said of his form: "I'm happy I survived a scare against [Igor] Andreev. After that, I was able to come through comfortably in the next two rounds into week two. I feel like I'm obviously fresh. "So far it's been great. I'm happy the way I'm feeling. "Obviously you'll elevate your game gradually as the opponents get harder. So I'm happy the way I feel." The second retirement came from the Austrian player Koubek, who pulled out after losing the first set 6-1 to ninth seed Fernando Verdasco, complaining of a fever that was making him unwell.
Verdasco faces a much tougher test tomorrow when he takes on the No 6 seed Nikolay Davydenko in the fourth round. The Russian beat Juan Monaco 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 and is yet to drop a set in the tournament. The last of the casualties was 20th seed Youzhny, who could not compete against the unseeded Kubot due to a wrist injury. Third seed Novak Djokovic awaits Kubot in the fourth round. Ominously for the Pole, the 2008 champion looked close to his best form as he crushed Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.
The delighted Serbian said: "I just needed to be consistent and try to maintain the focus and get it over with as soon as possible. So that's what I did." The man Djokovic beat in the 2008 final remains a possible quarter-final opponent after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Tommy Haas 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5. The French 10th seed is next in action against 26th seed Nicolas Almagro after the Spaniard comfortably defeated Colombian Alejandro Falla 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
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