Federer Tames Beast, Coria Beaten at Australian OpenPosted on January 21, 2006 World No. 1 Roger Federer, expected to be tested by serve-and-volleying former doubles partner and No. 30 seed Max "The Beast" Mirnyi Saturday at the Australian Open, instead convincingly defeated the Belarussian 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, moving into the fourth round in his relentless pursuit of a seventh career grand slam title.
While Mirnyi failed in his upset bid Saturday, successfully moving into the fourth seed with wins over higher seeds were No. 25 Sebastien Grosjean, with the Frenchman ousting No. 6 Guillermo Coria in four sets, and No. 21 Nicolas Kiefer, with the German likewise dismissing No. 15-seeded former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in four. Coria contributed to his demise with 23 doubles faults. Other seeds safely into the fourth round were No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko, dousing the fire of unseeded Aussie Nathan Healey in four, and No. 12 Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, employing his superior fitness in melting down No. 23-seeded Russian Igor Andreev 6-4 in the fifth after trailing 1-2 sets. "I was tired already going to the match," said Hrbaty after winning his third consecutive five-setter. "If we would play inside, I think I wouldn't win with Andreev. I think it's more mental, how much you will be able to push yourself. And I feel like, 'Always never give up.'" Unseeded winners Saturday were German Tommy Haas (d. Luczak in four, setting up a meeting with Federer), Argentine Hewitt-killer Juan Ignacio Chela (d. Vliegen), and Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. Horna). On tap for Sunday are (2) Roddick vs. Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis, (7) Ljubicic vs. (10) T.Johansson, (4) Nalbandian vs. (16) Robredo, and (11) Ferrer vs. Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro. |
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