Hewitt Out of Aussie Open; Sharapova, Clijsters, Hingis Cruise

"That's a match that without confidence there's no way I could win," Blake said of navigating crucial set points against Ginepri. "Going for my shots on set points, it shows just how close tennis is, how quickly it can change, how close all the guys are on tour. 'Cause if you change literally two points in that whole match, it's a completely different match. If he wins the set points in the first set, four set points in the second, any one of those goes a different way, that's a whole new match."

The fourth-round effort is an Aussie Open best for both Nadal and Murray, who will next meet in a first-time clash for a spot in the quarters.

No. 8 seed David Nalbandian put on his patented two-sets-down comeback show Saturday, edging a third-set tiebreak to get the ball rolling in a 5-7, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 28 seed Sebastien Grosjean.
 
"Saving three match points is not easy," Nalbandian said. "I play good from there. The tiebreak, as well. Then he has some problem in the leg. He couldn't move as the beginning, so I push very hard."

Matches postponed to Sunday due to the rains were No. 12 seed Tommy Haas vs. German compatriot Florian Mayer, and No. 13-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych vs. No. 21-seeded Russian-American Dmitry Tursunov.

On court Sunday are (6) Roddick vs. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, (1) Federer vs. Djokovic, (12) Haas vs. Mayer in an all-German, (7) Robredo vs. (18) Richard "Baby Fed" Gasquet, (16) Ferrer vs. Fish, and (13) Berdych vs. (21) Tursunov (fire up the on-line betting account as Tursunov has a wrist injury).

Sharapova, Clijsters, Hingis Win Easily at Aussie Open

Tournament favorites Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis recorded economical wins Saturday amidst rain that kept play reserved to the covered stadiums at the Australian Open, moving safely into the fourth round in Melbourne.

The top-seeded Sharapova eased past No. 30 Tathiana Garbin 6-3, 6-1, while the No. 4-seeded Clijsters had a bit more difficult time against No. 29 Alona Bondarenko 6-3, 6-3, and the sentimental favorite Hingis, seeded No. 6, mowed over Japan's Aiko Nakamura 6-2, 6-1.

"It was a little steamy in there," said Sharapova after the stadium reportedly had a problem with the air conditioning system. "It wasn't nearly as warm as it was the last few days. It was just humid. It was all right."

Hingis has lost nine games in three matches thus far at the 2007 Australian Open.

"You obviously know the stats and how Japanese players more or less play," Hingis said. "It was just a very strange feeling to be out there today. I guess it was very hot for the people, for the fans as well. The atmosphere was a little different from usual excitement, what you expect here...I think today there were a few errors, a lot of unforced errors. I think the crowd sometimes didn't really have that much to clap for. It was more like they expected me to win easily or just like go there and win every single point because there was like no reason to miss for me. That's how I felt, that kind of pressure. Okay, if I do everything right, I'm going to win every single point. I mean, she's a little feisty player. Every time I needed it, I came up with just no missing and tried to do a little bit more extra."

Other winners were No. 8 Patty Schnyder who ended Australian hopes, outlasting unseeded Alicia Molik 6-0 in the third after dropping the first set, and No. 22-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva who had a surprisingly easy time with error-prone No. 13 seed Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2.

"I think I was definitely a little frustrated with myself for letting that second set slip so quickly," Molik said of losing to Schnyder. "Felt like a bit of a blur actually. You know, when things get tight I generally start rushing. It's a habit that I have to get out of, especially when I'm serving. I really need to take my time. I need to get my ball toss up high because, you know, sometimes I get a little anxious. I want to start the point very quickly. That's something that I'll definitely need to work on the next couple of matches."

Sharapova next faces an all-Russian meeting against Zvonareva.

"Vera is also tough physically, gets a lot of balls back, makes you hit a lot of balls," Sharapova said of Zvonareva. "Just a matter of giving her another ball to hit."

Matches postponed to Sunday due to rain were No. 9-seeded Russian Dinara Safina vs. China's No. 19 seed Na Li, No. 12-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze vs. Croat Jelena Kostanic, and No. 15-seeded Slovak Daniela Hantuchova vs. American hope Ashley Harkleroad.

On court Sunday are (2) Mauresmo vs. Safarova, (11) Jankovic vs. Serena Williams, (3) Kuznetsova vs. (16) Peer, (7) Dementieva vs. (10) Vaidisova, (9) Safina vs. (19) Li, (15) Hantuchova vs. Harkleroad, and (12) Chakvetadze vs. Kostanic.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Maria Sharapova on enjoying a break from tennis during the off-season -- until she turned on her TV: "Yeah, I did until I try to turn on television. I turned on ESPN. I saw, 'Live coverage of the Australian Open starts the 15th of January.' That was the end of that, yeah. That was not a good TV experience for me. It was like, Who needs this?"...Mardy Fish is in the 4th round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career...Brad Gilbert speaking to The Herald on the need for on-court coaching on the men's side: "That's the greatest injustice on the tour, but we've always had this rule. I think it can only add to the game, especially if a player's getting his ass kicked. The purists will say it's always been this way, but then why do they have it in Davis Cup? Hawkeye has been the best change to the game since I've been a pro and I'd like to see coaching come next. The players may say they don't want it, but maybe being stuck in a time-warp has hurt the game. I always know there's a guy at home with a clicker and there's 500 channels. If he's not being entertained, he can change channels. Coaching can add to the game, as opposed to what there's been for 120 years. Maybe it's time for a change."...From Tennisreporters.net: "Taylor Dent's career is further in jeopardy. According to his agent, IMG's Olivier van Lindonk, two surgeries have not cured the 25-year-old Californian's ailing back. Dent, who married long-term girlfriend and fellow pro Jenny Hopkins in December, is exploring his diminishing options, including a spinal fusion to correct a small fracture in his vertebrae. One of the game's pure serve-and-volleyers, Dent hasn't played in almost a year."...James Blake on beating buddy Robby Ginepri: "We're professionals. We go out there and we do that. We do our job. If because of this I've got to buy him dinner or a couple of beers tomorrow night or something, so be it. But that's just the way it is. I know there will be times throughout our career where he'll get the better of me and I'll hit him up for a dinner the next night or something...[At the net] he said to me, 'Let's get a Grand Slam.' That means a lot to me that he really thinks of us as a team. If he had won, I probably would have said the same thing, that we want to bring a Slam home to the States. Roger [Federer] has been hoarding them all in Switzerland. We'd like to get one back in the States."...Marat Safin was fined $2,000 on Saturday for audible obscenity for swearing at the umpire during his third-round loss to Andy Roddick...Fighting Serbs and Croats, bathroom rapes, people shooting up skirts with cameras, and now rampaging drunks at the Aussie Open according to SMH: "Several drunken people were ejected from the Australian Open, the latest in a string a incidents to plague the tennis tournament this week. Victoria Police confirmed several people were ejected from the stadium for being drunk and disorderly. However, they were ejected by security officials and not police..."...Scott Draper says he is considering becoming Lleyton Hewitt's permanent coach if the Aussie former No. 1 was agreeable.