Australian Open Day 3 Notes: Fans Gone Wild, Stepanek Gets Handsy

Justine Henin has won her last 30 tour matches since losing to Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon…
ADHEREL
Serena Williams has now won 25 of her last 26 matches at the Australian Open…

How the hell does the tallest doubles team pairing ever, 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic and 6-foot-9 John Isner, lose to two Argentines in doubles?…

Think Amelia Mauresmo doesn’t get tight — think again. The Frenchwoman blew a 5-1 second set lead Wednesday, and serving 6-3 in the tiebreak tossed in consecutive double faults on her 9th and 10th matchpoints. After a lengthy rally Mauresmo did close out the match…

Tommy Robredo is lucky to have one match this year. The Spaniard is 1-3 after getting demolished Wednesday by Mardy Fish…

Specators at the Australian Open continue to suggest that police were overzealous in trying to breakup some unruly fans during the Gonzalez-Economidis match. Fans say the melee ensued only when the police stepped in a pepper sprayed a few rowdy fans. Both players said they were okay with the hooligans’ antics, despite some verbal abuse. Australian Open officials say just 10 fans were treated for spray, while other eyewitness reports have that number over 30….

Where did Roger Federer go on vacation last month? The Maldives. Before leaving Federer said he was in Dubai training and hitting with basically his Davis Cup team who he had invited…

Fabrice Santoro says he dreamed of playing Federer in Melbourne, now he’s got it. Santoro also joked that if nothing else he’s not too far off from seeing his daughter who is back home…

Nearly a third of the remaining players in the bottom half of the men’s draw are from France…

Police are investigating an alleged sexual assault on a 12-year-old girl at the Australian Open, this after a group of fans were pepper sprayed and banned from returning to the event. “It was upsetting, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life at a tennis match,” Stephen Butterick, a BBC Radio producer said. “The whole atmosphere had been like a Davis Cup match crossed with a football match. The Chileans outnumbered them by about 8-1 but the Greek guys were in one corner of the court, chanting, making loads of noise. We were watching Gonzalez, and suddenly, I don’t know why, a policeman appeared. He tried to get someone and that stage there were two policemen. The other lads got up and started pushing and shoving and he (the policeman) sprayed some kind of mace spray. That set them off again and then, there weren’t enough policemen, never more than three or four. The policemen to me looked a bit rattled — two guys against maybe 70-80, that’s not good. Then there was a second macing, and I’d say about a third of the Greek fans disappeared. One of the Greek lads who’d been sprayed then vomited — I have never seen anything like it at a tennis match in my life.”…

Shahar Peer is scheduled Feb. 18-24 for the Qatar Open where she will become the first Israeli to play a tennis tour event…

From The Age on Wednesday: “In a startling development, it has emerged that Nadal could displace Federer at the top of the rankings if he wins the title on Sunday week and the brilliant Swiss fails to make the semi-finals.” — Startling that you just discovered it, or that it “emerged” before the tournament even began?…

Ottawa-born Jesse Levine, who will be a practice partner with the U.S. Davis Cup team next month in Austria, speaking to the Montreal Gazette: “I’m not Canadian. I hate when people say I’m Canadian. I play for the U.S.”…

Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello, involved in a match under investigation along with Nikolay Davydenko for online betting irregularities, has accused the ATP of a “political terrorism of scaring you” in their investigation tactics…

Gustavo Kuerten says he will definitely retire after this year’s French Open, struggling with a hip injury since his first surgery in 2002: “I reached my limit because of my physical condition. I wanted to keep playing, participating in the important tournaments. I think I still could play for two or three years if it weren’t for the physical part.”…

Maria Sharapova on her dad Yuri’s hooded Unibomber look in the crowd: “He looks like an assassin. I swear he’s a really nice guy but I told him, ‘You look like an assassin with that jacket on!’ I said you can wear it if you don’t put the hood on but he’s like ‘I have a cold.’ It was really fun.”…

From Alix Ramsay writing for Tennis Week: “At least Radek Stepanek has got his priorities right. The Homer Simpson look alike and No 30 seed was bounced out of the draw in the first round, blowing a two set lead to the rap meister Vinnie “He ain’t afraid o’ya” Spadea on Tuesday. But rather than lose sleep over the loss of a simple tennis match, Stepanek, the one time squeeze of Martina Hingis, sought out his new love interest, Nicole Vaidisova, for a little comfort and solace. Now there’s a euphemism if ever there was one. That would be the same Vaidisova who appeared on television the other day to deny the rumours that she and Homer were engaged. She even went as far as to suggest that they were not even an item. Presumably, then, they were only having an intimate, informative and involved conversation on the relative merits of the western over the semi western grip when they stood face to face in close proximity outside the players restaurant following Vaidisova’s victory over Alicia Molik. Well, at least that would explain what Stepanek was doing with his hands.”