Australian Open Day 3: Match of the Day

John Isner vs. David Nalbandian

This should be quite a fight on Margaret Court Arena Wednesday afternoon.

Isner is seeded 16th and is looking to keep moving up near the top-10.  Nalbandian has seen his ranking slide all the way down to No. 87.

The positives for Nalbandain include he is 2-0 in his career against the big American and it is early in the year, so The Argentine is relatively fresh.  One of his wins against Inser was back in 2010 when Isner was forced to retire in the first set during the Cincinnati event.

Isner will need to serve big and try and keep the points short.  If he does he should win in 4 sets.

Marathon Men in Australia

It was a match where two warriors who are a little past their prime tried to turn back the clocks and erase some demons of the past.

David Nalbandian beat Lleyton Hewitt 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (1), 9-7 in the early hours of Wednesday, adding to the former No. 1-ranked Australian star’s long drought at Melbourne Park.

Hewitt led the head-to-head series with the Argentine Nalbandian 3-2, including a victory in the 2002 Wimbledon final and a quarterfinal here in 2005 in which the pair bumped into each other on a changeover. Video of that altercation was engraved in the minds of many, although I thought a big deal was made of nothing. 

The two traded blistering groundstokes for most of the match, yes many errors were made, but this was high drama tennis.  Nalbandian ultimately saved two match points before finishing the 4-hour, 48-minute match with a perfect lob on his first match point.

Hope you had your DVR set to record this one, you'll want to watch it leading up to the matches tonight.

Day 2: Australian Open Matches of the Day - The Night Session

What a night session for Tuesday in Australia.

A couple of former women's world #1's.  Australia's best hope, and a former #1 in Lleyton Hewitt, along with an Argentine player who can beat anyone on this surface.  Also, two of these players were at one time, engaged.

Clisters leads the series 7-2 and won the last time they played in Cincinnati last year.  I would have to say the Belgian should win in two sets, but expect Safina to give everything she has.

Hewitt and Nalbandian should be a close 5-setter.  We all remember the epic match they played in the quarters back in 2005, whern Hewitt came out on top 10-8 in the 5th set.  Nalbandian has won the last two meetings, expect to see a Nalbandian win here in 4 sets.

Women's Singles - 1st Round   Dinara Safina(RUS) vs.   Kim Clijsters(BEL)[3]

Men's Singles - 1st Round
David Nalbandian(ARG)[27]	vs.	Lleyton Hewitt(AUS)