TENNIS in DEPTH.

Andy Murray, the great Brit hope, answered his critics in the quarter final game against Nadal with an aggressive style performance that he has never shown before. From the very first point Murray’s game plan was evident, and he carried the plan out to perfection. Murray’s defensive skills, his speed around the court and his mental prowess are all key components of his game, but his lack of offense has had even his most loyal fans critical of his play especially when he loses. But today he showed that he is quite capable of being offensive minded, and his execution was devastating. The backhand crosscourt and service were two shots that kept Nadal deep behind the baseline allowing Murray to dictate the tempo of the match.

Ahead by two sets 6-3, 7-6, and 3-0 in the third and on his way to victory, Murray’s penetrating strokes caused Nadal to pull up short with a recurrence of his knee problem. After a time out, he nodded at his coach in the stand, and went to congratulate Murray on the win.

How serious is the injury? Is Nadal’s future in doubt? Only time and an examination will answer those questions. Everyone is hoping that he has merely tweaked his knee, and that he will be back in a week or so.

Bookmark It

Unseeded Zheng Jie set up a semi-final showdown with Justine Henin after a straight sets demolition of Maria Kirilenko at the Australian Open.

Zheng, who becomes the first Chinese player to reach the last four in Melbourne, was always in control against Kirilenko as she raced to a 6-1 6-3 victory.

And the 26-year-old, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, knows she now faces a much tougher test against former champion Henin.

“Henin for me is such a good player,” Zheng said.

“She’s so strong mentally – I just want to go out there and enjoy the match and play well.”

Kirilenko had caused one of the shocks of the tournament by toppling 2008 champion Maria Sharapova.

However the 23-year-old looked out of sorts against Zheng and was clearly troubled by injury – with her left thigh heavily strapped while she needed a medical time out at the end of the first set.

Zheng, a doubles champion in Melbourne four years ago, took just 34 minutes to wrap up the first set with Kirilenko unable to match her rival’s impressive range of groundstrokes.

And Zheng was able to continue her dominance in the final set as she broke in the first and last games to book her place in semi-finals.

Kirilenko, who continued to receive treatment throughout the set, had chances to break in the sixth game but she couldn’t level the match.

Bookmark It

Croatian Marin Cilic survived a late fightback from Andy Roddick before booking his place in the last four of the Australian Open on Tuesday.

Cilic had looked set for an relatively easy passage into the last four as he stormed into a two-set lead against Roddick.

But despite struggling with an injury to his right shoulder, seventh-seeded Roddick refused to give up and he showed his fighting qualities.

However Cilic was able to hold his nerve in a tense deciding set to seal a 7-6 6-3 3-6 2-6 6-3 victory – and a first-ever Grand Slam semi-final appearance.

Cilic, who beat Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round, will now face either Andy Murray or Rafael Nadal for a place in the final.

Roddick had looked out of sorts early on and was clearly troubled by the problem with his shoulder – with the American needing a medical time out and on going treatment.

Cilic had served for the first set and although he was broken, he responded well to take the tiebreak.

Roddick started the second set well by breaking Cilic, however he failed to consolidate his advantage as the 14th seed hit back to break him twice before moving on to take the set.

Thoughts of a straight sets victory quickly vanished, though, as Roddick again showed his never-say-die attitude to break the Cilic serve before vitally holding his own.

And it looked liked a dramatic comeback was on the cards as Roddick stormed through the fourth set, playing his best tennis of the match.

However Cilic was not to be denied and he broke Roddick early in the deciding set before going on to see out the victory.

Bookmark It

For a quarter final match of a Grand Slam event, today’s encounter between Justine Henin and Nadia Petrova must go down as one of the worst ever played. If Serena was watching, which I’m sure she wasn’t, she would be getting set to cash her checque and to hoist yet another title.

Henin’s performance was only slightly better than her opponents, as both players struggled to hold service and to hit the ball over the net. Henin did manage to hit a couple of winners in the final game, but he overall performance was nothing short of pathetic!

If by some miracle Henin can discover some of the form she used to have, the form that won her so many titles, we might be in for a quality semi final and final, but if she can only play at today’s level she will be demolished by either of the Williams sisters.

Bookmark It

Victoria Azarenka progressed to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career after Vera Zvonareva suffered meltdown in their last-16 clash.

Well known on the WTA Tour for her mental frailty, Zvonareva had looked set to claim a place in the last eight when she led by a set and 4-2 but from that position she lost 10 straight games to slip to a 4-6 6-4 6-0 defeat.

Initially it seemed as if Azarenka was the one not fully focused.

A rowdy crowd on the Rod Laver Arena had to be regularly asked to calm down during the opening set, one which went with serve until the 10th game when Azarenka double-faulted when set point down.

Zvonareva twice led by a break of serve in the second set – at 3-1 and 4-2 – but appeared to get jittery as victory approached.

She was unable to convert either break with a hold of her own and Azarenka made her pay in spectacular fasion.

The Belarusian reeled off four games in a row to square the match – it was the first set she had won against Zvonareva in what was their fifth meeting.

The final set was a one-sided affair, Zvonareva unable to cut out the errors which had entered her game after an impressive first set and a half.

The ninth seed manged to save one match point courtesy of a Hawk-eye challenge, but the replayed point was lost and with it went Zvonareva’s title hopes for 2010.

Azarenka progresses to a meeting with top seed Serena Williams.

The pair met in the last 16 here last season when Azarenka was forced to quit due to heat exhaustion when a set to the good.

Bookmark It

The back injury that cost Dinara Safina the world No. 1 ranking at last year’s WTA championships has plunged the 23-year-old’s career into serious jeopardy.

Russian Safina last night flew from Melbourne to see her German back specialist in a desperate attempt to find a cure for the injury.

Last year’s Australian Open finalist was clearly in agony when forced to retire from her clash against compatriot Maria Kirilenko on Sunday.

Safina had been plagued by the injury since the middle of last year and when she retired from the WTA Championships in Doha against Serbian Jelena Jankovic it saw American Serena Williams elevated to the No. 1 ranking.

Cortisone shots and several months of intense rehabilitation had seen her passed fit to play, but as she said after her withdrawal against Kirilenko, “I just cannot move”.

She describes the problem as a “bone edema” in her lower back.

The WTA could shed no more light on the exact nature of her injury yesterday, confirming only that Safina had flown out to Europe to seek more help.

“The plan for me is to see the doctor as soon as possible to see exactly what happened,” she said.

Bookmark It

Novak Djokovic beat Poland’s Lukasz Kubot 6-1, 6-2, 7-5 and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who lost to Djokovic in the 2008 final, beat Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (6), 9-7.

Djokovic, who will play Tsonga in the quarterfinals, said he’s playing well despite having a dry run at Grand Slam tournaments since his Melbourne Park victory.

“They are two different persons, physically I’m much stronger and able to get through the tough matches,” the Serbian player said. “The 2008 Australian Open is by far the best tournament I ever played … I believe I can play the same this year.”

The Williams sisters won their fourth-round matches, extending a mark in which an American woman has been in the quarterfinals every year since 1977.

Venus Williams beat Francesca Schiavone 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 and Serena defeated Sam Stosur of Australia 6-4, 6-2 in just over an hour.

Serena broke Stosur in the opening game of the second set Monday. The American faced two break points in her next service game, but fought back to deuce with an ace and a service winner, then served another ace on game point.

Stosur, who beat Serena the last time the pair met in California last year, set up break point in the seventh game with a double fault, then Serena hit a forehand winner to go up 5-2. Serena then held serve in the next game to take the match.

“It’s important when you’re playing a local girl to not let the crowd get too involved or else they’ll kill you,” Serena said.

Serena could add to her Grand Slam total, and Venus could win the Australian Open for the first time, but they can’t meet in the final. They’re in the same half of the draw and will meet in the semifinals if they win their next matches.

“I think it’s challenging because we’re both so good,” Venus said of the Williams family matchups. “We both want to win. It’s just difficult I think for us to play against each other because I think we have so much respect for each other’s game.”

Venus, who has won seven singles majors, struggled to hold serve in the first set against Schiavone but was in command by the end, when she won the last six games after the 29-year-old Italian broke her to open the third set.

Williams advanced to the Melbourne Park quarterfinals for the seventh time to set up a meeting with Li Na, who helped make Chinese history. For the first time at a major, there’s two Chinese players in the quarterfinals.

Li, who upset No. 4-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3, joins Zheng Jie, the 2008 Wimbledon semifinalist, in the last eight.

Nadal takes on Andy Murray and Andy Roddick plays Marin Cilin in quarterfinals on Tuesday. Comeback player Justine Henin takes on Nadia Petrova – Henin leads the head-to-head matchups 12-2 – and Maria Kirilenko plays Zheng in women’s quarterfinals.

Bookmark It

Nikolay Davydenko survived a scare against Fernando Verdasco before finally reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

The Russian has looked in imperious form in the early rounds in Melbourne and seemed on course for another comfortable win as he went two sets up against the Spaniard.

However, Verdasco came storming back to take the match into a deciding fifth set – before Davydenko managed to finally see out the win 6-2 7-5 4-6 6-7 (5/7) 6-3.

“I’m really tired,” said the sixth seed after his victory. “It was difficult to play against him because all match, he was serving fast, playing fast.

“He’s strong physically, but not mentally. I knew he would have power in the fifth set, but he can make mistakes.”

Next up for Davydenko will be world number one Roger Federer – a player he has beaten in their last two meetings, including earlier this month in Doha.

Davydenko believes he has the mentality to deal with the Swiss legend.

“I believe I am still strong mentally,” he said. “I don’t know if I can win here, but I’m feeling good.”

The Russian will have to improve upon a nervy display against Verdasco if he is to lift the trophy next weekend.

The sixth seed is now unbeaten in 13 matches but he struggled to close out the match despite playing the better tennis in the fourth set.

Verdasco committed 21 unforced errors in the set – he would finish with 81 in total – but still claimed it, coming from a mini-break down in the tie-break to level the match.

Davydenko’s shots had become tentative and as the decider began it was Verdasco – a semi-finalist in Melbourne 12 months ago – who looked the more likely winner.

However, to his credit, Davydenko refocused and gained the decisive break in the sixth game of the final set before serving out for a quarter-final berth.

Bookmark It