TENNIS in DEPTH.

The rumor mill is working overtime with reports that Common may have served his beau Serena Williams up with a ring and the tennis star’s BFF is only fueling the chatter.

Williams’ home girl Selita Ebanks made an appearance on The Wendy Williams Show this week, and when the host asked about the rumored engagement–noting her sources said Common gave Serena a ring over the holidays–the former Victoria’s Secret model played it coy. ”I’m the best friend, and I wouldn’t be the best friend if I told you, so I don’t know,” Selita told Wendy. She added, “You know what, he would be smart if he did marry her. So, he’d be a very smart man.”

Common and Serena started dating around 2007 and had a brief split last year. I always thought they were an odd couple, but something about them just seems to work. If they are aisle-bound, Serena will become a stepmother: Common has a 13-year-old daughter, Omoye Assata Lynn, from a previous relationship.

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Novak Djokovic has reached the round of 16 at Australian Open for the fifth year in a row when his Davis Cup teammate and world no. 27 Viktor Troicki retired after just 39 minutes on Hisense Arena on Friday. A lenghty baseline rally ended with Troicki hitting the net to bring up the first break point for Nole in the second game of the match. The chance went after great Viktor’s service, but he earned the second with a fantastic lob, and this time didn’t waste it. A year younger Serb converted it with a forehand winner down the line for an early advantage. Troicki fought back immediately with a rebreak, but Djokovic broke him once again and then held to 15 for 4-1. Viktor saved two break/set points in the eighth game, but Nole capitalised on the third to clinch the set 6-2. Troicki then retired due to a stomach muscle strain.

“I just heard that he had some struggles with his stomach muscle, but I wasn’t sure how serious it is,” said Djokovic. “I didn’t know that he’s not able to serve… He obviously tried his best. It’s the third round of a Grand Slam. It’s not the way you want to finish the tournament, definitely. It’s sad for him, but I have to move on.” Troicki admitted he’d struggled with the injury throughout the week. “I was thinking it might get better for today, but it didn’t,” he said. “I didn’t want to risk anything; the season’s just started. I had to be 100 per cent if I wanted to beat Novak – if any chance, I needed to be 100 per cent – so today I think I took a smart decision and retired from the match.”

Novak next faces no.14 seed Nicolas Almagro. The Spaniard beat world no.16 Croat Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(8), 6-3.

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Stan ‘the man’ Wawrinka has not had the easiest time of late so a  straight sets win over the energetic Frenchman Gael Monfils to reach the fourth round of Australian Open 2011 was most well-timed. The energetic Frenchman tends to be a joy to watch, and a photographer’s dream, as he slips and slides his way about the court, hurling his frame in the direction of every ball that he can see, and more often than not, making them. Not at the moment. Monfils entered his third round today on the back of an arduous five-set win over Thiemo de Bakker, and a further four sets at the hands of Federico Gil. Hardly names to light up the lights of Melbourne Park.

But, contrary to form, Monfils began well in this evening’s third-round encounter, going up a break in the fifth game, and looking to get an early start on his fellow French-speaker. Wawrinka was not reading the script. Hitting 23 winners to La Monf’s 14, red-nosed Stan broke back, and then held fast to make his way into a first set tie-break. Again, Monfils was the one to go ahead, only for the Swiss to turn it around and steal the tiebreak 7-4, despite producing five more unforced errors than his French opponent.

The first set secured, albeit by a squeak, it gave Wawrinka the ammunition of confidence he needed to begin hitting out without a care in the world. Or at least in Melbourne. Totting up a further 24 winners in set No.2, the Swiss No.2 motored his way into a 5-1 lead, leaving a lost Monfils gazing at every ball that flew past. With a two-set lead after 117 minutes, Wawrinka continued to deny Monfils any sort of pleasure, bumbling around the court in his Lacoste gear, and breaking immediately to go 2-0 up. The rest of the third set was business-like to say the least, the Swiss player allowing no quarter as he romped into a 5-1 lead, forcing the Sliderman to serve to stay in the match. It looked like Wawrinka might allow Monfils one more game to spare his blushes, but not exactly. Deuce on the Monfils serve, the Swiss scorched a cross court forehand passing shot past the Frenchman’s fingers to bring up his first match point. Against the run of play, Monfils held, and handed the baton back to Wawrinka. He didn’t disappoint. Serving out the match for a 7-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory, the Swiss advanced to a fourth-round meeting with Andy Roddick.

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Venus Williams lasted just one match of her third-round encounter in the Australian Open before retiring. Andrea Petkovic won the first game before Williams, with seven grand slams behind her, felt the recurrence of a groin muscle injury and pulled out.

Justine Henin had earlier lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 7-6 (10-8). The Belgian 11th seed, champion in 2004, was outclassed in the first set and wasted a set point in the second as Kuznetsova prevailed in 124 minutes. “I wanted to win so much and I’m really happy to win,” said the 23rd seed.

Meanwhile, top seed Caroline Wozniacki saw off Dominika Cibulkova and 2008 champion Maria Sharapova beat Julia Goerges.

Friday’s action on the Rod Laver Arena ended in anti-climactic fashion when Williams, 30, who had never previously retired in a grand slam, gave up the ghost when 30-0 down in the second game against her Russian opponent. After stretching to the right in an attempt to return service, Williams cried out and clutched her stomach. The injury had been picked up when the American defeated Sandra Zahlavova in her previous match. The stand-out encounter of the day session saw Kuznetsova hand Henin her earliest exit at a Grand Slam event since Wimbledon 2005.

Former world number one Henin had seen her comeback season derailed when injuring her right elbow at Wimbledon. She did not play again in 2010 – and the problem seemed to affect her against Kuznetsova. Henin hit 41 unforced errors but fought back gamely after losing the first set. She twice came from a break down to level the second set and take an increasingly nervous Kuznetsova, who squandered two opportunities to serve out the match, into a tie-break. The two-time Grand Slam winner could not take advantage of her first three match points, but eventually engineered a fourth bite at the cherry. And when a Henin forehand landed wide she was able to celebrate only her third win in 19 head-to-head meetings with the Belgian. “I’m really pleased with way I played today, especially in the first set,” said the 25-year-old. “After that it’s tennis, you get nerves, I wanted to win so much and it was a great atmosphere.” Next up for Kuznetsova is French Open champion Francesca Schiavone after she beat Romania’s Monica Niculescu 6-0 7-6 (7-2). The sixth seed cruised through the opener but then had to fight back from 5-2 down in the second set to force a tie-break.

Wozniacki, in her first Grand Slam as world number one, overcame a spirited challenge from Cibulkova to reach the last 16 with a 6-4 6-3 win. The Dane survived a scrappy opening set as both players struggled to hold on to their serve before breaking to lead 4-2 in the second. Dominika is a tough player. I lost to her last week so I knew it would be tough. I’m just happy I could pull through. She again lost her serve but hit straight back to edge out the dangerous yet increasingly-erratic Slovakian. Cibulkova produced 31 winners with her powerful groundstrokes but stumbled to 41 unforced errors, while the more steady Wozniacki made just 11 winners but only 11 unforced errors throughout the 92-minute encounter. The 20-year-old, who conducted a bizarre press conference after her match in which she answered her own questions , will next play the unseeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova, who beat Vesna Manasieva 6-1 6-3.

Sharapova looked in trouble against Germany’s Goerges but came back to take a three-set thriller 4-6 6-4 6-4. Goerges outplayed the former world number one throughout the first set and pushed her to the limit in the second. When Sharapova secured two early breaks to start the deciding set, Goerges refused to give in, fighting hard to get one break back and putting the 14th seed under serious pressure. But the Russian kept her composure to serve out the match.

Eighth seed Victoria Azarenka enjoyed a smooth passage to the fourth round with a 6-3 6-3 win against Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa. China’s in-form Li Na awaits the Belarusian next after she thrashed the unseeded Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2 6-1.

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Caroline Wozniacki traded her tennis racquet for a cricket bat earlier today when she was introduced to the national Australian game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground by Victorian Bushrangers Peter Siddle and Aaron Finch.

Finch showed Wozniacki how to bat and the likeable blonde often had trouble connecting with the ball, laughing at her many failed attempts. When she eventually worked out how to bat, she nearly cleaned up the cameraman and couldn’t hide the huge grin off her face. Siddle then showed the in-form Dane how to bowl.

Wozniacki was all smiles, loving the experience and was invited to the Bushrangers’ next Twenty20 match on Saturday night. The top seed will be in action on Rod Laver Arena tomorrow morning taking on No.29 seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.

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Marcos Baghdatis is dreaming of another Australian Open run after ending Juan Martin Del Potro’s Grand Slam return on Thursday. The 2006 runner-up saw off the giant Argentine 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3 in the final match of the day at Mebourne Park. Cypriot Baghdatis always receives great support from the Greek community in the Victorian captial and they roared him to an impressive victory on the Rod Laver Arena.

Del Potro, playing his first Grand Slam tournament since a serious wrist injury, was unable to cope with the 21st seed in the early stages. Baghdatis’ serve was particularly impressive – he finished with more aces than his big-serving opponent, who had few answers when Baghdatis got his first serve in. The former US Open champion did briefly threaten a fightback when he upped his game in the third set, but Baghdatis regained the initiative in the fourth to set up a last-32 meeting with Jurgen Melzer. Baghdatis told the crowd after his win he had felt the weight of expectation.

“He’s not played many matches and that put a bit of pressure on me, because I was, a bit, the favourite.”

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Sam Stosur destroyed unseeded Russian Vera Dushevina 6-3 6-2 in 80 minutes to join teenage countryman Bernard Tomic in the last 32 of the Melbourne Park grand slam. Australia’s fifth seed will get a much better gauge of her title credentials on Saturday against Wimbledon semi-finalist Petra Kvitova, the impressive Czech left-hander who won the season-opening Brisbane International. Kvitova, the 25th seed, outclassed Anna Chakvetadze 6-3 6-4 in her second-round match and has dropped just two sets in seven matches so far in 2011. Kvitova hammered Stosur 6-2 6-1 in their only previous meeting at the 2008 French Open on clay. “I know her a little bit better now and I know I’m going to have to play well,” Stosur said.

“Hopefully the crowd can get behind me and we can have a good day. “It’s very exciting to be in the third round and tonight is probably the best I’ve hit the ball all summer, so I’m very happy.”

Stosur blasted 26 winners to Dushevina’s eight and, as in her first-round 6-1 6-1 demolition of American wildcard Lauren Davis, the world No.6 dictated from the outset. The French Open runner-up broke the Russian in the second game of the match before forging a 3-0 lead and nabbing the first set in 35 minutes. A peerless front-runner, Stosur was 33 from 33 in grand slam matches after taking the opening set and wasn’t about to blot her unblemished record against the world No.61. After fending off two break points in the second game of the second set, Stosur broke Dushevina for a 2-1 advantage and there was no way back for the Russian. Stosur broke Dushevina twice more to clinch an impressive victory and, ominously for her Open rivals, has conceded only 17 points in 16 service games so far this campaign.

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Bernard Tomic has continued his dream Australian Open to book a third-round blockbuster with world No.1 Rafael Nadal. Australia’s world No.199 stunned Spanish 31st seed Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 on Thursday to reach the last 32 of a grand slam event for the first time. The biggest win of Tomic’s career came two days after the 18-year-old two-time junior grand slam champion dumped world No.44 Jeremy Chardy from the tournament. Playing Nadal – almost certainly in the prime-time Saturday night slot – will be a whole new ball game for Tomic.

But the top seed is nonetheless already on guard. “He’s very young, he’s playing well I think, he has a very very good future … hopefully not for the next round,” Nadal said after trouncing American qualifier Ryan Sweeting 6-2 6-1 6-1 earlier on Thursday. Nadal said a match against the young Australian on Rod Laver Arena would be a nice occasion and recalled his days as a teenager taking on dual grand slam winner Lleyton Hewitt in Melbourne. “I remember when I was here when I was 16, 17, I played against Lleyton (twice and lost both times). If you win, it’s unbelievable. If not, it’s OK,” the history-chasing Spaniard said.

Tomic’s clash with Lopez pitted the youngest player – and last remaining Australian – in the men’s draw against a two-time quarter-finalist playing his 36th consecutive grand slam event. Anything but overawed, though, Tomic came out firing, opening with an ace, holding his first two service games to love and breaking Lopez for a 3-0 advantage with a booming backhand pass down the line. Showing guile, deft touch, agility and power, Tomic raced to 5-2 only to drop serve to love trying to close out the first set. But the teenager retained his nerve to recover from 2-0 down in the tiebreaker to pocket the first when Lopez dumped a forehand into the net. Tomic suffered a letdown early in the second set, dropping serve to fall behind 3-0 but gallantly broke the Spaniard to love in the seventh game. The Australian again prevailed in the second-set tiebreaker as Lopez, feeling the heat, began to unravel.

The two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist had two break point opportunities in the seventh game of third set, but Tomic held strong and broke Lopez for a 5-3 lead the very next game. He calmly served out the match after two hours, nine minutes. Tomic said he was having the time of his life at Melbourne Park, where three years ago, at 15, he became the youngest-ever junior Open champion. “What an experience it’s been,” he said.

“I can’t ask for anything more. To get the opportunity to play Rafa is a dream come true.

“I’m lucky I had the chance to play Feliciano, another left-hander, because I’m going to need everything out there.”

Lopez was the only player to inflict a grasscourt defeat on Nadal last year, upsetting his countryman in the Queen’s Club quarter-finals, before the world No.1 added the Wimbledon and US Open titles to his French Open crown.

The 24-year-old Spaniard arrived in Melbourne bidding to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four grand slam titles simultaneously.

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