Rafa’s knee passes test amid controversy

Rafa Nadal

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Rafa Nadal’s creaky  knee, Alejandro Falla’s leg cramps and Andreas Beck’s bad back  created discussion and a sniff of controversy as most of the  main contenders safely reached the Australian Open third round  on Wednesday.

Rafa Nadal

Champion Kim Clijsters, French Open winner Li Na, world  number one Caroline Wozniacki and third seed Victoria Azarenka  all advanced, along with local hope Bernard Tomic, dark horse  Tomas Berdych and world number three Roger Federer.

Mardy Fish became the first men’s top-10 seed to exit  Melbourne Park, though his 7-6 6-3 7-6 defeat by Falla left a  bitter taste in the American’s mouth, with the eighth seed  suggesting much of Falla’s treatment for cramping during a tense  third set had been a tactical ploy.

“When you think someone is cramping or ailing physically,  you sort of change your game a tiny bit,” Fish said. “I think it  had a significant bearing on the third set, for sure.

“Didn’t seem like he was having too much trouble during the  point. So it was a good tactic on his part.”

Controversy also boiled over on Margaret Court Arena when a  David Nalbandian fumed at the chair umpire for over-ruling a  point and denying him a Hawk-eye challenge towards the end of  his four hour, 41 minute loss to American John Isner.

“I mean, it’s ridiculous playing this kind of tournament  with this kind of umpires. What is this?,” Nalbandian railed  after his 4-6 6-3 2-6 7-6 10-8 defeat.

“What did the ATP do for this?  I didn’t understand in that  situation. I mean, can you be that stupid to do that in that  moment?”

Former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis also  provided the Margaret Court crowd with fireworks when he smashed  four racquets in a spectacular fit of pique after dropping serve  early in the third set against Stanislas Wawrinka.

HEAVILY TAPED

Nadal’s knee, heavily taped after it had caused him  “unbelievable pain” on Sunday, held up well under a test from  Germany’s Tommy Haas, the Spaniard coming through 6-4 6-3 6-4.

“A positive match, but not that … demanding,” Nadal said.  “We didn’t play four hours and a half, five hours.

“Three sets, so wasn’t that tough.”

Federer, however, had a much easier day when he advanced  without having to lace up his tennis shoes.

The Swiss had been scheduled to play Beck on Hisense Arena,  ending a run of 52 matches at Melbourne Park on main show court  Rod Laver Arena, before he found out his German opponent had  withdrawn.

The 16-times grand slam champion, seeded to meet Nadal in  the semi-finals, did not even have the chance to warm up.

“I was just coming for my warm-up hit, so I was completely  focusing on the match, saying, ‘Okay, I’ll probably have two,  three hours to go’,” Federer told reporters.

“Now I’ll just take it easy … and come out tomorrow and  hit intensely, and then I’ll be ready for the next match.”

NO SWEAT

Women’s top seed Wozniacki fought off a second-set wobble to  knock out Georgia’s Anna Tatishvili 6-1 7-6 and the Dane said  she felt like she had let her opponent back into the match.

“I thought the first set I played pretty well. I stayed  aggressive and made her run,” she said.

“Second set, she went a bit more for her shots, and I  stepped back a little bit and she punished me for that.

The Dane joined Clijsters and Li in the third round, last  year’s finalists rarely needing to get out of first gear in  their matches on Rod Laver Arena.  Temperatures were much more comfortable after two days of  fierce heat and Clijsters barely built up a sweat as she  thrashed France’s Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-0 6-1.

“I felt like in my first match I didn’t really have that  rhythm that I would have liked to have,” Clijsters said.

“I was hitting the ball well, felt that I could keep her  under pressure. I didn’t really let her play her game. From the  beginning till the end, I did what I had to do well.”

Li, was almost as efficient, giving Australian Olivia  Rogowska little time to settle and running out a comfortable 6-2  6-2 winner in 62 minutes. Tenth seed Francesca Schiavone suffered a shock defeat,  however, dumped out by fellow Italian Romina Oprandi 6-4 6-3.