ROGER Federer was like a puppeteer, he pulled the strings and Russian Nikolay Davydenko could not help but react in the manner the Swiss maestro wanted.
Federer dictated proceedings in the Australian Open 2013 second round clash played in sauna-like conditions at Rod Laver Arena, his serve impossible to crack and his magnificent array of shots always landing in great location and with depth to cramp up the hapless Davydenko.
Davydenko had a modicum of success on his own serve, breaking even with nine aces and collecting games sporadically to prolong the match, but Federer’s 6-3 6-4 6-4 scoreline was nothing short of what he deserved.
Almost as soon as Davydenko walked off centre court in resignation that he was never seriously going to get close to Federer, talk soon turned to Federer’s next bout.
Warranted or not, the headlines over the next two days will be dominated by Federer’s meeting with Australia’s last hope Bernard Tomic.
One man who will not be buying into the hype that will dominate local press is Federer.
”I don’t read the press, so I don’t know it’s going to affect me,” he said in relation to mind games that Tomic might try to play in the lead up to the match.
”I don’t know if he’s going to wake up in the morning, first thing in the morning, and go to the coffee shop and read a paper.
”I used to be like that when I was a lot younger and I stopped doing it a long time ago.
”We both have to live up to a big match, big hype and then we can talk about it afterwards.”
Still, the media poked and prodded Federer on Tomic, and he feels as though it will be a tougher, more mature, opponent than the one he beat 12 months ago in the fourth round at the Open.
”I guess he’s learned a lot in the last
year,” he said. ”It’s been, you know, a year of a
younger player on tour.
”I went through
the same sort of thing, you know, ups and downs, playing on the big courts,
playing on the smaller courts, playing against all the different opponents for
the first time. So it’s tricky.
”It’s
nice he’s been able to turn it around after a tough end of the year last
year. It seems he’s playing well. Obviously a difficult match-up in terms of
early in the tournament. But I’ve got to
be ready, so I’m looking forward to the match.”
Federer, 31, is gunning for a fifth Australian Open crown.
Australian Open
Day 4
Matches of the day: In the men’s singles, Australian young gun James Duckworth put up a Herculean effort in over 40-degree heat to keep going despite struggling with cramps. He went toe-to-toe with Slovenia’s Blaz Kavcic in a marathon match before losing 10-8 in the fifth. In the women’s singles match of the day, Melbourne-born Brit Laura Robson upset eighth seeded Czech Petra Kvitova 11-9 in the third set in a match that stretched past midnight.
Tomorrow’s picks: There is a plethora of quality matches on both Rod Laver Arena and other courts around the grounds of Melbourne Park. Hold a ticket to the Friday action and you will be spoilt. But, thumbs up to the schedule makers, they have hit the mark with a night session featuring Maria Sharapova (2) and Venus Williams (25) in a women’s singles showdown, followed by the meeting between David Ferrer (4) and Marcos Baghdatis (28) in the men’s singles. You get the feeling we could be in for a late night.
