Britain's Andy Murray faced down his Grand Slam nemesis Roger Federer in an electrifying five-set thriller to reach the Australian Open final on Friday night.
World No 1 Caroline Wozniacki fought off a second-set fightback to reach the Australian Open third round on Wednesday as Li Na and Kim Clijsters moved closer to a 2011 final rematch.
Peng Shuai, the No 16 seed, saw her Australian Open campaign end prematurely with a second round loss to Czech veteran Iveta Benesova, 6-2, 6-4, under the blazing sun in Melbourne.
Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) bt Pere Riba (ESP) 6-0, 4-0 - retired; Tomas Berdych (CZE x7) bt Olivier Rochus (BEL) 6-1, 6-0, 7-6 (4); Lu Yen-hsun (TPE) bt Florent Serra (FRA) 7-5, 6-2, 6-2; Kevin Anderson (RSA x30) bt Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-3; Alejandro Falla (COL) bt Mardy Fish (USA x8) 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (6); Roger Federer (SUI x3) bt Andreas Beck (GER) - walkover; Feliciano Lopez (ESP x18) bt Flavio Cipolla (ITA) 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-2; Juan Martin del Potro (ARG x11) bt Blaz Kavcic (SLO) 6-4, 7-5, 6-3; Rafael Nadal (ESP x2) bt Tommy Haas (GER) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4; Lukas Lacko (SVK) bt Donald Young (USA) 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3; John Isner (USA x16) bt David Nalbandian (ARG) 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 10-8; Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR x13) bt Tobias Kamke (GER) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 3-6, 8-6; Ivo Karlovic (CRO) bt Carlos Berlocq (ARG) 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Bernard Tomic (AUS) bt Sam Querrey (USA) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-3; Nicolas Almagro (ESP x10) bt Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4),
As temperatures hitting a sweltering 40 Celsius, red-faced players got sweated through at Melbourne Park and Rod Laver Arena during opening days of the 2012 Australian Open tennis tournament, swathing themselves in ice packs wet towels.
China's Li Na charged into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-2 6-2 win over local hope Olivia Rogowska in the sunshine at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday.
US Open champion Stosur crumbled once again under the huge weight of local expectation to crash out of the Australian Open 7-6 6-3 at the hands of Romania's Cirstea in the first round.
Novak Djokovic kept cool in stifling Melbourne heat to kick off his Australian Open title defense with a straight-sets thrashing of Italian Paolo Lorenzi on Tuesday and not even a grilling about a possible players' revolt could make him break sweat.
Reigning US Open champion Samantha Stosur said she was the latest victim of the Grand Slam winners' curse after her stunning first-round exit from the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Grand Slam champion Li Na has boosted Chinese tourism in Australia and could help double the number of visitors in the next five years, a report said on Tuesday.
Chinese Zheng Jie advanced into the second round of the 2012 Australian Open on Tuesday with an easy 6-2, 6-1 win over American Madison Keys.
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