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 Rafa's week-two dreamscapeSlimmer Sania's return, Djokovic ready for No. 3
Rafa has one more match to get prepared for Lleyton Hewitt, when he will face fellow Spaniard Alberto Montanes, who can work the ball deep but doesn't have the creativity or mental fortitude to face down Nadal. Hewitt still does, although he's still a decided underdog on clay. He loves the lefty forehands that Nadal's chucks to his favored backhand side and likes nothing better than to match his Trojan warriors instincts against an equally lion-hearted foe. Watch his 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory over '04 titlist Gaston Gaudio closely and just see how confident he was coming out in the fifth set. As he indicated later, there was no way that Gaudio's brief bouts of flair was going penetrate his steely defense, not when Gaudio has told the world that he's not sure if he wants to keep playing. That's essentially a declaration of surrender by the Argentine. Late on Friday, on foxsports.com/tennis, I'll go more deeply in Hewitt's psyche and prospects, but after writing back-to-back Russian blonde pieces for Fox (on Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva), I want to move up the men's draw. In the bottom half there's a compelling Marcos Baghdatis-Novak Djokovic match shaping up in the quarters. "Everybody expects me to be one of the guys who can actually hurt the best two players in the world and I'm aware of that," Djokovic said' "There's a lot of expectation and pressure, but I'm trying not to think about it too much." The expectation on his plate and there's no way he can avoid thinking about his newfound designation as the No. 3 in waiting. He and Jelena Jankovic should have a pow-wow on the subject. David Ferrer could be a potential hiccup in third round, but the Djoker has the legs and power to punch out the Spaniard. The Bag Man is one guy who is fast and creative enough to trouble him, if he can get his head on straight. The Cypriot has a terrific draw, as either Nicolas Massu or Igor Andreev should be tuckered out by the time they face him. One other man on the bottom half intrigues me: Carlos "Charlie" Moya, the '98 RG champ, who is having a minor resurgence and could scare his "little buddy" Rafa with his big brother intimidation factor should they face off in the quarters. Nonetheless, should both those tantilizing quarters come to pass, the tennis world will be quite pleased. MIRZA SLIMMER BUT NOT WINNING I really went out to watch how well Sania has recovered from her right knee ligament injury and was pretty impressed by her play in the second set. She's slimmed down, was (of course) gunning her forehand, has pretty good success with her backhand crosscourt (except in the final two games) and showed off significant movement on her first serve. She's still a bit of a sloppy player and she'll never win a 100-meter-yard dash, but with her extraordinary power from the backcourt and her fearless return, it's easy to see a run at the Top 30 if she stays healthy and keeps working on her conditioning. Like Sharapova, her couple months off healing did a world of good to the rest of her body, because she's more cut now after logging significant hours in the gym. "It was just a matter of converting a few more of my backhands to my forehand and using my strength a little better," said Sania, who is being counseled by coach Gabriel Urpi. Is Amelie Mauresmo ready for Lucie Safarova? She says it's revenge match given that the Czech took her out of the Aussie Open, so you know she'll be pumped up, but I didn't like her form much in her 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-1 win over Nathalie Dechy. … The word from the Andy Roddick camp is that the blonde in his box wasn't someone he is dating. … Mary Pierce is re-habbing, but won't set a date for a return. © TennisReporters.net 2007
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