What I noticed: Day 5

• Vika Azerenka had a tougher time today with Mona Barthel. But still came through in straights. She needs to work on her challenging skills though she ran out in the second set, this made her kinda angry. The crowd booed her reaction to the match.
• Rafa played Lucas Lacko it was a good match after a kinda flat first set over all. In the third set Laver had a visitor as bird sat on court as Rafa was about to serve, the ball kid had to shoo it off court, it was cute.  
• Julia Goerges defeated Oprandi in a comeback three set victory to reach the second week of a Slam for the first time. 
• Christina McHale had one more break point then JJ but that didn't matter as she only converted one in the 6-2 6-0 loss. 
• Roger Federer lobbed Dr. Ivo. That's really all you need to know.
• The post match interviews on Laver after the Nadal and Federer matches
• Feli Lopez out lasted John Isner in 5-settter. It was an up and down kinda match especially the second set where Feli had a break advantage but went on to lose the set in a tiebreaker. He plays Rafa next. 
• Kim Clijsters sported a black kit, it looked fierce. She played a solid match to move through to the second week. 

What I am watching: Day 5

Day 5 has a slightly front and  back loaded OOP. Here's what I plan to watch.


Rod Laver Arena 11:00 AM (7pm est)
 Men's Singles - 3rd Round : Lukas Lacko(SVK) vs. Rafael Nadal(ESP)[2]


Hisense Arena 11 AM
 Women's Singles - 3rd Round: Victoria Azarenka(BLR)[3] vs. Mona Barthel(GER)
 Match 3: Men's Singles - 3rd Round: John Isner(USA)[16] vs.  Feliciano Lopez(ESP)[18]

Hisense Arena 7 PM (3 AM est)

 Women's Singles - 3rd Round: Kim Clijsters(BEL)[11]vs.  Daniela Hantuchova(SVK)[20]
 


Margaret Court Arena 11 AM
 POSSIBLE MOVE TO ROD LAVER ARENA
 Not Before: 3 PM
  Women's Singles - 3rd Round: Christina McHale(USA) vs.  Jelena Jankovic(SRB)[13]


Show Court 3 11 AM
March 2- Women's Singles - 3rd Round: Romina Oprandi(ITA) vs.  Julia Goerges(GER)[22]

Doubles:

Court 6- Not Before: 3:30 PM-- Women's Doubles - 2nd Round: Vania King(USA)[3] /Yaroslava Shvedova(KAZ)[3] vs. Bojana Bobusic(AUS) /Sacha Jones(AUS)



Court 18- Not Before:2:30 PM--
Men's Doubles - 2nd Round: Marc Lopez(ESP) /David Marrero(ESP) vs.  Michael Llodra(FRA)[3] /Nenad Zimonjic(SRB)[3]
 Match 2-Women's Doubles - 2nd Round: Julia Goerges(GER) /Kaia Kanepi(EST) vs.  Svetlana Kuznetsova(RUS) /Vera Zvonareva(RUS)

Mixing it Up.

The Mixed Doubles draw has been released and their are some juicy teams.

Andy Roddick and Serena Williams (Team Besties) play the number one seeds in the first round.

Kimiko Date-Krumm and Kei Nishikori (Team Japan)

Jelena Jankovic and Bernard Tomic (Team Dramatic)

Iveta Benesova  and Jurgen Melzer (Team Lovebirds also the reigning Wimbledon Champions)

On Site: Sydney

@chel_ever1 shares her adventures of another day at Sydney Olympic Park:

One more tennis day in Sydney before I fly to Melbourne on Saturday, the OOP was packed! Mostly wanted to see Court 1 action but since I've got my cousins with me, I decided to sit a few sets with them on Rosewall since we have tickets there anyway.

First match on Rosewall was Wozniacki/Cibulkova, thought it was gonna be a routine win for Woz so I made my way to the outer courts after the first set. Turned out to be more than two hours of work for the world number 1. Oops.

Everyone wanted to see either the Kuznetsova/Schiavone match or the Petkovic/A. Radwanska match, so I didn't bother to queue up there, too hot and crowded, made my way to the doubles court instead.

Marcel Granollers walked past me so I said good luck, he said thanks. So polite, he was all smiles to the group of Spaniards seated to my left who were cheering quite spiritedly. Granollers and Kubot were playing well at first against Fleming and Hutchins, but then they got broken right back and everything started falling apart from then on. Out served and out volley, it was a routine straight sets win for the doubles specialists.

Kubot and Granollers

Kiri

A quick look at the practice courts: Kiri and Richard Gasquet were practicing, but I missed Delpo. I went back to centre court, I wanted to see if Petra Kvitova brought her Hopman Cup form with her or if the fatigue has caught up.... Turns out to be a bit of both. Some good hitting and then a slew of errors. Rinse and repeat. Heard that Baggy and Dima have started over on Court 1 so I made my way there, promptly greeted by a queue. Took nearly an entire set before I got in! baggy was in total control of that one, not once did I doubt that he'd win it. Dima was trying so hard, but it was just an error filled day. Best part of this match? The umpire! Mo!!! Happy I finally got to see a match that had him on the chair.

Petra Kvitova

Baggy, Dima & Mo

I wasn't about to give up my seat, JJ and Vika were up next, so I just covered up some more and tried to bear the heat as best as I could. JJ came on court first, mum right behind her. The Fila dress was... Well, so very Fila. Totally underwhelming. With a body like JJ's, they still decided to give her a potato sack. And then there came Vika, in her gold track jacket. Ick. it was practically the same shade as Rezai's infamous gold and black kit.

JJ and ump were kept waiting by Vika, Rafa style, for the coin toss. Did I mention that I love Vika? Hehe.

JJ

 That match was a total shoot out. Loved it. Much tighter than the score    suggests, but in the end Vika just out served and out gunned JJ. Bless that finger wag celebration.

Vika

Finger Twirl

After Vika won, i was back on Rosewall where the crowds, as sparse as it was was quite energetically cheering, the Serbs higher up in the stands, Aussie supporters mostly on the side near Lleyton's box. Btw, I have never seen a more blonde entourage than Lleyton's xP.

Lleyton seemed to be on cruise control after a first set struggle vs Troicki... Until the wheels came flying off. And bad! Nothing was going in, bad serving at the worst possible times... GSM Troicki in 3.

And that was it, last day at the tennis in Sydney before the much awaited trip to Melbourne. Im keeping my fingers crossed for Vika and Delpo. JUST PLEASE DON'T BREAK THEM, SYDNEY!

On Site: Sydney

Chel you can follow her on twitter and tumblr went to Sydney qualifying on Sunday here is a recap of her day:

I was surprised by the number of people in attendance at the tennis centre for qualies, nice to know I wasn't the only one who'd rather spend a hot summer's day at the tennis than at the beach.

Before I head towards the match courts, a quick peek at  the practice courts first.

Of course, quick is a relative term. I ended up spending 2 hours there, most of it at the court where Andrea Petkovic was practicing with Feliciano Lopez.  It was... Eye candy for all. I'm not ashamed to admit I was the only person there taking pics on my phone and immediately uploading to twitter. isn't that every fan's duty? I wouldn't want my card revoked hehe.

More pictures here

It got incredibly hot towards noon so I sought some shade... And found Ana Ivanovic practicing with Jelena Dokic. Ana was not happy with her toss, Jelena was all focus. Sat on the shade next to Ana's mum, she was all smiles when people came and went, taking pics of Ana.

After some lunch by the far match courts, I went to Mahut's match. It was horrid. Nicolas lost in straight sets. Next up, Kiri! I had my fingers crossed for her, she barely scraped by with the win in her first qualifying match. A couple of bad line calls had Kiri protesting "are you joking??!" and smacking a ball out of the court in disgust. No warning though. I guess the ump didn't want any more drama. After the meltdown, it was all downhill, towardsa a bagel in the second. Ouch. Bye kiri. I'll see you in Melbourne!

Sam Stosur was practicing on centre court with Peng Shuai when I went there to seek some shade. Cameras everywhere Sam goes. Comes with being Australia's darling. We wuv you, Sammy!

Went for another peek at the practice courts cos I haven't seen (or heard! LOL) Vika all day. No blonde Belarussian princess in sight. Sadz. I had a sneaking suspicion that she was on to my sta-- um, observation at a polite distance plans, practicing really early in the morning. I was right, I heard people discussing she practiced early. Boo.

Switching it Up

For some player's the new season means a new look. 


Tsvetana Pironkova has gone from Lotto...

to Nike which she debuted this week at Hopman Cup.

US Open Champion Sam Stosur has gone from the classic Lacoste...

to the sporty Asics she unveiled in Brisbane. 

Jelena Jankovic moved from Anita...

to Fila

Julia Gorges and Jarmila Gajdosova go from Wilson...

to Babolat.