The controversial Tomas Berdych who has previously gained a reputation for having a bad attitude displayed that again refusing to shake hands with opponent Nicolas Almagro after beating the Spaniard 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 7-6(2). The crowd booed him all the way through his match interview. The seventh seed Berdych believed that his opponent Almagro tried to hit him deliberately on the face when he was at the net during the fourth set. Hitting right at the opponent is a valid shot in tennis which everyone from Roger Federer to top doubles teams do. Berdych has had altercations in the past too. After beating Nadal in Madrid in 2006, Berdych held up his finger to his lips to shush the partisan Spanish crowd after the match and that did not please Rafael Nadal and the crowd that day too.

Kim Clijsters was heroic

Defending champion Kim Clijsters won a thriller saving 4 match points in beating Li Na in a rematch of last year’s final 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4. Clijsters was down 2-6 in the second set tie break and won 6 points in a row. Earlier Li Na was broken while she served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. The third set saw Li Na self destruct as she made 13 errors in 4 games to go down 0-4. However she fought back well as the Belgian got nervous serving for match at 5-2 and was broken. She finally won on 2nd match point at 5-4 after close to two and half hours.

The Belgian who won in 2011 also said she was playing her last Australian Open and didn’t want to retire after suffering an ankle injury in the seventh game of the first set when she turned awkwardly. Clijsters will next face World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki who beat 13th seed Jelena Jankovic 6-0, 7-5. Jankovic who appeared to dominate a number of rallies but could not deliver the killer punch as Wozniacki retrieved every ball forcing her to errors.

Rafael Nadal beat fellow Spaniard left hander 18th seed Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 on a hot afternoon that had both players requiring ice during changeovers. The match started off with Nadal missing 3 break point chances in the first game and this trend continued most of the match as Nadal missing many chances. Nadal was nowhere close to his best but won in straight sets helped by deluge of errors from Lopez. Nadal has to work on his return and his back hand if he is to entertain thoughts of lifting the title here again this year.

Roger Federer easily beat Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in the night session. The match that promised much more fireworks was disappointing as Tomic never got into his stride and did not show the variety that he displayed in previous matches particularly the 5 set affair against Dolgopolov. Tomic was level till 4-4 in the first set but a double fault gave Federer a break point which he converted on another error by the Australian. Tomic was perhaps feeling the after effects of playing 14 sets in his previous 3 rounds. Thereafter Federer dominated leading 4-1 in second set completing win by identical 6-2 set scores. Later Federer said that Tomic has a good future ahead of him but should not be put under pressure constantly. Federer will next face Del Potro who beat Phillip Kohlschreiber in straight sets.

The other women’s quarterfinal will feature 3rd seed Victoria Azarenka against 8th seed Agnieszka Radwanska. Azarenka beat Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-2 while Radwanska beat Germany’s Julia Georges. Azarenka has a shot at the No.1 ranking this Australian open along with Kvitova and Sharapova.