Australian Open Day Four Review: Venus knocked out by sensational Spaniard

Australian Open Betting / Sean Calvert / 22 January 2009 / Leave a Comment

Sean Calvert reviews the day's events at the Australian Open where the number six women's seed is the first big casualty as unseeded Navarro comes from a set down...

The Australian Open saw its first big upset today as sixth seed Venus Williams crashed out against unseeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro.

Just shy of £100k was traded on Williams, who lost 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, at the minimum price of [1.01] in-running on Betfair. And more than £1,000,000 was traded on the American at odds of [1.04] and shorter with her opponent backed at a high of [150.0].

Suarez Navarro was initially overwhelmed by Williams' power and composure and was broken twice in the first set. However, the 20-year-old Spaniard played with greater abandon in the second, earning a double break. Williams hit back in the third, establishing a 4-1 lead before Navarro dug deep to defy the odds, saving match point at 4-5 before breaking in the next and serving out for a stunning triumph.

Navarro has been backed at the maximum odds of [1000.00] in the Womens Tournament Winner market but, after today's victory, her price has shortened to [44.0]. She now meets fellow Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the third round.

Earlier, the day kicked off with the last remaining British women's hope in the tournament, Elena Baltacha, who was taking on former champion Amelie Mauresmo on court two.

Baltacha, as we all know, doesn't exactly have much of a record away from Wimbledon, but she was in with a slight chance against a Mauresmo very much in decline and so it proved as the Brit took an early lead.

The number 20 seed was being battered early on by a string of decent groundstrokes and passes, which meant that Mauresmo was unable to dominate at net, as she loves to do.

Baltacha got rather nervous when attempting to serve it out at 5-2, but she eventually got the job done to take the set 6-4.

The searing heat was beginning to take its toll on the Brit though and Mauresmo clawed her way back into the match before there was an enforced break through the 'extreme heat policy'.

Baltacha came out firing when they returned, but too many unforced errors (49 in all) gave Mauresmo the initiative and she went on to claim a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.

Over on Rod Laver, Rafa Nadal eased through his second round clash with Roko Karanusic in straight sets.

Nadal was never in any kind of danger against the Croat and is now in to [4.7] to take the title. He should face rather more of a challenge in round three from a resurgent Tommy Haas [420.0], who demolished little Flavio Cipolla 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.

There were slightly harder fought wins for French pair Gilles Simon [80.0] and Gael Monfils [85.0], who both dropped a set in victories over Chris Guccione and Stefan Koubek respectively, while another French hope, Richard Gasquet [210.00], won in three against Denis Istomin.

Gasquet's win sets up a very watchable third round match with Fernando Gonzalez [150.00], whose straight sets success over Guillermo Canas was his first in three career meetings.

The Frenchman and the Chilean have never met on the main tour, but this clash will surely be the tie of the third round as far as shot-making goes.

There was a three-and-a-half-hour all-Croatian encounter over on court two, which was eventually won by Mario Ancic over Ivo Karlovic.

Ancic had to suffer 25 aces from the big man and he came from two sets to one behind to record the win, earning a tournament quote of [550.00] in the process and he now faces Simon in round three.

Other notable winners early in the day in the men's draw were Fernando Verdasco, who thrashed Arnaud Clement 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 and Radek Stepanek, who won in four against Michael Berrer. The pair will meet in round three.

In the night session, last year's runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was having a struggle at the Hisense Arena against former top three veteran Ivan Ljubicic.

I say veteran, but in fact Ljubicic is still only 29, he just looks far older and seems to have been around forever.

The Croatian was using all that experience to outfox the Frenchman early on and he took the first set on a breaker, belying his lowly current ranking of 55 and recent poor form.

Tsonga was still serving relatively big and hitting the odd outrageous winner but, worryingly for his supporters, the big man was wincing noticeably, sparking fears over his injured back.

In typical Melbourne style, the weather had changed from boiling to windy by the time the match went into breaker number two, in which they both had set points before the number five seed took it on a hawkeye challenge.

Another tiebreak decided the third set, which Tsonga took despite being 6-3 down and the celebrations were quite something to behold.

Perhaps Tsonga was desperate not to go five sets for the first time in his career and perhaps he was equally as keen to protect that back, but whatever the reasons he stepped it up in the fourth to take it 6-2 and with it the match.

Tsonga [30.0] now faces Dudi Sela in round three, but how much longer will his fitness hold out?

In the women's draw, barring Venus, the seeds made it through comfortably, with the exception of Patty Schnyder who was beated 6-3, 6-1 by Virginie Razzano.