Injuries Hit Australian Open Hard - Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal

Lawn Tennis, Ace Tennis Magazine, Lawn Tennis Magazine

Injuries Hit Australian Open Hard
By Anton Lagani, Lawn Tennis Analyst, Posted: Sunday, March 9, 2014 12:57pm PST USA

Injuries Hit Australian Open Hard - Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal

MELBOURNE-- At the Australian Open in January; both men’s and women’s favorites Rafael Nadal of Spain and Serena Williams of the USA suffered unexpected injuries which led to surprise tournament winners.

Top ranked Williams, who won the French Open and the US Open last year, had been a heavy favorite and raced through her first two matches; dropping only three games per match.

In the third round, Williams beat the 31st seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3 to win an all time player Melbourne record 61st singles match.

However; in the fourth round against the 14th seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, Williams lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. After making a solid start, Williams

Serena Williams of the USA and Rafael Nadal of Spain

Like Williams, Nadal was hampered by a lower back injury and looked close to retiring from the match in the second set.

in sets two and three found herself too often playing defensive tennis on many points and making errors she said she had not made “since the 80s.” There would be 31 total errors from Williams which her coach later blamed on a sore back.

In the women’s final, the 4th seeded Na Li of China defeated the 20th seeded Dominika of Slovakia 7-6(7-3), 6-0. After struggling in the first set, Li outplayed her more inexperienced opponent to win her second career singles grand slam title.

In the men’s final, the 8th seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland surprised the top seeded Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to win his first ever singles grand slam title.

Like Williams, Nadal was hampered by a lower back injury and looked close to retiring from the match in the second set before briefly rallying to take the third. But with Nadal serving and moving slower than usual, Wawrinka wasted little time to close out the match in the fourth set.

The final round upset however was not altogether a shocking result as earlier in the quarterfinals, the Swiss had stunned the Melbourne crowd by going the distance to upset the second seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7; hitting among his 51 winners; 17 aces.