The 2009 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 97th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 19 January through 1 February 2009. The tournament is remembered for containing many notable matches of the 2009 year,10 most memorable matches of 2009, www.tennis.com including the Nadal v Verdasco semi final and the Nadal v Federer final. It was the first hard court Grand Slam in which Nadal made the final or won.Nadal calls for fewer hard court events, sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis, 2 February 2009.
Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova were the defending champions. Djokovic was forced to retire in his quarter-final match against Andy Roddick due to heat stress, ending his title defence, whilst Sharapova chose not to defend her title due to long lasting shoulder surgery;Sharapova out after shoulder fails to recover - The Age the withdrawal subsequently dropped her out of the WTA's Top 10 for the first time since July 2004.
Second seeded Serena Williams regained the women's singles title and recorded her fourth Australian Open title and tenth Grand Slam title overall after defeating third seed Dinara Safina in straight sets. Serena, partnering with her sister Venus, also won the women's doubles tournament.
First seeded Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer in five sets to win the men's singles title. This was Nadal's first hard court grand slam title, having previously only won on clay at Roland Garros four times and grass at Wimbledon once. He also became the first Spaniard to ever win the Australian Open. This tournament featured 23 five-set men's singles matches, the most since 1988. In men's doubles, another sibling pair took the title as Bob and Mike Bryan defeated Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles.
This tournament was notable for being the warmest tournament weather-wise; the average daily maximum temperature throughout the tournament was 34.7 degrees Celsius, nine degrees above normal. The coolest Australian Open was in 1986, when the maximum temperature averaged just 22.5 degrees Celsius, 3.5 degrees below normal.Melbourne set to sizzle for Australian Open 2014 , Australian Open official website, 1 December 2013
Day-by-day summaries
Day 1 (19 January) Day one's play began with 7th seeded Andy Roddick easing through to the 2nd round in Rod Laver Arena in straight sets. Later defending champion and 3rd seeded Novak Djokovic also made it to the second round, as well as seeded players Juan Martín del Potro, Marat Safin, Tomáš Berdych, Mardy Fish, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Robin Söderling, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Tommy Robredo, Stanislas Wawrinka, Marin Čilić, while 11th seeded David Ferrer was made to work hard before prevailing in five sets over Denis Gremelmayr. 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis also progressed in straight sets, while Australia's defending boy's champion Bernard Tomic won a four set encounter on his debut. Later in the evening, 10th seeded David Nalbandian dropped a set but eventually defeated Frenchman Marc Gicquel, while three-time champion 2nd seed Roger Federer won the first set easily, but was made to work hard in the next two sets, before defeating Italian Andreas Seppi on his fifth match point. 27th seed Feliciano López was the only seed to fall, losing to 2008 US Open quarterfinalist, Luxembourg's Gilles Müller in a five set thriller that ended 16–14 in the fifth. The match was originally thought to be the longest in the history of the Australian Open, spanning over 5 hours and 34 minutes. However, it was later discovered that a timing error had added over an hour to the match, that in reality lasted 4 hours and 24 minutes. The semifinal match between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco did become the longest, however, at 5 hours and 14 minutes.
In the women's singles, last year's finalist and 5th seeded Ana Ivanovic began her campaign with a hard earned straight sets victory, while compatriot and top seed Jelena Janković was an easy winner over Yvonne Meusburger. Other players following the Serbian duo into the second round include 3rd seed Dinara Safina, 7th seed Vera Zvonareva, Caroline Wozniacki, Alizé Cornet, Nadia Petrova, Marion Bartoli, Anna Chakvetadze, Alisa Kleybanova and Ai Sugiyama. 25th seeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi halted the progress of former world number four Kimiko Date-Krumm, playing in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time in 13 years, in three tight sets, while last year's semifinalist Daniela Hantuchová defeated local hope Casey Dellacqua in straight sets. Another former world number four, unseeded Australian Jelena Dokić also moved into the second round for the first time in ten years with a hard-fought victory over Tamira Paszek. Meanwhile, 23rd seed Ágnes Szávay's poor form in Grand Slams continued as she crashed out to Galina Voskoboeva, 24th seed Sybille Bammer lost to Lucie Šafářová, while Sara Errani defeated 27th seed Maria Kirilenko.
Seeds out: Men's Singles: Feliciano López Women's Singles: Ágnes Szávay, Sybille Bammer, Maria Kirilenko Schedule of Play
Matches on main courtsMatches on Rod Laver Arena Event Winner Loser Score Men's singles – 1st round Andy Roddick Björn Rehnquist 6–0, 6–2, 6–2 Women's singles – 1st round Jelena Janković Yvonne Meusburger 6–1, 6–3 Men's singles – 1st round Novak Djokovic Andrea Stoppini 6–2, 6–3, 7–5 Women's singles – 1st round Daniela Hantuchová Casey Dellacqua 7–6(11), 6–4 Men's singles – 1st round Roger Federer Andreas Seppi 6–1, 7–6(7–4), 7–5Matches on Hisense Arena Event Winner Loser Score Women's singles – 1st round Ana Ivanovic Julia Görges 7–5, 6–3 Men's singles – 1st round Juan Martín del Potro Mischa Zverev 6–3, 6–4, 6–2 Women's singles – 1st round Jelena Dokić Tamira Paszek 6–2, 3–6, 6–4 Men's singles – 1st round Marat Safin Iván Navarro 6–3, 6–3, 6–4Matches on Margaret Court Arena Event Winner Loser Score Women's singles – 1st round Vera Zvonareva Magdaléna Rybáriková 7–6(7–2), 6–0 Men's singles – 1st round Bernard Tomic Potito Starace 7–6(5), 1–6, 7–6(7–5), 7–6(8–6) Women's singles – 1st round Caroline Wozniacki Shahar Pe'er 6–3, 6–2 Women's singles – 1st round Dinara Safina Alla Kudryavtseva 6–3, 6–4 Men's singles – 1st round David Nalbandian Marc Gicquel 6–1, 4–6, 6–2, 6–3Colored background means night matches
Day 2 (20 January) With temperatures soaring in Melbourne, Andy Murray had life made easy in his first round match when opponent Andrei Pavel was forced to concede with a back injury early in the second set, having lost the first. Other top-ten seeds such as last year's finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon and James Blake also progressed comfortably, along with Gaël Monfils, Fernando Verdasco, Richard Gasquet, Jürgen Melzer, Ivo Karlović and Radek Štěpánek, while Igor Andreev and Nicolás Almagro both won through in five sets. In a five-set thriller that lasted three hours and seven minutes, former finalist and 13th seed Fernando González overcame home-crowd favorite Lleyton Hewitt. Later on, top-seed Rafael Nadal posted a 6–0, 6–2, 6–2 win against Christophe Rochus that tied with Andy Roddick's first-round score, establishing himself and Roddick as the most dominant male performers of the first round. Two more seeds fell in the first round, with Russian 29th seed Dmitry Tursunov losing to Flavio Cipolla, while another former finalist, 30th seed Rainer Schüttler was defeated by Israel's Dudi Sela.
In the women's draw, Polish 9th seed Agnieszka Radwańska became the first top ten seed on either side to lose, as she was upset in three sets by Kateryna Bondarenko. 4th seed Elena Dementieva, on a ten-match winning streak this season, pulled through in three tough sets while the Williams sisters, 6th seeded Venus and second seed Serena, comfortably won their first-round matches, as did former women's champion Amélie Mauresmo, along with Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Patty Schnyder, Flavia Pennetta, Alona Bondarenko and Zheng Jie, while teenagers Victoria Azarenka and Dominika Cibulková recorded crushing victories over their respective opponents. 30th seeded Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak suffered defeat at the hands of Sabine Lisicki, while Francesca Schiavone lost to Peng Shuai and Tamarine Tanasugarn was defeated by María José Martínez Sánchez.
Seeds out: Men's Singles: Dmitry Tursunov, Rainer Schüttler Women's Singles: Agnieszka Radwańska, Francesca Schiavone, Aleksandra Wozniak, Tamarine Tanasugarn Schedule of Play
Matches on main courtsMatches on Rod Laver Arena Event Winner Loser Score Men's singles – 1st round Andy Murray Andrei Pavel 6–2, 3–1, RET Women's singles – 1st round Serena Williams Meng Yuan 6–3, 6–2 Men's singles – 1st round Fernando González Lleyton Hewitt 5–7, 6–2, 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 Women's singles – 1st round Samantha Stosur Klára Zakopalová 7–6(5), 7–6(0) Men's singles – 1st round Rafael Nadal Christophe Rochus 6–0, 6–2, 6–2Matches on Hisense Arena Event Winner Loser Score Women's singles – 1st round Elena Dementieva Kristina Barrois 7–6(7–4), 2–6, 6–1 Men's singles – 1st round Gilles Simon Pablo Andújar 6–4, 6–1, 6–1 Women's singles – 1st round Venus Williams Angelique Kerber 6–3, 6–3 Men's singles – 1st round Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Juan Mónaco 6–4, 6–4, 6–0Matches on Margaret Court Arena Event Winner Loser Score Women's singles – 1st round Virginie Razzano Jarmila Gajdošová 6–1, 6–7(2–7), 6–4 Men's singles – 1st round Chris Guccione Nicolas Devilder 6–4, 6–2, 6–4 Women's singles – 1st round Anabel Medina Garrigues Isabella Holland 6–1, 7–5 Women's singles – 1st round Svetlana Kuznetsova Anastasia Rodionova 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 Men's singles – 1st round James Blake Frank Dancevic 6–4, 6–3, 7–5Colored background means night matches
Day 3 (21 January) Day three saw the second round matches getting underway in Melbourne Park. Defending champion and 3rd seed Novak Djokovic progressed with a straight sets victory over Jérémy Chardy, while second seed Roger Federer breezed past 118th-ranked Russian Evgeny Korolev 6–2, 6–3, 6–1 at Rod Laver Arena, which sets up a third-round match with Marat Safin, who recovered from a slow start to beat Guillermo García López 7–5, 6–2, 6–2. Andy Roddick also needed four sets to get past Xavier Malisse, while Juan Martín del Potro eased into the third round, along with Marin Čilić, David Ferrer, Stanislas Wawrinka, Mardy Fish, Tomáš Berdych and Tommy Robredo. In the biggest upset in the men's tournament up to this point, unseeded Yen-hsun Lu defeated 10th-seeded David Nalbandian in five sets. 16th-seeded Robin Söderling was also upset by unseeded former finalist Marcos Baghdatis in four, while lucky loser Amer Delić prevailed in five sets against 28th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu and French veteran Fabrice Santoro came from behind to defeat Philipp Kohlschreiber. In the feature night match at Rod Laver Arena, sixteen-year-old Bernard Tomic took the first set against Gilles Müller but eventually lost 3–6, 6–1, 6–4, 6–2 to the more experienced Luxembourger.
In the women's draw, it was a perfect day for the seeds, with the exception of 17th-seeded Anna Chakvetadze, who lost a sensational 3-set encounter to Jelena Dokić, the latter continuing with her comeback and set up a third round clash with Danish teenager, 11th seed Caroline Wozniacki after some questionable decisions by Fred Mather. Top seed Jelena Janković encountered resistance against Kirsten Flipkens but eventually won 6–4, 7–5, while Ana Ivanovic had an easier time against qualifier Alberta Brianti. Third seed Dinara Safina also needed to come back from one set down to beat Ekaterina Makarova, while Vera Zvonareva crushed Edina Gallovits 6–0, 6–0, and Nadia Petrova defeat Sania Mirza in straight sets. Also through to the third round are Alizé Cornet, Daniela Hantuchová, Marion Bartoli, Ai Sugiyama, Kaia Kanepi and Alisa Kleybanova. Seeds out: