They make ball kids tough in Australia. Take this wiry little fellow, who copped a rogue return square in the face off the racquet of German player Florian Mayer last night. Dude displays the gravitational equilibrium of a roly-poly toy and the force absorption of a boxer.
Mayer lost to Spain’s David Ferrer in four sets 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 putting Ferrer through to the quarterfinals.
Last night we also saw the run of local favourite Casey Dellacqua come to an end, after she was defeated at the hands of Canadian cutie Eugenie Bouchard – the first Canadian woman to make a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal in over 20 years.
Women’s world no. 1 Serena Williams suffered a surprise loss to Serbian 14th seed and 2011 Aus Open winner, Ana Ivanovic. Ivanovic’s countryman Novak Djokovich sailed through his fourth round match against Italian player Fabio Fognini, and treated the Rod Laver Arena crowd to one of his signature impersonations: German great Boris Becker, who just happened to be hanging in the audience.
