Australian Open 2012, Day 3: Mardy Fish Upset; Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer Advance

On Day 3 of the 2012 Australian Open in Melbourne, Marcos Baghdatis went up against Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round. Baghdatis quickly fell behind, two sets to none (7-6, 6-4). The No. 44-ranked player from Cyprus retired to the sidelines between sets and worked off his frustration by taking it out on some of his lousy, good-for-nothing racquets.

(Via Deadspin)

American John Isner may have had the first great match of the 2012 Australian Open during Day 3 of the event, as he outlasted Argentina’s David Nalbandian in an epic match to claim a five-set victory.

Isner entered the Aussie Open ranked 16th in the world, but he still needed four hours and 40 minutes to overtake the unranked Argentinian veteran. The final set scores were quite close -- 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 10-8.

As expected, both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer advanced in their Round 2 matches on Day 3 of the 2012 Australian Open in Melbourne, although Federer’s victory was in a slightly different form than anticipated.

The No. 2-ranked Nadal defeated German-born Tommy Haas in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Nadal has been dealing with a nagging knee injury, but won the match handily. Haas did take an early lead in the final set, but Nadal battled back and closed out the win during his opponent’s serve.

Kim Clijsters advanced to the third round of the tournament in just 47 minutes. The Belgian defeated her French opponent 6-0, 6-1. The No. 11 seeded Clijsters, the tournament’s defending champion, will face the No. 20 seeded Daniela Hantuchova, with whom she’s quite familiar. From the AP:

Li Na also slid through to the third round. The tournament’s fifth seed, Na beat Australia’s Olivia Rogowska, 6-2, 6-2. The match took 62 minutes. Despite the score, Na told reporters after the match that it was harder than it looked. From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Mardy Fish wasn’t supposed to have much trouble with Alejandro Falla on Day 3 of the 2012 Australian Open. In fact, he wasn’t supposed to have much trouble at all until he got to Juan Martin Del Potro a couple of rounds from now. Instead, he’s out of the tournament after a poor performance, with Falla defeating him in straight sets 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (6).

Fish’s first serve percentage was actually better than Falla’s, but Fish made 58 unforced errors during the match to Falla’s 34. In the third set, many of the errors were very bad misses on shots that Fish usually executes with ease. He gifted Falla a number of holds of serve on bad errors, while Falla capitalized on his chances in the match, converting on five out of six break points.

Given all of the issues plaguing modern sports -- steroids, labor unrest, sex scandals, seedy tattoo parlors in Columbus, Ohio -- kudos to Douglas Robson of USA Today for tackling one of the most important:

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The first week of the Australian Open rarely features marquee matches or major upsets. Even though Samantha Stosur went out on Day 2, there’s no reason to believe that any of the stars playing on Day 3 are going to struggle. Rafael Nadal, Mardy Fish, Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki are all in action, and all are expected to progress in straight sets. The most intriguing match at Rod Laver Arena on Day 3 actually features a couple of unranked players.

American Sam Querrey is going to be playing against an entire country when he takes on Australia’s Bernard Tomic. Querrey is coming off of a straight sets win that took him just 87 minutes, while Tomic is coming off of a grueling five-set match in which he produced a minor upset of No. 20 Fernando Verdasco. When asked about his feelings on Tomic coming off a five-setter, Querry’s reaction was a predictable one.

Quite a few of the top remaining players in the 2012 Australian Open take the court beginning Tuesday night at 7 p.m. ET in the Round of 64 in Melbourne, as do a couple of interesting Americans.

Show Court 3, Match No. 1