Day 6 at the 2008 Australian Open!

January 19th, 2008

Melbourne, Australia

Day 6 of the Australian Open was a very active day, but not a necessarily good one for a few of the women's seeds. In the last 2 days, many of the more important names have all fallen and left the door wide open for players who usually don't get many good chances to go far at a major.

Maria Kirilenko made a big splash and took a huge step in her progress as a serious player when she defeated the number 6 seed, Anna Chakvetadze on Rod Laver Arena in a nicely contested 3 set match. The two Russians were facing each other and for a change, Kirilenko went for her shots and won the match, 6-7, 6-1, 6-2.

Later on that day, much later on, Venus Williams was taking on Sania Mirza which proved also to be a battle. However Venus did not want to be one of the seeds who would lose and ended up winning the match and moving to the Round of 16 for the first time since 2005. Venus won the match, 7-6, 6-4.

On Vodafone Arena, the largest upset on the women's side occured when Agnieszka Radwanska defeated the number 2 seed for the second slam in a row. She defeated Maria Sharapova at the US Open in the 3rd Round and this time defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova. The match was surprisingly lopsided and it seemed the Kuznetsova didn't have much in her, and went down an easy, 6-3, 6-4.

Ana Ivanovic continued her march through the tournament, trying to do her personal best down under as she faced off against Katarina Srebotnik. The match wasn't contested for long as the Serbian got off to a great start and ended up winning, 6-3, 6-4.

On Day 7, the Round of 16 begins with Serena Williams vs. Nicole Vaidasova, Jelena Jankovic vs. Casey Dellacqua, Justine Henin vs. Su-Wei Hsieh and Elena Dementieva vs. Maria Sharapova.

Rod Laver Arena Results:

Maria Kirilenko d. Anna Chakvatadze - 6-7, 6-1, 6-2

Venus Williams d. Sania Mirza - 7-6, 6-4

Vodafone Arena Results:

Agnieszka Radwanska d. Svetlana Kuznetsova - 6-3, 6-4

Ana Ivanovic d. Katarina Srebotnik - 6-3, 6-4

Top 10 Seeds:

1. Justine Henin - Round of 16

2. Svetlana Kuznetsova - Lost 3rd Round (Radwanska)

3. Jelena Jankovic - Round of 16

4. Ana Ivanovic - Round of 16

5. Maria Sharapova - Round of 16

6. Anna Chakvetadze - Lost 3rd Round (Kirilenko)

7. Serena Williams - Round of 16

8. Venus Williams - Round of 16

9. Daniela Hantuchova - 3rd Round

10. Marion Bartoli - Lost 1st Round (Arvidsson)