A love letter to Maria (and Alexandra)

Sharapova after a tough win.

POSTED BY DAVE: My Australian Open is complete, thanks to a gutsy second round match between Maria Sharapova and Alexandra Panova. Sharapova pulled off a victory, by coming back from way down in the third set -- and also by holding off two match points near the end. This is why I love tennis! Thank you, Maria, and thank you, as well, Alexandra.

Both of these women played such high-caliber tennis, including on crucial points. It truly is a shame, especially for Panova, that there couldn't be two winners. I have a hard time imagining that the final will be as exciting or close as this match was. However, if it is, and if Sharapova is in the mix, my money is on her. (But that should come as no surprise to Bess.)

Who else will earn aces from me in the second round? Read on.

Women

• Excited about the Keys/Dellacqua match-up! Should be high-intensity, and, I hope, high-drama.
• Excited about Wozniacki/Azarenka, too. For obvious reasons.
• Koukalova has the best shot in her quarter of the draw, now that Ivanovic has made an early exit. Expecting good things from her in 2R.
• Would love to see all of the American women move forward to 3R. I'm especially pulling for Venus, my sentimental favorite, and McHale, who I believe will ultimately make it to at least the round of 16.

Men

• Really liking the looks of Nieminen, Karlovic and Wawrinka. Something tells me all three will breeze through to 3R.
• Looking forward to Young-Raonic. Hoping for a highly athletic and extremely close match.
• My sentimental favorite is Hewitt. Wasn't his biggest fan years ago, and, to be honest, wasn't really a fan, at all. But, I've enjoyed watching him the past few years, and admire how well he is playing at this late stage in his career. I also like how he carries himself now in interviews -- mature, gracious, grateful.

BESS REPLIES: Despite a barrage of texts from Dave (barrage = seven), I slept through that third set of Sharapova/Panova. Drat! Clearly I missed a(nother) great Maria comeback. Just when all hope is lost, Maria wills it back into existence. Congrats to Maria!

A few aces and faults from me:

Aces

Dave had to complete his brackets on
(wait for it...) paper! Hence my abacus joke.
Also, please note that the purple eggplant is our
chosen emoji to signify goodness/happiness.
Not sure why.

• Baghdatis won again! In the process, he took out the 20th seed, David Goffin. Nice work, Marcos.
• An ace to Andy Murray's barber. The closer-cropped cut is a definite plus.
• At the risk of self-promotion and conceit, I'm going to give myself an ace for my 50 correct predictions in the first round of the ATP bracket challenge. Pretty sure that's one of my best first rounds ever. Feelin' pretty good... for the time being. 
• Upcoming matches I'm excited to see:
• Looking forward to seeing Rafa in action again tonight to make sure that first round performance wasn't a fluke. Yes, I'm still reining in my optimism a bit. Protective measures and whatnot.
• Tomorrow night there's a host of U.S. women in action - looking forward to seeing all of them. And while I appreciate the up-and-coming among them, I'm rooting for Venus most of all (sadly she would have to beat American Lauren Davis to advance... )
• Tomorrow's Jerzy Janowicz/Gael Monfils match could make for an entertaining highlight reel.

Faults

• Sorry to burst Dave's bubble and totally bummed to report that Christina McHale already lost her second round match. That 12-10 third set victory in the first round may have taken too much out of her.
• An XL, rosy-hued fault to that Pepto Bismal pink Nike dress worn by so. many. women. in round one. More on that in a subsequent post, but I am not a fan.
• A definite fault to me for snoozing while Maria willed herself to win her second round match. If only I could channel her sheer will and dogged determination into staying awake. As it is, I'm just channeling #tired. And it's only day three! Fault, fault, fault.

TENNIS FANS: Who are you keeping your eyes on, during 2R?