Melbourne's fickle weather saw yet another hot day on the horizon after yesterday's cool change. Although not as bad as Tuesday, today also saw players needing numerous ice-packs at changeovers to keep cool.

The battle of the Andes saw number 10 seed Fernando Gonzalez take on Argentine rising star Juan Martin del Potro. Both players had legions of support from their South American fans, however the rivalry between the Chileans and Argentines ended up marring the match. Gonzalez edged out the first set 9-7 in the tiebreak before Del Potro took the second 6-4 and third 7-6(3). The Chilean fans became even more raucous as they tried to urge their countryman on. Gonzalez lifted, taking the fourth set 6-4 before Del Potro retired exhausted at 4-0 in the fifth. It had been his first ever five set match and he was quoted afterwards showing his displeasure towards the Chilean fans' behaviour, "I've played in Viña del Mar with everyone against me, but this was different. Today the crowd tried to take me out of the match, rather than support Fernando...At one stage I couldn't control myself any longer. I wanted to tell them "why don't YOU come out and play, in this heat and with all this pressure", but you can't because that only makes it worse". Gonzalez did not seem to see things that way, "it's always entertaining when the crowd gets involved, it makes both players more competitive and it was even more special because it was between Argentina and Chile. Here in Melbourne there are lots of Chileans."

Out on Court 7, in searing conditions, 21 seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov took on Max Mirnyi of Belarus. Tursunov had withdrawn from the Sydney event with a wrist injury but had not seemed troubled in his first round encounter with Alexander Waske. He had little trouble capturing the first two sets here 6-2 6-3 and had a point to go up a break in the third with Mirnyi serving at 2-2, when umpire Carlos Bernardez over-ruled a clearly out ball in favour of Mirnyi, which saw Tursunov seething. He was in danger of losing his next service game, with the call still obviously rankling in his mind, but he managed to keep it together to eventually force a tiebreak. Mini breaks were exchanged but in the end, Tursunov prevailed 7-4, overcoming extreme heat as well as frustration with the umpire. After the match, he stayed back for well over 15 minutes to sign and take photos with the hordes of fans who had come to watch him. It was great to see, and understandable why he has endeared himself to so many people. He will have a tough task ahead of him, however, when he takes on Tomas Berdych in the third round.

Despite being the second match on Show Court 2, the match between Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean and Olivier Rochus of Belgium did not finish until 7.30pm. Number 28 seed Grosjean eventually won the five set battle 4-6 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-4 and then had to come out and play doubles soon after with Olivier Patience. The match was delayed and moved courts, and at one stage, people thought the match would not take place at all due to Grosjean's fatigue. However, at 8.45pm, Grosjean came out on court with his compatriot Patience to face the pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Radek Stepanek. The court was filled with hordes of Indian fans who loudly cheered on their countryman Bhupathi. When he and Stepanek breezed through the first set in 15 minutes 6-1, everyone thought the second set would be a similar story so as not to tire Grosjean out any more. However, the Frenchmen had other ideas, displaying some great serving and wonderful touch at the net to scrape through and win the tie break 7-4, forcing the match to a third set. Grosjean showed no apparent signs of fatigue despite having played 8 sets in one day and seemed to be enjoying things immensely with lots of laughs and smiles. Games went with serve until 4-4 when Bhupathi and Stepanek got the crucial break and won the match 6-4 in the third.

The final match I was to see before leaving Melbourne Park for the final time was the second round clash on Rod Laver Arena between Rafael Nadal and Philipp Kohlschreiber. Kohlschreiber gave Nadal a scare in the first set, pushing the Spaniard all the way before Nadal eventually took it 7-5. He took the second 6-3 and looked to be in a commanding position, but Kohlschreiber managed to stage a comeback, taking the third 6-4. His game seemed to fall apart in the fourth, however, as Nadal showed why he is the number two player in the world, winning the match 6-2 in the fourth to set up a third round clash with Stanislas Wawrinka.

(Emily Plank, live at Melbourne Park)