Juan Martin del Potro complains to the umpire about rowdy crowd behavior in his 7-6, 6-4 loss to Marcos Baghdatis at Sydney. Australia has large Greek and Cypriot communities that have traditionally supported Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open finalist. Del Potro allegedly spoke to chair umpire Fergus Murphy for three minutes at the end of the first set.
"I don't know where Cyprus is, if it's close to Australia or not," Del Potro told reporters. "But many guys come to here to see his game and follow his tennis. Sometimes it's difficult when the crowd talks during the point, but I really love to play with this kind of crowd. Sometimes someone is cheering for Marcos, someone is cheering for me, but I didn't lose any points because of the crowd. Marcos is always motivated when he's playing here in Australia because many people come to see his games."?
Baghdatis added: "Was an average crowd for me. Was fine. They were not doing anything bad. It's nice to have that support. I played against Andre Agassi in his last U.S. Open tournament and I was against 23,000 people. I can tell you, I didn't feel very well in that court... But I never complained."?
In Auckland, there were conflicting reports about whether Philipp Kohlschreiber hit a fan with a ball during his 6-7, (4) 6-1, 6-4 loss to Olivier Rochus.
The New Zealand website tvnx.co.nz reported that Kohlschreiber twice rocketed balls into the stands, with at least one allegedly hitting a spectator in the head. It also reported that the 28-year-old yelled at a female fan during the match.
However, an ATP official disputed the report to TENNIS.com, saying that the German received a warning during the match for hitting a ball out of the stadium and into the outdoor pool area, and that he did not hit anyone. The official also said on the next to last point of match, a spectator in the front row box yelled loudly as a ball landed near the baseline as Kohlschreiber was about to play his shot. After the point, Kohlschreiber said something in the direction of the spectator, but he did not receive a warning.?—Matt Cronin