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As the tennis world wakes to week 2 of Australian Open 2010, let’s reflect on the story so far ...

Upsets, injuries, revelations, anti-climaxes, down-to-the-wire epics and blow-ups have all featured this week at the first Grand Slam tournament of 2010.

Day 1 began with the biggest upset of all when 2008 women’s champion Maria Sharapova was rolled by the other Russian Maria, Maria Kirilenko.

While thousands of Sharapova watchers were devastated at the early loss, thousands more were relieved to be able to turn up the volume of their television sets after the Queen of Shriek’s early departure.

Sharapova was joined at the departure lounge by other early departees including Ana Ivanovic (lost in the second round to Gisela Dulko), Kim Clijsters (dominated by Nadia Petrova in round three) and Jelena Jankovic (dispatched by 31st seed Alona Bondarenko).

Touted players Alize Cornet, Melanie ‘Believe’ Oudin and Sorana Cirstea were all bundled out in the first week as well.

Kirilenko is into the quarters after world No.2 Dinara Safina retired from their fourth-round match with Kirilenko leading 5-4. She’ll play China’s Zheng Jie who is the first Chinese player to make it through to the women’s singles quarterfinals at the Australian Open. She may be joined by countrywoman Li Na if she can topple Caroline Wozniacki on Monday.

Sixteenth-seeded Li Na accounted for 22nd seed Daniela Hantuchova, Agnes Szavay and Marina Erakovic on her way to week two. US Open finalist Wozniacki enjoyed convincing wins over 29th seed Shahar Peer, Julia Goerges and Aleksandra Wozniak.

And proving that fairytales, like lightning, don’t strike twice, the story of Australian Open 2009, Jelena Dokic, was another first-round casualty after a shaky build up.

Three of the 12 remaining players are unseeded, including dangerous floater Justine Henin who has made it through to the quarterfinals as many expected. Henin will face Nadia Petrova who has been in wrecking-ball form this week.

Powerhouse Serena Williams has dropped three games in each of her first three matches and looks a likely finalist again, although Serena has a thing for winning in odd years (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009), so maybe this won’t be her year. She meets Sam Stosur in the fourth round who defeated her the last time they met.

As the only Australian left in the women’s draw, Stosur’s confidence has grown with each match. Her final set against Alberta Brianti in the third round was the best tennis she’s played all week.
Sister Venus has quietly taken her place at the fourth-round table and is yet to drop a set. The siblings could meet in the semifinals if they both continue their winning ways.

Heavy hitters Victoria Azarenka and Vera Zvonareva, seeded seven and nine respectively, are both still in the mix, their fourth-round match will be a highlight.

On the men’s side of the fence, only one of the final 12 is unseeded – Lukasz Kubot, who progressed to the fourth round after 20th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny succumbed to injury.

Eight out of the top 10 seeds are still firing, which means fans are in for some high-powered tennis this week. Andy Murray led the charge into the quarters without dropping a set – not even top three seeds Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic can boast this.

This, however, may change in the quarterfinals where Murray will meet world No.2 and defending champion Nadal. Rafa hasn’t been in the same scintillating form he was in last year, but you sense that the Spaniard is building his tournament with each match and will be ready to step up against the consistent Scot who he described as “one of the most talented players on tour”.

Croatian Marin Cilic has lived up to the growing hype this past week with an impressive five-set win over US Open champion and fourth seed Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round. Leading up to this, Cilic was involved in a late-night stoush with talented Australian Bernard Tomic and then followed up with a four-set win over 19th seed Stanislas Wawrinka.

Cilic will face seventh-seeded American Andy Roddick in the quarters. This is the sixth time the Wimbledon 2009 finalist has made it to the quarterfinals or better in Melbourne. The road hasn’t been easy for A-Rod, a four-setter against Feliciano Lopez and a five-setter with 11th seed Fernando Gonzalez has been nothing short of testing.

But the man creating all the headlines at the moment is none other than the Russian battler Nikolay Davydenko. It sounds ignorant, but the world No.6 has been a revelation this week and his press conferences have been a highlight.

Davy, as his growing fan base refers to him, hasn't dropped a set on the way to the fourth round. His round-of-16 match against 2009 semifinalist Fernando Verdasco on Monday is shaping up to be one of the matches of the tournament.

Verdasco got past a tricky four-set opener against big-serving Australian wildcard Carsten Ball and has had a pretty easy time of it since then. His third-round opponent Stefan Koubek retired after losing the first set 6-1, so the Spaniard should be fresh going into the fourth round.

The winner of the Davydenko–Verdasco quarterfinal will meet either world No.1 Roger Federer or 2005 finalist Lleyton Hewitt.

King Federer dropped a set in the opening round to Maria Kirilenko’s boyfriend, Igor Andreev. But since then, the world No.1 has cruised through the second and third rounds.

After a straight-sets win over Albert Montanes in the third round, Federer remarked: “I don't want to say I'm playing the best tennis of my life, because I haven't had to so far.” He’ll need to bring his A game against Hewitt who he last met at the 2009 US Open where he had the better of the Australian over four sets.

Hewitt’s run to the fourth round has come all in straight sets, including the much-hyped third-round match against Marcos Baghdatis that ended in the second set when the Cypriot retired with an injured shoulder.

Australian Open 2008 finalists Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are also into the fourth round. Djokovic has been quietly going about his business and has only dropped one set in the first week.

Tsonga, meanwhile, accounted for No.18 Tommy Haas in four sets and is looking dangerous. Both are expected to be present in the quarters – Tsonga will meet 26th seed Nicolas Almagro, while Djokovic plays the unseeded Kubot.

Now we wait to see what week two brings us as the stakes are raised and the players are all in.