ARod Down Under

As far as I know, the New York Yankees slugger wasn’t in Melbourne for the Aussie Open’s version of Super Sunday.

But Andy Roddick certainly made his presence felt Down Under, surviving a five-set, three-hour, 25-minute marathon in the round of 16 against Fernando Gonzalez.

America’s top player had to overcome a creaky knee, brilliance by the Chilean during much of the first four sets, and some of Gonzalez’s countrymen in the crowd perhaps becoming a little too exuberant, at least by tennis’ standards. A cross-court forehand that clipped the line (as evidenced by a challenge) to win the fourth set and make Gonzo, who was the runner-up here to Roger Federer in 2007, go gonzo.

With 68 winners, including 32 aces, Roddick earned a quarterfinal spot against Marin Cilic, who upset U.S. Open champ Juan Martin Del Potro in their own five-set match. In a match on Tennis Channel, the U.K.’s great hope Andy Murray took out the other American male left in the singles draw, the 6′ 9″ John Isner, in straights. The Scotsman’s reward: a date with the defending champion Rafa Nadal in the other quarter in the bottom of the draw.

The women’s side took some hits as No. 2 Dinara Safina retired with a bad back and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova succumbed to another Russian, the heretofore underachieving, Nadia Petrova, who had spanked U.S. Open Kim Clijsters love and one in an earlier meeting.

Clijsters’ countrywoman and fellow comebacker, Justin Henin, needed three sets of her own to top yet another Belgian, Yanina Wikcmayer, to stay alive. The winner of the Henin-Petrova quarter will likely emerge as the finalist from the wide-open bottom half of the women’s draw — and no doubt face a Williams sister.

How much anybody watched of the 14-hour day on Tennis and ESPN2 than ended at 1:10 a.m. local time, given the 16-hour time difference to the east coast and 19 hours to the Left Coast,  is for the Nielsens to tell.

But those who started watching Saturday in primetime in the States and stuck with (much of) the action overnight into the 9 a.m. hour on the east coast with the Roddick revue, were certainly rewarded with some highly competitive and intriguing tennis — and a tasty appetizer for the NFL conference championship games on America’s Sunday.