There has been a no-one-saw-this-coming upset at the Australian Open tennis tournament. The world's number two ranked men's player, Novak Djokovic, was ousted by the number 117th ranked Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in a marathon five set match that lasted four hours and forty-eight minutes.
This is a stunning result on a number of levels. Istomin only qualified for the main draw of the Open by winning a wild card playoff match at the Asia/Pacific tournament in China, and six of Djokovic's twelve career grand slam titles have been at the Australian, where he normally owns the court. Amazing upset in just the second round of the men's draw.
Nothing quite as dramatic on the women's side, as the number two ranked womens' player in the world, Serena Williams, has advanced into the 3rd round after defeating Lucie Safarova in straight sets.
To the NHL, and the Boston Bruins needed a fast start against the Detroit Red Wings after suffering their worst loss of the year at the hands of the last place NY Islanders the previous game. They got that fast start, scoring three quick goals in the first period, two on lightning quick strikes by Frank Vatrano and a short handed goal from Brandon Carlo after a beautiful forecheck steal and feed by Patrice Bergeron to Brad Marchand to Carlo, and that third goal knocked Detroit starting goalie Jared Coreau out of the game in favor of Petr Mrazek. The Bruins got another before the end of the first on a deflected slap pass from Torey Krug to Bergeron and with a 4-1 lead going into the second period things looked good for Boston. Looks, of course, can be deceiving.
The Bruins collapsed in the second, allowing three unanswered Detroit goals, then actually got the lead back on a goal by Adam McQuaid, but still couldn't stand their good fortune, allowing the tying goal by Gustav Nyquist with just three minutes left in regulation, ultimately losing in an overtime shootout to the Red Wings 6-5. Give plenty of credit to Detroit for the comeback but this is yet another game that should have been two points in the standings for Boston rather than the one they get for the regulation tie, and for Detroit it places them just two games behind Boston for a playoff berth, as the Wings try to stretch their consecutive streak of post-season hockey to 26 years. Thomas Vanek and Franz Nielsen scored in the shootout to give the Detroit the big win and send the Bruins to another dispiriting loss.
Elsewhere the Pittsburgh Penguins went into the Bell Centre last night and got a 19-save performance from Matt Murray and second period goals from Eric Fehr and Jake Guentzel to beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1.
In the NBA, the NY Knicks had won just twice in 13 games coming into Boston to face a Celtics team going in the other direction. The Celts had been on a roll, winning 13 out of their last 16, but the Knicks got 30 points from Derrick Rose, matching his season high, and they ran away with a 117-106 upset win. You can't blame Isaiah Thomas, who was his usual scoring machine self for Boston, pouring in 39 points in the losing effort.
In mens' college hoops, the St. Michael's Purple Knights had a valiant effort against Le Moyne College in Syracuse last night, coming back from a 7-point deficit with two minutes to go in regulation to force overtime. But the Dolphins pulled away in the extra frame to win 90-84. Yet another monster game from St. Mike's Matt Bonds, who scored 28 points to go with 14 rebounds. Levi Holmes added 23 in the losing effort for the Knights.
But the St. Michael's women did rally to win against their Le Moyne counterparts, riding a 17-point effort from Leah Spencer to a 61-50 win. Spencer also had 11 rebounds for the double-double, and the Purple Knights pulled away with an 11-1 run in the fourth quarter for the win, improving to 9-7 on the year.
