Marat Safin gives an interview to Russian Hello! Magazine in his Moscow apartment. It looks like someone is a photography buff (Spletnik via GOTOTENNIS)

Carlos Moya is expecting his first child with his girlfriend Carolina Cerezuela (Revista Tenis)

Ivan Lendl will play against Mats Wilander in his first exhibition match since retiring in Atlantic City. Marat Safin will play Andy Roddick in the other match (The Canadian Press)

Uncle Toni wanted Nadal to withdraw BEFORE his Aussie semifinal match with Andy Murray (Revista Tenis)

The story of Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer’s disqualification after they had match point in their second-round match. Moral to the story – don’t throw your racquet. Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi went on to win the South African tournament (iol)

Dmitry Tursunov pulled out of the SAP Open this week and may need a third surgery on his ankle (Sacramento Bee)

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulled out of Rotterdam because of a stomach muscle injury (ESPN)

Gilles Simon withdrew from Rotterdam because of a right knee injury (Tennis Connected)

Mark Philippoussis lost his first match in a Challenger event in Dallas (Open Court)

Bernard Tomic wins a Challenger event in Tasmania (Fox Sports)

(Image: Spletnik)

Marin Cilic could be problematic for Andy Murray (Times Online)

Tennis great Alastair Martin dies (UPI)

Australian up-and-comer Bernard Tomic draws fire for criticizing the scheduling at the Australian Open (Reuters)

Tomic is also in the market for a new coach. He is looking at Brad Gilbert and Darren Cahill. If there is a god, he will pick Gilbert. Gilbert has been terrorizing American television audiences for years with his crack “analysis.” I have been praying for someone to hire him for years (Tennis)

Richard Gasquet has a new coach (Tennis)

In more Tomic news, Lleyton Hewitt is not on board for his rival's bid on the Australian Davis Cup team. The rivalry continues (The Australian)

Rafael Nadal answers some rather frisky questions from his fans (Herald Sun)

It looks like Laura Robson has moved on from Marat Safin (Daily Online)

Speaking of Safin, there is a rumor of a Safin love child (Open Court)

Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Cilic triumphed in their second-round matches last night. The previous night, 20-seed Mikhail Youzhny staved off Richard Gasquet in an almost five-hour battle. On Wednesday, del Potro and Cilic found themselves in a similar situation.

Del Potro had the unfortunate task of drawing James Blake. The Argentine is currently battling a wrist injury that has made his playing status questionable leading up to the tournament. Blake, who is the current world no. 45, has battled injuries last year and returned to the tour more fit this year. Blake’s ranking is a misnomer. Plus, the hardcourts are his favorite surface.

Despite these obstacles, the Argentine was able to withstand 81 winners from Blake to beat the American 6-4 6-7(3) 5-7 6-3 10-8 after 4 hours and 17 minutes of play. The fourth-seed will now play German Florian Mayer in the third round. Their head-to-head is one match apiece, with del Potro winning in their last meeting in last year’s Aussie Open.

Meanwhile on center court, fourteenth-seed Marin Cilic received a serious challenge from Aussie up-and-comer Bernard Tomic in their second-round night match. After trading sets, the 21-year-old Croat pulled it out in the final set. He surpassed the 17-year-old Aussie 6-7(6) 6-3 4-6 6-2 6-4 after 3 hours 48 minutes of play.

Cilic did not get off of the court until the early morning. He now gets treat of having to turn around and play nineteenth-seed Stanislas Wawrinka, who played earlier and two hours less than Cilic. Wawrinka leads their matchup 4-1. The Croat did win their last meeting a couple weeks ago on the hardcourts of Chennai.

Wednesday’s Results

Thursday’s Order of Play

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(Images: AFP, Getty Images)

Rafael Nadal put on a clinic in this second round match on Wednesday. The unfortunate recipient of this instruction was Slovakian up-and-comer Lukas Lacko. The Spaniard ran through his match and defeated Lacko 6-2 6-2 6-2 after 1 hour and 51 minutes of play.

The world no. 2 is beginning to look like the Nadal of old. His movement and shot making are a lot better. He is beginning to win points he really should not have, which is bad news for the rest of the tour. There is still some room for improvement, for him, so it should be interesting to see if he can peak at the right time.

Next up for the Mallorcan slugger will be 27-seed Philipp Kohlschreiber. Nadal currently leads their head-to-head matchup 4-0.

(Image: Getty Images)

Bernard Tomic wins Junior title (Fox Sports)

The 61-year-old ballboy at the US Open speaks (Boston Herald)

Roger Federer fined for use of profanity (ESPN)

Scattered seeds questioned at USO (WSJ)

Dick Enberg’s awkward moment. Ultimately, the tennis broadcast mafia should be broken up. New blood is desperately needed (NYT)

USO scheduling is always under debate. They need to scrap the one match on Saturday and let both match play on Friday. I know they would like to milk their broadcast deals, but the practice is unfair (LA Times)

USO scores ratings winner during the men’s final (CBS Sports)

Bricker’s CBS report card (Tennis News)