The quickest way to rise through the rankings?  Big serve.  Just ask Ivo Karlovic, John Isner, Sam Querrey, and Andy Roddick.  If you can hold the vast majority of the time, that’s just one thing less to worry about.  Few people are like David Ferrer or Rafa, who rely on speed and the power of their groundstrokes.

This Australian Open is showcasing some of the younger talent, although some have already exited.  Kei Nishikori lost to Fernando Verdasco in the 3rd round, Grigor Dimitrov lost to Stanislas Wawrinka. Robin Haase lost to Andy Roddick.

Milos Raonic may be the best of the bunch.  With a huge serve that makes him tough to break, Raonic might put Canada back on the tennis map.  Raonic took the first two sets over Youzhny before Youzhny secured a set of his own.  The two played tight in the fourth set, but Raonic got a late break to put him in the fourth round.  Raonic will face Ferrer next.

Speaking of Ferrer, he played former top junior, Richard Berankis.  Like Ferrer, Berankis is not blessed with height.  He’s got some power, but Ferrer, like Nadal, has an incredible ability to get balls back once and again, and is so speedy, it’s hard to hit through him.  And if you give Ferrer too passive a shot, he will take advantage.  Ferrer is probably the best short guy on tour (his ranking would back this up).

Ferrer is a good solid test for a guy like Raonic.  Raonic probably won’t get past Ferrer, unless his serve is humming.  To be honest, Raonic reaching the fourth round is quite amazing.  He had to qualify to reach this point, and his upside looks pretty good.

Another relatively young player on the rise is Alexandr Dolgopolov.  He had success last year, pushing Tsonga to five sets and giving Nadal all sorts of trouble.  This match was a bit odd.  Tsonga took the first set, then Dolgopolov took the second, the Tsonga the third.  At this point, Tsonga seemed to run out of energy.  He went for big shots and pretty much missed everything.  Dolgopolov took sets 4 and 5 with the lopsided 6-1 score.  Dolgopolov will face Soderling in the next round.

Soderling has been using his pummeling style to great effect.  Soderling is in rare company with players like Nadal or Federer or perhaps del Potro.  When Soderling is on rhythm, he makes you work hard to get to his shots.  He hammered Roddick off the ground in his Brisbane match.  Soderling did the same to Hernych who struggled to reach ball after ball.  This has been Soderling’s best Australian Open (mostly because he’s performed poorly historically).

Andy Murray was blazing today in his decimation of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.  Garcia-Lopez lost his first 6 service games.  He’s in the top 40 in the world (seeded 32).  It’s tough to imagine a top player losing serve quite this often.  Garcia-Lopez upset Nadal last year in Bangkok, but had few answers.  Garcia-Lopez finally held serve a few times in the third set, but Murray closed out the third set.  Much like last year, Murray’s movement has been outstanding.  He’s also trying to hit more aggressively than he did last year.

Because Murray’s seeded fifth, he has a bit of a tough road.  He’s likely to take on Melzer or Baghdatis, both of whom are tough, then Soderling, then Nadal, then Federer, assuming tough opponents all the way.  This is not an easy draw once it gets this late.

Currently, Cilic leads Isner 3-2 early in the first set.  Nadal-Tomic and Melzer-Baghdatis are the two remaining matches.  Both play in the evening.