The big story of the week at the Australian Open has been the struggle of the so-called favourites on the ladies’ side. On the first day, Sloane Stephens, Coco Vandeweghe, and Venus Williams — all Americans — bowed out. Then Garbine Muguruza lost a couple of days later.

On Saturday, the top seed Simona Halep struggled but came out the winner in an epic battle against unseeded Laura Davis, saving three match-points in a match that lasted almost four hours and saw them share 28 games in the final set!

Caroline Wozniacki should not even have been around after being 1-5 down against Jana Fett in the second round but she survived and is now into the second week after beating Kiki Bertens on Friday. The only one that has seemed steady is Angelique Kerber, who reached the fourth round on Saturday, sweeping aside Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-3.

So this has been the theme ever since Serena Williams’ absence has left a void. We’ve had several No.1s, — Muguruza, Halep, and Karolina Pliskova to name three. We are still awaiting the emergence of the next dominant player.

On the men’s side, all the top favourites are through, and I’m happy to see Novak back. He did struggle against Gael Monfils but that was because of the heat. He is through to next week with a three-set win over Albert Ramos-Vinolas despite an injury scare during the second set.

Like Stan Wawrinka, he too is playing his first event since Wimbledon after a months-long lay-off with an elbow injury. For Stan, it was a knee injury, and I think his knee was bothering him in the second match, so I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on his loss.

I commentated on the Nick Kyrgios match on Friday night and it was a fascinating one. The young Australian is finally starting to look comfortable with his position in the tennis world. He’s a fine player: he’s maturing, learning, and it’s showing on court. He’s an exciting player and we can expect more entertainment on Sunday, when he takes on Grigor Dmitrov in a match that is one of the highlights of the Open this year.

I am sad to see Sascha (Alexander) Zverev bow out. Hyeon Chung got the better of him again — after beating him at Barcelona last year — in yet another epic match on Saturday. The Korean will now face Novak for the place in the quarters. Another of the Next Gen stars, Dominic Thiem, is through after beating Adrian Mannarino in straight sets.

I am, however, just amazed by the performances of Nadal and Federer so far. They are just a class above the rest. I’ve watched them both play and they are at the moment correctly seeded one and two. We could yet see another final showdown between them, but before that we might just get treated to a Federer-Novak semi-final!

The heat is one of the main topics of discussion at the Open. When outside temperatures are between 38-40 degrees centigrade, especially during the day, that would mean 5, 7, 8 degrees higher on court. That’s just too hot and can get dangerous for the players. The organisers should think of making it a rule to close the roof as that facility is available on three courts and should be availed of at least during the day.

(Gameplan)