Everyone is expecting tonight’s tennis matches to see who will be going to the finals of the Australian Open at Melbourne. The female contenders are: Serena Williams and Nicole Vaidisova, this match will be played at 9pm eastern time, and on the other hand: Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters will defy each other at 11pm Eastern Standard.



The boys will also decide this week the two finalists that will go towards the title. They will be playing next Thursday 25th. The first match will be played by Roger Federer and Andy Roddick at 3:30am ET and the second one will be between Tommy Haas and Fernando Gonzalez at 7pm ET.

The Australian Open is the first one of the world's four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, and it takes place each January at Melbourne Park.

The tournament was played for the first time in 1905. It was contested by top-ranked amateur players and known as the Australian championships until the advent of open tennis in 1968.

This tournament was originally based at the grass courts at Kooyong in the city of Melbourne's inner south-east, but then it was moved to Melbourne Park that by then was known as Flinders Park. Mats Wilander was the only player to win the tournament both on grass and on Rebound Ace.

The Australian Open was held during December from 1977 through 1985, returning to its original January date in 1987. This led to two tournaments being played in 1977; the first one in January and the second one in December. In 1986, because of the return to January, no tournament was held.

The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tournament that can feature indoor play since the two main courts, Rod Laver Arena, and Vodafone Arena have movable roofs that can be shut in case of rain or extreme heat. However, Wimbledon has plans to build a retractable roof for Centre Court in 2009.

As this tournament is held in the middle of summer, the Australian Open is legendary for its notoriously hot days. An extreme-heat policy is applied when temperatures and humidity reach dangerous levels. This year we have seen how the heat has affected the tennis players during their matches.