Oz Preview: The Drama of It All

We could be about to witness something spectacular. I mean, it would stand to reason, considering the Australian Open has arguably provided the most drama of all of the grand slams the past few years.

From Serena Williams' "Soul Survivor" comeback two years ago, to the retirement that "shook tennis to its very foundation and tarnished a career forever" (yeah, how'd that one work out?) in '06, to Serena's sequel to the '05 original last year, Oz has been where the action has been as far as the women have been concerned.

The table is set for another exciting chapter in Melbourne history. Serena is feeling good. Venus just beat Maria. Maria is looking to rebound. Lindsay is back, and lurking outside Sharapova's practice court. And Justine... well, she's been portraying a female version of Roger Federer for over six months.

Let the drama begin.




=QUALIFYING ROUNDS=
TOP PLAYER: Julia Schruff

......single-handedly prevented the Radwanska sisters from carrying on a sibling rivalry in the main draw.
RISERS: Ekaterina Ivanova & Monica Niculescu
......another Hordette, and the Romanians are starting to make an impact.
SURPRISES: Angelika Bachmann & Sabine Lisicki
......Germans, Germans everywhere.
VETERANS: Tamarine Tanasugarn & Sandra Kloesel
......Tammy's not done yet. And did someone mention Germans?
FRESH FACES Alisa Kleybanova & Timea Bacsinszky

......finally, these two begin to see the light.
DOWN: Urszula Radwanska & Jelena Dokic
......U-Rad will have many more opportunities. Hopefully, Jelena won't let this be her one big push for this season.
COMEBACK: Marta Domachowska

.....one Pole goes out, another slips through.

=MATCHES=
Q1: Ekaterina Ivanovic d. Bethanie Mattek 6-3/7-6
.....Bethanie Mattek will NOT show up wearing a lamp shade fashioned into a hoop skirt for a main draw singles match. Ah, but there IS doubles!
Q2: Timea Bacsinszky d. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1/4-6/6-4
.....Anastasia P's long road begins here.
Q3: Julia Schruff d. Urszula Radwanska 6-3/6-0
.....A-Rad will carry the family honor forward.




=ROUND OF 16 PREDICTIONS=
#1 Henin d. #13 Golovin
Davenport d. #17 Peer
#15 Schnyder d. #3 Jankovic
#7 S.Williams d. #12 Vaidisova
#8 V.Williams d. #24 Li
#28 Srebotnik d. #16 Safina
#9 Hantuchova d. #6 Chakvetadze
#2 Kuznetsova d. #20 Szavay

....aha! I dare Pierre to pick Sharapova to win this title, considering she'd likely have to defeat Lindsay in the 2nd, Justine in the QF, and then possibly still have to face and knock out both Williams sisters to win her third slam. We all knew SOMEONE was going to get the joker card when the draw was made... and it was the Supernova. Of course, that doesn't mean that my pick of Davenport to "upset" her early in this tournament will pan out. But even if the American DOES win, she'd have a ridiculously difficult road to the title, as well. Oh, I so want to pick Paszek to upend Jankovic in the 1st Round... it'd be such a juicy upset. Somehow, though, I think crazy will find a way to get past freaky potential... only to lose to maybe the only player who's even loopier than she is in the 4th Round. Add "Szavay def. Kuznetsova" to the list of "want to" picks that I don't have the fortitude at the moment to actually go with. If only the Valkyrie had more than one match under her belt so far in '08.

=QUARTERFINAL PREDICTIONS=
#1 Henin d. Davenport
#7 S.Williams d. #15 Schnyder
#8 V.Williams d. #28 Srebotnik
#2 Kuznetsova d. #9 Hantuchova

....barring another 007 sighting, Henin will be here waiting for the survivor of the Lindssay/Maria section. Venus has surprisingly only reached the Oz final once in her career, and never won it. But she's got a draw very conducive to a late run this year (as long as she doesn't get surprised by Li Na in the Round of 16, that is). Did I mention that I wish I put Szavay through in the previous round so that I would be able to predict her to reach her first slam SF in this one? I really do HOPE I'm wrong in not picking her.

=SEMIFINAL PREDICTIONS=
#1 Henin d. #7 S.Williams
#2 Kuznetsova d. #8 V.Williams

....Serena has Justine in her sights, and that can be a scary thing. Williams might well be the favorite with fire in her eyes, but I'm just not going to pick against Henin if she's got a 33-match winning streak going. Adding wins over Serena in four straight slams to her resume might be the equal of winning back-to-back slams outright.

=FINAL PREDICTION=
#1 Henin d. #2 Kuznetsova

....the return of an all-Williams final is possible, but I'll stick with a Sydney rematch. And, this time, the Contessova won't have the chance to squander a 3rd set lead.




=THE QUALIFIERS=
*BY AGE*
18...Sabine Lisicki, GER
18...Alisa Kleybanova, RUS
18...Timea Bacsinszky, SUI
20...Ekaterina Ivanova, RUS
20...Monica Niculescu, ROU
21...Marta Domachowska, POL
21...Yuan Meng, CHN
22...Su-Wei Hsieh, TPE
25...Julia Schruff, GER
28...Sandra Kloesel, GER
28...Angelika Bachmann, GER
30...Tamarine Tanasugarn, TPE
*BY RANKING*
#210...Ekaterina Ivanova
#194...Sabine Lisicki
#162...Sandra Kloesel
#159...Angelika Bachmann
#158...Su-Wei Hsieh
#155...Monica Niculescu
#154...Alisa Kleybanova
#146...Marta Domachowska
#121...Yuan Meng
#119...Timea Bacsinszky
#117...Tamarine Tanasugarn
#114...Julia Schruff
*BY NATION*
4...GER (Bachmann, Kloesel, Lisicki, Schruff)
2...RUS (Ivanova, Kleybanova)
1...CHN (Yuan)
1...POL (Domachowska)
1...ROU (Niculescu)
1...SUI (Bacsinszky)
1...TPE (Hsieh)
1...THA (Tanasugarn)

*CAREER SLAM TOP SEEDS - ACTIVE*
7...JUSTINE HENIN
5...Serena Williams
5...Lindsay Davenport
3...Amelie Mauresmo
2...Maria Sharapova
1...Venus Williams

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINALS - 2003-07*
2003 S.Williams def. V.Williams
2004 J.Henin-Hardenne def. K.Clijsters
2005 S.Williams def. L.Davenport
2006 A.Mauresmo def. J.Henin-Hardenne
2007 S.Williams def. M.Sharapova

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINALS - ACTIVE*
3...Serena Williams (3-0)
2...Justine Henin (1-1)
2...Lindsay Davenport (1-1)
2...Amelie Mauresmo (1-1)
2...Mary Pierce (1-1)
1...Venus Williams (0-1)
1...Maria Sharapova (0-1)




Love-Love... so, what are Backspin's wild guesses for the men's side? Why, since you were so kind to ask, I'll point you in this direction.
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Love-15... potential first seeds out? How about:

#3 Jelena Jankovic vs. Tamira Paszek
.....it's oh so tempting to think this one could happen.
#21 Alona Bondarenko vs. Alla Kudryavtseva
.....she almost took out Venus at Wimbledon last year.
#23 Vera Zvonareva vs. Ai Sugiyama
.....how's that ankle?
#25 Francesca Schiavone vs. Emilie Loit
.....she isn't playing for Italia here, after all.
#30 Virginie Razzano vs. Ashley Harkleroad
.....can American Splendor carry over her Hobart SF momentum?
#31 Sania Mirza vs. Iroda Tulyaganova
.....what's next? Charges against Sania for wearing too many earrings?
#32 Julia Vakulenko vs. Elena Vesnina
.....Julia could get hurt between the motel room and her ride.
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Love-30... potential last qualifer standing? In order...

Marta Domachowska / POL
Timea Bacsinszky / SUI
Alisa Kleybanova / RUS

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Love-40... pre-QF highlights?

The excitement level could reach full tilt very early at this Oz Open:

=2nd Round=
Sharapova vs. Davenport
.....not a good sign for Maria that her rebound year begins with her getting the booby prize of Lindsay in her second match.
Vaidisova vs. Molik
.....the home fans will try to will the Steamer back into top form, at least for one day.

=3rd Round=
.....any of these possible matchups, while maybe not settings for an upset, should at least be worth keeping an eye on:

Mauresmo vs. Schnyder
S.Williams vs. Azarenka
Vaidisova vs. Zvonareva
Dementieva vs. Peer
V.Williams vs. Mirza
Petrova vs. Szavay
Kuznetsova vs. A.Radwanska

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MATCH, "you want bizarro? You've got bizarro...

This time, at least a large portion of a potential "bizarro" set of SF matchups IS possible.

How about this "Time Warp Special":

Davenport vs. S.Williams
V.Williams vs. Krajicek (but not Richard) or Petrova (imagine what Pierre would say) or Szavay (hmmm... intriguing).
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All for now. Day 1 awaits.