And They're Off! (Week 1 Picks)

Dorothy Tour play has already begun. Qualifying round winners have taken "victory laps" (way to go, Anna-Lena and Sesil), official main draw matches have been played (Azarenka beat up Alona's sister) and we've already had the first late-withdrawal-for-murky-reasons situation of the young season (as usual, Kirilenko is a step behind Sharapova when it comes to dramatic exits).

Ah, but who'll still be standing at the end of Week 1? Well, here's an opinion (two of them, as a matter of fact).



BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA (Int'l $220K/Hard)
08 FINAL: Li d. Azarenka (Gold Coast)
09 TOP: Ivanovic/Azarenka
=============================
=SF=
Ivanovic d. Arvidsson
Azarenka d. Pironkova
=FINAL=
Ivanovic d. Azarenka
...by new tour rule, only one Top 10er can play an event of this size, and AnaIvo is it. She'll have an opportunity to get her season off on the right foot, while Azarenka could finally get that no-career-title monkey off her back. Hantuchova is in Brisbane, too, but she's so difficult to figure out I just left her out of the SF entirely.


AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (Int'l $220K/Hard))
08 FINAL: Davenport d. Rezai
09 TOP: Dementieva/Wozniacki
=============================
=SF=
Dementieva d. Pavlyuchenkova
Wozniacki d. Wozniak
=FINAL=
Wozniacki d. Pavlyuchenkova
...not sure how likely that exact final matchup is, but it's Week 1 and I'm going to pick what I'd LIKE to see. So there.


HOPMAN CUP; PERTH, AUS (Team Exhibition/Hard Indoor)
08 FINAL: USA (S.Williams/Fish) d. Serbia (Jankovic/Djokovic)
=============================
=FINAL=
Russia (Safina/Safin) d. Slovakia (Cibulkova/Hrbaty)
...how could I not pick the Safin siblings? I mean, come on.


HONG KONG, CHINA (Team Exhibition/Hard)
08 FINAL (singles): V.Williams d. Sharapova
=============================
=3rd/4th Place=
Europe (Jankovic/Szavay/Larcher de Brito) d. Asia/Pacific (Mirza/Zheng/Zhang)
=FINAL=
America's (V.Williams/Dulko/Vandeweghe) d. Russia (Zvonareva/Chakvetadze/Panova)
...thanks to the America's/Europe SF match-up, we're destined to get an early Jelena vs. Venus match result to chew on.



=BRISBANE=
=SF=
Ivanovic d. A.Bondarenko
Azarenka d. Hantuchova
=FINAL=
Ivanovic d. Azarenka

=AUCKLAND=
=SF=
Dementieva d. Medina-Garrigues
Wozniacki d. Wozniak
=FINAL=
Wozniacki d. Dementieva

=HOPMAN CUP=
=FINAL=
France (Cornet/Simon) d. Slovakia (Cibulkova/Hrbaty)

=HONG KONG=
=3rd/4th Place=
Asia/Pacific d. America's
=FINAL=
Russia d. Europe


All for now.



STILL TO COME: Backspin Volley #1-4 & 1st Quarter Preview
NEXT WEEK: What If? (w/ "Anna Kournikova")
AFTER WEEK 1: Act 1, Scene 1 (2009)