AO.12- The Day After, and the Day Before

As the tournament's final act is just around the corner, there was a fairly light schedule on Day 12. But the first champions of the 2011 Australian Open were crowned.



=DAY 12 NOTES=
...in the Women's Doubles final, three of the four participants were playing for their first career grand slam title. Only Victoria Azarenka, a winner of two Mixed crowns, entered the contest without the pressure of a continued all-or-nothing situation.

For a while, it looked as if she and Maria Kirilenko, playing in their first slam as a duo, were going to run away with the championship, leading top-seeded Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta 6-2/4-1. But that's when the slam-less world's #1 doubles team decided that the time had come to finally etch their name in tennis history. The veteran pair stormed back to take the title, 2-6/7-5/6-1. It's their eleventh title as a team, and fitfully follows up their previously biggest-ever title in Doha at the Tour Championships last year (the same major title combo that Kim Clijsters will be trying to complete, along with her U.S. Open win, in the Women's Singles final).

From what I saw of the match, Azarenka's play when the match was within grasp might have began the team's slide. By the end of the match, Azarenka was visibly troubled by the course of events. Kirilenko seemed to have herself more outwardly collected, although by the tone of her voice during the trophy presentation (and hand-on-hips stance of at-least-implied impatience), it was pretty clear that she was peeved by what went on. Although, she did half-joke that after the 1st Round she'd told Azarenka that she thought they could reach the final. "Next time," she said, "I'll say I think we can WIN."

It turned to be an doubly bad Doubles day for the Russian, as she also lost in the Mixed SF with Nenad Zimonjic, to Katarina Srebotnik and Daniel Nestor. They'll face Chan Yung-Jan and Paul Hanley in the final.

...the junior Doubles titles were determined, as well. An-Sophie Mestach and Demi Schuurs defeated Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato, while Filip Horansky and Jiri Vesely knocked off the Australian team of Ben Wagland and Andrew Whittington. Both Mestach and Vesely now have the opportunity to sweep both the junior singles and doubles titles, as they advanced to their respective singles finals on Day 12.

In the Girls draw, Mestach defeated Caroline Garcia in a 6-4 3rd set, while Monica Puig took down Eugenie Bouchard in straights. In the Boys final, it'll be top-seeded Vesely against Australia's last shot at a title at this event -- unseeded Luke Seville.

...and, finally...

=FINAL PICK=
#3 Clijsters d. #9 Li in TWO (with relative ease in the 1st, then after a battle in the 2nd)

...come on, I can't back down now. Of course, I'm not sure if "loving" Kim and "losing" Justine is a totally fair trade-off, you know. Oh, the webs we weave.




*RECENT AO DOUBLES CHAMPIONS*
2000 Lisa Raymond/Rennae Stubbs, USA/AUS
2001 Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA
2002 Martina Hingis/Anna Kournikova, SUI/RUS
2003 Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA
2004 Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez, ESP/ARG
2005 Svetlana Kuznetsova/Alicia Molik, RUS/AUS
2006 Yan Zi/Zheng Jie, CHN
2007 Cara Black/Liezel Huber, ZIM/RSA
2008 Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR
2009 Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA
2010 Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA
2011 Gisela Dulko/Flavia Pennetta, ARG/ITA

*RECENT AO GIRLS SINGLES FINALS*
2001 Jelena Jankovic d. Sofia Arvidsson
2002 Barbora Strycova d. Maria Sharapova
2003 Barbora Strycova d. Victoriya Kutuzova
2004 Shahar Peer d. Nicole Vaidisova
2005 Victoria Azarenka d. Agnes Szavay
2006 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova d. Caroline Wozniacki
2007 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova d. Madison Brengle
2008 Arantxa Rus d. Jessica Moore
2009 Ksenia Pervak d. Laura Robson
2010 Karolina Pliskova d. Larua Robson
2011 An-Sophie Mestach vs. Monica Puig

*MOST WTA FINALS - 2009-11*
16...Caroline Wozniacki (9-7)
9...Venus Williams (4-5)
8...Elena Dementieva (5-3)-retired
8...KIM CLIJSTERS (6-1)
8...Dinara Safina (3-5)
8...Vera Zvonareva (3-5)

*AO "DOUBLES STAR" WINNERS*
2006 Yan Zi & Zheng Jie, CHN
2007 Liezel Huber, RSA
2008 Alona & Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR
2009 Sania Mirza, IND
2010 Cara Black, ZIM
2011 Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta, ARG/ITA

*MEN'S CAREER SLAM FINALS - ACTIVE*
22...Roger Federer (16-6)
11...Rafael Nadal (9-2)
5...Andy Roddick (1-4)
4...Lleyton Hewitt (2-2)
4...NOVAK DJOKOVIC (1-2)
3...Juan Carlos Ferrero (1-2)
3...ANDY MURRAY (0-2)
2...Robin Soderling (0-2)



*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#9 Li Na/CHN vs. #3 Kim Clijsters/BEL

*MEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#5 Andy Murray/GBR vs. #3 Novak Djokovic/SRB

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Dulko/Pennetta (ARG/ITA) def. #12 Azarenka/Kirilenko (BLR/RUS) 2-6/7-5/6-1

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. #3 Bhupathi/Paes (IND/IND)

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
Chan/Hanley (TPE/AUS) vs. #2 Srebotnik/Nestor (SLO/CAN)

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
#5 Monica Puig/PUR vs. #2 An-Sophie Mestach/BEL

*BOYS SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Jiri Vesely/CZE vs. Luke Seville/AUS

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
#6 An-Sophie Mestach/Demi Schuurs (BEL/NED) def. Eri Hozumi/Miyu Kato (JPN/JPN) 6-2/6-3

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
#2 Filip Horansky/Jiri Vesely (SVK/CZE) def. #3 Ben Wagland/Andrew Whittington (AUS/AUS) 6-4/6-4




TOP QUALIFIER: Vesna Manasieva/RUS
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Kim Clijsters/BEL
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #9 Li Na/CHN
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Sloane Stephens/USA def. Liana-Gabriela Ungur/ROU 7-6/1-6/8-6
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - Ekaterina Makarova/RUS d. #19 Ana Ivanovic/SRB 3-6/6-4/10-8 (on 6th MP, 1:31 3rd set)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd. - #6 Francesca Schiavone/ITA d. #23 Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS 6-4/1-6/16-14 (Open era record 4:44, saved 6 MP)
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP NIGHT MATCH:: 3rd Rd. - #25 Petra Kvitova/CZE d. #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS 7-6/6-3
=============================
FIRST WINNER: Evgeniya Rodina/RUS (1st Rd. - def. WC Olivia Rogowska/AUS)
FIRST SEED OUT: #28 Daniela Hantuchova/SVK (1st Rd. - lost to Kulikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Czechs
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Vesna Manasieva/RUS (3rd Rd.)
IT GIRL: xx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: #9 Li Na/CHN
COMEBACK PLAYER: #12 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
CRASH & BURN: #7 Jelena Jankovic/SRB (2nd Rd. - lost to Peng/CHN)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: #6 Francesca Schiavone/ITA (saved 6 MP vs. Kuznetsova/RUS in 4th Rd.)
LAST SHEILA STANDING: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (3rd Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: #30 Andrea Petkovic/GER
DOUBLES STARS: Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta, ARG/ITA
JUNIOR BREAKOUTS: Japanese girls




All for Day 12. More on Justine Henin later today, and on the Women's Final tomorrow.