WTA Backspin by Todd Spiker

2012 Dorothy Tour Awards: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close to Perfection

2012-02-02T16:51:00.003-05:00

Thank you... Francesca?

All right, so the Italian vet isn't the literal bell-ringer for the current "good spot" that the WTA tour suddenly seems to find itself in in these early stages of the 2012 season. Or is she? Schiavone, in winning her 2010 Roland Garros title, DID sort of kick off the recent if-you-believe-it-you-can-do-it era of women's tennis. Once Francesca won in Paris, it was obvious that aggressively pursuing a title leading up to and in the final match at a slam was the way into the winner's circle. She's been followed by a whole host of hungry would-be champions. After "old hat" Serena Williams powered her way to another Wimbledon title that summer, Kim Clijsters, the 2.0 version, who'd come out of retirement a year earlier and won the U.S. Open, came back without all the adrenaline-fueled fanfare and defended it. It wasn't her first slam championship, but she felt something like a "new" champion after she bounded into Melbourne and won there the next season, too. The "old" Kim would never have pulled all that off. Since then, arriving on the scene and DEMANDING attention at slam time has become a common occurrence on tour. Li Na won in Paris, Petra Kvitova in London, Samantha Stosur in New York, and then Victoria Azarenka this past weekend in Melbourne, giving us a fourth straight first-time slam champ, and the fifth in the last eight majors.

Francesca showed everyone else how to do it, and those players who were truly serious about their grand slam desires have followed in her footsteps.

Going over all the old Backspin Time Capsule slam final recaps in recent years, I've been reminded of how things USED to be. A generation (or two) of players ago, slam titles were ripped away from opponents and cherished. Not, as has been the case with some recent finalists, expected to be given to them by their opponents mistakes, or too heavy a burden for a player to accept, either before they played their ultimate match in a slam (Dinara, Vera), or after they'd actually managed to win it (AnaIvo). Maybe, as more players have tasted the grand slam win as the Wiliams/La Petit Taureau major title monopoly first began to erode, things have finally begun to turn. After wondering whether players REALLY wanted to win for a few years, we're left with no doubt which ones truly do now. And it's not just the NextGen players like Kvitova and Azarenka, either. Schiavone and Li aren't newcomers. Stosur's been a bit of a late bloomer. Throw in the still post-surgery slam-less Maria Sharapova, and the notion that the slams of 2012 (and beyond) might be pre-tournament toss-ups won't be because so many players have been unimpressive and/or untested in the spotlight, but because so many of them are or have been. Six players came into Melbourne with the chance to leave Australia as the #1 ranked player. Such a thing might not happen again, but the list of potential legit, they-want-to-and-CAN-lift-the-trophy threats at the next handful of slams might be that long, or even longer.

As the now former #1 can see, nothing is for sure... especially year-long new coaching commitments that last, umm, two months, apparently. Time ticks down for everyone (not just Ricardo Sanchez), even barely-into-their-twenties tennis stars who think that they'll win the big prize just because they've always done so since they were a kid. It doesn't work that way. Azarenka's path to becoming a slam champion, for sure, began with natural talent. But it only became a reality when she identified the aspects of her game and herself that were preventing her from being the best she could be. Control emotions and anger. Check. Build up body. Check. Build up game. Check. Build up confidence. Check. Become a real champion. Check. It's a systematic process where everything (eventually) works together, no matter in what order the items on the list are checked off. Things rarely go perfectly, but when they finally do, it's all worth it.

"It's a dream come true. I have been dreaming and working so hard to win a grand slam, and being #1 is a pretty good bonus. Just the perfect ending and the perfect position to be in." - Victoria Azarenka

Now, just who will Azarenka's triumph motivate and inspire to something even better? Petra? Maria? Serena? Someone else?

2012 could be pretty fun as we look to find out.

*"Dorothy Tour" Awards - Wk.1-4*
**TOP PLAYERS**
1. Victoria Azarenka, BLR: handling off-season preparation for greater success better than Wozniacki, and in-match swings with more steadiness than Kvitova, Azarenka shot through the open door and climbed over BOTH into the #1 ranking

2. Maria Sharapova, RUS: she came up a match short (again) of being Supernovic, but she's back in the slam/#1 ranking mix
3. Petra Kvitova, CZE: Petra is still a work in progress with a few things to work on... just like she's been telling everyone since last summer
4. Li Na, CHN: the circus having finally left town, Li got back to tennis business Down Under
5. Zheng Jie, CHN: usually "forgotten," and oft-injured, Zheng won her first tour singles title in almost six years in Auckland, then reached the AO Round of 16
6. Kim Clijsters, BEL: if this AO was her last, it came and went with less fanfare than expected (well, except for the 4 MP saved against Li)
7. Kaia Kanepi, EST: the Estonian finished '11 at #34, then won Brisbane in Week 1... just like Kvitova did a year ago
8. Mona Barthel, GER: the hottest young prospect on tour in the opening weeks, she won a title as a qualifier and was able to string together nine straight wins

**RISERS**
1. Kaia Kanepi, EST
2. Sabine Lisicki, GER
3. Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
4. Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
5. Julia Goerges, GER
6. Marion Bartoli, FRA
7. Andrea Hlavackova & Lucie Hradecka, CZE/CZE
8. Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci, ITA/ITA
9. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
10. Sania Mirza & Elena Vesnina, IND/RUS
HM- Vania King, USA

"Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper 'I love you'
Birds singing in the sycamore trees
Dream a little dream of me."
- Vania King, honoring Pam Shriver's courtside request to sing after her upset win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Australin Open 2nd Round

**FRESH FACES**
1. Mona Barthel, GER
2. Christina McHale, USA
3. Monica Niculescu, ROU
4. Irina-Camelia Begu, ROU
5. Alexandra Dulgheru, ROU
6. Lesia Tsurenko, UKR
7. Ashleigh Barty, AUS
8. Alison Riske, USA
9. Jamie Hampton, USA
10. Laura Robson, GBR
HM- Simona Halep, ROU

**JUNIORS**
1. Taylor Townsend, USA
2. Krista Hardebeck, USA
3. Yulia Putintseva, RUS
4. Eugenie Bouchard, CAN
5. Irina Khromacheva, RUS
6. Sachia Vickery, USA
7. Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
8. Daria Salnikova, RUS
9. Sabina Sharipova, UZB
10. Anna Danilina, KAZ
HM- Elena-Theodora Cadar, ROU & Risa Ozaki, JPN

**SURPRISES**
1. Sara Errani, ITA
2. Angelique Kerber, GER
3. Nina Bratchikova, RUS
4. Rachael Kops-Jones & Abigail Spears, USA/USA
5. Romina Oprandi, ITA
6. Paula Ormaechea, ARG
7. Valeria Savinykh, RUS
8. Maria Joao Koehler, POR
9. Stefanie Voegele, SUI
10. Irena Pavlovic, FRA
HM- Varvara Lepchenko, USA

**VETERANS**
1. Li Na, CHN
2. Zheng Jie, CHN
3. Kim Clijsters, BEL
4. Roberta Vinci, ITA
5. Kveta Peschke & Katarina Srebotnik, CZE/SLO
6. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
7. Iveta Benesova, CZE
8. Greta Arn, HUN
9. Liezel Huber & Lisa Raymond, USA/USA
10. Nuria Llagostera-Vives & Arantxa Parra-Santonja, ESP/ESP
HM- Flavia Pennetta, ITA

"I'm 24 years old, almost 25. I love this sport as much as I loved it, you know, when I was at that age (when she won Wimbledon at 17). I've also been through a lot of tough times. I've also said that the success that I can achieve, the fact that I got myself back to being Top 5 in the world, playing tennis again, playing at a high level, competing at this level is pretty remarkable from where I was on a surgery table, not knowing if I'd ever be able to hit a serve again." - Maria Sharapova

**COMEBACKS**
1. Maria Sharapova, RUS
2. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
3. Sorana Cirstea, ROU
4. Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
5. Anna Chakvetadze, RUS
HM- Svetlana Kuznetsova & Vera Zvonareva, RUS/RUS

"I'm probably close to crying." - Samantha Stosur, after her 1st Round Australian Open loss to Sorana Cirstea

**DOWN**
1. Samantha Stosur, AUS
2. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
3. Andrea Petkovic, GER
4. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
5. Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta, ARG/ITA
HM- Serena Williams, USA

**ITF PLAYERS**
1. Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
2. Kristyna Pliskova, CZE
3. Alison van Uytvanck, BEL
4. Sofia Kvatsabaia, GEO
5. Grace Min, USA
HM- Lauren Davis, USA

"She did everything better than I did today. I had a good first couple games, and that was about it. Then she was the one that was taking the first ball and hitting it deep and aggressive. I was always the one running around like a rabbit, you know, trying to play catch-up all the time." - Maria Sharapova, on Azarenka's performance in the AO final

**TOP PERFORMANCES**
[Overall]
Victoria Azarenka goes 12-0 in Australia, winning her first slam at the Australian Open to become the new #1-ranked player... and doing so in the face of all the "Whack-a-Vika" sentiment that carried through the we-must-have-silence, but-we're-not-really-sure-why-we're-suddenly-so-adamant-about-it two weeks in Melbourne
[Junior]
With whispers of "you'll inherit Serena's American tennis throne some day" being sounded in her ear, Taylor Townsend simply went to the Australian Open and swept the Girls singles and doubles titles. Maybe SHE has all the earplugs that no one was wearing in Melbourne?
[Overlooked]
Germany's Mona Barthel qualifies in Hobart, then defeats the defending champion and #1 seed en route to taking her first tour singles title
[By a Tennis Family]
In the latest Backspin Sister Update, on the same weekend that Azarenka staged her WTA coup, the Pliskova sisters took over a challenger event in Andrezieux-Boutheon, France. After Kristyna met and defeated (higher-ranked) Karolina in the QF, then went on to claim the title, the Czech siblings joined together to win the doubles crown.

*MATCHES*
["The New WTA"]
Australian Open SF - Sharapova d. Kvitova
...6-2/3-6/6-4. For once, the hype lived up to the reality, as the Wimbledon '11 final rematch showed just what it might take to win slams in '12. In the end, Sharapova was the best on the big points, going 5-for-5 on break point attempts and surging past the Czech in the final games after an important replay reversal helped her avoid diaster when down 4-3 in the 3rd.
[Francesca's "Slam Drama" Comes Early]
Brisbane QF - Schiavone d. Jankovic
...5-7/7-6/6-3. The Italian didn't give us her usual slam memory-making match, but she did prevail a couple of weeks earlier, saving two match points against JJ in this 2:56 thriller.
[I Bet Berdych Would Have Wimped Out]
AO Doubles QF - Mirza/Vesnina d. Huber/Raymond
...6-3/5-7 (10-6). One team celebrates a thought-converted match point after an unseen-by-the-umpire double-bounce that the "losing" team wouldn't admit to happening, leading to a few in-your-face shouting matches, one oops-did-I-almost-bean-you-with-the-ball? moment, and a converted MP on attempt #8. Just your typical high-stakes doubles match on the WTA tour.

"We won the match, like, twice!" - an angry Elena Vesnina, after she and Mirza defeated Huber/Raymond

*BIGGEST UPSET*
Australian Open 4th Rd. - Makarova d. S.Williams
...6-2/6-3. The #56-ranked 23-year old has shown game in the past, but Williams had surely shown more game on even a bad day than she did on this one. The loss tied her career-low mark for fewest games won in a slam match.

"I don't love tennis... but I can't live without it yet." - Serena Williams

*BIGGEST COMEBACKS/CHOKES*
Australian Open 4th Rd. - Clijsters d. Li
...4-6/7-6/6-4. For a bit, it seemed like Clijsters might be destined to defend her AO title. After coming back to win after falling behind Li 6-4/3-1, then being down quadruple match point (at 6-2) in the 2nd set tie-break, it was an easy assumption. Of course, had Li gone down the line with a drop shot retrieval up 6-5 in the TB rather than right to Clijsters, who promptly lobbed over the Chinese vet to save her fourth straight MP, the storyline -- for BOTH players -- in Melbourne might have played out very differently.
Sydney SF - Li d. Kvitova
...1-6/7-5/6-2. Dredging up memories of her blown lead to Li at Roland Garros (a loss that essentially prevented the Czech from finishing '11 at #1), Kvitova goes off the rails after taking a 6-1/3-1 lead, then sees Li take control again. If Kvitova had won the title in Sydney, she'd moved into the #1 spot. After coming up short of grabbing #1 again in the AO, Kvitova's wait continues.
Australian Open 1st Rd. - Lisicki d. Voegele 6-2/4-6/6-4
Australian Open 3rd Rd. - Lisicki d. Kuznetsova 2-6/6-4/6-2
...Lisicki creates some slam drama without having to be wheeled off the court afterward. Against Voegele, the German, battling heat-related headaches, came back from a 4-2 deficit in the 3rd. Then, against Kuznetsova, she prevailed after the Russian had one of her does-she-know-she-should-be-better-than-this? meltdowns after going up 6-2/3-1.

"Today you just can't let yourself get pushed back. She (Wozniacki) has to try to move in, step forward, otherwise there is always going to be somebody coming on top of her at a grand slam. She's a great player. I wish I would see her come in a little bit more." - Martina Hingis, on Caroline Wozniacki

**By the Numbers...**
3... number of times Alexandra Dulgheru and Sofia Arvidsson met on the court in Sydney. Arvidsson defeated Dulgheru in qualifying, then met the Lucky Loser Romanian again in the 1st Round. Dulgheru got her revenge there. They also met in the doubles, with Arvidsson & Jelena Dokic triumphing over Dulgheru & Michaella Krajicek.
=============================
4... number of consecutive tour singles finals Victoria Azarrenka has reached dating back to the end of the '11 season
=============================
6... Agnieszka Radwanska's new singles ranking, a career-high
=============================
8... the number of years (2004) it's been since a WTA player who won a singles title the week before the start of a slam also went on to become that slam's singles champion, as Azarenka did by sweeping both Sydney and the AO in January
=============================
9 & 12... the 2012 season's longest winning streaks so far. Mona Barthel's nine-match run through qualifying and the main draw in Hobart, as well as at the AO, was ultimately ended by Azarenka, who went on to extend her still-alive streak to twelve straight victories
=============================
20... years it's been since Bannerettes claimed back-to-back Girls slam titles. Grace Min ('11 U.S.) and Taylor Townsend's ('12 AO) wins are the first combo of their kind since Chanda Rubin ('92 Wimbledon) and Lindsay Davenport ('92 U.S.) won consecutive Girls crowns twenty years ago.
=============================
21... number of women, counting 22-year old Azarenka, who have now spent time in the WTA's #1 singles ranking. 21-year old Petra Kvitova, meanwhile, dreams of becoming #22.
=============================
25... counting her "unofficial" 4-0 mark at the Hopman Cup, Petra Kvitova's current indoor winning streak. In official WTA & Fed Cup matches, the Czech's run is a still-eye-popping 21.
=============================
25... number of slams it took for Azarenka to win her first, the 8th-longest all-time WTA lead-up to a major title. It's one fewer than seventh-most Lindsay Davenport's 26, and three more than Kim Clijsters' ninth-most 22.
=============================
30... Kim Clijsters' new singles ranking, after replacing her '11 AO championship points with those for reaching the SF
=============================
67... Caroline Wozniacki's weeks spent at #1 (over a 68-week stretch) before being unceremoniously pushed down to #4 following the Australian Open
=============================
125... number of women's main draw AO matches played between Azarenka becoming the first woman to win a 1st Round match in Melbourne, and then the last one to do so two weeks later
=============================
500... the career match-win milestone Serena Williams surpassed in an otherwise forgettable trip Down Under
=============================

"I gave it (a baby kangaroo) some milk, and it just spit it all over me. I was like, is this a thank you for just being nice and petting the kangaroo? I got milk all over myself. I guess I deserved that from the story last year." - Caroline Wozniacki, with a real-life kangaroo story following her press conference tall tale about being scratched by one last year

**MOST 12+ MATCH WIN STREAKS, since 2006**
4 - Justine Henin, BEL (retired)
3 - Dinara Safina, RUS
3 - Serena Williams, USA
3 - Venus Williams, USA
2 - VICTORIA AZARENKA, BEL
2 - Maria Sharapova, RUS

"I think it's just too loud. I don't think it's very necessary to scream that loud. So if they (WTA) want to do something, why not?" - Agnieszka Radwanska, on the on-court grunting/shrieking issue
"About Maria, I mean, what can I say? For sure that is pretty annoying and just too loud." - Radwanska, on Sharapova
"Isn't she back in Poland already?" - Maria Sharapova, before the women's final, on quarterfinalist Radwanska's comments

FED CUP 1st Round & WG II
=============================
=1st Round=
RUS(H) def. ESP 5-0... Sharapova, Kuznetsova, Petrova & Makarova should be enough
SRB def. BEL(H) 3-2... #29 Wickmayer might now be ranked higher than #3- KC, but she's not her
ITA(H) def. UKR 4-1... the old gang -- Flavia, Francesca, Sara & Roberta -- gets back together
CZE def. GER(H) 3-2... Kvitova indoors, but it might come down to the doubles again for CZE

...in other wonders, I wonder if the JJ and Ricardo Sanchez relationship can be patched up... yet again. One jilted soul deserves another, right? And, in this case, they're probably best suited to each other. What was Ricardo thinking, anyway? He never seemed fated to mix well with Caro & Piotr. Maybe if he gets down on one knee and offers JJ his loyalty?

=World Group II=
USA(H) def. BLR 3-2... even if Azarenka goes 2-0
JPN def. SLO(H) 3-2... once again, Date-Krumm is (literally) worth about two players from the other side
SVK(H) def. FRA 4-1... no Marion, and probably little chance to win
AUS def. SUI(H) 5-0... Sam, Jarmila, Casey & Jelena try to put AUS's recent FC woes to bed

...yep, the '12 season continues to pay off. A week after the Aussie Open, new #1 Azarenka faces off with Serena in Massacusetts. Maybe Venus, too. The Australians had BETTER win this one. It's on the road, so Sammy probably won't tie herself into knots... making good things likely.

All for now.

5:53 to History

2012-01-29T16:02:00.002-05:00

Maybe Robert Downey Jr. should play Novak Djokovic in the movie. They could call it "Iron Man Does Melbourne."

For all world #1 Djokovic had accomplished over the past eighteen months -- the 43-match winning streak, Davis Cup title, 9-1 record against Rafael Nadal & Roger Federer and three slam titles -- he didn't have one of THOSE. You know, the sort of epic match that marks a player's career forever, standing as a testament to his abilities and heart. Against Nadal in the singles final of the 100th Australian Open, the Serb, with a whole lot of help from Rafa, more than took care of that.

Coming into the match with one less day to rest after his semifinal match -- a 4:50 marathon against Andy Murray -- than Nadal had to recover from his own four-set win over Federer, AO defending champion Djokovic seemed to be set up to have his back placed firmly against the wall from the outset. But as the two met in an Open era record third straight slam final, the fact that Djokovic compiled a 6-0 (all in finals) record against Rafa in '11, and sported a 9-2 mark against him since the summer of '09, lingered. The opportunity seemed to be there for Nadal, in the 30th meeting between the two, to finally turn the tide of the sport's current top rivalry back in his favor. If he couldn't do it under these circumstances, it seemed, then when would he?

In the early-going, Djokovic didn't seem quite himself, either. His game was spotty and, after winning the opening game of the match, he saw Nadal take four of the next five. Djokovic, his game slowly improving, got his lost break back, but Nadal swept the final three games to take the 1st set. Nadal's 133-1 record in slam matches after winning the opening set stood as another bit of history to contend with.

But Djokovic's ability to outhit and outmanuever Nadal soon proved too much. The Serb grabbed the next two sets 6-4 and 6-2, as no matter how well Rafa played, it didn't seem as if it would be enough to make a dent in Djokovic's ever better game. In the 4th set, as Djokovic went up 4-3, 40/love on Nadal's serve, the match seemed to be on the verge of ending. Only Nadal surged back and turned the match into one for the ages. After holding serve for 4-4, the coming rains caused a short delay as the roof on Rod Laver Arena had to be closed and the court dried. With the match suddenly moving inside for an air-conditioned and less humid atmosphere, the balls began to bounce just a bit higher than before, giving a reinvigorated Rafael an edge as the Aussie crowd spurred him on, wanting to see a five-set final. The set went to a tie-break, and Djokovic again seemed on the way to victory, leading 5-3 and having one serve remaining on his turn in the rotation. But Nadal got the mini-break, preventing Djokovic from reaching match point, then held his own two serves. One point from forcing a 5th, Nadal got another mini-break to take the tie-break at 7-5.

In the deciding set of the first 5th set the two have ever played against each other, Nadal's momentum continued as he took a 4-2, 30/15 lead against the seemingly tiring Serb. At that point, Rafa ran toward the net to reach a short ball and fired a backhand down the line into the open half of the court... and missed. Rather than have two game points for a 5-2 lead, it was 30/30 and Djokovic had been given the gift of life. He didn't turn it down. In fact, one point later it was apparent that his groundstrokes had suddenly regained their previous sting. The Serb's new life would prove deadly for the Spaniard, who was broken to get the set back on serve at 4-3. From there, Djokovic did what he did so often in '11, upping his game in a match's latter stages and taking home the victory. After three consecutive holds by the two, Djokovic got another break to go up 6-5. Serving for the match, he missed an overhead as he tried to quickly slip it into the open court past a charging-from-the-opposite-doubles-alley Nadal. But the momentum would not be turned again. Djokovic held, winning 5-7/6-4/6-2/6-7/7-5 to defend his AO title, collapsing onto his back when it was finally over.

Afterward, the Serbian "Iron Man" ripped off her shirt and howled toward the crowd, transforming from one superhero into another -- "The Incredible Hulk," only without the green body paint (though, I guess there's always one of his post-slam celebratory parties for that later). In the unending (2am was quickly approaching in Melbourne) post-match ceremony, as both players leaned against the net for support, looking as if they were ready to collapse (some kind soul finally gave them chairs and bottles of water), master of ceremonies Sandy Roberts called Djokovic a "man of steel." Keeping in line with the theme, I suppose Superman works just as well, also. But, of course, if Djokovic's performance is akin to a caped superhero, what should be said of Nadal's?

The fact is, Nadal literally willed this match into what it ultimately became, the longest (5:53) slam final in Open era history, as well as the latest (1:37am) to finish. It never really should have gone beyond four sets, and seemed fated to be seen as simply the latest example of Djokovic's mastery over the former #1. In the end, Djokovic DID win his fifth career slam, but the final will now go down as one of those matches where both players, in the eyes of the public, won on some level... even if the reality of the result will cut deeply for Nadal, who must now fully realize how Federer felt when he triumphed over his Swiss rival in "The Greatest Match Ever Played" at Wimbledon in 2008. While the Spaniard has managed to string together four consecutive appearances in slam finals, the current storyline on the ATP Tour revolves around the fact that he's now 0-3 in the last three against Djokovic.

Welcome to the new world where the Serbian former "prince" is threatening to become an all-time king. He'll head to Paris with a chance to make due on his one undelivered '11 promise and win at Roland Garros. It'd complete a Career Slam, string together a non-calender year "NoDjokoSlam" (hey, I keep tryin') and maybe make a TRUE season Grand Slam a possibility.

A month ago, it seemed pretty obvious that Djokovic could never top his ridiculously great '11 season with something even better in '12. I mean, HOW COULD HE? But, umm, well, maybe we should hold off on that sort of talk, huh?

=DAY 14 NOTES=
...Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Horia Tecau won the Mixed Doubles title, taking down Elena Vesnina & Leander Paes (robbing the Indian of a two-title grab at this AO) in a match-deciding super-tiebreak. Thus, first-time slam winner BMS wins Backspin's "Doubles Star" award, as well.

...DAY 14 LIKES:

1) Vika in the stands for the Men's Final

2) Djokovic's long-time girlfriend, living and dying on every single solitary blessed point during the entire 5:53 affair. Of course, since the camera decided to key in on this particular trait of her's on seemingly every third point or so, by the end of the match, I was a bit less enamored with her actions than I had been about five hours earlier.

...and, finally, look for the complete wrap up of the season's first month next in the "Dorothy Tour Awards," along with picks for this coming weekend's start of Fed Cup competition.

*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR def. #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS 6-3/6-0

*MEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. #2 Rafael Nadal/ESP 5-7/6-4/6-2/6-7/7-5

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
Kuznetsova/Zvonareva (RUS/RUS) def. #11 Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA) 5-7/6-4/6-4

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
Paes/Stepanek (IND/CZE) def. #1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) 7-6/6-2

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
#8 Mattek-Sands/Tecau (USA/ROU) def. #5 Vesnina/Paes (RUS/IND) 6-3/5-7 [10-3]

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
#14 Taylor Townsend/USA def. #4 Yulia Putintseva/RUS 6-1/3-6/6-3

*BOYS SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Luke Saville/AUS def. Filip Peliwo/CAN 6-3/5-7/6-4

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
Andrews/Townsend (USA/USA) def. #1 Khromacheva/Kovinic (RUS/MNE) 5-7/7-5 (10-6)

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
#6 Broady/Ward-Hibbert (GBR/GBR) def. Pavlasek/Veger (CZE/CRO) 6-3/6-2

*WHEELCHAIR SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Esther Vergeer/NED vs. #2 Aniek van Koot/NED 6-0/6-0

*WHEELCHAIR DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Vergeer/Walraven (NED/NED) def. #2 Buis/van Koot (NED/NED) 4-6/6-2/6-4

**AO "DOUBLES STAR" WINNERS**
2006 Yan Zi & Zheng Jie, CHN/CHN
2007 Liezel Huber, USA
2008 Alona & Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR/UKR
2009 Sania Mirza, IND
2010 Cara Black, ZIM
2011 Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta, ARG/ITA
2012 Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA

**AO MIXED DOUBLES CHAMPIONS - since 2002**
2002 Daniela Hantuchova & Kevin Ullyett
2003 Martina Navratilova & Leander Paes
2004 Elena Bovina & Nenad Zimonjic
2005 Samantha Stosur & Scott Draper
2006 Martina Hingis & Mahesh Bhupathi
2007 Elena Likhovtseva & Daniel Nestor
2008 Sun Tiantian & Nenad Zimonjic
2009 Sania Mirza & Mahesh Bhupathi
2010 Cara Black & Mahesh Bhupathi
2011 Katarina Srebotnik & Daniel Nestor
2012 Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Horia Tecau

**WON THREE CONSECUTIVE SLAMS - MEN**
[men]
1969 - Rod Laver, AUS (4 con.)
1993-94 - Pete Sampras, USA
2005-06 - Roger Federer, SUI
2006-07 - Roger Federer, SUI
2010 - Rafael Nadal, ESP
2011-12 - NOVAK DJOKOVIC, SRB

**CAREER SLAM FINALS - ACTIVE MEN**
23...Roger Federer (16-7)
15...RAFAEL NADAL (10-5)
7...NOVAK DJOKOVIC (5-2)
5...Andy Roddick (1-4)
4...Lleyton Hewitt (2-2)
3...Juan Carlos Ferrero (1-2)
3...Andy Murray (0-3)
2...Robin Soderling (0-2)

**DJOKOVIC vs. NADAL IN SLAM FINALS**
2010 US Open - Nadal 6-4/5-7/6-4/6-2
2011 Wmbledon - Djokovic 6-4/6-1/1-6/6-3
2011 US Open - Djokovic 6-2/6-4/6-7/6-1
2012 Australian Open - Djokovic 5-7/6-4/6-2/6-7/7-5

**AO MEN'S TITLES*
[Open era]
4...Andre Agassi
4...Roger Federer
3...NOVAK DJOKOVIC
3...Mats Wilander
2...Boris Becker
2..Jim Courier
2...Stefan Edberg
2...Johan Kriek
2...Ivan Lendl
2...John Newcombe
2...Pete Sampras
2...Guillermo Vilas
[all-time]
6...Roy Emerson
4...Andre Agassi
4...Jack Crawford
4...Roger Federer
4...Ken Rosewall
4...Pat Wood
3...NOVAK DJOKOVIC
3...Rod Laver
3...Adrian Quist
3...Mats Wilander

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Greta Arn/HUN d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK 6-2/3-6/10-8
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd. - #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL d. #5 Li Na/CHN 4-6/7-6/6-4 (saved 4 MP)
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): SF - #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS d. #2 Petra Kvitova/CZE 6-2/3-6/6-4
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: 4th Rd - #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS d. #15 Sabine Lisicki/GER 3-6/6-2/6-3
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Germans
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)
IT: Ekaterina Makarova/RUS
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Sara Errani/ITA
COMEBACK PLAYER: #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
CRASH & BURN: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Sorana Cirstea/ROU)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL (down 6-4/3-1, 5-1 in 2nd set tie-break and 4 MP vs. Li, 4th Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
DOUBLES STAR Bethanie Mattek-Sands/USA
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Taylor Townsend/USA

All for now.

The Verisimilitude of Vika

2012-01-28T20:01:00.005-05:00

Vika, you may now join everyone at the big table. Yeah, that's right. Don't just wait for someone to offer you their seat... just take one for yourself.

"Go on, little nightingale, go on." - Hans Christian Andersen

The women's singles final at the 100th Australian Open promised a hard-hitting, hard-shrieking and hard-driving battle for a grand slam title and the #1 ranking. The public images of the finalists presented a respected 24-year old former champion with a persona that has come to be embracable, yet also sometimes (by her choice) unknowable, as well as another of a coltish and driven, but oft-misrepresented, 22-year old recent newcomer to the latter stages of grand slam competition. Both came to Melbourne looking to overcome their respective career's past troubles. Russian Maria Sharapova, the outwardly-refined former #1 and '08 AO champion, was getting her second chance in the past seven months to win her first slam crown since undergoing career-threatening shoulder surgery nearly four years ago. Meanwhile, demonstrative Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, known for too long for her physical fragility and the overly-emotional, anger-fueled spin-outs of her recent past, was attempting to show that all her hard work to improve her body, game and spirit over the last two years had finally reached the point where she could take her place at the "big WTA table" by claiming her first career slam.

Both had found themselves and their trademark shot-punctuating shrieks the focal point of criticism over the previous two weeks in Melbourne, from mocking catcalls in the stands to commentating booth rants and even post-match press conferences from a few oh-so-suddenly-annoyed players. The pair's reactions to the overhyped hubbub had ranged from disdain to disregard, but both had more than managed to come off as far more level-headed, sincere and well-mannered than their detractors, noting that they weren't doing anything that they hadn't always done, no matter the recent "epiphany" from within the tennis community that their "noisy" play was somehow the biggest public relations issue faced by women's tennis since some turn of the century player first decided to buck tradition and roll up her bloomers so high that spectators could almost see her ankles.

Sharapova and Azarenka, though, had done more than enough on the court -- with their rackets -- to override whatever other storylines some might have wanted to highlight. The Russian had more than passed the "eye-test" necessary for everyone to believe that she'd finally managed to corral her occasional post-surgery serving mistakes and not allow them to infect the rest of her game. In her semifinal (Roland Garros) and final (Wimbledon) slam runs at slams over the past year, such was not the case, as her wish to become the first player to overcome such a physical ailment and lift a slam championship trophy came up just short. Though she always outwardly appeared confident during those slams, her's was actually a tenuous hold. At this AO, though, she'd seemed to finally believe that the fates were aligned for her return to the winner's circle. The ankle injury she'd carried into Australia never became an issue during the tournament, and her outdueling of SW19 champ, and Sharapova conqueror, Petra Kvitova in the semifnals proved the Russian's mettle, just as the Belarusian's ability to better handle herself in the clutch during her three-set SF win over defending champion Kim Clijsters had done the same for her. 11-0 on the season and competing in her fourth straight singles final going back to the '11 season, Azarenka had shown an ability to dominate opponents (in the first two rounds, she lost the opening game of her matches, then reeled off twelve straight games to take the match) and quickly put poorly-played stretches (such as her near-bagel 2nd set against KC) behind her like the single-minded, goal-oriented player she's become ever since her achy, so-teen-like attitude had led her beloved grandmother to sit her down a few years back and remind her "how great a life" she was actually living on tour.

Sharapova's big slam match experience seemed to give her the edge, but Azarenka's own experience turned out to be even more important. Armed with the memory of two recent, straight-sets hard court victories (in 2010 & '11) over Sharapova, the Belarusian knew what she had to do to seize the spotlight on Rod Laver Arena court. In many ways, it was the same gameplan that Kvitova had had against Sharapova at Wimbledon, as well the one that Sharapova herself had had at the All-England Club when she took down Serena Williams to claim her first own major title in '04. What goes around usually comes around if a player sticks around long enough, and the Russian is learning that the same show-no-fear, pressure-your-opponent, take-control-and-dare-her-to-take-it-back gameplan cuts both ways. Sharapova's experience didn't matter last summer in London, and it didn't on this particular summer night in Melbourne, either.

Of course, it didn't appear that that was the case in the match's early going. Azarenka committed two double-faults in the opening game, then missed a backhand to give Sharapova an immediate break. Sharapova then held to take a 2-0 lead and, in retrospect, one has to wonder if she might have lost a bit of her edge, thinking that Azarenka might not be ready for her slam moment.

If so, she was sorely mistaken.

In Game #3, Azarenka hit her third double-fault and fell down love/30, but Sharapova's misses brought the game back into play. An Azarenka winner gave her her first hold of serve, and the Belarusian was off to the races. Days after Martina Hingis had talked of the need for world #1 Caroline Wozniacki to move forward into the court if she's to ever win a slam, Azarenka had no such worries about leaving any slam stones unturned. SHE was inside or riding the baseline from the start. Starting in Game #4, the practive began to pay dividends, and Sharapova's answers to the tactic began to prove fruitless. Up 40/love on Sharapova's serve, Azarenka elicited a long shot from the Russian and broke her at love for 2-2. After falling down 15/30, Sharapova hit an ace to hold for 3-3. But it was to be her last "winning" moment of the evening, as Azarenka was primed to take over the night.

In Game #7, Sharapova was pulled to the net by an Azarenka drop shot, and her reply was easily put away by the Belarusian with a lob for a 4-3 lead. One game later, a Sharapova double-fault opened the door wide for her opponent. A second DF sent the service game to deuce. Azarenka saved a game point with her doubles-inspired net play, then used another volley to get a break point. A drop shot, then another easy volley, got the break for 5-3 and gave Azarenka a chance to serve for the set. She quickly grabbed a 40/15 lead, then held to claim the set 6-3, winning her sixth of seven games since her slow start. Maybe more frightening for Sharapova, through, was that Azarenka was by no means flinching from the Russian's power. In fact, she was relishing it. Just as Kvitova had at Wimbledon last July.

In the 2nd set, things got even worse for the Russian. A long backhand put her down 15/40 on serve in Game #1, and Azarenka smacked a routine setter at the net for a winner to break and take a 1-0 lead. Erasing a love/30 hole, Azarenka held for 2-0. With an on-her-heels Sharapova seeing the match quickly slipping away, she tried to hit even harder groundstrokes. It didn't work. And as the Russian's errors began to pile up, Azarenka's naturally athletic strut (so similar to Martina Navratilova's, by the way) began to underwrite the whole endeavor. Up 40/15 on Sharapova's serve, another error led to a break for 3-0. Azarenka could see the finish line by now, and hopped over her final hurdles without a blink.

She held for 4-0, as Sharapova's desperation became her own worst enemy. A long forehand made it 5-0. The Russian had no answers for Azarenka's game, and there were no longer any questions, either. With her big lead relieving her of much of the pressure of serving for the title, it was just a matter of time.

Finally, the inevitable moment arrived. The last of Sharapova's errors failed to cross the net, and a dazed-looking Azarenka dropped her racket, sank to her knees and buried her face in her hands. She gazed up at her coach and friends in the players box with a "What happened?" look on her face, even mouthing the words that expressed her disbelief. For a player with an outward on-court air about her that practically screams "MORE!," this was the first time over the past two weeks in Melbourne that she didn't seem to believe that an Australian Open singles title was within her grasp. But it was. The 6-3/6-0 scoreline proved it, and her emphatic claiming of twelve of the final thirteen games of the match after having fallen behind 2-0 was more than enough to shut down any detractors she might have left. Hailing from Minsk, by way of Scottsdale, Arizona, the WTA's twenty-first #1-ranked player has been discovered, and she's a true 21st CENTURY champion, too.

For grand slams aren't dispensed by birthright or current ranking. They are taken.

"In the days of Moses and the prophets such a (wo)man would have been counted among the wise (wo)men of the land; in the Middle Ages (s)he would have been burned at the stake." - Hans Christian Andersen

Azarenka's "sometimes too much" style hasn't always been accepted by some fans, and surely that notion nearly came to a head a few times Down Under. But the single word she uttered after she stepped up to the microphone in the post-match trophy ceremony was brilliant in it's simplicity.

"Wow," said Azarenka, throwing in a tentative giggle for punctuation this time rather than a powerful shriek, proving that even a player with as much desire to win as her's can be flattened, at least a little, by the heady reality of actually managing to pull off the accomplishment that she's spent most of her 22 years chasing.

With the whole "Whack-a-Vika" campaign in Melbourne having proven to have the opposite effect on the player in question, Azarenka thus joins the likes of other slam winners who've discovered that some people associated with the sport choose to take issue with precisely some of the things that have helped them become a champion in the first place. Next to the "too cheeky" Hingis, the "too disrespectful" Serena, the "too hungry" Justine Henin and the "too imperial" Sharapova, we can add the "too EVERYTHING" Azarenka. Now, the Belarusian's mission will be to be embraced by the masses. Or not. It doesn't really matter.

Of course, in her address to the assembed crowd, Azarenka DID almost dare those not in her corner to find something about her misunderstood personality to embrace. Take, for example, her seemingly promising future in food services. She thanked all the tournament drivers, noting how she always enjoys bringing them doughnuts (even apologizing for making them gain weight) to make them smile, but not even thinking to bother to mention her just-as-expert delivering of a bagel to her Russian opponent tonight. A good sport, she even proved playful with the crowd, once again showing the ability to not take herself as seriously as some members of the tennis establishment have come to take themselves, especially during WTA head Stacey Allaster's still-in-it's-early-stages reign. In calling for and getting one of those meant-to-ridicule shrieks from the stands, and enjoying every second of it, she might have turned the spiteful, mocking act into a fun, future "battle cry"... in her favor. Well, maybe not, but one can dream, right?

Vika once did. And today that dream came true.

=DAY 13 NOTES=
...did you hear that? I think it's Carl. He's still jumping up and down for having correctly picked Azarenka to win this title two weeks ago. Geez, now I'll never hear the end of it.

...so, the tour hierachy continues its shaking-out process. The new rankings will show Azarenka at #1, Kvitova at #2, Sharapova at #3 and former #1 Caroline Wozniacki at #4. It's quite a shot to the Dane, for sure, who has now seen a second player from her generation reach the slam winner's circle ahead of her. If she can't learn from yet another example about how slams are taken, not given, then she never will. Still, as far as the rankings go, everyone is still close enough for multiple exchanges of the #1 spot to occur over the course of this season. So, let's just set the bar now: the most swaps of #1 in a single season is eight, and the most different players to hold the position in a season is five. After a month of '12 action, we're at two on each count.

We'll soon see -- possibly as early as next weekend -- how well Azarenka takes to her new role as the #1-ranked player and a slam champion. We'll eventually see whether her offseason training regimen will prevent a recurrence of the niggling injuries that have plagued her in the past, but she has to be encouraged that she was able to outlast opponents -- both physically AND mentally -- throughout this AO.

As for Sharapova, she has to recognize that her career might just end up playing out between a rock and hard place. Not old enough to be considered in the veterans' generation, she's surely not a NextGen player, either, even though she IS just two years older than Azarenka. Sharapova came onto tour in the era that would be dominated by the Sisters and Belgians, saw her shoulder injury prevent her from dominating in the "softer" middle years, and now has already suffered at the hands of two young twentysomethings in slam finals over the past year (her game total in this AO final was the same meager three she got against Serena in the "Destruction Heard 'Round the World" Melbourne final in '07). She's not going anywhere anytime soon, but she knows the reality of just how hard it is to win a slam. Time means nothing... opportunity, and the seizing of it, are far more important.

A certain Dane should take note of that inarguable fact, too.

A FEW MORE NOTES: Azarenka's jump from #3 to #1 in one fell swoop is a WTA first, and her title means we've had five different winners at the last five slams -- and four of them have been first-time slam champs. Of course, the flip side to that is that the last four slam winners, starting with Clijsters at last year's AO, have failed to advance beyond the second round at their next slam. After this AO, it's still a fact that no slam final with a Russian woman involved has ever gone three sets (that's 0-for-17). Azarenka's slam singles title gets her within striking distance of joining just Serena, Venus and Sam Stosur as active players with slam wins in all three disciplines -- singles, doubles and mixed. She'd already be able to be included in the group if she and Maria Kirilenko hadn't lost that set a 4-1 lead in the '11 AO final against Dulko/Pennetta. Azarenka, it should be noted, has a REALLY diverse slam trophy case. She also won junior singles and doubles slam titles, including both the AO Girls Singles and Doubles back in '05.

...speaking of junior slam title sweeps. In the Girls Singles final, Taylor Townsend completed HER own sweep of the junior titles by defeating Yulia Putintseva 6-1/3-6/6-3. Townsend, after Grace Min last fall at Flushing Meadows, is the second consecutive Bannerette to claim a junior Girls slam crown.

Luke Saville, who was the AO Boys runner-up in '11, defeated Filip Peliwo to take the title this year. The Aussie also won the Wimbledon Boys last year.

...Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek prevented the Bryan twins from continuing their AO dominance and getting a record 12th slam crown. The pair won the Men's Doubles in straight sets. It's Stepanek -- know in these parts as Mr. Nicole Vaidisova -- first slam title, and Paes' overall fourteenth Doubles or Mixed slam championship. He's won those titles with eight different players -- Mahesh Bhupathi (3), Cara Black (3), Lukas Dlouhy (2), Martina Navratilova (2), Martin Damm (1), Lisa Raymond (1), David Rikl (1) and Stepanek (1).

...and, of course Esther Vergeer (NED) won her 20th career slam Wheelchair Singles title, and she did it by showing her usual dominance, taking out her Dutch countrywoman, #2 seed Aniek van Koot by a 6-0/6-0 score.

...DAY 13 LIKES: that ESPN2's coverge wasn't as scream-heavy as I'd feared it might be. Of course, that the likes of Cliff Drysdale and Brad Gilbert -- who tend to squawk as much as all those birds flying over Rod Laver looking for a tasty insect meal -- weren't involved in the telecast, so maybe that had something to do with it. Pam Shriver, on three different occasions (including once when she tried to place undue importance on a single spectator who'd yelled out "turn down the volume," obviously -- accoring to the all-knowing PS -- showing how much of a protesting mood the Aussies were when it came to the issue, overlooking the fact that many thousands of others DIDN'T put their full "jerkery" on display), DID try to pipe in from courtside and broach the subject in an attempt to throw the broadcast off on an action-ignoring tangent (a practice of her's that goes back ten years, when she'd spend half a Jelena Dokic match talking about Damir rather than what was going on on the court), but Chris Fowler and Chris Evert consistently failed to take the bait and derail the telecast. Good for them. The network, led by Patrick McEnroe (shocker!) did spend time during pre-match coverage on the topic, but I chose to just turn the sound down to avoid being offended (hmmm, now there's an idea), only turning it up to hear the press conference comments from the two players, including Azarenka linking her sound to how she breathes on the court, and Sharapova noting that she hasn't heard anything "from anybody important enough" to change anything on her side of the net.

I will continue to believe it's all much ado about nothing, or at least nothing that hasn't been the case for about twenty years, when Monica Seles came upon the scene. Ultimately, nothing was done then (other than Seles trying to consciously make no sound in one match, and putting forth an awful performance in the process), and players on tour now who have grown up exhaling loudly during points shouldn't suddenly be penalized now because a few people suddenly have a wild hare up their butt about the subject. But, if the various organizations want to begin to institute something on the junior levels, much like Major League Baseball's lower-level phasing out of tobacco use, that will insure that the coming generation won't grow up with the same noisy habits, then I'd have no problem with it. But that'd be a measured, intelligent way to deal with the situation, unlike the crazy-ass (thank you for that phrase, Oprah Winfrey) practice of trying to use on-court decibal meters and making certain players -- including the newest #1 -- the object of derision in the media. Of course, the more attention-getting way would prove to be more self-serving for the likes of Stacey Allaster and the talking heads at ESPN2, so I'm not particularly confident that cooler heads will prevail.

...and, finally, the WTA spotlight will surely be on the Fed Cup next weekend, but not necessarily on the 1st Round. Belarus will be hosted by the United States in World Group II action, with Azarenka AND the Williams Sisters scheduled to participate. Sometimes, things just work out perfectly, you know?

*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR def. #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS 6-3/6-0

*MEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. #2 Rafael Nadal/ESP

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
Kuznetsova/Zvonareva (RUS/RUS) def. #11 Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA) 5-7/6-4/6-4

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
Paes/Stepanek (IND/CZE) def. #1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) 7-6/6-2

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
#5 Vesnina/Paes (RUS/IND) vs. #8 Mattek-Sands/Tecau (USA/ROU)

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
#14 Taylor Townsend/USA def. #4 Yulia Putintseva/RUS 6-1/3-6/6-3

*BOYS SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Luke Saville/AUS def. Filip Peliwo/CAN 6-3/5-7/6-4

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
Andrews/Townsend (USA/USA) def. #1 Khromacheva/Kovinic (RUS/MNE) 5-7/7-5 (10-6)

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
#6 Broady/Ward-Hibbert (GBR/GBR) def. Pavlasek/Veger (CZE/CRO) 6-3/6-2

*WHEELCHAIR SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Esther Vergeer/NED vs. #2 Aniek van Koot/NED 6-0/6-0

*WHEELCHAIR DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Vergeer/Walraven (NED/NED) def. #2 Buis/van Koot (NED/NED) 4-6/6-2/6-4

**WEEKS AT WTA SINGLES #1**
[w/ titles & slam titles]
377...Steffi Graf (107/22)
331...Martina Navratilova (167/18)
260...Chris Evert (154/18)
209...Martina Hingis (43/5)
178...Monica Seles (53/9)
122...Serena Williams (39/13)
117...Justine Henin (43/7)
98...Lindsay Davenport (55/3)
67...Caroline Wozniacki (18/0)
39...Amelie Mauresmo (25/2)
26...Dinara Safina (12/0)
22...Tracy Austin (30/2)
20...Kim Clijsters (41/4)
18...Jelena Jankovic (12/0)
17...Jennifer Capriati (14/3)
17...Maria Sharapova (24/3)
12...Ana Ivanovic (9/1)
12...Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (29/4)
11...Venus Williams (43/7)
2...Evonne Goolagong (68/7)
1...VICTORIA AZARENKA (10/1)
[pre-computer rankings year-end #1's]
Margaret Smith-Court (92/24)
Billie Jean King (67/12)

**MOST SLAMS TO FIRST TITLE**
45 - Jana Novotna (1998 Wimbledon)
39 - Francesca Schiavone (2010 Roland Garros)
34 - Samantha Stosur (2011 US Open)
31 - Amelie Mauresmo (2006 Australian Open)
29 - Jennifer Capriati (2001 Australian Open)
28 - Kerry Melville-Reid (1978 Australian Open)
26 - Lindsay Davenport (1998 U.S. Open)
25 - VICTORIA AZARENKA (2012 Australian Open)

**FIRST-TIME SLAM CHAMPS AT AUSTRALIAN OPEN**
[Open Era]
1977 Kerry Melville-Reid, AUS
1978 Chris O'Neil, AUS
1979 Barbara Jordan, USA
1980 Hana Mandlikova, CZE
1995 Mary Pierce, FRA
1997 Martina Hingis, SUI
2001 Jennifer Capriati, USA
2006 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
2012 Victoria Azarenka, BLR

**WTA SINGLES TITLES - 2010-12**
12...Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
7...VICTORIA AZARENKA, BLR
6...Kim Clijsters, BEL
6...Petra Kvitova, CZE
4...Maria Sharapova, RUS
4...Roberta Vinci, ITA
4...Serena Williams, USA

**ACTIVE PLAYERS w/ SLAM SINGLES/DOUBLES/MIXED TITLES**
[singles-doubles-mixed]
Serena Williams [13-12-2]
Venus Williams [7-12-2]
Samantha Stosur [1-2-2]
[singles players closest to matching]
Victoria Azarenka [1-0-2]
Kim Clijsters [4-2-0]
Svetlana Kuznetsova [2-2-0]
Vera Zvonareva [0-2-2]

**RECENT GIRLS SLAM CHAMPIONS**
[2009]
AO: Ksenia Pervak, RUS
RG: Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
WI: Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, THA
US: Heather Watson, GBR
[2010]
AO: Karolina Pliskova, CZE
RG: Elina Svitolina, UKR
WI: Kristyna Pliskova, CZE
US: Daria Gavrilova, RUS
[2011]
AO: An-Sophie Mestach, BEL
RG: Ons Jabeur, TUN
WI: Ashleigh Barty, AUS
AO: Grace Min, USA
[2012]
AO: Taylor Townsend, USA

=ACTIVE OVERALL SLAM TITLES - MEN=
18...Bob Bryan
16...Roger Federer
14...LEANDER PAES
13...Mike Bryan
11...Mahesh Bhupathi
11...Rafael Nadal
8...Max Mirnyi
8...Daniel Nestor
7...Nenad Zimonjic
4...Novak Djokovic

=AO MEN'S DOUBLES CHAMPIONS - since 2002=
2002 Mark Knowles / Daniel Nestor
2003 Michael Llodra / Fabrice Santoro
2004 Michael Llodra / Fabrice Santoro
2005 Wayne Black / Kevin Ullyett
2006 Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan
2007 Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan
2008 Jonathan Erlich / Andy Ram
2009 Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan
2010 Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan
2011 Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan
2012 Leander Paes / Radek Stepanek

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Greta Arn/HUN d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK 6-2/3-6/10-8
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd. - #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL d. #5 Li Na/CHN 4-6/7-6/6-4 (saved 4 MP)
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: none
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Germans
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)
IT: Ekaterina Makarova/RUS
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Sara Errani/ITA
COMEBACK PLAYER: #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
CRASH & BURN: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Sorana Cirstea/ROU)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL (down 6-4/3-1, 5-1 in 2nd set tie-break and 4 MP vs. Li, 4th Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
DOUBLES STAR Nominees: Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Elena Vesnina
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Taylor Townsend/USA

All for Day 13. More tomorrow.

AO.12- The (Shrieks) of Fortune

2012-01-27T12:42:00.002-05:00

Ready, Maria? Ready, Vika? Do the Scream Police have their earplugs in (though we secretly know they all really LOVE the noise... thou doth protest too much, I think)? Have you deleted your Twitter account? Is the extra-strength duct tape positioned over the mouths of some ESPN2 announcers?

Whew! Okay, then MAYBE we're ready to go.

Maria Sharapova has so-far passed the necessary "eye test" for her to be in slam-winning form, and she even might have history going for her if you consider that the last time she won a slam Down Under the Patriots and Giants were preparing to play in the Super Bowl. Those same two teams are currently doing the same this year. For her, the return to the #1 ranking for the first time in about three and a half years (it'd be the third-longest time between stints, behind only Serena and Clijsters' approximately five-year stretches) would be secondary to the notion of finally proving that everyone who doubted that she could fully recover from shoulder surgery were wrong. And we might even see her readily admit that she sort of doubted it herself for a brief period, as well.

"First, you undergo such a terrible amount of suffering, and then you become famous." - Hans Christian Andersen

Before the season, I said that Victoria Azarenka was the real wild card in the WTA's race for #1, and that she could very well shoot through the gap from her #3 position and take the top spot away from BOTH of them. With one more win, she will, too. She was getting far less attention than Wozniacki, Kvitova and others in the #1 discussion, but her drive is equal to or greater than either them at any particular moment. Having survived the game of "Whack-a-Vika" that has gone on at this Australian Open, from the top of the sport on down to the ESPN2ers who have so painstakingly tried to mold public opinion on the whole on-court noise issue, a win for the Belarusian would be great on oh so many "uncomfortable" levels. Stacey Allaster wouldn't have enough places to stick it.

The ball-bashing style of the two finalists may not be the one most preferred by all, but there is no reason for any right-thinking person to not love the desire to win at all costs that will reside within BOTH players who'll take the court tonight. Although I'm sure some will take issue with it, at least with the less familiar-in-the-spotlight Azarenka, and then spend far too much valuable time trying to measure the court noise created by the pair of finalists. At the very least, hopefully this final will come close to the fun we saw in the semis. On that note, it's a good sign to point out that the AO is currently riding a two-year run of three-set women's finals. It's quite the opposite of the two-set streaks at the other slams that have reached five (Wimbledon), ten (Roland Garros) and -- yikes!! -- SIXTEEN (U.S.) years. Although, no slam final involving a Russian woman has ever gone three sets.

So, settle in and... hmmm, what's that?

Oh, no. Brad Gilbert found a way to remove the tape! I thought I'd provided him with enough shiny objects to divert his attention for a few hours. He's teaching the others to remove THEIR tape, too. While I love the sight of evolution beginning to take place right in front of my eyes, I have to say that I'm feeling afraid right now. Very afraid.

I guess I'll just have to remember to keep repeating the phrase I've got knocking around inside my head: "It's going to be all right. It's going to be all right."

=DAY 12 NOTES=
...it was a great SF rematch of the '11 AO final between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray today, and it'll surely lead to more talk about the Scot, especially now with Ivan Lendl in his coaching corner, eventually winning a slam in the Djokovic-Nadal-Federer era. Still, it should be noted that, in the Serb's 6-3/3-6/6-7/6-1/7-5 win, Murray DID blow a two sets to one lead and, although he came back from a 5-2 hole in the 5th, he failed to put away any of three break points (after taking a 40/15 lead) on Djokovic's serve at 5-5 in the deciding set, then was broken to end the match. For any changes evident in Murray, and there do seem to be a few, he's still doing some very Murray-in-a-slam like things in the end. Jimmy Connors was never able to instill enough of himself into Andy Roddick to get the American over the slam hump for a second time, and Lendl might not be able to ultimately do the same with the still-slamless Murray.

Meanwhile, Djokovic now faces Nadal in their fourth overall meeting in a slam final. This is the third straight slam final that will be contested between the two, with Djokovic having defeated Rafa both at Wimbledon and the U.S.Open (two of the six finals the Serb bested the Spaniard in last season). This will be the eighth straight slam won by one of the two men, the longest two-player string in ATP history, behind only an 11-slam stretch where either Nadal or Federer were crowned champions. If the Serb wins, he'll head to Rafa's Kingdom -- Roland Garros -- looking to complete a DjokoSlam... or would it be JokerSlam, or maybe NovaSlam? Hmmm.

...Roberta Vinci can surely share Murray's good/bad thoughts for Day 12. She came into the day having reached the Women's Doubles final, as well as the Mixed semifinals. As she went to sleep tonight, though, that was all she got. She and Sara Errani lost in three sets to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva in the WD final as the first champions of this AO were crowned. It's Sveta's second slam Doubles title, and Vera's fourth overall Doubles/Mixed crown at a slam. Vinci & Danielle Bracciali lost in the Mixed SF to Elena Vesnina & Leander Paes, as well. So, Vesnina/Paes don't get the filled-with-storylines opponents that Mirza/Bhupathi would have provided in the final (Mirza is Vesnina's doubles partner, and ex-partners Bhupathi & Paes HATE each other now, while the spots/teamings on the Indian Olympic team revolving around those three players will surely be an issue down the line), and will instead face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Horia Tecau.

With Vesnina and Mattek-Sands both going for their first slam crown, the winner will get the "Doubles Star" award for this AO.

...Petra will have to tell Adam Pavlasek that things will be all right after his bad day on Friday. Not only did he lose his Boys semifinal match the #1-seed Luke Saville, but he and Filip Veger dropped the Boys Doubles final to Brits Liam Broady & Joshua Ward-Hibbert, too. The Girls Doubles champs were crowned, as well, and it's a pair of Bannerettes -- Taylor Townsend & Gabrielle Andrews -- who defeated top-seeded Irina Khromacheva & Danka Kovinic.

Speaking of Townsend, she had a GREAT day. She won the Doubles title, and took out fellow American Krista Hardebeck in the Girls Singles SF. Thus, the #14 seed reaches the final... and wins this slam's "Junior Breakout" honors. She'll face Hordette #4-seed Yulia Putintseva (my pre-tournament pick, so the American's chances to win are probably pretty good) in the final.

Saville will face Canada's Filip Peliwo in the Boys final. Peliwo defeated American MacKenzie McDonald, who I forget to mention yesterday when I noted the dominant North American presence in the junior singles SF (filling five of the eight slots).

...Esther Vergeer will play in the Women's Wheelchair final on Day 13. She's now won 436 straight matches, including 19 slam singles crown. Today she picked up the Doubles title, her 20th slam Doubles championship.

...DAY 12 LIKES: the realization that I got through the entire two weeks without being forced to listen to the grating Hannah Storm on ESPN2. Best thing about the network's oft-mangy coverage of this slam, I'd say.

...and, finally, I'm making this an earlier-posted recap of Day 12 partly because there wasn't as much to cover for Friday... but also because I think I need the additional time to gird myself for the sure-to-come overflow of "scream chat" during the women's final tonight. Who knows? Maybe the ESPN2ers will even talk about the match, too. I know... I'm too much of a dreamer sometimes.

*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR vs. #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS

*MEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. #2 Rafael Nadal/ESP

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
Kuznetsova/Zvonareva (RUS/RUS) def. #11 Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA) 5-7/6-4/6-4

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

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
#5 Vesnina/Paes (RUS/IND)
vs. #8 Mattek-Sands/Tecau (USA/ROU)

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
#14 Taylor Townsend/USA vs. #4 Yulia Putintseva/RUS

*BOYS SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Luke Saville/AUS vs. Filip Peliwo/CAN

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
Andrews/Townsend (USA/USA) def. #1 Khromacheva/Kovinic (RUS/MNE) 5-7/7-5 (10-6)

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
#6 Broady/Ward-Hibbert (GBR/GBR) def. Pavlasek/Veger (CZE/CRO) 6-3/6-2

*WHEELCHAIR SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Esther Vergeer/NED vs. #2 Aniek van Koot/NED

*WHEELCHAIR DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Vergeer/Walraven (NED/NED) def. #2 Buis/van Koot (NED/NED) 4-6/6-2/6-4

**AO "JUNIOR BREAKOUT" WINNERS**
2007 Madison Brengle, USA
2008 Jessica Moore, AUS & Arantxa Rus, NED
2009 Ksenia Pervak, RUS
2010 Karolina & Kristyna Pliskova, CZE/CZE
2011 Japanese girls
2012 Taylor Townsend, USA

**AO DOUBLES CHAMPIONS - since 2000**
2000 Lisa Raymond & Rennae Stubbs
2001 Serena Williams & Venus Williams
2002 Martina Hingis & Anna Kournikova
2003 Serena Williams & Venus Williams
2004 Virginia Ruano Pascual & Paola Suarez
2005 Svetlana Kuznetsova & Alicia Molik
2006 Yan Zi & Zheng Jie
2007 Cara Black & Liezel Huber
2008 Alona Bondarenko & Kateryna Bondarenko
2009 Serena Williams & Venus Williams
2010 Serena Williams & Venus Williams
2011 Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta
2012 Svetlana Kuznetsova & Vera Zvonareva

**MOST CAREER SLAM DOUBLES/MIXED TITLES - ACTIVE**
14...Serena Williams
14...Venus Williams
10...Cara Black
10...Lisa Raymond
7...Liezel Huber
6...Katarina Srebotnik
4...Daniela Hantuchova
4...Samantha Stosur
4...VERA ZVONAREVA

**AUSTRALIAN OPEN GIRLS FINALS - since 2000**
2000 Aniko Kapros/HUN def. Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez/ESP
2001 Jelena Jankovic/SRB def. Sofia Arvidsson/SWE
2002 Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova/CZE def. Maria Sharapova/RUS
2003 Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova/CZE def. Victoriya Kutuzova/UKR
2004 Shahar Peer/ISR def. Nicole Vaidisova/CZE
2005 Victoria Azarenka/BLR def. Agnes Szavay/HUN
2006 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS def. Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
2007 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS def. Madison Brengle/USA
2008 Arantxa Rus/NED def. Jessica Moore/AUS
2009 Ksenia Pervak/RUS def. Laura Robson/GBR
2010 Karolina Pliskova/CZE def. Laura Robson/GBR
2011 An-Sophie Mestach/BEL def. Monica Puig/PUR
2012 Yulia Putintseva/RUS vs. Taylor Townsend/USA

**FIRST-TIME SLAM CHAMPS AT AUSTRALIAN OPEN**
[Open Era]
1977 Kerry Melville-Reid, AUS
1978 Chris O'Neil, AUS
1979 Barbara Jordan, USA
1980 Hana Mandlikova, CZE
1995 Mary Pierce, FRA
1997 Martina Hingis, SUI
2001 Jennifer Capriati, USA
2006 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA

=LONG ATP SLAM TITLE STREAKS - TWO PLAYERS=
11 - Federer/Nadal, 2005-07
8 - DJOKOVIC/NADAL, 2010-12
6 - Sampras/Bruguera, 1993-94
5 - Borg/Connors, 1974-75

=MOST SLAM FINAL MATCH-UPS - MEN=
8 - Federer/Nadal
5 - Agassi/Sampras
5 - Lendl-Wilander
4 - Borg/Connors
4 - Borg/McEnroe
4 - DJOKOVIC/NADAL
4 - Federer/Roddick

=MOST OVERALL FINAL MATCH-UPS - MEN=
20 - Lendl/McEnroe
19 - Federer/Nadal
16 - Agassi/Sampras
16 - Becker/Edberg
15 - Connors/McEnroe
13 - Becker/Lendl
12 - Borg/Connors
12 - DJOKOVIC/NADAL

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Greta Arn/HUN d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK 6-2/3-6/10-8
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd. - #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL d. #5 Li Na/CHN 4-6/7-6/6-4 (saved 4 MP)
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: none
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Germans
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)
IT: Ekaterina Makarova/RUS
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Sara Errani/ITA
COMEBACK PLAYER: #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
CRASH & BURN: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Sorana Cirstea/ROU)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL (down 6-4/3-1, 5-1 in 2nd set tie-break and 4 MP vs. Li, 4th Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
DOUBLES STAR Nominees: Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Elena Vesnina
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Taylor Townsend/USA

All for Day 12. More tomorrow.

AO.11- The Brave Tin Soldiers

2012-01-26T16:55:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the "new" WTA, absent the "soft" #1's and mentally cracked slam contenders who make it too easy for criticism and crankiness to drown out the actual accomplishments of the players involved. Welcome to a world where players play with fire and a will to not only win, but also to grab for a major title with both hands rather than expect it to be handed to them. Oh, yeah... and for most of those things to eventually be drowned out by whiners complaining about how much noise said players make on the court.

Well, no one ever said any was a perfect tennis world, right?

Setting aside all the "el stupido" handwringing and overzealous preoccupation with the unimportant traits of some of the players in question, it was great to actually see a pair of semifinal matches on Day 11 that lived up to the advance (hoped for) billing. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to see the latter stages of a slam actually LOOK like the latter stages of a slam. No head-shaking emotional collapses occurred. There were no overmatched pretenders in attendance, either. Instead, we got a game, but (thank you, Kim) not overly-sentimental, soon-to-exit defending champion and three players who actually looked like they were willing to do whatever was necessary to win a slam and, in turn, claim the #1 ranking in the women's game. It's such an overused phrase, but there really did turn out to be no "losers" in this hard-hitting quartet. Rather than hope for their opponent to lose, they tried to win, all managing to turn seemingly-bad in-match situations back in their favor by imposing their will on their opponent. But while all four thrived, of course, only two survived.

The first semifinal of the day pitted defending champ Kim Clijsters, 28, in what she says will be her last Australian Open, against 22-year old Victoria Azarenka, seeking the triple-whammy of her first slam final, maiden slam title, and the #1 ranking if she can lift the championship trophy this weekend. Immediately, the Belarusian jumped on Clijsters' second serve, breaking the Belgian for a 2-1 lead in the 1st. Throughout the opening set, the younger player saw her chances backed against the wall, but met the pressure with some of her own. Saving four break points in Game #4, she held for 3-1. Using her groundstrokes to keep Clijsters from moving forward, Azarenka overcame Clijsters' early service game leads, following the aggressive gameplans of previous first-time slam winners of recent seasons. Clijsters never let Azarenka run away with the set, though, forcing her to emotionally hold firm. She did, too, and won the set 6-4.

With her first major final a set away, though, Azarenka did suffer a 2nd set letdown. Clijsters broke her at love in Game #2 thanks to the Belarusian's errors, grabbing a 2-0 lead and running off a string of what would be eight straight points. KC only led by a single break, and Azarenka had an opportunity to get it back. But when she missed an overhead shot that would have given her break point, then Ciljsters held for 3-0, a chance for a quick day was lost. In Game #4, Azarenka's first serve simply deserted her. The Belgian broke for 4-0, and held for 5-0. But Azarenka, maybe very importantly, pulled her game together to avoid a 2nd set bagel, holding serve to take a game and a avoid a possibly attitude-defeating freefall. Clijsters knotted the match with a 6-1 win, but it was Azarenka's getting a late foothold that led to her momentum carrying over into the 3rd.

In the opening game of the deciding set, Azarenka found herself break point down, but she managed a hold, then broke Clijsters at love. A poor service game from the Belgian (and, in particular, a poor decision to go for a drop shot during a long rally) ended with a double-fault that handed the break, and a 3-1 lead, to Azarenka. At that point, KC's shots began to fly in all directions, but the player who saved quadruple match point in the Round of 16 against Li Na had one more surge left in her. Azarenka led 4-2, 40/love on serve, but failed to convert six game points. Once Clijsters got her first break point of the game, she took advantage and closed to within 4-3. So, this appeared to be the moment when the Belgian's seemingly-fated run to the women's final would become a reality, right? Ah, not so fast.

"Then she saw a star fall, leaving behind it a bright streak of fire." - Hans Christian Andersen

Clijsters opened the next game with a double-fault, and Azarenka built up a 40/love lead. After going 0-for-8 in game and break point opportunities over the nearly two-game stretch, Azarenka finally put away a volley to take a 5-3 lead and give herself a chance to serve for the final. Would she prove worthy of the moment, or crack under the pressure? The answer seemed to be foreshadowed when she started off with a service winner. Moments later, she was up 40/love. A single double-fault delayed the Belarusian's gratification, but Clijsters' final error ended the match. Azarenka won 6-4/1-6/6-3 to reach her first major final.

After the match, Azarenka held up a (maybe a bit premature?) #1 finger, while Clijsters quickly slipped away from what will likely be her last AO. There was no tearful on-court interview with the Belgian, dubbed "Aussie Kim" so many years ago, and for that maybe she should be commended. The story of this match was not her, it was Azarenka, a player we've seen arriving at this moment for quite a few years now, only for her achy breaky body and anger issues to sometimes trip her up along the way. But, having largely conquered both problems from her past, the fiery, often demonstrative Belarusian with the sort of desire to win that makes some people (you know who they are) uncomfortable, will now finally get her moment to rise or fall on the game's biggest stage. Having proven she can climb onto the platform, no matter what happens next, it won't likely be her last trip there.

While the first match served as a nice coming out party for another young twentysomething, the second match between Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova, especially the 3rd set, stood out as the true jewel of the women's semifinals. Even more so than the Azarenka/Clijsters match, this one came down to its closing games, even points, with the final result totally in question, even when match points were on the line. What was going to happen was anyone's guess, but everyone sure knew they wanted to see it all play out on the court of Rod Laver Arena.

Kvitova, 21, held at love to start the match, but the Czech's penchant at this tournament to sometimes have trouble holding her serve for large stretches of time continued against Sharapova's grand return game. The two exchanged momentum in the early going. Kvitova missed an overhead and was broken in Game #3, when the 24-year old Russian tossed in a double-fault and error to break herself back the next game. Using her return reflexes to attack Kvitova's FIRST serve, Sharapova went up a break again at 3-2. At 4-2, she showed the sort athleticism that she's never really been known for. Reacting quickly to a Kvitova drop shot attempt, the Russian went into full sprint from behind the baseline and easily got to the ball, putting away a winner. She'd soon break for a 5-2 lead then, after falling down love/40, hold serve to claim a 6-2 set. With a 112-5 slam record when she wins the 1st set, and with the Czech visibly frustrated (tossing her racket down more than once, an act that wasn't seen from her last year, but has become her "go to" in bad stretches this season), Sharapova seemed set for a very good day.

But then Kvitova did what she's done so well at this AO -- quickly rebound and impose her power game on her opponent. Just as she did in the Wimbledon final last July, she did it again to Sharapova in the 2nd set. Sending a message with a big return to start Sharapova's service game, she was gifted a double-fault from the Russian one point later. With the score at 40/love, Sharapova's fifth DF of the match broke herself to give Kvitova a 2-0 advantage. The set ultimately played out like a SW19 redux, even down to the Czech's ace on set point that matched her final winner on match point at the All-England Club. She won 6-3, knotting the contest at one set each.

The 3rd began just as the 2nd had ended, with Kvitova whacking balls with great force. It seemed like many other matches she plays -- her's to win. She broke Sharapova to go up 2-1, gave it back a game later, but saw her game remain firm during the series of ball-blasting rallies that characterized the set. Kvitova nearly got the break back in Game #5, but Sharapova managed an important hold for 3-2. In a very long Game #7, the Russian did the same.

At 4-4, it was apparent that crunchtime was upon the two. Hall of Fame Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs always called it "gut check time," and Kvitova, her motor revving up at every turn, seemed to be the one checking off every gutsy item on the list required for her to reach her first AO final and play for the #1 ranking. She went up 30/love on Sharapova's serve and the end seemed to possibly be near. But THIS Sharapova, as we've seen since the early rounds of this tournament when she began to pass the required "eye test" that always marks whether or not she's a SERIOUS slam contender, isn't the same Russian who's been lost in the slam wilderness since her shoulder surgery nearly four years ago. In Melbourne, she's been the former champion driven to return to the winner's circle to prove, as much to herself as others, that she CAN do it again after all her career has endured over the 48 months since she last lifted a slam championship trophy. Who's to say what the dialogue inside Sharapova's head sounded like when the still-improving-and-hardly-yet-a-finished-product Czech looked like she was going to able to take her down in yet another slam, especially the one in which the Russian has looked so much like the 20-year old who claimed the Daphne Akhurst Trophy on this same court in 2008 to complete her third leg of a career Grand Slam.

"Even the open, transparent lake has its unknown depths, which no divers know." - Hans Christian Andersen

Two points from serving for the final, Kvitova saw Sharapova's shot sail long and the game score move to 40/love in the Czech's favor. She was so close now. But something happened on the way to Kvitova's instant immortality -- the Russian challenged the call. Then, everything changed. The ball had grazed the line, and the replay may have turned out to be the biggest moment of the entire match, and maybe even the tournament. If the always seemingly-composed Sharapova had developed any lingering doubts about her ability to defeat the Czech, and her rare-for-her looks into the players box seemed to hint that she maybe had, then that moment seemed to evaporate them. Surviving the close call of being in such a deep hole, she suddenly turned super-steady in the match's closing moments. It might have been THE key to victory. Kvitova, meanwhile, who seemed so sure of her path to a win that she'd even managed to smile to herself at the audacity of the angle of one of her powerful winners in an earlier point, seemed to maybe catch wind of maybe fate NOT being on her side, after all. Whatever actually happened, things WERE different from that moment forward.

Sharapova went on to hold serve and, rather than serve for the match at 5-4, Kvitova was serving to stay in it at all. She committed a forehand error to start the game, and Sharapova grabbed a 30/15 lead. Even after the Czech netted a backhand off a Sharapova drop shot, nothing seemed settled. Kvitova was just as likely to catch fire yet again as she was to be broken with the match on the line. But, one long rally later, as Kvitova's shot sailed long, Sharapova walked off with a skin-of-her-teeth, why-she's-likely-to-win-slam-#4-in-two-days victory by the score of 6-2/3-6/6-4. In the end, the Russian had played the biggest points better. Kvitova was just 3-of-14 on break points attempts, including 1-of-5 in the 3rd set, while Sharapova had gone a remarkably impressive 5-for-5 (I actually didn't even trust the ESPN2 number, and had to go look at the official match stats to be sure it was true), especially so against a player with as big a serve as the Wimbledon champ's. One has to think that Kvitova will have to figure a way to work past the belief that she should have somehow found a way to do MORE with her serve in this match, and the fact that she hadn't been able to do so probably (at least temporarily) robbed her of her second slam title and the #1 ranking.

"An eternal night awaited her." - Hans Christian Andersen

Kvitova outpaced Sharapova 29-18 in winners, but had 41 errors to the Russian's 30. Once again, as well, Sharapova, didn't allow any service miscues (10 DF) to bring down the rest of her game. In the end, she won 86 points to Kvitova's 84. The difference between an 85-85 split? That overturned shot in Sharapova's final service game, which, if it'd gone the way it'd been originally called, would have probaby led to a totally different end result in this match.

So, still looking the part, Sharapova moves on to the final, where she'll try to reclaim the #1 ranking and become the first player to win a major title following career-threatening shoulder surgery, and waiting for her there will be another woman trying to find slam glory and reach #1 in Azarenka. It'll be a hard-hitting, fist-pumping display of dualing wills to win a slam rarely seen on any WTA stage in recent years. Maybe even decades, for that matter. Of course, many will be distracted from the great nature of this "Scream Queen" final because they won't be able to avoid slipping into their "Noise Nazi" regalia. But, let them eat cake, I say. I know I'll enjoy the spectacle for the legitimate one it'll be, filled with concussive sounds emanating from ALL corners of the court... but none of the sounds as great as the desire to win that will resound inside both players.

Hey, it's the "new" WTA. I think I'll take it.

=DAY 11 NOTES=

...in the capper to what turned out to be one of the best slam semifinal days in recent memory, Rafael Nadal ended Australia Day by taking out Roger Federer in four sets, 6-7/6-2/7-6/6-4, to reach his second AO singles final. The Spaniard is now 18-9 in the twenty-seven career meetings between the two, and 8-2 in slams.

...in the junior singles competition, as opposed to what happened in the regular draws, North America is dominating. Especially in the Girls draw, where three of the final four hail from the continent.

Unseeded Bannerette Krista Hardebeck took down yet another biggie in the QF, eliminating #1-seed Irina Khromacheva in straights to reach the semis, where she'll meet her countrywoman (girl?), #14-seeded Taylor Townsend (who also reached the Girls Doubles final with American Gabrielle Andrews). The other SF pits Russian Yulia Putintseva (#4) against Canada's Eugenie Bouchard (#2).

There's a Canadian (Filip Peliwo) in the Boys semifinals, as well. But, even with #1-seed Luke Saville the last remaining Aussie in any of the AO draws, the bigger story is probably Czech Adam Pavlasek, Kvitova's boyfriend. He took out #4 Kaichi Uchida to reach the singles SF (he'll face Saville), and also advanced to the Boys Doubles final with Croatia's Filip Veger.

...the Bryan twins reached the Men's Doubles final, where they've already picked up the AO title five of the last six years. A sixth win will break their current tie with Mark Woodforde & Todd Woodbridge for the most slam Men's Doubles titles in the Open era. Both teams currently have eleven. Title #12, by the way, would also actually tie the all-time men's mark for slam wins held by John Newcombe & Tony Roche (who won just seven of their twelve titles in the Open era).

...well, Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina ended up going 3-0 against Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond, as Vesnina & Leander Paes took out Raymond & Rohan Bopanna in the Mixed QF. Doubles team Mirza & Vesnina could end up facing off with each other in the Mixed final.

...as difficult as it is to believe, Esther Vergeer has once again reached the women's wheelchair final.

...DAY 11 LIKES: Azarenka having, perhaps, the "temerity" in the face of all the talk of her on-court shrieking, to complain to the umpire about fans talking during a point in her match with Clijsters. Oh, that's so very Vika-ish, isn't it? I love the, "You don't like it? I don't care. I don't like it... and that's what matters to me right now." attitude about it all she has. If she wins the final, maybe she hold up another single finger to all the people who'd want to ignore her actual accomplishments and focus on the noise she makes when she swings a racket. Hey, absent a black-hatted Justine, the tour could use a "villain," real or imagined, to spice things up a bit. Why not embrace and go all the way with it?

Of course, rather than see the natural humor in the situation, from Azarenka's complaint to (I think) her sounds, the ESPN2's were more offended than amused. No surprise, considering (yet again) they spent a five-minute stretch in the 1st set griping about how much noise Azarenka makes, completely overlooking the fact that a MATCH to reach a slam final was going on... while crazy-noisy jet fighters were flying back and forth across the Melbourne sky in Australia Day activities, it should be noted. And if that particular tangent wasn't enough, ten minutes later Cliff Drysdale saw fit to inform everyone of the "breaking news" that Patrick McEnroe was reporting to him that... fans (CUE IMPORTANT NEWSREADER VOICE) were Tweeting him right then and there about how much they hate all the noise the players make on court. Because, as you know, the only opinions that matter are those of the people with nothing better to do but Tweet some loud-mouthed TV tennis commentators and tell them what they want to hear.

...and, finally, I can't express how glad I am that I don't actually have to keep up with any AO women's singles action on Day 12. Ah, the refeshing end is near.

"Brave soldier, never fear. Even though your death is near." - Hans Christian Andersen

Hey, now, Hans. I'm just talking about the end of the TOURNAMENT. Sheesh.

*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR vs. #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS

*MEN'S SINGLES SF*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. #4 Andy Murray/GBR
#2 Rafael Nadal/ESP def. #3 Roger Federer/SUI

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#11 Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA) vs. Kuznetsova/Zvonareva (RUS/RUS)

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

*MIXED DOUBLES SF*
Vinci/Bracciali (ITA/ITA) vs. #5 Vesnina/Paes (RUS/IND)
#6 Mirza/Bhupathi (IND/IND) vs. #8 Mattek-Sands/Tecau (USA/ROU)

*GIRLS SINGLES SF*
Krista Hardebeck/USA vs. #14 Taylor Townsend/USA
#4 Yulia Putintseva/RUS vs. #2 Eugenie Bouchard/CAN

*BOYS SINGLES SF*
#1 Luke Saville/AUS vs. #10 Adam Pavlasek/CZE
MacKenzie McDonald/USA vs. Filip Peliwo/CAN

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Khromacheva/Kovinic (RUS/MNE) vs. Andrews/Townsend (USA/USA)

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
Pavlasek/Veger (CZE/CRO) vs. #6 Broady/Ward-Hibbert (GBR/GBR)

**SLAM FINAL LEADERS**
[career slam finals - active women]
17...Serena Williams (13-4)
14...Venus Williams (7-7)
8...Kim Clijsters (4-4)
6...MARIA SHARAPOVA (3-2)
4...Svetlana Kuznetsova (2-2)
3...Ana Ivanovic (1-2)
3...Dinara Safina (0-3)
2...Li Na (1-1)
2...Francesca Schiavone (1-1)
2...Samantha Stosur (1-1)
2...Vera Zvonareva (0-2)
1...VICTORIA AZARENKA (0-0)
1...Petra Kvitova (1-0)
1...Marion Bartoli (0-1)
1...Jelena Jankovic (0-1)
1...Caroline Wozniacki (0-1)
[career AO finals - active women/men]
5...Serena Williams (5-0)
5...Roger Federer (4-1)
3...MARIA SHARAPOVA (1-1)
2...Novak Djokovic (2-0) *
2...RAFAEL NADAL (1-0)
2...Kim Clijsters (1-1)
2...Andy Murray (0-2) *
--
* - to play in AO SF
[Russian women in slam finals]
6...MARIA SHARAPOVA (3-2)
4...Svetlana Kuznetsova (2-2)
3...Dinara Safina (0-3)
2...Elena Dementieva (0-2)
2...Olga Morozova (0-2)
2...Vera Zvonareva (0-2)
1...Anastasia Myskina (1-0)
-
NOTE: no slam final w/ a Russian woman has ever gone three sets
[all-time slam finals - men]
23...Roger Federer
19...Ivan Lendl
18...Pete Sampras
17...Rod Laver
16...Bjorn Borg
16...Ken Rosewall
15...RAFAEL NADAL

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Greta Arn/HUN d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK 6-2/3-6/10-8
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd. - #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL d. #5 Li Na/CHN 4-6/7-6/6-4 (saved 4 MP)
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: none
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Germans
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)
IT: Ekaterina Makarova/RUS
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Sara Errani/ITA
COMEBACK PLAYER: #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
CRASH & BURN: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Sorana Cirstea/ROU)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL (down 6-4/3-1, 5-1 in 2nd set tie-break and 4 MP vs. Li, 4th Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
DOUBLES STAR Nominees: Roberta Vinci, Kuznetsova/Zvonareva, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Elena Vesnina
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Nominees: Krista Hardebeck, Taylor Townsend, Eugenie Bouchard

All for Day 11. More tomorrow.

AO.10- The Happy Family

2012-01-25T13:48:00.007-05:00

They're holding a 2011 Wimbledon semifinal family reunion in Melbourne in January 2012.

Apparently, those they-sure-seemed-game-changing results in London last summer WERE a sign of things to come. This past July, three young twentysomethings and a resurgent Maria Sharapova faced off in the Ladies semifinals at SW19. Flashforward about six months or so, the three of those same women are still standing in the Final Four at the 100th Australian Open. Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka and Sharapova are back, with Kim Clijsters having moved into the spot held last time by Sabine Lisicki (who lost to Sharapova two rounds ago). Such regularity is very good for the WTA. Of course, that could probably be said for us all, when you think about it, right?

Anyway, two more players needed to advance on Day 10 for this reunion to take place. They both did so, but they took very different journeys in the process.

Kvitova struggled at times against fiesty little Italian Sara Errani. Errors and drops of serve characterized large sections of the Czech's match, much as it had against the similarly-styled Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro earlier in this tournament. But, as also happened against CSN, Kvitova eventually got her footing and exerted her will in the end.

In the 1st set, the first hold by either player came when Kvitova won her service game to lead 3-1. After being broken when serving for the set at 5-3, she simply broke Errani one game later to win 6-4. In the 2nd, Errani changed tactics and began to move inside the baseline to catch Kvitova's shots earlier. It worked. She got a break to go up 3-1, then led 4-2, with points for a 5-2 bulge. But she wasn't able to close out the game. After Kvitova had been indecisive at the net and failed to put away a shot on break point, she managed to take advantage of her second chance a few moments later. She got the break to close within 4-3, then never lost another game. Upping her play a notch, she broke for 5-4 and held at love to win her fifth consecutive game, winning 6-4/6-4, proving that she can win an important match even when she's not playing particularly well. Overall, she was broken four times and committed 44 errors.

In the day's other quarterfinal contest, Russian Ekaterina Makarova didn't play a poor match, but the fearlessness she showed against Serena Williams didn't find the same success against Sharapova. Probably a large reason for that was because while the American failed to take advantage of Makarova's shaky second serve, her countrywoman made an art of it.

Sharapova had two double-faults in the first game of the match, but held anyway. As has been the case throughout this tournament, she's been unwilling to have her confidence undone by any mistakes she may make on her serve. Stalking the court with an air strikingly similar to the one she had when she won this title four years ago, there was nary an ounce of belief from anyone watching that she was going to allow herself to lose this match. She attacked Makarova's second serve without mercy to break for 3-1 in the 1st then, after saving a break point on serve, held for 5-2 before closing out the set at 6-2. In the 2nd, Makarova got an early break for a 2-1 lead, but then blinked one game later. A double-fault gave Sharapova the chance to break the Russian, and that's just what she did, knotting the set and then going on to take the match, 6-2/6-3, when she converted her fourth match point. In the end, her 1st serve percentage was bumping up against 80%.

"Joy prompts courage." - Hans Christian Andersen

So, imagine what we might be about to get in the next two matches if all four players cast all hazard to the wind and simply go for broke to reach this Australian Open final. In a tournament oddly absent any real, true "classic" women's singles matches, maybe we'll make up for that now. As we head into Day 11's SF match-ups, it's hard to pick a potential final match-up that wouldn't be a good-to-great one. Clijsters-Sharapova (a rare Williams-less battle of players with at least three slam titles), Clijsters-Kvitova (old vs. new), Azarenka-Sharapova (oh, the noise fanatics would LUUUVVV it!), Azarenka-Kvitova (a budding WTA rivalry?)... take your pick, they'd all be good.

Based on form, the most consistent players have been Sharapova and Azarenka. Surely, Kvitova is going to have to up her game's level after her up-and-down performances against Suarez-Navarro and Errani, but she's risen to the occasion against Sharapova before. Meanwhile, Clijsters is the defending champion, and has already survived four match points, a near-lose situation that Serena has shown in recent years is something of a necessary evil for eventual AO champions. Any one of the four would be a solid slam champion, and three of the four can claim the #1 ranking by taking the title. Talk about high stakes.

If I had to pick, I'd probably go with... nah, I'm not even going to do it. But I will say that I'm thinking we'll see a blonde-vs.-blonde final. Heehee.

=DAY 10 NOTES=
...as the #1 ball bounces, if either Sharapova, Kvitova or Azarenka win the title they'll complete their takeover of Caroline Wozniacki's top ranking. Kvitova, though, has an additional chance to move up from #2. If she matches Azarenka with a SF result, then Clijsters goes on to defeat Sharapova and defend her title, the Czech would "back into" becoming the 21st WTA #1 player.

"Yes, it is wonderful to be alive! Indeed, the Bottle inwardly sang of all this, as do young poets, who frequently also know nothing about the things of which they sing." - Hans Christian Andersen

...Kvitova's boyfriend had a lot to celebrate after Day 10, too. Czech Adam Pavlasek, the 17-year old (you go, Petra!) #10 seed in the junior draw, advanced into the Boys singles quarterfinals and Boys doubles semifinals on Wednesday. He was playing his singles match at the same time that Kvitova was playing her's, and it was left to Australia's Channel 7 on-court interviewer Rennae Stubbs to inform the red-faced 21-year old of her boyfriend's result.

It was a good move by Stubbs, far better than when she incorrectly told Sharapova after her match that the semifinals would be a day later (Day 12) than they actually will be (Day 11). Sharapova asked Stubbs if she was SURE that's when the match was, because SHE thought she didn't get the day off between the QF and SF. "I guess I'd better find out (when I play)," Sharapova joked, "or I might get defaulted."

...with the anger (maybe?) subsided a little from that wild Doubles QF contest of the other day, some rematches were, courtesy of the Draw Gods, in order.

In that previous match, Liezel Huber refused to admit a ball double-bounced on her and Lisa Raymond's side of the court on a match point held by Sania Mirza & Elena Vesina, who'd already started to celebrate. Ultimately, it didn't matter, as Mirza and Vesnina converted on their eighth match point attempt. The whole thing elicited a not-out-of-character, Vesuvius-like response from the Russian and, later, the parting words, "We won the match, like, twice!" as Vesnina walked out of sight following an in-your-face confrontation with Huber.

The four were slated to meet all over again, sort of, in the Mixed Doubles. Today, Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi knocked off Huber and Colin Fleming in the QF, while Vesnina and Leander Paes are set to meet Raymond and Rohan Bopanna in another QF.

Mirza & Vesnina didn't win their next match, though, as they failed to reach the Women's Doubles final, the first final of this AO to be set. Instead, Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci will meet Svetlana Kuznetsova & Vera Zvonareva.

...Awards time. The moment has come to dole out a few awards, trying to leaving some honors for everyone who's deserving of some virtual hardware.

Ms.OPPORTUNITY: Sara Errani, who's in the doubles final and surely won over many fans with her gutsy play against Kvitova in the singles QF.

COMEBACK: Maria Sharapova, looking every bit a possible four-time slam champ, and making her latest move at the tournament where she won her last slam title four years ago.

LADY OF THE EVENING: Victoria Azarenka. There really weren't any great women's matches under the lights at this AO, but Azarenka deserves SOMETHING in this mix for this tournament, so here it is. Her memorable night match result was her Night 3 she-liked-it-so-nice-she-did-it-twice defeat of a second straight opponent (Casey Dellacqua) in Melbourne after dropping the first game of the match, then reeling off twelve straight games to close out the victory.

...in women's wheelchair play -- shocker! -- Esther Vergeer won. Imagine that. She's now in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Krista Hardebeck continued her take-no-prisoners trip through the Girls singles draw, taking out another seed in #8 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of the Slovak Republic. Next up? #1 seed Irina Khromacheva.

...DAY 10 LIKES:

1) yeah, there were TOO many close-ups of Petra Kvitova's necklace on Tennis Channel's coverage of her match on Day 10, but it WAS a nice little bauble -- a tiny little tennis ball with an Aussie flag on it. At the very least, it was a bit LESS -- in a good way -- than that honkin' flag-painted gift from Rory McIlroy that Wozniacki was wearing around her neck during this event. I wonder if Flavor Flav called Caroline up and complimented her on her taste when it comes to the size of her neckwear?

2) Two funny quotes from Martina Navratilova during TC's coverage of Kvitova/Errani. Watching the Italian bounce up and down while awaiting Kvitova's serve, Martina said, "She's so busy on the return of serve my calves are getting sore just watching her." Moments later, when Bill MacAtee asked her whether she thought Errani had the same on-court zest as Francesca Schiavone, she said, "She plays with the same kind of passion. I think it's something in the pasta."

3) After her match with Azarenka the other day, Agnieszka Radwanska stepped into the proverbial fire when asked about her opponent's "noisy" play, noting that she wishes something would be done about it (hmmm, is it a Polish thing, as she sounds a little like Wozniacki), and singled out Sharapova as among the worst offenders. Asked about A-Rad's comments today, Sharapova retorted with, "Isn't she back in Poland already?" BAM! Speak-softly-but-carry-a-big-stick Maria somehow found a NICE way to say f--- you. I applaud her. It's sort of like the unheard "bad language" she talked about after today's match that she sometimes utters in her head when she turns her back while in the backcourt between points. Maybe more impressive? That she somehow managed to hold back on bringing up Radwanska's "unsportswomanlike" attempts to distract her back in the '07 U.S. Open by jumping and running around like a maniac right as Sharapova would begin her service motion. It unnerved the Russian, who was the defending champion and eventually lost that 3rd Round match. I said back then that she should have just shot a serve at A-Rad's head and the matter would have been solved.

It took four and a half years... but maybe Maria finally took my advice. Of course, she was a bit more nice about it than I'd originally suggested. Haha.

...DAY 10 DISLIKES: leafing through the new WTA Media Guide, and realizing that someone made the decision to remove the section that listed all the past winners of singles titles in the tour's history. So if anyone wants to find out how many titles a certain non-slam winning player may have won in their career, they either have to have the 2011 Media Guide handy (me!) or must go jump through the tour website hoops to find the bio of that player, then search through the pages there to find out. Crazy.

...and, finally...

=MIDDLE ROUND AWARDS - 3rd-QF Rounds (Days 5-10)=
TOP PLAYER: Maria Sharapova/RUS...the one to beat?
(RU: Victoria Azarenka/BLR... ready to "join the club?")
RISER: Ekaterina Makarova/RUS...now a known quantity
(RU: Sabine Lisicki/GER... overcame injury for another good slam. So far, so good in her "year after.")
SURPRISE: Sara Errani/ITA...Schiavone's scrambling descendant?
(RU: Iveta Benesova/CZE... the "other Czech" who reached the Round of 16)
VETERAN: Kim Clijsters/BEL...will her spooky, last-minute "1-1" seed prove prophetic?
(RU: Roberta Vinci/ITA... still a potential double Doubles title winner)
FRESH FACE: Krista Hardebeck/USA...regularly knocking off seeds
(RU: Barbora Krejcikova/CZE... another Czech on the rise)
COMEBACK: Ana Ivanovic/SRB...on the way back. Right now, at least.
(RU: Kuznetsova/Zvonareva, RUS/RUS... doubles success salves singles wounds)
DOWN: Serena Williams/USA...who was that masked woman?
(RU: Kveta Peschke/CZE... #1 seed in Doubles and Mixed, out early in both)

"I'm 24 years old, almost 25. I love this sport as much as I loved it, you know, when I was at that age (when she won Wimbledon at 17). I've also been through a lot of tough times. I've also said that the success that I can achieve, the fact that I got myself back to being Top 5 in the world, playing tennis again, playing at a high level, competing at this level is pretty remarkable from where I was on a surgery table, not knowing if I'd ever be able to hit a serve again." - Maria Sharapova

*WOMEN'S SINGLES SF*
#11 Kim Clijsters/BEL vs. #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
#4 Maria Sharapova/RUS vs. #2 Petra Kvitova/CZE

*MEN'S SINGLES SF*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. #4 Andy Murray/GBR
#3 Roger Federer/SUI vs. #2 Rafael Nadal/ESP

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#11 Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA) vs. Kuznetsova/Zvonareva (RUS/RUS)

*MEN'S DOUBLES SF*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. #7 Lindstedt/Tecau (SWE/ROU)
Paes/Stepanek (IND/CZE) vs. #2 Mirnyi/Nestor (BLR/CAN)

*MIXED DOUBLES QF*
Vinci/Bracciali (ITA/ITA) def. #7 Hlavackova/Qureshi (CZE/PAK)
#4 Raymond/Bopanna (USA/IND) vs. #5 Vesnina/Paes (RUS/IND)
#6 Mirza/Bhupathi (IND/IND) def. Huber/Fleming (USA/GBR)
#8 Mattek-Sands/Tecau (USA/ROU) vs. Gajdosova/Soares (AUS/BRA)

*GIRLS SINGLES QF*
#1 Irina Khromacheva/RUS vs. Krista Hardebeck/USA
#14 Taylor Townsend/USA vs. #12 Sabina Sharipova/UZB
Barbora Krejcikova/CZE vs. #4 Yulia Putintseva/RUS
Risa Ozaki/JPN vs. #2 Eugene Bouchard/CAN

*BOYS SINGLES QF*
#1 Luke Saville/AUS vs. #7 Kyle Edmund/GBR
#4 Kaichi Uchida/JPN vs. #10 Adam Pavlasek/CZE
MacKenzie McDonald/USA vs. Robin Stanek/CZE
Joshua Ward-Hibbert/GBR vs. Filip Peliwo/CAN

*GIRLS DOUBLES SF*
#1 Khromacheva/Kovinic (RUS/MNE) vs. #3 Csoregi/Kulichkova (ROU/RUS)
Andrews/Townsend (USA/USA) vs. Bhosale/Sutjiadi (IND/INA)

*BOYS DOUBLES SF*
Pavlasek/Veger (CZE/CRO) vs. Favrot/Halys (FRA/FRA)
#4 Harris/Kyrgios (AUS/AUS) vs. #6 Broady/Ward-Hibbert (GBR/GBR)

**AO "MIDDLE-ROUND TOP PLAYER" WINNERS**
2007 Serena Williams, USA*
2008 Maria Sharapova, RUS*
2009 Elena Dementieva, RUS
2010 Serena Williams, USA*
2011 Li Na, CHN
2012 Maria Sharapova, RUS
--
* - won title

**AO AWARD WINNERS**
[Ms. Opportunity]
2004 Fabiola Zuluaga, COL
2005 Nathalie Dechy, FRA
2006 Martina Hingis, SUI
2007 Serena Williams, USA
2008 Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
2009 Vera Zvonareva, RUS
2010 Zheng Jie, CHN & Li Na, CHN
2011 Li Na, CHN
2012 Sara Errani, ITA
[Comeback]
2007 Serena Williams, USA
2008 Zi Yan & Zheng Jie, CHN
2009 Jelena Dokic, AUS
2010 Justine Henin, BEL
2011 Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
2012 Maria Sharapova, RUS
[Lady of the Evening]
2011 Andrea Petkovic, AUS
2012 Victoria Azarenka, BLR

*WOMEN'S SLAM FINAL 4's*
[career slam SF; active players]
20...Serena Williams (17-3)
19...Venus Williams (14-5)
16...KIM CLIJSTERS (8-7)
13...MARIA SHARAPOVA (5-7)
6...Jelena Jankovic (1-5)
5...Svetlana Kuznetsova (4-1)
5...Dinara Safina (3-2)
4...Ana Ivanovic (3-1)
4...Caroline Wozniacki (1-3)
4...Vera Zvonareva (2-2)
3...Li Na (2-1)
3...Samantha Stosur (2-1)
3...PETRA KVITOVA (1-1)
2...Francesca Schiavone (2-0)
2...Marion Bartoli (1-1)
2...VICTORIA AZARENKA (0-1)
2...Nadia Petrova (0-2)
2...Zheng Jie (0-2)
[most slam SF, 2010-12 = 9 slams]
3...Serena Williams (3-0)
3...KIM CLIJSTERS (2-0)
3...Li Na (2-1)
3...Vera Zvonareva (2-1)
3...PETRA KVITOVA (1-1)
3...MARIA SHARAPOVA (1-1)
3...Caroline Wozniacki (0-3)
2...Francesca Schiavone (2-0)
2...Samantha Stosur (2-0)
2...VICTORIA AZARENKA (0-1)
[2012 AO Semifinalists - career AO SF]
7 - Kim Clijsters, BEL
5 - Maria Sharapova, RUS
1 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR
1 - Petra Kvitova, CZE
[2012 AO SF - Backspin Master List positions]
(2) Petra Kvitova
(3) Kim Clijsters
(5) Victoria Azarenka
(6) Maria Sharapova
[Russians in Australian Open SF]
1975 Natasha Chmyreva (L)
2005 Maria Sharapova (L)
2006 Maria Sharapova (L)
2007 Maria Sharapova (W)
2008 Maria Sharapova (W)
2009 Elena Dementieva (L), Dinara Safina (W), Vera Zvonareva (L)
2011 Vera Zvonareva (L)
2012 Maria Sharapova

*WOMEN'S SLAM FINAL 4's - nation*
[2010-12]
7...RUSSIA
4...BELGIUM, China, United States
3...CZECH REPUBLIC, Denmark
2...Australia, BELARUS, Germany, Italy
1...Bulgaria, France, Serbia

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Greta Arn/HUN d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK 6-2/3-6/10-8
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd. - #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL d. #5 Li Na/CHN 4-6/7-6/6-4 (saved 4 MP)
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: none
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Germans
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)
IT: Ekaterina Makarova/RUS
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Sara Errani/ITA
COMEBACK PLAYER: #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
CRASH & BURN: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Sorana Cirstea/ROU)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL (down 6-4/3-1, 5-1 in 2nd set tie-break and 4 MP vs. Li, 4th Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
DOUBLES STAR Nominees: Roberta Vinci, Kuznetsova/Zvonareva, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Jarmila Gajdosova
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx

All for Day 10. More tomorrow.

AO.9- The (Danish) Duckling

2012-01-24T15:18:00.004-05:00

There will be no swans born within the women's draw at the 100th Australian Open. Well, at least none named Caroline.

"'I cannot bear it!', said the pewter soldier. 'I have shed pewter tears! It is too melancholy! Rather let me go to the wars and lose arms and legs! It would at least be a change.'" - Hans Christian Andersen

As Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters entered their quarterfinal match on Day 9, there were two opposing histories at play. Clijsters sported a career 0-5 record against reigning world #1's in grand slam matches, while Wozniacki had never managed to defeat the Belgian, and taken just one set off the defending AO champion. But, thing is, while Clijsters' past big stage failings took place a lifetime -- and literally another career -- ago, with her last such loss taking place seven years in the past, Wozniacki's inability to get over her long-held career obstacles is an ongoing struggle. And no matter how different a shine the Dane may put on her future prospects because of any (surface?) changes in her approach and preparation, how this match eventually turned out served to show that, really, nothing has changed when it comes to her slam-winning prospects, nor her ability to effectively take on the game's power players. At least not yet, if it ever will.

(We now interrupt this Backspinning broadcast for a special presentation.)

[ "AS EVERT'S WORLD TURNS, PT.1" - you know, I found it oddly funny how bullish ESPN2's Chris Evert was when it came to Wozniacki winning this match. Before its start, her pick of the Dane seemed to legitimately hinge partly on Clijsters' potential ankle injury, though she hadn't been bothered too much by it down the stretch against Li Na in the 4th Round, but also on how impressive Wozniacki had been against Jelena Jankovic in the same round. Remember, this was the same JJ about whom Evert had said Christina McHale didn't have much to worry about before the Serb allowed just two games against the American in their match. Evert said that Clijsters "needs to be 100%" to beat Wozniacki. Maybe, but the fact remained even then that the Dane had never shown an ability to press Clijsters in the past unless the Belgian's own tightless had briefly led herself down a semi-dark alley during one of their meetings. Jankovic hadn't been able to hurt Wozniacki, but JJ is surely not KC. She's not even Wozniacki, really, as the Serb's game could easily be described as something of a "lesser" version of the Dane's. ]

With Clijsters having injured her ankle in her previous match, the thought here was that she might look to go for quicker winners against Wozniacki in order to cut down on her time on the court and in rallies. That's just what she did in the early going, too. In the first game of the match, she smacked multiple winners and got a break. She handed it back the next game, but regained the advantage in Game #3. As is usually the case with Wozniacki against a more aggressive player, the Dane immediately found herself in the position of having a match against a bigger-hitting player depend on whether or not her opponent committed enough errors to give HER a chance to win.

And, for a long while, Clijsters didn't. Late in the set, the Belgian even had a lucky bounce go her way, as a shot jumped off the net cord and dribbled onto Wozniacki's side of the court to give Clijsters a double-break, 5-2 lead. Again, Clijsters' own errors gave the break back, but she recouped it one game later. After Wozniacki saved a few set points with some impressively hard serves, Clijsters converted a break point to take the set 6-3.

[ "AS EVERT'S WORLD TURNS, PT.2" - In Evert's world on Tuesday, she thought it was a "toughie" to try to pick who'd win a major first in 2012 -- Wozniacki or her boyfriend, Rory McIlroy. Cliff Drysdale's chuckles at the question were priceless, for he knew that everyone listening had probably -- as I had -- said out loud their answer to Evert's query before she'd even finished asking it. Masters champ McIlroy, remember, was pretty much golf's version of Petra Kvitova in '11, a player who rose far above the compeition in the biggest tournament of the year and was immediately the object of plaudits from all corners, with people saying he was the future AND present of the sport, and likely to be the dominant force on tour in short order. No one has or is going to be saying such a thing about his girlfriend any time soon. ]

In the 2nd set, Clijsters got an early break and led 3-1. Wozniacki didn't give in, by any stretch, doing what she could through her defensive skills and, in one nice moment, an offensive one as she passed Clijsters to get to triple break point before breaking at love to close to 3-2. Of course, Clijsters immediately broke back the next game. Up 5-2, the Belgian had the opportunity to press the issue and put the match away, but she seemed to pull back (shades of KC 1.0) slightly and, as happened in the only set she'd ever lost to Wozniacki (in the WTA Championships Final in '10), it allowed the Dane some room to breath, and lead the suddenly-tight Clijsters into a string of errors. KC's errors gave away both breaks in the set's final games. With Wozniacki managing to finally hold serve, the two headed for a tie-break. They were even in the early-going, but then KC 2.0 finally kicked in. Knowing it'd be smart to avoid the risk of trying to get through a 3rd set unscathed, Clijsters began to go for winners as she had earlier in the match. Finally, her shots began to land inside the lines again. She won the tie-break 7-4, and the match, 6-3/7-6, putting up twenty-six more winners than the Dane and getting a result that, really, shouldn't make anyone bat an eyelash.

Essentially, it was the same old, same old for Wozniacki. Aside from a couple of big first serves, and a few poorly set up net approaches that saw her easily passed by Clijsters, this was the same Wozniacki that has failed to climb over top-level, big-hitting, more aggressive players in the latter stages of past slams.

[ "AS EVERT'S WORLD TURNS, PT.3" - Of course, if anyone didn't like Evert's opinion on Clijsters' prospects at this AO before the match, she made sure to spin the other way after the match. Now, apparently, Clijsters' win over Wozniacki means "she's going to win the tournament." Well, unless she doesn't, I suspect. Oh, bother. Well, I will say this for the 18-time slam winner, who I sometimes think sees enough of HER old style in Wozniacki (and her quick, slightly-defensive retort to Drysdale when he sort of broached the subject didn't dissuade me from the opinion) that it leads her into thinking that the Dane will be able to find ways to win big matches against power players just as Evert did, she DID at least acknowledge her low connect percentage at this AO. "I've been wrong about everything in this tournament," she joked, her voice drifting off as she further lamented, "I picked Serena Williams to win..." Yeah, Chris, tell me about it. But, to be perfectly honest, I've come to view picking Serena as something of an annual (or more) rite that is performed "just to be on the safe side." In many ways, with a Williams pick safely secured, the REAL prognostication begins when you go with your "second choice." Haha. ]

Serena Williams wasn't ready to win a grand slam in Melbourne. But she could be soon. Woznaicki wasn't, either. And maybe she never will be. What works in the WTA "regular season," and early rounds of a slam, generally gets exposed in the "playoffs" versus the slam contenders in the later rounds. There, the game's best usually rise to the occasion (see Kvitova at Wimbledon) and SEIZE a big win rather than have a loss coaxed out of their opponents. Wozniacki's game just doesn't allow that to happen, nor does she currenty seem to have the mindset to effectively combat that fact. Talk is cheap, and it doesn't win anything.

[ "AS EVERT'S WORLD TURNS, PT.4" - Evert expressed a belief that this loss would prove to be an "eye-opener" for Wozniacki, showing her how poorly she matches up with top, more powerful and aggressive players like Clijsters. But will it really? Hasn't she played in duplicates of this "eye-opening" match about half a dozen times over the last year or so, with the Dane coming out on the losing end each time? She then proceeds to talk about "having time" (she did it again today) to win a slam, and then she seems to make a few attempts to give herself something "MORE" to work with against those players, impressively defeating the "others" she can generally defeat with ease while playing her regular game, but then coming up woefully short when she faces a REAL contender in a slam. What makes this loss different? I thought it was telling that a Tennis Channel poll that asked who would win a slam first between Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka gave the Belarusian a 70%-30% edge. It's easy to see why. Azarenka might never win a slam, but she at least gives herself more chances to win one. Wozniacki, as she's currently configured, has to have the "perfect" path to the crown to win it, from her original draw, to match-ups elsewhere that knock off big threats, and actual opponents whose bad stretches turn out to be poorly-timed, etc. Thing is, even if Wozniacki IS able to ever take down a big threat at a slam, as she might have here vs. KC, she'd STILL have to defeat at least one or two more on most occasions in order to reach the ultimate winner's' circle. It's a numbers game, and, in this era of racket technology, a player with a game dependent on mostly creating opponent's errors always hits the wall in a slam. Just look at Martina Hingis. She dominated the tour with her power-deficient game, then as the racket changes and power players all converged on the scene simultaneously, Hingis remained #1, but was passed by as a slam contender. After Serena won her first slam in '99 and the Belgians and others arrived, the Swiss Miss never won another major title. She'd taken advantage of her earlier window of opportunity, though. Wozniacki, in the period when Henin was gone and the likes of Ivanovic, Safina and Jankovic rose to #1, never did. Instead, she played her game and talked about all the time she had to do it later. Maybe not, Caro. Even as she (maybe) attempts to add to her game now, her time to win a slam might have already passed. For sure, maybe Serena's late-career unpredictablity and the end of KC's time (I can't believe I'm saying it... but I think she should reconsider and play another year or two) will open up another tiny window of opportunity over the next eighteen months, maybe in Paris, say (but even the ball changes there helped the bigger hitters last year). But again, that's assuming none of the younger power players move up to take their place and continue to fortify the glass ceiling keeping the Dane from a slam crown. Kvitova has already stepped up. Azarenka might be next. Maybe the likes of Lisicki, Makarova and others will, too. If so, in time, Wozniacki may learn that she didn't really have all that "time" to play with that she thought she had when she was so young. ]

"'She cannot receive any power from me greater than she now has, which consists in her own purity and innocence of heart. If she cannot herself obtain access to the Snow Queen, and remove the glass fragments from little Kay, we can do nothing to help her.'" - Hans Christian Andersen

One this IS clear, though. Wozniacki will no longer be the #1-ranked player at the close of this Australian Open. This loss ends her current time in the top spot. Either Maria Sharapova will return to the top spot for the first time since 2008, or Kvitova or Azarenka will become the twenty-first woman to be ranked #1 on the WTA computer. Apparently, Wozniacki will fall to at least #3, and maybe #4 behind the entire group next week.

This Australian Open was no fairy tale for the Dane, and neither is her immortal quest for her "proverbial 'roo." Well, unless we're talking about one of those dark Grimm's tales, that is. It's been said for a while that maybe the "best" thing for Wozniacki may be for her to lose her top ranking. Well, now we'll get the chance to find out. Don't be surprised, though, if it never gets any better than it's already been.

=DAY 9 NOTES=
...Agnieszka Radwanska noted the other day how often she and Victoria Azarenka have played rather close matches, and, although the likes of Evert had stated the other day a belief that the Pole had no chance to stay close to the Belarusian, A-Rad's notion proved true in their Day 9 quarterfinal match.

Actually, especially early on, Radwanska's success had Azarenka positively fuming. After having gone through three rounds without even coming close to dropping her serve, the Belarusian was broken FOUR times in the FIRST SET on Tuesday. What made it even more frustrating for Azarenka was that she'd consistently broken Radwanska's serve first throughout the opening set, only to give the break right back one game later. She often served into the sun in many of those games, and there was a question about whether her serve had as much force behind it, as Azarenka had seemed to injure herself earlier in the day during practice (she'd suddenly doubled over during a hitting session, grabbing her stomach/abdomen area). The 1st set went to a tie-break and, well, Azarenka was just awful in it. Radwanska won 7-0, with the final point coming via an Azarenka double-fault.

But after having bested the Belarusian with her great defense and clever shotmaking in the 1st set, Radwanska seemed to tire in the 2nd. She'd played a later doubles match on Day 8 which had led to this match's start being pushed back an hour to give her a bit more time to recover, it should be noted. Of course, Radwanska also began to run out of steam in a late '11 match, winning a tough 1st set over Andrea Petkovic in the Beijing final, only to lose the 2nd at love, then come back to take the 3rd. Well, in Melbourne, she at least got the second part right. Azarenka got another break of serve to go up 2-0, then finally managed to solidify it with a hold for 3-0. She won the set 6-0, just as Petkovic had. But while Petkovic tweaked a knee injury in Beijing, and wasn't quite the same in the 3rd, Azarenka showed no signs of physical distress. Instead, she never broke stride and picked up steam. She got another early break to grab the lead, then saved two break points in a crucial hold to go up 4-2. The end came quickly after that, in the form of a 6-7/6-0/6-2 win, as she advanced after keeping her head during a difficult stretch and coming back stronger after dropping the 1st set before physically outlasting an opponent (a rarity for her a year or two ago) down the stretch.

In reaching her second slam semi in her last three majors, with a WTA Championships runner-up thrown into the mix, as well, Azarenka has positioned herself to possibly steal the thunder of the likes of Kvitova and Sharapova and slip into Wozniacki's now-vacant #1 position. Of course, Clijsters might have something to say about that. Speaking of...

...a little bookkeeping: All hail your Zombie Queen! Ms. Kim Clijsters.

...the Women's Doubles SF are set, and it's a semi-surprising lot. No #1-seeded Peschke/Srebotnik, who retried in the 1st Round. But no #2 Huber/Raymond or #3 King/Shvedova, either. Those teams lost their quarterfinals matches on Day 9. Here's Diane's account on Women Who Serve of the wild Huber/Raymond vs. Mirza/Vesnina match. The four remaining teams, three of which are combinations of players from a single nation (a good thing for them in an Olympic year) are #6 Mirza/Vesnina, #7 Hlavackova/Hradecka, #11 Errani/Vinci and unseeded Kuznetsova/Zvonareva. As a group, the individuals in the four duos have combined the win just three grand slam Women's Doubles titles in the past. Only Hlavackova/Hradecka, the '11 Roland Garros champs, have won as a team. Kuznetsova and Zvonareva have each won a slam Doubles title, but with different partners. Zvonareva (2) and Mirza (1) are the only players in the group with Mixed Doubles slam crowns in their past and, of course, Kuznetsova (2) is the only to have also claimed slam singles honors.

With most (6) of the Mixed QF's eight teams set, there are several woman still alive in both doubles draws: Vinci (w/ Bracciali), Hlavackova (w/ Qureshi), Vesnina (w/ Paes) and Mirza (w/ Bhupathi).

...in junior action, Traralgon champ Krista Hardebeck knocked off her first seed in the AO Girls competition, taking out #9 Zheng Saisai 6-1/6-3. #5-seeded Indy De Vroome lost to Italy's Camilla Rosatello. Also, after getting a 1st Round win over Sachia Vickery, Czech maiden Barbora Krejcikova has knocked off #10-seed Ilka Csoregi in the 2nd, as well.

...DAY 9 LIKES: with the Azarenka/Radwanska match being delayed an hour, Tennis Channel being allowed to continue its coverage of the match even when ESPN2's coverage window began mid-way through. Throughout the tournament, TC's programming has moved to taped shows whenever ESPN2 picked up AO coverage, even when the spillover of live basketball coverage often prevented the network from picking up live tennis coverage for sometimes up to a half hour. Obviously, TC had the right to carry the entire women's QF match, and that's what happened... allowing everyone watching there to avoid feeling the need to listen to the blather of the commentators on ESPN2.

Speaking of TC, I'll also throw Bill MacAtee onto this "Likes" list, especially in his role as Martina Navratilova's broadcasting partner during matches. MacAtee has been around for a long time, and been involved in more sports than one can count. Because of that, just the sight of him on a telecast sometimes makes it feel a bit "generic." But because of that, I think his professionalism is also often overlooked. He's a nice complement to Navratilova and Tracy Austin's commentary on TC, providing a solid base to the goings-on that runs in direct counter to the spinning-like-a-top, if-you-don't-like-my-opinion-now-then-just-wait-until-after-this-set-when-I'll-totally-change-it (well, that's usually only referring to Evert, as noted earlier) coverage offered on ESPN2.

...and, finally, with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer's QF wins today, they're set to meet in the semis. It assures that at least one of the two will be in the final at the 30th of the last 35 slams, going all the way back to Wimbledon '03. At last year's U.S. Open, neither reached a slam final for the first time in over three years.

*WOMEN'S SINGLES QF*
#11 Kim Clijsters/BEL def. #1 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
#3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR def. #8 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
Ekaterina Makarova/RUS vs. #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
Sara Errani/ITA vs. #2 Petra Kvitova/CZE

*MEN'S SINGLES QF*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. #5 David Ferrer/ESP
#4 Andy Murray/GBR vs. #24 Kei Nishikori/JPN
#3 Roger Federer/SUI def. #11 Juan Martin del Potro/ARG
#2 Rafael Nadal/ESP def. #7 Tomas Berdych/CZE

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES SF*
#11 Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA) vs. #7 Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE)
Kuznetsova/Zvonareva (RUS/RUS) vs. #6 Mirza/Vesnina (IND/RUS)

*MEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) def. #6 Fyrstenberg/Matkowski (POL/POL)
#7 Lindstedt/Tecau (SWE/ROU) def. #13 Lipsky/R.Ram (USA/USA)
#10 Butorac/Soares (USA/BRA) vs. Paes/Stepanek (IND/CZE)
#12 S.Gonzalez/Kas (MEX/GER) vs. #2 Mirnyi/Nestor (BLR/CAN)

*MIXED DOUBLES QF*
Vinci/Bracciali (ITA/ITA) vs. #7 Hlavackova/Qureshi (CZE/PAK)
#4 Raymond/Bopanna (USA/IND) vs. x
#6 Mirza/Bhupathi (IND/IND) vs. Huber/Fleming (USA/GBR)
#8 Mattek-Sands/Tecau (USA/ROU) vs. x

*AO "ZOMBIE QUEEN" WINNERS*
2008 Jelena Jankovic, SRB
2009 Dinara Safina, RUS
2010 Serena Williams, USA
2011 Francesca Schiavone, ITA
2012 Kim Clijsters, BEL

*SLAM MATCH WINS - OPEN ERA*
[men]
232...Roger Federer (post-QF)
232...Jimmy Connors
224...Andre Agassi
222...Ivan Lendl
203...Pete Sampras

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Greta Arn/HUN d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK 6-2/3-6/10-8
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Germans
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)
IT: Ekaterina Makarova/RUS
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Sorana Cirstea/ROU)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL (down 6-4/3-1, 5-1 in 2nd set tie-break and 4 MP vs. Li, 4th Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx

All for Day 9. More tomorrow.

AO.8- The Empress' New Clothes?

2012-01-23T16:08:00.003-05:00

Sometimes the truth needs to be shoved in your face. As we learned on Day 8, Serena Williams is simply not yet ready to contend for a grand slam title again; while maybe Ekaterina Makarova is, or could be soon.

"'But he has nothing on at all,' said a little child at last." - Hans Christian Andersen

And Serena sure did seem to be virtually naked out there on Rod Laver Arena against her 23-year old, #56-ranked Russian opponent on Monday. She had that head down, hang-dog, look about her game and stride from the start. Usually, she finds a way to force herself back into the match by force of will. Well, that, a big serve and an opponent who eventually gives in to what Petra Kvitova once called "the Serena." But the big serves only rarely came, and were usually undone by errors elsewhere soon afterward. Makarova didn't blink, either. Instead, the lefty whose face some say resembles Steffi Graf's (I didn't immediately see it, but I guess a case can be made) continued to produce a series of pretty looking winners -- especially via her most-favored forehand down-the-line -- in the face of the Williams threat that never came.

With a handful of good-to-great performances already in her recent past, including a three-set 1st Round thriller against Ana Ivanovic at last year's AO, Makarova was no where near ready to give in to the aura that the 13-time major champ naturally carries with her into every grand slam match she plays. After the match, Aussie TV commentator Rennae Stubbs joked with the Hordette about how she'd said that the former doubles star would be interviewing her ON the court -- i.e. after a win -- following the match. With AO wins over Kaia Kanepi and Vera Zvonareva already in her back pocket, Makarova had reason to be confident. She probably didn't have reason to believe that Williams would never be able to pull her game together after a slow start, though. Even if the American had done so, the Russian might have won on this day... but the final scoreline wouldn't have read like the beating it turned out to be.

With Williams' serve iffy from the start, Makarova got a quick break to go up 3-2 in the 1st. She even put together nine straight points in one stretch. Another break gave her a 5-2 advantage, and she literally walked to a 6-2 win. Everyone expected Williams to wake up eventually, and she seemed to when she went up 2-0 in the 2nd, breaking Makarova at love with a pulverizing second serve return. But Makarova broke back the next game. At 2-2, Williams saved a break point with an ace, but double-faulted three times in the same game. The half-hearted attempt to pull out the sort of primal screams that have stoked her fires in the past didn't work this time. It was more like the bleating of a suffering animal. Serena's seventh DF of the match allowed the Russian to take a 3-2 lead.

Williams held with two aces to close to within 4-3, still a break down, but then missed an overhead one game later that would have given her two break points on Makarova's serve. At this point, it was becoming apparent that Serena just wasn't ever going to come around on this day. When she "pulled a Li" and failed to put away a shot at the net into an open court, instead going down the line right to Makarova's forehand, with which she smacked a winner off Williams' racket at the net. You know, the same sort of shot that Serena usually pulls off in a tight situation. It was pretty much over but for the handshake. In the end, Williams committed 37 errors in the match's seventeen games, and said after the match that she could have served better if she'd "served left-handed."

The final scoreline read a 6-2/6-3 advantage for Makarova. The same score by which Williams was sent home in the U.S. Open final by Samantha Stosur last fall, tying Serena's lowest game total for a slam match. The NYC loss came after Williams had won eighteen straight matches, while this one came after she's arrived in Melbourne with just two matches played since her loss to the Aussie last September. Is this type of result a new slam trend, not just for Makarova, but also for the now-30 year old former #1, or was Williams' injured ankle more an issue than she let on? As with so many things Serena, we'll probably never fully know... or at least won't until her tell-all biography comes out a decade from now.

As we stand here today, though, it's safe to say that Williams does not resemble a potential 2012 grand slam champion. Of course, that could change pretty quickly. After all, we ARE still talking about Serena. And until she's gone for good, she is to be ignored and/or overlooked at your own, and everyone else's, risk.

=DAY 8 NOTES=

"Better in, than out." - Hans Christian Andersen

...meanwhile, Maria Sharapova's breezy trip through the first three rounds of this 100th AO surely hit a slight hiccup with her performance against Sabine Lisicki in the 4th Round. Her double-fault and error totals spiked up compared with the her previously comprehensive wins in Melbourne, but she managed to advance anyway.

The Russian got off to a quick start, taking a 3-0 lead. But, then, after having dropped just five games through three rounds, she proceded to lose six straight to the German to drop the set as Lisicki began to pull off big shots and effectively pressured Sharapova into errors. Lisicki failed to carry her momentum into the 2nd set, though. Sharapova fought off a break point in the set's first game, then got a break of her own to take a 3-1 lead en route to a 6-2 win to knot the match. While the Russian's numbers at the time hardly showed it -- she had zero aces to six double-faults, and eleven winners to thirty errors -- she had managed to right the ship. Carrying her 12-1 three-set record of a year ago into her first such match in '12, Sharapova's mettle was immediately tested. After saving five break points, she held for 2-1 in the early going, then got a break for 4-2. Saving another break point, she held for 5-2, then went on to win 3-6/6-2/6-3.

But, once again considering her slam-winning paths of the past, has just the fact that she came even the slightest bit close to losing mean that the "bloom" is off Sharapova at this slam?

"Death walks faster than the wind and never returns what he has taken." - Hans Christian Andersen

This match wasn't necessarily the sort of near-miss that pricks the trail balloon of a potential "Sharapova Scenario" playing out at this slam, especially with the lingering questions around most of the rest of the players in the draw, from injuries to inexperience to in-match "drifts" that could still ultimately lead to their AO doom. But, as I noted in the 1st Round with Sharapova's one single bad game against Heather Watson, the bad stretch she experienced in this match, like those three double faults a week ago, has the ability to plant a seed in her pysche that could sprout at any moment the rest of this week. There's something that has seemed different about her demeanor in Melbourne when she's so far had "issues," though. In previous slams, she seemed to understand that she might have been "lucky" to get through the bad patches. This time around, it feels more like she's seeing such moment as more of a hiccup than the beginning of something worse. Time will tell.

...in Day 8's other two Round of 16 matches, Sara Errani mastered Zheng Jie in straight sets to reach her first career slam QF, and Petra Kvitova ended Ana Ivanovic's attempt to reach her slam QF since she won the Roland Garros crown in 2008.

The Czech was consisently better than the Serb in pretty much every area of their games, save for a ten-point stretch late in the 2nd set, eight points of which came after Kvitova whiffed on an overhead attempt and took two full games, both lost at love, to finally put the memory out of her head and get back to business. The whiff came on an AnaIvo game point that shortened Kvitova's lead to 5-4. She then opened her serve game with a double-fault and, a string of errors later, Ivanovic was leading 6-5. But after losing to Li Na in Sydney after not being able to pull her game back together, Kvitova managed to do it here. She got a hold of service to force a tie-break, then won it handily 7-2 to take the match 6-2/7-6.

...with Makarova and Sharapova's victories, as the two Hordettes will play each other in the quarterfinals, at least one Russian woman is assured of reaching the semifinals at the twenty-eighth of the last thirty-two slams.

...well, while many of the other honors are still a bit "cloudy," it looks like it's safe to award the "It" player award for this Australian Open. With her getting upset wins over Kanepi, Zvonareva and Serena (reminiscent of her five Top 20 wins when she won her first tour title at Eastbourne in '10), as well as still being alive in the Doubles QF (she and Alla Kudryavtseva advanced past a retiring top-seeded Peschke/Srebotnik in the early going), it goes to Makarova, who'll emerge from this slam as the biggest riser in the rankings.

...ITF UPDATE: Bannerette Lauren Davis gets POW honors for Week 3 after her win in the $25K challenger in Plantation, Florida. The 18-year old defeated fellow American Gail Brodsky in the final. Elsewhere, Georgian Sofia Kvatsabaia became the first player to win a second circuit singles title during the '12 season, and Holland's Richel Hogenkamp, a rising junior a few seasons ago, won her first ITF singles title since July '10 in Sutton, England.

...DAY 8 LIKES: I saw a third installment of those Wilson racket ads on Tennis Channel, and while it's still not as well-produced as one would like, it DID make me laugh. Diane pointed out the other day that the player I didn't recognize in the second ad was Kei Nishikori, and it should be noted that he just upset Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the QF and become the most successful Japanese male player in a slam about 80 years. In the latest ad, again, another male pro (I know the face, but I was only half-watching and don't really feel the urge to try to find out who it was) is interviewed about his new Wilson racket and is asked what he thinks about people who want to ban it. After a pause, he says, "They're stupid." After another pause, he adds, "El stupido."

...and, finally, can ESPN2 please knock it off with all the "there are no Americans left in the draw after eight days" shouting? Come on, other than a healthy Serena, do they really think anyone ever REALLY expects an American to last beyond the 3rd or 4th Round in a slam these days?

*WOMEN'S SINGLES QF*
#1 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN vs. #11 Kim Clijsters/BEL
#3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR vs. #8 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
Ekaterina Makarova/RUS vs. #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
Sara Errani/ITA vs. #2 Petra Kvitova/CZE

*MEN'S SINGLES QF*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. #5 David Ferrer/ESP
#4 Andy Murray/GBR vs. #24 Kei Nishikori/JPN
#11 Juan Martin del Potro/ARG vs. #3 Roger Federer/SUI
#7 Tomas Berdych/CZE vs. #2 Rafael Nadal/ESP

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF*
Kudryavtseva/Makarova (RUS/RUS) vs. #11 Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA)
#3 King/Shvedova (USA/KAZ) vs. #7 Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE)
Begu/Niculescu (ROU/ROU) vs. Kuznetsova/Zvonareva (RUS/RUS)
#6 Mirza/Vesnina (IND/RUS) vs. #2 Huber/Raymond (USA/USA)

*MEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. #6 Fyrstenberg/Matkowski (POL/POL)
#13 Lipsky/R.Ram (USA/USA) vs. #7 Lindstedt/Tecau (SWE/ROU)
#10 Butorac/Soares (USA/BRA) vs. Paes/Stepanek (IND/CZE)
#12 S.Gonzalez/Kas (MEX/GER) vs. #2 Mirnyi/Nestor (BLR/CAN)

*AO "IT" PLAYER WINNERS*
2006 Samantha Stosur, AUS
2007 Shahar Peer, ISR
2008 Casey Dellacqua, AUS
2009 Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP
2010 Maria Kirilenko, RUS
2011 An-Sophie Mestach, BEL (jr.)
2012 Ekaterina Makarova, RUS

*WOMEN'S SLAM FINAL 8's*
[career slam QF; active players]
33...Venus Williams
32...Serena Williams
19...KIM CLIJSTERS
16...MARIA SHARAPOVA
12...Svetlana Kuznetsoav
9...Nadia Petrova
7...Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina, Francesca Schiavone
6...VICTORIA AZARENKA, Kimiko Date-Krumm, Li Na, CAROLINE WOZNIACKI
5...Ana Ivanovic, AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA, Vera Zvonareva
4...Marion Bartoli, Jelena Dokic, Daniela Hantuchova, PETRA KVITOVA, Samantha Stosur
[most slam QF, 2010-12 = 9 slams]
5...CAROLINE WOZNIACKI
4...VICTORIA AZARENKA
4...KIM CLIJSTERS
4...PETRA KVITOVA
4...Li Na
4...Francesca Schiavone
4...Serena Williams
4...Vera Zvonareva
3...Andrea Petkovic
3...MARIA SHARAPOVA
3...Samantha Stosur
3...Venus Williams
[2012 AO Quarterfinalists - career AO QF]
7...Kim Clijsters
5...Maria Sharapova
3...Agnieszka Radwanska
2...Victoria Azarenka
2...Petra Kvitova
2...Caroline Wozniacki
1...Sara Errani
1...Ekaterina Makarova
[2012 AO Quarterfinalists - career slams w/o title]
25th slam - Victoria Azarenka
23rd slam - Agnieszka Radwanska
20th slam - Caroline Wozniacki
18th slam - Sara Errani
18th slam - Ekaterina Makarova
14th slam - Sabine Lisicki
[2012 AO QF - Backspin Master List positions]
(2) Petra Kvitova
(3) Kim Clijsters
(5) Victoria Azarenka
(6) Maria Sharapova
(7) Caroline Wozniacki
(16) Agnieszka Radwanska
(45) Ekaterina Makarova
(--) Sara Errani

*WOMEN'S SLAM FINAL 8's - nation*
[2010-12]
15...RUSSIA
7...United States
6...ITALY
5...BELGIUM, China, DENMARK, Germany
4...BELARUS, CZECH REPUBLIC
3...Australia
2...Bulgaria, Estonia, France, POLAND, Slovak Republic
1...Austria, Kazakhstan, Serbia

*KIM CLIJSTERS vs. WORLD #1's in SLAMS*
2002 Australian Open - lost to Jennifer Capriati
2003 Australian Open - lost to Serena Williams
2004 Australian Open - lost to Justine Henin
2005 Roland Garros - lost to Lindsay Davenport
2005 Wimbledon - lost to Lindsay Davenport
2012 Australian Open vs. Caroline Wozniacki

*WOMEN'S OVERALL WON/LOST - BY NATION*
[through 4th Rd.]
18-12...Russia (Makarova,Sharapova)
10-5...Germany
10-8...Czech Republic (Kvitova)
9-5...Italy (Errani)
9-10...United States
7-4...China
6-3...Serbia
5-1...Poland (A.Radwanska)
5-2...Belarus (Azarenka)
4-0...Denmark (Wozniacki)
4-1...Belgium (Clijsters)
4-6...Romania
4-9...France

*CONSECUTIVE SLAM QF RESULTS*
[Men - Open era]
31...ROGER FEDERER
27...Jimmy Connors
14...Ivan Lendl

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Greta Arn/HUN d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK 6-2/3-6/10-8
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Germans
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)
IT: Ekaterina Makarova/RUS
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Sorana Cirstea/ROU)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Nominees: #15 Sabine Lisicki (down 4-2 in 3rd to Voegele in1st Rd., and 6-2/3-1 to Kuznetsova in 3rd Rd.), #2 Petra Kvitova (down 2-0, 30/15 in 3rd to CSN, 2nd Rd.), #11 Kim Clijsters (down 6-4/3-1, 5-1 in 2nd set tie-break and 4 MP vs. Li, 4th Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: Nominees: Azarenka, Wozniacki
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx

All for Day 8. More tomorrow.

AO.7- The Top and the Ball

2012-01-22T14:11:00.002-05:00

It's funny how little moments can sometimes change grand slam history. Some are obvious when they occur. Others might take a little additional time.

Early on, it looked like the big moment of Day 7 was going to be when Kim Clijsters nastily turned her ankle in the backcourt during her Round of 16 match with Li Na, a rematch of the 2011 Australian Open final. The score was 3-3 in the 1st set at the time, and as Clijsters winced heavily while her ankle was wrapped by trainers it appeared as if her final AO was going to have a less-than-admirable ending. When Li went led 6-4/3-1, the thought hadn't entirely changed. Clijsters got a break for 3-2, and took the set to a tie-break. But, again, Li seemed to be set to send "Aussie Kim" packing from Melbourne for the final time, as she grabbed a 5-1 TB lead, and held quadruple match point at 6-2.

"She again rubbed a match on the wall, and the light shone round her." - Hans Christian Andersen

But Li suddenly became more tentative, and Clijsters seized the moment. At 6-5, after having fought off three match points, the Belgian attempted a shaky drop shot as Li was camped out beyond the baseline. Li got to the ball, and had time for a crosscourt backhand winner that would have closed out the match, but she instead hit it right back down the line to Clijsters' backhand. KC promptly used it to pop up a winning lob. Two points later, completing a six-point run, Clijsters won the tie-break 8-6 and knotted the match. Her screaming fist pumps as she raced to the changeover area brought to mind Aussie Jelena Dokic's QF run from three years ago.

Clijsters broke the faltering Li to start the 2nd set, as the '11 AO runner-up committed eleven errors in the set's first three games. The Belgian went up 4-0, winning seventeen of twenty-one points. But, possessed with the lingering memory of overcoming a 5-0 set deficit against Clijsters in Sydney a year ago, Li DID come back. She held a break point on Clijsters' serve at 4-1, but failed to get the break. She got another chance and took advantage of it to close to 5-3 in the 3rd. After saving a match point at 5-4, she pushed Clijsters' service game to deuce. But, with the match -- and maybe the outcome of the entire tournament -- riding on the outcome of the match's 33rd game, it was the defending champion who pulled ahead. The #11-seeded Clijsters held to win 4-6/7-6/6-4 to claim her eleventh straight win in Melbourne.

Whatever comes next almost didn't have the chance to become reality.

A year ago, Li's moment of overcoming match point against Caroline Wozniacki in their Australian Open semifinal set opposing slam courses for both players for the rest of the year. With today's loss occurring one day before the start of the Chinese New Year, Li, twelve months after her Down Under exploits propelled her to new career heights, will now have to avoid allowing THIS moment to haunt her the rest of '12. Meanwhile, Clijsters, who would have seen her ranking fall all the way down to about #40 with a loss today, sees her farewell season suddenly have the chance to become something special.

But it almost didn't happen.

Later on Night 7, in the first of potentially a handful of match-ups between women who've spent time in the #1 ranking, (still) world #1 Caroline Wozniacki faced off with former #1 Jelena Jankovic, with the Serb's former coach, Ricardo Sanchez, in the Dane's box this time around. Whether that new relationship, and the Spaniard's advice about how to neutralize his old charge, had anything to do with it or not, Wozniacki immediately pricked the balloon that was Jankovic's very good play coming into this match, as she struggled to implement any sort of gameplan against her even-more-in-form opponent. The Dane breezed to a 6-0 1st set victroy, then raced to a 4-1 advantage in the 2nd before JJ finally found a way (the will?) to more forward inside the court and pressure Wozniacki. Even while Jankovic still committed far too many errors to survive a match against the pretty-clean-as-usual Wozniacki, her added aggressive DID get her back into the match. Venturing farther inside the baseline and taking the risk of going for more winners, Jankovic nearly found a way to push the contest to three sets.

Jankovic blew a big chance when up 40/love on Wozniacki's serve while down 4-3, as she was unable to put away shots (many of them overheads) as the Dane's defensive skills allowed her to scramble and get back multiple shots off a string of Jankovic attempts to win the point that were never pulled off WELL ENOUGH to get the job done. Wozniacki held her first match point at 5-4, but Jankovic pushed back to get the break to knot the set at 5-5. But the Serb's loose errors immediately gave the break back one game later. Wozniacki then served out the 6-0/7-5 win.

After a hesitant start in 1st Round, at the very least, Wozniacki has shown that she IS seeming to try to address some of the things that have brought her game under so much negative scrutiny over the last year. But doing as such against the players that she has in Melbourne, especially Jankovic, who has often been accused of the same, too-defensive, lacking-in-power-shots traits that have characterized the Dane's so-far unsuccessful attempts to win a slam, truthfully, was to be expected.

"To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if... it is hatched from a swan's egg." - Hans Christian Andersen

The criticism levied against Wozniacki has sometimes served to cast her as the tour's "ugly ducking," even as she's held the #1 ranking for now 67 of the last 68 weeks. What she's done so far in this Australian Open has been encouraging, but we've been down this familiar path before. Continuing her successful navigation of this AO against players like Clijsters, Azarenka, Kvitova or Serena is another thing. THAT is where her true story will be told. And, starting next round against the Belgian, she'll at least have her first chance to transform into a "swan."

Hmmm, and maybe that OTHER moment could be a deciding factor?

Could be, Clijsters' ankle injury, which didn't seem to hamper her from shining down the stretch against Li, could make her a more desired quarterfinal opponent than the totally healthy Chinese vet would have been for Wozniacki. While Clijsters exited her match on Day 7 looking like a bright and shiny "ball," by the time she shows up to face "the top" (Wozniacki) for a trip to the semis she, like the character in Hans Christian Andersen's tale, could have the appearance of having "lain for five years in a roof gutter." Wozniacki's "moment" on Day 7 (and Day 9) might turn out to have occurred in the seventh game of a match that she had absolutely nothing to do with.

Maybe THAT moment is about to change grand slam history, as well.

=DAY 7 NOTES=
...hmmm, considering KC's work today, I guess it's smart to hold off on any "Zombie Queen" coronation ceremonies for Sabine Lisicki, huh?

...after a slow start, the Wozniacki/Jankovic match turned out to be quite interesting for all the right reasons. The ESPN2 commentary was notable, too, but for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, the even-more-motley-than-usual stew served as the hardly-ignorable-no-matter-how-much-it-should-be backdrop to the match. Amongst the many eyebrow-raisers:

1) Cliff Drysdale, who often seems to have never seen or heard of any player other than "Kimmy" during his time between TV gigs, posing the thought that there weren't many power players on tour anymore, a head-shaking notion rightly shot down immediately by both Mary Joe Fernandez and Chris Evert, who tossed out names like Serena, Kvitova, Azarenka, Clijsters and others before he finally relented and gave in to their point.

2) Evert, when Wozniacki held her big lead in the match, totally upsetting the proverbial apple cart constructed by every comment uttered by herself and the rest of the ESPN2 crew all week by saying that she had "no doubt" that Wozniacki would win a slam in '12, then neither Drysdale nor MJF opening up her "bold prediction" for discussion.

3) Evert and Fernandez trying to put forth the belief that Li's collapse late in the 2nd set and tie-break was somehow connected to her apprehension about playing against an injured opponent, though Clijsters' injury had occurred a set and a half earlier, totally setting aside the notion that the Chinese woman had built her huge lead AFTER the Belgian's injury timeout AND, as Drysdale pointed out, still managed to get to quadruple match point.

4) Evert being surprised that Ricardo Sanchez and Piotr Wozniacki weren't sitting next to each other in the players box, since "they always have" in previous matches, although nearly every match covered involving C-Woz in '12 has included commentators mentioning that Sanchez seems to always sit three or four seats away from Caroline's father.

5) And then Evert mentioning that Jankovic changes coaches often, and NO ONE bringing up the fact that Sanchez was JJ's coach last season, then left HER to work with Wozniacki. Since the draw was released, it was a potentially juicy subplot to this whole match, considering whatever insights Sanchez might have provided the Dane with concerning how to hamstring Jankovic's game, but one that was virtually ignored throughout the match.

Whew! And, after that, I just decided to stop taking notes.

...Agnieszka Radwanska continues to slip through the draw, taking out Julia Goerges today by a 6-1/6-1 score, while still getting ZERO respect from the crew at ESPN2. Her next opponent is Victoria Azarenka, who defeated Iveta Benesova in straight sets to complete four rounds at this AO without dropping her serve. The Pole very well could be blasted off the court by the Belarusian in the QF, but for the ESPNers to automatically assume an easy win by Azarenka, who was just forced to go three sets with A-Rad in Sydney a week ago, seems more than a bit presumptuous.

...more big exits came in the doubles competitions on Day 7. Defending Women's Doubles champs Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta were taken out in a super-competitive match by Svetlana Kuznetsova & Vera Zvonareva in the 3rd Round. Dulko, teamed with Eduardo Schwank, also lost on Sunday in the Mixed Doubles 1st Round. Meanwhile, top-seeded Mixed Doubles team Kveta Peschke & Mahesh Bhupathi, who had originally been scheduled to face the it-almost-happened duo of Serena Williams & Andy Roddick, lost to their "replacement" opponents, Roberta Vinci & Daniele Bracciali.

The junior competition is underway. Among the losers today were Bannerette Sachia Vickery (to Czech Barbora Krejcikova) and #7 seed Danka Kovinic (MNE), who lost to young Kazakh Anna Danilina in three sets.

...DAY 7 LIKES: the Aussie fans booing Tomas Berdych unmercifully -- even during his entire on-court interview -- after he refused to shake Nicolas Almagro's hand after advancing past him in their Round of 16 match. The Czech, who'd been set up at the net, was angry that the Spaniad had hit him with a running crosscourt passing shot rather than hit the ball into another area of the court. Although, as was pointed out unanimously (a rare feat on there) by the former pros on ESPN2, it WAS the correct shot, and one that used to be employed often in the sport, since it forces your opponent to get the ball back over the net with a volley rather than putting everything on going for a riskier shot yourself. Plus, as was also noted, the ball only hit Berdych in the arm (no matter how much he wanted to accuse Almagro of going for his head), and the Czech has tremendous reach and might have been more easily able to get back another shot that the Spaniard might have attempted. It's also important that Almagro attempted to apologize immediately after the shot, but Berdych turned his back on him immediately. He ultimately got his "revenge" by winning the match, and the lack of sportsmanship he showed, in the eyes of nearly everyone, will surely make his next match, against Almagro's compatriot Rafael Nadal, an "interesting" encounter... at least when it comes to how the crowd, surely filled with fans from Spain, will react to Berdych.

...and, finally, nothing against Bernard Tomic, but I'm so glad Roger Federer finally ended his run at this Australian Open. The constant "teen idol treatment" for the Aussie was really starting to wear thin.

*WOMEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN def. #13 Jelena Jankovic/SRB
#11 Kim Clijsters/BEL def. #5 Li Na/CHN
#3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR def. Iveta Benesova/CZE
#8 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL def. #22 Julia Goerges/GER
Ekaterina Makarova/RUS vs. #12 Serena Williams/USA
#15 Sabine Lisicki/GER vs. #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
Sara Errani/ITA vs. Zheng Jie/CHN
#21 Ana Ivanovic/SRB vs. #2 Petra Kvitova/CZE

*MEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. (WC) Lleyton Hewitt/AUS
#17 Richard Gasquet/FRA vs. #5 David Ferrer/ESP
#4 Andy Murray/GBR vs. Mikhail Kukushkin/KAZ
#24 Kei Nishikori/JPN vs. #6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/FRA
#11 Juan Martin del Potro/ARG def. Philipp Kohlschreiber/GER
#3 Roger Federer/SUI def. Bernard Tomic/AUS
#7 Tomas Berdych/CZE def. #10 Nicolas Almagro/ESP
#2 Rafael Nadal/ESP def. #18 Feliciano Lopez/ESP

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF*
Kudryavtseva/Makarova (RUS/RUS) vs. x
#3 King/Shvedova (USA/KAZ) vs. x
x vs. Kuznetsova/Zvonareva (RUS/RUS)
x vs. #2 Huber/Raymond (USA/USA)

*MEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. x
#13 Lipsky/R.Ram (USA/USA) vs. x
x vs. Paes/Stepanek (IND/CZE)
x vs. #2 Mirnyi/Nestor (BLR/CAN)

*2012 AO SCHEDULED NIGHT MATCH RECORDS - Laver & Hisense*
[players]
3-0...Lleyton Hewitt, AUS
2-0...Roger Federer, SUI
2-0...Serena Williams, USA
2-0...Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2-1...Bernard Tomic, AUS
[nations]
5-4...Australia
2-0...Denmark, Switzerland
2-2...United States

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Greta Arn/HUN d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK 6-2/3-6/10-8
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Germans
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)
IT: xx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: Ivanovic, Sharapova & S.Williams
CRASH & BURN: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Sorana Cirstea/ROU)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Nominees: #15 Sabine Lisicki (down 4-2 in 3rd to Voegele in1st Rd., and 6-2/3-1 to Kuznetsova in 3rd Rd.), #2 Petra Kvitova (down 2-0, 30/15 in 3rd to CSN, 2nd Rd.), #11 Kim Clijsters (down 6-4/3-1, 5-1 in 2nd set tie-break and 4 MP vs. Li, 4th Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: Nominees: Azarenka, S.Williams, Wozniacki
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx

All for Day 7. More tomorrow.

AO.6- The Ice Maiden

2012-01-21T15:21:00.006-05:00

Maria Sharapova originally made a name for herself by being one of the most self-possessed and unflinching competitors on tour on the game's biggest stages. She seemed to have ice in her veins. Over the last four years, the cracks in her psyche have been more and more apparent as she's attempted to make an unprecedented slam-winning comeback from shoulder surgery, only to see her old confidence-building serve suffer ill-timed breakdowns which usually led to her game's ultimate destruction.

But something different appears to possibly be happening in Melbourne. Well, check that... it's actually a Sharapova scenario that we HAVE seen before. Just not in a very long time.

"Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up." - Hans Christian Andersen

Four years ago in Melbourne, Sharapova looked like she was ready to forge a total takeover the WTA world. She breezed through the draw at the Australian Open, never dropping a set and winning her third career slam title (and third leg of a career Grand Slam). She won her first eighteen matches of the year, and it looked as if the Supernova's unsullied path to the top of the sport was assured. But then it wasn't. A misdiagnosed rotator cuff injury eventually led to surgery and a nine-month absence from the tour. She managed to come back, but her path back to the top has been a struggle.

Oh, she's managed to extend her seasons with at least one title to nine, easily the longest current run on tour, and climbed back into the Top 5. She reached the Roland Garros semifinals in '11, then the Wimbledon final. But Sharapova made her name as the 17-year old who took down Serena Williams at Wimbledon to win her first slam, and her continued ability to successfully chase down that sort of moment was bound to define her career from that point on. The last four years, though, it's been the elusiveness of that quest that has been the leading story.

But are things shaping up in Melbourne in a way that what happens next could re-write the story of her recent un-'Nova like period and make her Supernovic again?

Sharapova arrived Down Under still nursing her late 2011 ankle injury and pulled out of her pre-AO tune-up commitments. Unlike Serena, the Russian has never been the sort of player who has managed to "play herself into form" at a slam. She's often either been right as rain, or an upset waiting to happen. Because of this, it was easy to count her out as a TRUE contender in Melbourne. I know I did. But Sharapova has hit the ground running at a full sprint in this tournament. Her 6-1/6-2 win over U.S. Open semifinalist Angelique Kerber today had all the hallmarks of a pre-surgery Sharapova. She made her first eleven first serves, and lost just three points in her first four service games. She hit just one double fault in the match. Her confidence has always emanated from the success of her serve, and over the last year or two I've often noted in this spot that anytime Sharapova looked shaky in an early-round match at a slam, although she'd managed to win it, it meant that her game was destined to eventually break down before she could win seven matches in a row. Every time I turned out to be right.

That hasn't been the cast at this slam. She had one poor service game in Round 1 in which she threw in three double-faults, but it was the only game she lost in the match. The seed planted in that moment has so-far refused to grow in the soil of Sharapova's 2012 AO experience. In fact, through three rounds, a case can be made that she's NEVER looked better than she does right now.

Take a look at this. I've noted here before that when Sharapova won her three previous slam titles, she was in-form from the get-go, and never broke stride. At the '08 AO, she didn't lose a set in the tournament. At Wimbledon in '04, she lost two, but not her first until the QF. At the '06 U.S. Open she dropped just one, in the SF. She's six-for-six in sets at this Melbourne, but she's actually allowed fewer games in those three matches than she did in the first three rounds of any of the slams she's won. At Wimbledon, she dropped a total of nine. In New York, it was eleven. In Melbourne four years ago, she'd lost fifteen at this point. Through three rounds at THIS Australian Open, she's lost five.

Mark Twain once noted there were "lies, damned lies and statistics," and this may be one of those cases. But what if it isn't? If Sharapova goes on to win slam title #4, reclaim the #1 ranking and dust off the cobwebs and regain her old "Supernova" Backspin nickname, let it be known here and now that the signs of such an ending to this "icy" Australian story were being foreshadowed from the very start.

=DAY 6 NOTES=
...have we found this AO's "Zombie Queen?"

"I only appear to be dead." - Hans Christian Andersen

After climbing out of a 4-2 3rd set hole against Stefanie Voegele in the 1st Round, #15 seed Sabine Lisicki had another escape in Round 3. Through the 1st set of action against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Lisicki looked like a poor-serving goner. And, maybe more importantly, the Russian was engaged in the action. Kuznetsova led 6-2/3-1 before Lisicki finally got herself squared away, while Kuznetsova proceded to pull one of the sort of mid-match dissolving acts that have come to be a specialty of her's the last few seasons. Kuznetsova didn't really show any true life again until she was down 5-1 in the 3rd and Lisicki held three match points. The two-time slam champ -- who lost that 16-14 3rd set, 4:44 match against Francesca Schiavone on the same Hisense Arena court a year ago -- fought back to take the game, but it was short-lived resurgence. Lisicki cleaned up one game later, putting away a 2-6/6-4/6-2 victory on her fourth match point, winning eleven of the match's final fourteen games.

...meanwhile, Vera Zvonareva added her name to the list of eliminated Hordettes. Playing against countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova, Zvonareva, a semifinalist in Melbourne in '11, actually got to set point in the 1st set. But she ultimately lost the tie-break, then Makarova ran away with the match, winning 7-6/6-1. Kuznetsova and Zvonareva weren't the biggest disappointments on Day 6, though. That'd have to be Marion Bartoli. She fell in shockingly quick order, 6-3/6-3, to Chinese vet Zheng Jie, an AO semifinalist two years ago.

But Petra Kvitova had an easy day on Saturday. Maria Kirilenko injured her thigh, and her lack of mobility made her pretty much uncompetitive against the Czech's heavy shots. After falling behind 6-0/1-0, the Russian finally retired from the match.

...elsewhere, the first #1 seed eliminated from this slam came in the Women's Doubles, as top-seeded Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik retired from their match with Alla Kudryavtseva and Ekaterina Makarova (wow, she had a pretty good day, huh?) after just five games.

...ROUND OF 16 NOTES: with the Round of 16 set, only four of the remaining players have extended slam 4th Round streaks -- Caroline Wozniacki (3), Serena Williams (3), Sabine Lisicki (3) and Ana Ivanovic (2). Serena Williams' 6-1/6-1 win over Greta Arn, 32, left the 30-year old American as the oldest woman left in the draw. Her straight sets win ran her career AO record to 44-0 when she wins the 1st set. A pair of 21-year olds are the youngest players still alive, with Caroline Wozniacki a few months younger than Petra Kvitova.

Julia Goerges and Sara Errani are in their first career slam Round of 16's. Veteran Iveta Benesova is playing in her 38th career slam. Coming into this AO, she'd suffered twenty-one 1st Round losses and only reached a single Round of 16. It came at last year's Australian Open. This year's 4th Round result is her second.

Serena has the most career Round of 16 results (38) of any remaining woman (and is behind only her sister's 40 among active players) . This is Kim Clijsters' 24th career slam 4th Round. With 2012 scheduled to be her final year on tour, a question remains about whether or not she intends to play beyond the Olympics. If her health allows her to play the first three slams, and then she decides to play the U.S. Open, where she's won the title the last three times she's showed up (over an eight-year stretch), it'd mark the first time since 2003 that she played in all four slams during a season.

Four of the original six players who came to Melbourne with a shot to be ranked #1 at the end of the tournament are still in the running for the top spot. They're the current Top 4 ranked players on the WTA computer -- Wozniacki, Kvitova, Azarenka & Sharapova.

...DAY 6 LIKES: the ability to smile with Lisicki when she wins and not have to do so through gritted teeth, wondering when the other (injury-related) shoe will drop. Of course, we ARE only six days in.

...in the final junior tune-up leading into the AO, Bannerette Krista Hardebeck was the shining star in the G1 Traralgon, Australia event. The 17-year old qualified, then took out the likes of Yulia Putintseva, Taylor Townsend, An-Sophie Mestach (the '11 AO jr. champ) and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the final.

...speaking of the juniors, the AO Girls draw is out. Here are the Top 10 Girls seeds:

1. Irina Khromacheva, RUS
2. Eugenie Bouchard, CAN
3. Anette Kontaveit, EST
4. Yulia Putintseva, RUS
5. Indy De Vroome, NED
6. Elizabeth Kulichkova, RUS
7. Danka Kovinic, MNE
8. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, SVK
9. Zheng Saisai, CHN
10. Ilka Csoregi, ROU

=QF=
Krista Hardebeck/USA d. #1 Irina Khromacheva/RUS
#14 Taylor Townsend/USA d. Samantha Crawford/USA
#4 Yulia Putintseva/RUS d. #5 Indy De Vroome/NED
#7 Danka Kovinic/MNE d. #2 Eugene Bouchard/CAN
=SF=
Krista Hardebeck/USA d. #14 Taylor Townsend/USA
#4 Yulia Putintseva/RUS d. #7 Danka Kovinic/MNE
=FINAL=
#4 Yulia Putintseva/RUS d. Krista Hardebeck/USA

...and, finally, it's always fun when a TV commentator puts a "jinx" on a player, and it happened again on Day 6 when ESPN2's Mary Joe Fernandez mentioned that Sharapova had yet to have her first double-fault of the match, which was in its 14th game at the time. Naturally, she hit her first, and only, DF of the match on the very next point. Priceless.

*WOMEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN vs. #13 Jelena Jankovic/SRB
#11 Kim Clijsters/BEL vs. #5 Li Na/CHN
#3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR vs. Iveta Benesova/CZE
#22 Julia Goerges/GER vs. #8 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
Ekaterina Makarova/RUS vs. #12 Serena Williams/USA
#15 Sabine Lisicki/GER vs. #4 Maria Sharapova/RUS
Sara Errani/ITA vs. Zheng Jie/CHN
#21 Ana Ivanovic/SRB vs. #2 Petra Kvitova/CZE

*MEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. (WC) Lleyton Hewitt/AUS
#17 Richard Gasquet/FRA vs. #5 David Ferrer/ESP
#4 Andy Murray/GBR vs. Mikhail Kukushkin/KAZ
#24 Kei Nishikori/JPN vs. #6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/FRA
Philipp Kohlschreiber/GER vs. #11 Juan Martin del Potro/ARG
Bernard Tomic/AUS vs. #3 Roger Federer/SUI
#7 Tomas Berdych/CZE vs. #10 Nicolas Almagro/ESP
#18 Feliciano Lopez/ESP vs. #2 Rafael Nadal/ESP

*WOMEN'S OVERALL WON/LOST - BY NATION*
[through 3rd Rd., nations w/ players left in draw]
16-12...Russia (Makarova,Sharapova)
10-3...Germany (Goerges,Lisicki)
9-7...Czech Republic (Benesova,Kvitova)
9-9...United States (S.Williams)
8-5...Italy (Errani)
7-2...China (Li,Zheng)
6-1...Serbia (Ivanovic,Jankovic)
4-1...Poland (A.Radwanska)
4-2...Belarus (Azarenka)
3-3...Slovak Republic
3-0...Denmark (Wozniacki)
3-1...Belgium (Clijsters)

*WOMEN'S FINAL 16*
[by age]
21...Caroline Wozniacki
21...Petra Kvitova
22...Sabine Lisicki
22...Victoria Azarenka
22...Agnieszka Radwanska
23...Julia Goerges
23...Ekaterina Makarova
24...Ana Ivanovic
24...Sara Errani
24...Maria Sharapova
26...Jelena Jankovic
28...Zheng Jie
28...Kim Clijsters
28...Iveta Benesova
29...Li Na
30...Serena Williams
[by ranking]
#1 - Caroline Wozniacki
#2 - Petra Kvitova
#3 - Victoria Azarenka
#4 - Maria Sharapova
#6 - Li Na
#8 - Agnieszka Radwanska
#12 - Serena Williams
#13 - Jelena Jankovic
#14 - Kim Clijsters
#15 - Sabine Lisicki
#22 - Ana Ivanovic
#23 - Julia Goerges
#38 - Zheng Jie
#46 - Iveta Benesova
#48 - Sara Errani
#56 - Ekaterina Makarova
[by career slam Round-of-16's; w/ number at AO]
38...Serena Williams (9)
24...Kim Clijsters (8)
23...Maria Sharapova (6)
16...Jelena Jankovic (4)
12...Caroline Wozniacki (4)
12...Agnieszka Radwanska (3)
12...Ana Ivanovic (2)
11...Li Na (4)
10...Victoria Azarenka (4)
7...Petra Kvitova (2)
5...Zheng Jie (3)
4...Sabine Lisicki (1)
3...Ekaterina Makarova (2)
2...Iveta Benesova (2)
1...Sara Errani (1)
1...Julia Goerges (1)
[by current slam Round-of-16 streaks]
3...Caroline Wozniacki
3...Serena Williams
3...Sabine Lisicki
2...Ana Ivanovic
1...12 players
[by preseason Backspin Master List positions]
(1) Serena Williams
(2) Petra Kvitova
(3) Kim Clijsters
(5) Victoria Azarenka
(6) Maria Sharapova
(7) Caroline Wozniacki
(11) Li Na
(14) Sabine Lisicki
(16) Agnieszka Radwanska
(18) Jelena Jankovic
(19) Ana Ivanovic
(30) Zheng Jie
(31) Julia Goerges
(45) Ekaterina Makarova
(--) Iveta Benesova
(--) Sara Errani

*WOMEN'S & MEN'S FINAL 16*
[by combined nations; W+M]
4...Spain (0+4)
3...Czech Republic (2+1)
3...Germany (2+1)
3...Serbia (2+1)
2...Australia (0+2)
2...China (2+0)
2...France (0+2)
2...Russia (2+0)
1...Argentina (0+1)
1...Belarus (1+0)
1...Belgium (1+0)
1...Denmark (1+0)
1...Great Britain (0+1)
1...Italy (1+0)
1...Japan (0+1)
1...Kazakhstan (0+1)
1...Poland (1+0)
1...Switzerland (0+1)
1...United States (1+0)

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Greta Arn/HUN d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK 6-2/3-6/10-8
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Germans
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)
IT: xx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: Ivanovic, Jankovic, Li & Sharapova
CRASH & BURN: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Sorana Cirstea/ROU)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Nominees: #15 Sabine Lisicki (down 4-2 in 3rd to Voegele in1st Rd., and 6-2/3-1 to Kuznetsova in 3rd Rd.), #2 Petra Kvitova (down 2-0, 30/15 in 3rd to CSN, 2nd Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: Nominees: Azarenka, S.Williams
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx

All for Day 6. More tomorrow.

AO.5- The Naughty Boy?

2012-01-20T15:28:00.000-05:00

"Where words fail, music speaks." - Hans Christian Andersen

And, of course, by "music" I mean "musings." Thus, it's time for some random ones... or, what I generally do during a slam when I can't find anything big enough to talk more about. Ah, you now know my naughty little secret. Anyway, here we go:

Well, Caroline Wozniacki reached the 4th Round, handling Monica Nicuelscu somewhat surprisingly easily, and is still holding onto hope of keeping her #1 ranking. See, maybe being under the radar -- the sixth or seventh favorite as play began -- is the preferred way for the Dane to go.

My, those fans who got there tickets for Rod Laver Arena's day session for Day 5 surely never thought they'd get to see BOTH Nadal and Federer in back-to-back matches, did they? Isn't that something like the tennis equivalent of winning the lottery?

Whew! We almost got an impromptu -- and maybe disasterous -- return of the "old" Victoria Azarenka. There she was on her way to taking out lanky German Mona Barthel in straight sets, and things suddenly got tense and tight in the closing games of the 2nd set. Barthel has a chance to push it to three, and Azarenka was THIS CLOSE to going "Serena NYC" on someone for a series of missed line calls that she couldn't have looked at because she'd used up all her replay challenges. Watching from Backspin HQ, I just had to say out loud to her through the screen, "Keep it together," with my voice trailing off as a sure sign that I sort of didn't think she was going to be able to do just that. Finally, though, on match point #4, Azarenka won the match 6-2/6-4, then shot a dirty look in the direction of a linesperson and flipped a ball back that way, too. Naturally, the crowd, which had included a few jerks imitating her on-court sounds during a match the other day, tossed some whistles back at her for her behavior. I can understand... I did the same thing in front of my TV set a few years ago during an anger-fueled Azarenka comeback against Carla Suarez-Navarro at Wimbledon. The win ended Barthel's nine-match win streak, but it also very nearly ended the Belarusian's string of mostly-successful attempts to control her temper in tight matches. There's the possibility that a player can want it TOO much, and Vika has skirted up to that line on more than one occasion in the past. If this match had gone to three sets, she might have done so again. But we'll never know. That's probably a good thing for Azarenka's chances at this tournament.

The other day, I said that Anabel Medina-Garrigues' time in the Melbourne draw might be limited, as she was set to play Li Na on Day 5. As it turned out, AMG was apparently as impatient to get out of there as I was to pull out my Anna Smashnova notes. After waiting through the five-set Bernard Tomic/Alexandr Dolgopolov match on Friday night before htting the court on Laver, Medina-Garrigues retired after just three games. Okay, here's where I'm obliged to once again note that AMG is STILL linked in history with Smashnova as the only players to ever win double-digit WTA singles titles but never reach a slam Final 8. There, that's another Daily Backspin slam ritual checked off the list. By the way, this was AMG's 39th career slam. Her 2-1 record managed to edge her over .500 for her career, as she now stands at 40-39.

Hmmm, I'm not sure those Wilson racket ads being run during Tennis Channel's AO coverage really work. I get the "reality show," behind-the-scenes feel they're going for. And, I admit, I DID crack half a smile, for example, when the "interviewer" of Petra Kvitova poses the question about whether using her new, powerful racket is "cheating," and what her comments might be about the push by some to get it "banned," and she acts offended, takes off her mic and walks off camera. The other ad I saw, which featured a male player (unrecognizable enough that I don't know if he's an actual ATP pro or not), which followed pretty much the same script, didn't really work at all. Amusing, but just not amusing enough. I think they came up about one creative session short of making them the memorable type of spots they seemed to have been going for. Oh, well. Close, but no cigar.

Kim Clijsters, who powered past Daniela Hantuchova 6-3/6-2 on Night 5 on Hisense Arena, is now 31-3 at slams since the start of her comeback. Her only losses? That disaster against Nadia Petrova at the '10 AO, a three-set loss to Vera Zvonareva at Wimbledon '10, and her ill-chosen attempt to play while injured at Roland Garros last year, where she lost to Arantxa Rus. Currently, she's on an 18-1 run.

The eight players in the top half of the women's Round of 16 consists of women from eight different nations. The only seeded player left there is Iveta Benesova, while the only seeded player outside the top 16 seeds is #22 Julia Goerges.

So, Marcos Baghdatis got fined a WHOLE $800 dollars for smashing those four rackets? I'd bet the combined cost of the rackets & strings themselves probably cost more than that. Interesting that a WTA player Tweeted the other day that SHE got fined $1000 for breaking one racket on Court 17 at Roland Garros, while Baghdatis paid less for crushing four at Margaret Court Arena. Nothing surprising, really, I guess. Still, as far as the entertainment value was concerned, it was $800 well spent.

Well, THAT didn't go so well for C-Mac. Jelena Jankovic knocked down Christina McHale 6-2/6-0 today. It was the same JJ that it was said on ESPN2 "didn't have anything" that made it seem like she could beat the American. Guess she did. She gets Ricardo Sanchez... err, I mean Caroline Wozniacki next. In THIS match, JJ was 6-for-10 in break point chances, while McHale was 1-for-11. That about says it all, I suppose.

Hey, there's Amelie Mauresmo sitting in the stands during the Azarenka match with the Belarusian's coach, Sam Sumyk. Cool. Geez, has it really been -- yikes! -- thirteen years since Mauresmo burst onto the scene by reaching the AO final at 19, in just her eighth career main draw slam appearance (and had to deal with all the underhanded whispers and outright boneheaded chatter -- by the likes of Hingis and Davenport, no less -- that she was too "manly")? Of course, it would take Mauresmo another seven years before she'd win her first slam title, also in Melbourne. Hmmm, so does that mean Wozniacki might turn out to be the U.S. Open champ in 2016? Hang in there, Caro.

Well, on the bright side, it might mean she's got a LOT of time left to finally get around to reading the complete works of fellow Odense-born Dane Hans Christian Andersen.

=DAY 5 NOTES=
...ah, another bad day for tennis-playing sisters. The Rodionovas -- Anastasia and Arina -- lost their 1st Round Doubles match to Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci, 4-6/6-4/6-3. While Stosur had a bad AO, Anastasia might be the Aussie who had an ever rougher time of things in Melbourne. I guess that qualifies for Backspin's Sister Update for Week 3, right?

...DAY 5 LIKES: Victoria Azarenka breaking with general slam tradition (as has Kuznetsova in Melbourne) by wearing shorts, rather than a skirt or dress, in her matches. Martina Navratilova, who did the same late in her career, used to always wonder why more players didn't do it, considering it's more comfortable and that it's what so many wear when they practice. Some "rules" are made to be broken, I guess.

And, speaking of tennis attire, I like the '12 outfits, for both the men and the women (Hantuchova and Dolgopolov last night, for example), provided by adidas that we're seeing so often at this Australian Open. They're the ones that are entirely orange-and-red. They're not "loud" or "outlandish," as could have been the case, and almost give a little additional "character" to the players who wear them. Of course, having so many dressed in similar color schemes, can be a problem, too.

...it'll be interesting to see the Olympics held at Wimbledon this summer, since the usual "predominantly white" rules for players' clothes (those even those formerly strict rules have been bent a bit in recent years) apparently won't be in effect. Who knows, maybe the sight will lead to the All-England Club changing its policy and allowing players to be "colorized" from head to toe there as they are everywhere else. Yeah, I know, fat chance of that.

...and, finally, with so many potentially intriguing match-ups actually becoming (or nearly so) reality, this AO's women's draw is starting to look like, well, a men's draw at a slam. Clijsters WILL meet Li. Wozniacki WILL face JJ. It was easy to figure six days ago that SOMETHING would screw up those matches. But, whatta ya know, nothing did. Does this mean that we can look forward to the likes of a Wimbledon SF rematch of Sharapova/Lisicki soon, and then Serena vs. Maria in a SuperQuarterfinal? Petra vs. Serena in a semi? My, the possibilities are endless. For once. So far. Maybe I spoke too soon?

*WOMEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN vs. #13 Jelena Jankovic/SRB
#11 Kim Clijsters/BEL vs. #5 Li Na/CHN
#3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR vs. Iveta Benesova/CZE
#22 Julia Goerges/GER vs. #8 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
x
x
x
x

*MEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
x
x
x
x
Philipp Kohlschreiber/GER vs. #11 Juan Martin del Potro/ARG
Bernard Tomic/AUS vs. #3 Roger Federer/SUI
#7 Tomas Berdych/CZE vs. #10 Nicolas Almagro/ESP
#18 Feliciano Lopez/ESP vs. #2 Rafael Nadal/ESP

**SLAM ROUND OF 16's - 2010-12**
[of 9 slams]
8 - CAROLINE WOZNIACKI, DEN
6 - Francesca Schiavone, ITA
6 - Vera Zvonareva, RUS *
5 - VICTORIA AZARENKA, BLR
5 - Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS *
5 - LI NA, CHN
5 - Maria Sharapova, RUS *
5 - Serena Williams, USA *
5 - Venus Williams, USA
4 - KIM CLIJSTERS, BEL
4 - JELENA JANKOVIC, SRB
4 - Maria Kirilenko, RUS *
4 - Petra Kvitova, CZE *
4 - AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA, POL
4 - Samantha Stosur, AUS
* - Marion Bartoli/FRA, w/ 3 Rd. of 16's, still to play 2012 AO 3rd Rd. match
--
CAPS = in 2012 AO 4th Rd.
* - still to play 2012 AO 3rd Rd. match

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Greta Arn/HUN d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK 6-2/3-6/10-8
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Germans
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)
IT: xx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Sorana Cirstea/ROU)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Nominees: #15 Sabine Lisicki (down 4-2 in 3rd to Voegele, 1st Rd.), #2 Petra Kvitova (down 2-0, 30/15 in 3rd to CSN, 2nd Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx

All for Day 5. More tomorrow.

AO.4- Pictures of Sweden... err, Melbourne

2012-01-19T15:03:00.000-05:00

We're still waiting for a women's match to truly "Rock the Rod" with some memorable drama on the grounds' top court, but that doesn't mean some awards can't be dispensed.

=EARLY-ROUND AWARDS - 1st/2nd Rounds (Days 1-4)=
TOP PLAYER: Victoria Azarenka/BLR
...twice, Azarenka has dropped the first game of a match, then reeled off twelve straight games to close out the match. Essentially, she's so far been untouchable in Melbourne. She's got potentially the smoothest road to the semis, though A-Rad may have something to say about that. (RU: Maria Sharapova/RUS... like Azarenka, she's allowed just two games. This is precisely how good things start for Maria.)
RISER: Sorana Cirstea/ROU
...the Swarmette has manuevered the slam landscape before (she's reached a QF at Roland Garros), but Cirstea's win over Sam Stosur in the 1st Round might have caused the biggest stir of her career. Well, other than that whole Wimbledon match scheduling thing a few years ago. "The whole country probably hates me right now," she said after her win. Good on ya, Sorana. (RU: Sabine Lisicki/GER... after crushing Peer 1 & 2 in the 2nd Round, is it now "safe" to believe that Sabine's body is sound, at least for HER, for this slam?)
SURPRISE: Nina Bratchikova/RUS
...the qualifier knocked off Italians Flavia Pennetta and Alberta Brianti, giving the Hordettes yet another "achiever" for their ranks. Is there any wonder why Kazakhstan's tennis ranks continue to be populated by ex-Russians? (RU: Romina Oprandi/ITA... Francesca's status as a tennis icon in Italy meant nothing to Oprandi in the 2nd Rd.)
VETERAN: Kim Clijsters/BEL
...hmmm, Hans Christian Andersen has a tale called "The Story of a Mother." Might that be the title of Backspin's recap of the women's final? (RU: Serena Williams/USA... not perfect, but she usually doesn't have to be at this point in the tournament)
FRESH FACE Christina McHale/USA
...the Bannerette is leading the way for the NextGen Americans. Next up, JJ? After that? Maybe C-Woz. (RU: Monica Niculescu/ROU... a Round of 16er in Flushing Meadows, she'll get a shot at the Dane first. Sorry, C-Mac.)
COMEBACK: Li Na/CHN
...sure, it was just last year that Li became a star in Melbourne. But her post-RG slump qualifies her for "comeback" status Down Under. A 4th Rounder against Clijsters could be Titanic... with Li playing the iceberg. (RU: Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS... so far, she's had her head in the game. That could change by... umm, what time is it?)
DOWN: Samantha Stosur/AUS
...the six inches between the ears is always the last the know (RU: Kaia Kanepi/EST... maybe we should hold off on all those Kvitova/Kanepi comparisons 2012?)

"THIS is the dream." - Petra Kvitova, acknowledging that she didn't dream of accomplishing great tennis feats when she was a kid

*THE AMERICAN TREND-SETTER*
2nd Rd. - Christina McHale d. Marina Erakovic 3-6/7-6/6-3
...one good slam performance is nice, but a second consecutive is a verrrry nice trend.

*STILL LIVING HER DREAM*
2nd Rd. - Greta Arn d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova 6-2/3-6/10-8
...Cibulkova was taken down by Falconi in the first week at the Open last year. In between, she won her first career title, though. A good trade-off?

FIRST VICTORY: Victoria Azarenka's win over Heather Watson made her the first woman to advance to the 2nd Round. So far, it's been a fitting honor.
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (lost to Bratchikova)
UPSET QUEENS: The Russians. The Hordettes just keep on coming. Led by Bratchikova (def. Pennetta & Brianti) and Ekaterina Makarova (Kanepi), the Russians win the AO "UQ" title for the third consecutive year, and the fourth time in the last five.
REVELATION LADIES: The Germans. Even without Andrea Petkovic in the mix, four Germans reached the Final 32. Not only that, they've put up a remarkable 8-1 record so far in Melbourne. Kristina Barrois should really learn how to keep up, you know?
NATION OF POOR SOULS: This award was created because of the Brits, and now they've won it twice. 0-4 in the 1st Round, with every loss coming on Day 1.
CRASH & BURNERS (1r-2r): Samantha Stosur's 1st Round loss makes it five straight women's slam winners who haven't been able to escape the 2nd Round of their next slam.
ZOMBIE QUEEN CONTENDERS (1r-2r): in the 1st Round, Sabine Lisicki trailed Stefanie Voegele 4-2 in the 3rd set. In the 2nd Round, Petra Kvitova found herself trailing a serving Carla Suarez-Navarro 2-0, 30/15 in the 3rd. I guess it's something of a 2011 Wimbledon semifinalist thing. So, should Vika and Maria worry?
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua (LAS in '08), Jelena Dokic ('09) and Olivia Rogowska outlasted #5-seed Stosur, reaching the 2nd Round
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova (RUS) has reached the Final 32
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Dellacqua and Rogowska notched 1st Round victories after getting free passes into the main draw from Tennis Australia

"I'm surprised I didn't faint." - Jamie Hampton, on how she handled playing Maria Sharapova at Rod Laver Arena

=DAY 4 NOTES=
...with the Final 32 now set, there are some interesting angles to take a look at:

First, as usual, there are more Russians (8) left than women from any other nation. Overall, the fourteen match wins by the Hordettes nearly doubles the next-closest nations (two w/ 8). There are two Italians left, but neither are named Flavia or Francesca (instead, it's Sara and Romina). Hungary's Greta Arn is the oldest player remaining in the draw, having matched her career-best slam result at age 32. 19-year old Christina McHale, the only teenager, is the youngest player left.

Seventeen different nations are represented in the women's 3rd Round. Incredibly, the sixteen that compose the top half of the draw are from fifteen different countries.

GRAND SLAM MASTER LIST UPDATE: of the Final 32, 23 were included on Backspin's preseason "Master List" of grand slam contenders. 11 of the Top 12 players on the list are still alive. Galina Voskoboeva (List #49) had the lowest preseason standing of the AO survivors, not including 9 off-list women (Arn, Barthel, Benesova, Bratchikova, Cirstea, Errani, King, Medina-Garrigues and Oprandi) still in action in Melbourne.

...good for Petra Kvitova for learning a little from her so-far-only 2012 loss in Sydney. With her back against the wall in her match with CSN, she managed to ground herself, pulling back a tad on her sometimes-wild-eyed desire to hit winners and putting together a few hard-hitting, groundstroke-heavy points in which she eventually out-hit the Spaniad and climbed her way back into the match in the 3rd set. It was a scary moment for the pre-tournament favorite, but also a potentially incredibly important one.

...Serena Williams was sluggish in the late going of her 6-0/6-4 win over Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, and even stumbled a bit and literally sat down on the court one point before she finally put away the match. It was her 500th career win. After running her career slam 1st Round mark to 46-0, she extended her 2nd Round record to 45-1 with this win. Her only loss, by the way, came in Melbourne in 1998 to Venus. Serena tied her sister (and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario) on the all-time grand slam match win list with #210 on Thursday.

...wow, talk about a disappointment. Tossing aside the early losses of Flavia Pennetta and Samantha Stosur, which, with injuries and other "issues" being factored in, weren't entirely unexpected, Kaia Kanepi's loss to Ekaterina Makarova is a real shot to the Estonian. The Russian has had her moments in slams before, so it says nothing about Makarova, but after winning Brisbane, Kanepi looked like one of the most in-form players coming into Melbourne.

Less surpising, but disappointing in a different way, was Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's 2nd Round loss to Vania King. Not because King isn't capable, but because the Russian's fitness looks to have backslided in the offseason. I mean, here's a former dominating junior champ, the only teenager to win a tour title in '11, and a player who is inside the Top 20 with a real shot at Top 10 with a couple big results in '12. She was close to some HUGE moments in slams last year, leading Francesca Schiavone 6-1/4-1 in the Roland Garros QF before losing, then coming back to get the Italian in another dramatic match at Flushing Meadows. Against Serena in NYC, she broke Williams' serve three times in the 1st set, but her own serve let her down in a three-set QF loss. One would like to think that she'd be able to smell how close she is, and would have spent her offeason getting into the best shape she could so that she could close the small gap between her and the players above her in the WTA hierarchy. After getting into better shape in '11, though, she looks heavier than she has in quite a while right now. She's only 2-3 so far this season, with one win coming against an injured opponent in Week 1, and two previous losses being of the 0 & 3 and 2 & 3 straight sets variety. One doesn't have to look too far to see what the most likely reason is for such a slow start, either.

On the flip side, (the super fit-looking, by the way) King's late-blooming rise continues in singles, though. More on her post-match activity in a moment.

...well, sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug. For the second time in about a week, Jelena Dokic was the bug to Marion Bartoli's wildshield, as La Trufflette took down The Fair One 6-3/6-2 on Laver on Night 4. In Sydney, she defeated the Aussie 6-0/6-3, so I guess Jelena did a LITTLE better. Oh, well. She's got that Kuala Lumpur title to try to defend in a short time, anyway. As for Bartoli, though she has a potentially very tough match with Zheng Jie next, her section of the draw is now absent of any seeds other than herself (only Azarenka finds herself in a similar situation in the Final 32). She could be looking at a QF match-up with Kvitova, who she beat in '11 but was handled fairly easily by in Perth in Week 1. Of course, if Petra gets in her own way again, Bartoli might end up having a gold-paved path to the SF.

...DAY 4 LIKES:

1) On Tennis Channel, Tracey Austin saying that Kimiko Date-Krumm, 41, says that she might keep on playing until she's 45. Hey, why stop there? Martina was still playing on tour a month before she turned 50.

2) Before Andy Murray's match, ESPN2's Chris Evert admitting that she was "kind of afraid" of Ivan Lendl, the Scotman's new coach, when she was playing on tour. He acted sort of "like a king," she said. At that moment, the ESPN2 camera shot showed Lendl sitting in the stands, having draped a towel over his shoulders in a way that made it appear as if he was wearing a cape, and watching the players' warm-up with a "don't f--- with me, if you know what's good for you" look on his stoic, always-misunderstood face. Timing is SO everything sometimes. Hmmm, maybe scaring Murray a bit will be good for his tennis. As commentators only half-jokingly noted at this AO, Murray's penchant for looking up to his box and berating whoever is sitting there whenever he's playing poorly isn't likely to be a practice that will be continued with Lendl up there. "He'll just stand up and walk out" if that happens, Evert predicted.

3) And last, but surely not least, Pam Shriver approaching Vania King after her big win today and asking her to sing for her on the side of the court (and on the same night that the new season of "American Idol" debuted, no less). Kudos to PS for even asking, although if she'd asked the wrong player such a thing it might not have turned out to be such a sweet moment. This one did, though, as King, naturally taken aback by the request, stumbled to come up with what she could sing. She finally settled on a pretty stanza from "Dream a Little Dream For Me":

"Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper 'I love you'
Birds singing in the sycamore trees
Dream a little dream of me."

Nice, Vania. Nice, Pam, too.

...and, finally, I wonder what Andy Roddick's hamstring injury (and retirement) against Lleyton Hewitt on Night 4 will mean for his much-anticipated Mixed Doubles pairing with Serena Williams, who hasn't played the Mixed in a slam since 1999. There's a chance the two might team up for the new Olympic-level Mixed competition in London this summer, so that's mostly the reason for their teaming, though they SHOULD have a couple more opportunities to test the waters before everyone heads back to Wimbledon (for the second time in '12) this summer if things don't work out in Melbourne. And, honestly, after the way Serena stumbled around a bit at the end of her win today, saying afterward that she sort of twisted her GOOD ankle, maybe it'd be better to be safe than sorry. The quest for AO title #6 is her top priority, after all.

*WOMEN'S OVERALL WON/LOST - BY NATION*
[through 2nd Rd.]
14-8...Russia
8-1...Germany
8-7...United States
7-4...Italy
7-7...Czech Republic
5-2...China
4-1...Serbia
4-4...Romania
4-8...France
3-1...Poland
3-2...Belarus
3-2...Slovak Republic
3-4...Spain
2-0...Denmark
2-0...Hungary
2-1...Belgium
2-1...Kazakhstan
[no players left in draw]
3-9 = AUS
2-3 = CAN
1-1 = BUL,EST,GEO,GRE,ISR,NED,NZL,TPE
1-2 = ARG,UKR
0-1 = CRO,IND,LUX,POR,RSA,SLO,SUI,THA
0-2 = AUT,JPN,SWE
0-4 = GBR

*WOMEN'S FINAL 32 - BY NATION*
6...Russia (Bratchikova,Kirilenko,Kuznetsova,Makarova,Sharapova,Zvonareva)
4...Germany (Barthel,Goerges,Kerber,Lisicki)
3...United States (King,McHale,S.Williams)
2...Italy (Errani,Oprandi)
2...China (Li,Zheng)
2...Czech Republic (Benesova,Kvitova)
2...Romania (Cirstea,Niculescu)
2...Serbia (Ivanovic,Jankovic)
1...Belarus (Azarenka)
1...Belgium (Clijsters)
1...Denmark (Wozniacki)
1...France (Bartoli)
1...Hungary (Arn)
1...Kazakhstan (Voskoboeva)
1...Poland (A.Radwanska)
1...Slovak Republic (Hantuchova)
1...Spain (Medina-Garrigues)

**AO "EARLY-ROUND TOP PLAYER" WINNERS**
2002 (Week 1 POW) Martina Hingis, SUI
2003 (Week 1 POW) Kim Clijsters, BEL
2004 (Week 1 co-POW) Kim Clijsters, BEL & Justine Henin, BEL *
2005 (Week 1 POW) Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2006 (Week 1 POW) Amelie Mauresmo, FRA *
2007 Kim Clijsters, BEL
2008 Maria Sharapova, RUS *
2009 Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
2010 Kim Clijsters, BEL
2011 Kim Clijsters, BEL *
2012 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
--
* - won title

*AO "REVELATION LADIES" WINNERS*
2006 Italy
2007 Belarus
2008 Poland
2009 Kazakhstan
2010 Germany
2011 Czech Republic
2012 Germany

*AO "UPSET QUEENS" WINNERS*
2004 Hungary
2005 Russia
2006 Spain
2007 Czech Republic
2008 Russia
2009 France
2010 Russia
2011 Russia
2012 Russia

*AO "LAST QUALIFIER STANDING" WINNERS*
2006 (3rd Rd.) Olga Savchuk, UKR
2007 (2nd Rd.) A.Kremer/LUX, A.Kudryavtseva/RUS, T.Paszek/AUT, J.Vakulenko/UKR, R.Voracova/CZE
2008 (4th Rd.) Marta Domachowska, POL
2009 (2nd Rd.) E.Baltacha/GBR, A.Brianti/ITA, S.Karatantcheva/KAZ
2010 (4th Rd.) Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
2011 (3rd Rd.) Vesna Manasieva (Dolonts), RUS
2012 Nina Bratchikova, RUS (in 3rd Rd.)

*AO "LAST AUSSIE STANDING" WINNERS*
2008 Casey Dellacqua (4th Rd.)
2009 Jelena Dokic (QF)
2010 Samantha Stosur (4th Rd.)
2011 Samantha Stosur (3rd Rd.)
2012 Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)

*SLAM MATCH WINS - OPEN ERA*
[women+men]
306...Martina Navratilova
299...Chris Evert
278...Steffi Graf
232...Jimmy Connors
229...Roger Federer (post-2nd Rd.)
224...Andre Agassi
222...Ivan Lendl
210...Serena Williams (post-2nd Rd.)
210...Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
210...Venus Williams
203...Pete Sampras

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Greta Arn/HUN d. #17 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK 6-2/3-6/10-8
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: Russians
REVELATION LADIES: Germans
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Nina Bratchikova/RUS (in 3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIES STANDING: Casey Dellacqua, Jelena Dokic & Olivia Rogowska (2nd Rd.)
IT: xx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: #5 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Sorana Cirstea/ROU)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Nominees: #15 Sabine Lisicki (down 4-2 in 3rd to Voegele, 1st Rd.), #2 Petra Kvitova (down 2-0, 30/15 in 3rd to CSN, 2nd Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx

All for Day 4. More tomorrow.

AO.3- The Little Mermaid

2012-01-18T15:12:00.003-05:00

Two rounds into this Australian Open, it's still hard to determine exactly what Caroline Wozniacki has brought with her to Melbourne.

"'Why have not we an immortal soul?,' asked the little mermaid mournfully; 'I would give gladly all the hundreds of years that I have to live, to be a human being only for one day, and to have the hope of knowing the happiness of that glorious world above the stars.'" - Hans Christian Andersen

Surely, Wozniacki still harbors the dream to hope to lift a slam trophy one day. Maybe even at the end of a virtual fairy tale story less than two weeks from now, after having so many people overlook and essentially disregard the world #1 when it comes to discussing potential champions at this slam. Or even semifinalists, for that matter. But is fate working against her?

The Dane won again on Day 3, and did so while showing some nice progress after her tactically tentative 1st Round win. With seemingly more confidence in her wrist, she wasn't content to play defense and set up 6-8 feet behind the baseline. There was "more" of Wozniacki in this one. She went for her 1st serve, getting a rare-for-her nine aces. She went to the net on occasion, too, and even showed some positive, demonstrative emotion when she put away a winner. Perhaps, it was a sign of a slightly more aggressive on-court personality being implemented under the coaching relationship with Ricardo Sanchez? If so, the new face seemed to have a fairly successful "try-out" on this day.

But there were a few questions raised, as well. For one, her penchant for falling way behind in sets is back. After having to climb out of huge holes in Sydney against Dominika Cibulkova and Agnieszka Radwanska (the former being successfully pulled off, the latter not so much), Wozniacki won the 1st set today against Anna Tatishvili, but found herself down 4-1 in the 2nd to the Georgian. She had to fight off multiple set points, avoiding a three-setter although the Evert Academy resident served for the set at 5-3, and had break point on Wozniacki's serve at 5-4. If and when she faces either Kim Clijsters or Li Na in this tournament, that sort of stuff won't likely be able to be survived.

Late in the match, she even raised this Backspinner's eyebrow concerning her on-court state of mind when she tried to have the chair umpire employ the "hinderance rule" when Tatishvili yelled in excitement as she laced a winner down the line past the Dane. It was a shot that Wozniacki had to stretch to even get close to, and really had no shot to get back. Still, she tried to get the point in her column ala when Serena Williams lost a point against Sam Stosur in the U.S. Open final in a similar situation. Was Wozniacki worried about having to go to a 3rd set, possibly due to the blisters that were treated by trainers and could be a lingering issue on the sticky Melbourne courts, or was it another of the signs of Sanchez's impact on her on-court demeanor? It WAS a move reminiscent of a certain chaotic-and-often-pugnacious Serb, who once (or twice, or maybe three times) employed the Spaniard as a coach, than the generally agreeable Dane. Is that a good thing? Does it fit her? Will she fully embrace it as the year goes on, and how might that change her overall mindset in big matches against top players?

"She knew this was the last evening she would ever see him for whom she had forsaken her kindred and her home, given up her lovely voice, and daily suffered unending torment - and he had no idea of it. This was the last night she would breathe the same air as he, or look upon the deep sea and the starry blue sky; an everlasting night without thoughts or dreams waited her, for she had no soul and could not gain one." - Hans Christian Andersen

Ultimately, after a few sticky moments, Wozniacki defeated Tatishvili, 6-1/7-6. But whether she's progressed enough to have a shot to hold onto her #1 ranking, and whether or not that's even a GOOD thing right now, is something that is yet to be determined. Continuing to live the life of the #1 player, she still finds herself in a tough quarter, and remains one win away from having ANY shot to hold onto the top spot after this tournament. Like the title character in fellow (Odense-born) Dane Hans Christian Andersen's tale of a character who wanted what she knew she would ultimately not to able to have, might Wozniacki be spending the next few days wistfully lamenting her situation, ala "the little mermaid," or planning a way around her seeming fate, both in Melbourne, as well as beyond?

Ah, but I guess that will have to be a lecture topic for "Wozniology-102," if and when that class ever becomes a reality.

=DAY 3 NOTES=
...on Night 3, Victoria Azarenka went up against crowd favorite Casey Dellacqua, with the Aussie's grandmother (who became somewhat famous during Dellacqua's '08 Round of 16 run) cheering from the stands.

But she wasn't Azarenka's grandmother, so Vika didn't show any mercy. In fact, while it seems inconceivable that she could have done it again, the Belarusian DID, in fact, once again drop the opening game of the match, then reel off twelve straight games to get the victory. Azarenka did the exact same thing in the 1st Round against Heather Watson. She ALMOST came up short this time, though. With Dellacqua serving down 6-1/5-0, she led 40/15. Then Azarenka upped her game a half-notch and overtook the Aussie to get the break.

It was nice to see Azarenka getting a little attention on ESPN2, but shame on me, I guess, for longing for the (probably never to come) day when one of her matches on the network won't be interrupted by a ten-minute diatribe on the noise she makes when she hits her shots. Or how any of the commentators have heard complaints from fans about the noise coming out of their televisions. Really? If they were courtside, at least, I could understand a LITTLE. But how exactly do those people get agitated by all the loud noises while sitting at home? For one, the commentators voices are piped in louder than anything on court. Truthfully, I think all the talk by the ESPN2ers serves to cause the reality of the situation to be exaggerated in the minds of viewers. Plus, they know they can get the commentators attention if they complain, in person, about something they always hear THEM complaining about. But even if those people do somehow have super-hearing, can outrun a speeding bullet and/or the possess the proportionate strength of a spider, as long as they also have a working index finger (or one of eight other digits, for that matter) there's a little thing called "volume control" on every remote that can take care of that problem. I'm just saying. Personally, as I've noted so often, I don't even notice the noise. Or if I sometimes do, it makes me laugh. But maybe I'm just deaf, or just warped.

(I'm sure Carl is making a nasty comment somewhere right about now.)

...the other leading contenders for a trip to the women's singles final had easy days, as well. Li Na took out Olivia Rogowska, 6-2/6-2, to run her Dorothy Tour record over the last two-plus years to 23-4. And Kim Clijsters handled Stephanie Foretz-Gacon, 6-0/6-1. Still, though, late in the day on ESPN2, when Cliff Drysdale proposed a potential Clijsters/Wozniacki QF meeting, Pam Shriver said she's probably pick the Dane right now because Clijsters "hasn't shown her enough yet." I'd say that the comment came in error (maybe she was thinking of Li, but said "Wozniacki" because Drysdale's question really made no sense with the Chinese vet possibly preventing KC from reaching the QF, anyway) or because it was at the end of a long day, or that it was an attempt to be intentionally provocative for no real good reason (ala Brad Gilbert). But since we're talking about Pammy... it's probably "safer" for all involved to not even attempt to figure out the meaning of it all. So I won't.

...in a somewhat surprising result (at least that it was a straights sets affair), Romina Oprandi took out her countrywoman, #10 seed Francesca Schiavone, 6-4/6-3. Thus, after going four-for-four in producing dramatic matches at 2011's slams, including that record-setting 4:44 win in Melbourne, Francesca is now 0-for-1 in 2012. In a less-than-shocking result, Iveta Benesova downed #16 Peng Shuai 6-2/6-4. Meanwhile, Christina McHale's fine slam play continued as she fashioned a comeback to defeat Kiwi Marina Erakovic, 3-6/7-6/6-3.

Elsewhere, Nina Bratchikova defeated Alberta Brianti, reaching the 3rd Round and getting a leg up on the competition in the race for "Last Qualifier Standing." Jamie Hampton is the only qualifier yet to play her 2nd Round match.

...yeah, it's sort of shocking, but Anabel Medina-Garrigues is still alive in the Australian Open draw. In fact, she's thriving. On Day 3, she took out Olga Govortsova 6-1/6-0! She's still yet to reach a slam QF in her career (I'll hold off on the usual Anna Smashnova comparision for now), and with Li next up for her in the 3rd Round, her days in Melbourne may be numbered.

...the "Last Aussie Standing" is about to be determined. With both Dellacqua and Rogowska losing (but sharing the "Last Wild Card Standing" honors), that leaves only Jelena Dokic alive in the women's draw. She'll face off with Marion Bartoli in the 2nd Round. Yesterday, I was thinking that she'd be in the running for sole possession of "LAS" honors even if she loses. But a check of the award rolls shows that it would mean the honor would be split three ways between the trio. Even for JD, I can't change the "rules." Of course, she COULD make the whole thing elementary with, you know, a win.

...DAY 3 LIKES: The 2012 WTA/ATP Media Guide finally arriving at Backspin HQ (Bethanie Mattek-Sands, by the way, is sporting eyeblack pads in her bio photo... can you hear my eyes rolling?). Tennis Channel's Justin Gimelstob sitting courtside in dark glasses, looking like David Hasselhoff on "Knight Rider" in 1985... minus the leather jacket and K.I.T.T., that is. Marcos Baghdatis, after being broken by Stanislas Wawrinka last night, destroying his racket in the changeover area, handing the mangled mass to a ball kid to throw away, then reaching into his bag for another racket and destroying it... then pulling out another, still wrapped in plastic, and smashing it... then reaching for another plastic-wrapped stick and crushing it, too. Baghdatis then flashed a quick smile as the crowd went nuts, and went out and immediately broke Wawrinka to get back on serve. And, also, my confirmed upcoming "date" with Jelena... at 3 o'clock on Thursday morning. Yep, the Dokic/Bartoli 2nd Rounder has been scheduled as the first match up on Laver for Night 4. Jelena Under the Lights... (at least) one more time for old time's sake.

...as Day 3's schedule was set, Roger Federer, who'd passed Stefan Edberg a year ago to become the all-time men's AO match win leader, was ready to attempt to become THE all-time leader, breaking a tie with Margaret Court at 60 victories. But he advanced to the 3rd Round with a walkover, so that particular moment will have to wait.

...and, finally, the initial scheduled "check point" at this first slam of 2012 arrives after Day 4, as the Early-Round Awards will be handed out in this space tomorrow.

*AO "LAST WILD CARD STANDING" WINNERS*
2008 Jessica Moore, AUS (2nd Rd.)
2009 Jelena Dokic, AUS (QF)
2010 Justin Henin, BEL (RU)
2011 Jelena Dokic/AUS, Caroline Garcia/FRA & Alicia Molik/AUS (2nd Rd.)
2012 Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Great Britain (0-4 in 1st Round, all on Day 1)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: xx
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Casey Dellacqua/AUS & Olivia Rogowska/AUS (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: Nominees: Dokic, Dellacqua & Rogowska in 2nd Rd.
IT: xx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK PLAYERS: xx
CRASH & BURN: Nominee: #5 Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Cirstea)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Nominee: #15 Lisicki (down 4-2 in 3rd to Voegele, 1st Rd.)
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx

All for Day 3. More tomorrow.

AO.2- Beauty of Form and Beauty of Mind... or not

2012-01-17T12:34:00.002-05:00

After Victoria Azarenka's play set the bar so high on Day 1, it was up to the rest of this 100th Australian Open's title contenders to pull their weight on Day 2. Some came pretty close.

"[The ephemera replying to the oak tree] 'You say you have thousands of my days; but I have thousands of moments, in which I can be merry and happy.'" - Hans Christian Andersen

Beauty of form was abundant at the top of the bottom half of the women's draw.

Azarenka's twelve-game run of success yesterday was hard to top, but Petra Kvitova might have managed do it against Vera Dushevina. While the Belarusian had dropped her first game of the match before winning a dozen straight, Kvitova lost her first TWO games of the match to the Russian. In Game #2, she opened her first Australian Open '12 service game with a double-fault. Moments later, she broke herself with her third DF of the game. Down 0-2, love/30 on Dushevina's serve, it was logical to wonder what the heck was about to happen. And then it did. Oh, poor Vera. With her "purple people-eating" shoes finally firmly planted on the ground, Kvitova proceded to win sixteen straight points. And nineteen of twenty. And twenty-four of twenty-seven to take the set 6-2. In the end, she put together her very own twelve-game, match-ending winning streak for a 6-2/6-0 victory. Vika, you're up on Day 3.

Soon afterward, Maria Sharapova faced off with Gisela Dulko, a player she's mostly dominated in the past, save for a bad 2nd Round loss to the Argentine at Wimbledon in '09, a defeat that served as a red flag for this match for the Russian, whose late '11 ankle injury prevented her from playing any tune-up events in Australia. Sharapova's consistency in the face of such a lack of match play might eventually come back to get her, but it didn't on Day 2. Opening a slam in the only way she ever has when she's actually managed to WIN one, she blew Dulko off the court, allowing just one game in a 6-0/6-1 win. Ah, but, as we move a little farther down the "beauty of form" chart that finds Kvitova at its head today, that one blemish was a service game in which Sharapvoa tossed in three double-faults in four points. It was a barely perceptible blip on the match's radar, but also could prove to be a sign/reminder of what will/may eventually come for Sharapova in this slam. So far, so good... but a small, destructive seed HAS been planted.

Meanwhile, it took a long time for Serena Williams to finally begin her attempt to win her a third Australian Open title in her last three trips Down Under. Sixty-three women had already advanced to the 2nd Round before she hit the court, and after Lleyton Hewitt's marathon FOUR-setter on Laver on Night 2, Williams' 1st Rounder with Tamira Paszek didn't begin until nearly midnight. It turned out to be a typical 1st Round slam outing for Serena. There was some good. There was some grief. There was some awe. There was some "aw, shucks" (though Serena's near-legendary recent slam "potty mouth" probably would choose more sharp words if left unchecked) as Williams tried to maintain the sort of calm necessary to not allow the first of a potentially seven-match string to turn into something it shouldn't. Eventually, the five-time AO champ got into her groove, most notably in her next-to-last service game, which included four straight aces in a span of sixty seconds. She didn't put up anything near a perfect "10" score on the "beauty of form" (though, it should be noted, Serena might be in the best physical condition she's EVER been in) scale, but she won 6-3/6-2 to run her career 1st Round record in grand slams to 46-0.

For the very best players, beauty of form can sometimes be "easy." Beauty of mind, though, was another thing entirely on Day 2 for one player in particular.

"No one would allow that he could not see these much-admired clothes; because, in doing so, he would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfit of his office." - Hans Christian Andersen

And then there was Samantha Stosur. No matter what many rose-colored glasses wearing fans of the Aussie might have wanted to believe heading into Melbourne, what happend on Tuesday was anything but a surprise. If you blinked, you missed the entire 2012 Oz experience of "Australia's great hope," the reigning U.S. Open champion who was being touted as the next AO champ by many as recently as three weeks ago. Not going to happen. Instead, she "Crashed & Burned" her way out of the tournament on Day 2, becoming the latest slam winner to be dumped out of the 1st Round of their follow-up slam by a young Romanian. This time it was Sorana Cirstea, who seized control of a match in which the error-prone Aussie was unwilling to do the same.

Earlier in the day, on ESPN2's coverage, Pam Shriver talked about how one commanding point from Kvitova in Stosur's 2011 Australian Open loss to the Czech had seemed to deflate the Aussie and make her ultimate defeat a foregone conclusion. That point in this match might have been Cirstea's ace on set point in the 1st set tie-break. I figured a blow out was in store after that, and the Swarmette did finally win 7-6/6-3 to drop Stosur's 2012 record to an it-gets-a-little-uglier-every-week mark of 1-3.

Now, to defend Sammy a bit, during ESPN2's coverage of her loss, commentators blasted her for "doing nothing" since she won the Open. Not entirely true. She DID manage to reverse her post-slam spiral in the closing weeks of the '11 season, reaching the Osaka final, and then putting forth a nice effort in Istanbul to reach the WTA Championship semifinals. That said, she no longer has a good excuse for the results she's put up Down Under this season. Stosur WON a slam. Not only that, she did it on the biggest of all tennis stages in New York City, and no less than stared down Serena that day, defeating her handily. If she can handle that moment, even if she were to never actually WIN an Australian Open, early exits like this simply will not do. Afterward, the Aussie talked about how Cirstea went for things and tried to take control of the match, and that maybe SHE should have tried to do that. Ummm, yeah. There you have it... proof that winning a grand slam doesn't automatically make you smarter, or give you a tad more courage on gameday.

Maybe Wozniacki should pipe in with something about how winning slams IS great, but if you're going to also fall down coming out of the blocks as often as Stosur does it sort of takes a bit of a shine off the big trophy in the cabinet and makes it look more like a "fluke" than the legit accomplishment brought about by hard work that it actually was. The Dane won't say that... but wouldn't it be great if she did?

Sigh, for Sammy. Let's see, how long before Roland Garros begins?

=DAY 2 NOTES=
...you know what I miss? Stosur's old "Terminator" look on court. Clad in black (or even red), with those eyeball-hiding sunglasses making her seem oblivious to the outside world, she at least LOOKED rather imposing and invulnerable on court a season or two ago, even if the outside exterior belied what was going on on the inside. I'm not sure if she changed clothing sponsors last year or not (I seem to remember that she might have done so), but someone really needs to design something specifically for her. The plain, colorless, formless things she been wearing for the last year or so sometimes make her look as if she's decked out in a potato sack with sewed-on trim. Stosur's muscular build makes her anything but an equal "model" for the same outfits that many others wear (and I DO remember Stosur's attire being EXACTLY the same as a few other players in '11). But the same can be said for Serena, and she generally looks well put together on the court. Not that the clothes necessarily make the player, as Stosur was still slam-less in her "Terminator" days. But, really, when she plays like she did today, she sort of gets hit on all sides, looking uncomfortable on the court, in her clothes and, in the end, in her skin.

Hmmm, maybe I should give "Tim Gunn" a writing credit in this space? Either way, neither Stosur's look nor play was a "major wow factor" today.

...although the heat was present on Tuesday, "Stretcher Watch" didn't claim any racket-wielding victims. For a moment, it looked like Sabine Lisicki might join the list of the fallen, though, as she called for trainers to treat heat-related issues (a headache, an early sign of something worse) late in the 3rd set in her match against qualifier Stefanie Voegele. But another dramatic slam exit from the Baroness didn't happen. In fact, the German seemed to use the moment to help pull herself together and pull a potentially devastating loss out of the wood chipper.

After Lisicki's timeout, Voegele served at 3-2, holding for a 4-2 lead in the deciding set. But she wouldn't win another game, as Lisicki surged to a 6-2/4-6/6-4 win. Truthfully, if she'd lost this match, considering the injury issues Lisicki's already had in '12, it wouldn't have been a HUGE surprise. No more so than Stosur going out early, which really shouldn't have made anyone bat an eyelash. Not that she has a particularly easy road ahead of her now. Her prospective list of opponents, in order, could be Peer, Kuznetsova, Sharapova, Serena and Kvitova. And even if she made it that far, she'd STILL have the final to play. Sheesh.

...elsewhere, Vera Zvonareva had a close call with a Romanian of her own. But, unlike Kvitova and Li in NYC and Stosur today, she prevailed in her 1st Round match, taking out Alexandra Dulgheru 7-6/6-7/6-3.

Speaking of Stosur, she was the last locally-favored player to be dumped from the draw the last two seasons in Melbourne. But, now, with both the top two ranked Australian women (Jarmila Gajdosova lost to Maria Kirilenko) out of the draw, the battle for "Last Aussie Standing" will come down to a battle of survival between the likes of Jelena Dokic ('09 LAS), Casey Dellacqua ('08) and Olivia Rogowska. Of note, in case of a tie (and 0-3 2nd Round record), Dokic will be the last of the three to play her 2nd Round match.

Dokic got a surprisingly routine 6-2/6-1 win on Tuesday over Anna Chakvetadze. During her '09 run to the Oz QF, Dokic also got an early round win over the Russian. She'll next face Marion Bartoli, the same Pastry Dokic lost to quite routinely herself last week in Sydney in a match in which she said afterwards she was held back by a case of nerves. Well, here's her second chance. Truthfully, since Dellacqua isn't likely to repeat her previous Cinderella-esque run, Jelena is now the only female Aussie hope to provide some drama into the second week of this tournament. Odds are, it won't happen, but it'll be interesting to see if the organizers schedule Bartoli/Dokic for a Laver night match with the hope that lightning might strike Damir's daughter once again in the Australian Open.

...LIKES FROM DAY 2: Kvitova's purple shoes, Paszek's in-match facial expressions, and Martina Navratilova on Tennis Channel

...FINAL 64 NOTES: the 1st Round is complete and, as usual, there are more Russians (8) than players from any other nation in the Final 64. Even with Flavia Pennetta being the "First Seed Out," the Italians went 5-1 in the 1st Round, the Germans (without Petkovic) went 4-1, while the Chinese women are 3-1. One pair of sisters -- Agnieszka & Urszula Radwanska -- remain, as well as three Aussies, two wild cards, four qualifiers, and twenty-eight seeded players. As far as my preseason "Grand Slam Master List" rankings are concerned, of the forty-nine players in the main draw from the list's original fifty-four, thirty-six are still alive in the Final 64.

Meanwhile, the Brits have ended their singles participation at this slam. Players from Great Britain went 0-4 -- with all losing on Day 1. Thus, the "Nation of Poor Souls" is pretty easy to determine for this slam.

...and, finally, I'm happy to report that Lindsay Davenport has given birth to a ten-pound little monster... err, I mean baby. Wow, that's pretty big. It's her third child. One more and she and Jon Leach can form their own independant Olympic tennis team, or maybe co-ed wrestling ring?

*AO "CRASH & BURN" LOSERS*
2008 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS (3rd Rd.)
2009 Venus Williams, USA (2nd Rd.)
2010 Maria Sharapova, RUS (1st Rd.)
2011 Jelena Jankovic, SRB (2nd Rd.)
2012 Samantha Stosur, AUS (1st Rd.)

*SLAM "NATIONS OF POOR SOULS"*
[2010]
WI: Great Britain (0-6 1st Rd.)
[2011]
WI: Australia (1-3 1st Rd., Stosur & Dokic losses)
US: Czech Republic (2-5 1st Rd., Kvitova loses)
[2012]
AO: Great Britain (0-4 1st Rd.; all on Day 1)

*STILL STANDING...*
[qualifiers]
Nina Bratchikova, RUS
Chang Kai-Chen, TPE
Jamie Hampton, USA
Paula Ormaechea, ARG
[wild cards]
Casey Dellacqua, AUS
Olivia Rogowska, AUS
[Aussies]
Casey Dellacqua
Jelena Dokic
Olivia Rogowska

*WOMEN'S OVERALL WON/LOST - BY NATION*
[through 1st Rd]
8-6...Russia
5-1...Italy
5-4...Czech Republic
5-5...United States
4-1...Germany
3-1...China
3-6...Australia
3-6...France
2-0...Poland
2-1...Belarus
2-1...Canada
2-1...Serbia
2-1...Slovak Republic
2-3...Spain
2-4...Romania
1-0...Bulgaria
1-0...Denmark
1-0...Estonia
1-0...Georgia
1-0...Greece
1-0...Hungary
1-0...Israel
1-0...Netherlands
1-0...New Zealand
1-0...Taiwan
1-1...Argentina
1-1...Belgium
1-1...Kazakhstan
1-1...Ukraine
==
0-1 = CRO,IND,LUX,POR,RSA,SLO,SUI,THA
0-2 = AUT,JPN,SWE
0-4 = GBR

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: four alive in 2nd Rd.
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Nominees: Dellacqua/AUS & Rogowska/AUS in 2nd Rd.
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: Nominees: Dokic, Dellacqua & Rogowska in 2nd Rd.
IT: xx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK PLAYERS: xx
CRASH & BURN: Nominee: #5 Stosur/AUS (lost 1st Rd. to Cirstea)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: xx
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx

All for Day 2. More tomorrow.

AO.1- The (Belarusian) Butterfly

2012-01-16T13:28:00.000-05:00

Victoria Azarenka's career has seemingly been in the pupa stage for ages. But, on Day 1, the Belarusian continued to show signs of a soon-to-be-full emergence from the chrysalis.

"'Just living is not enough,' said the butterfly, 'one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.'" - Hans Christian Andersen

At 22, Azarenka has already fashioned a pretty impressive career. She's currently the #3-ranked player in the world, is challenging for #1 and just grabbed her ninth career title. Over the last few seasons, the only player who has won more titles or appeared in more finals than Azarenka is the current #1-ranked player in the world. But, make no mistake, Azarenka aches for a grand slam title. Always has. Maybe too much, actually, as her sometimes-violent drive to win has sometimes been her own worst enemy. Well, that is, when it wasn't her seemingly fragile body that let her down in crunchtime. But, then again, sometimes "precious commodities" are also the most fragile, from fine china to would-be princesses of tennis.

"They could see she was a real Princess and no question about it, now that she had felt one pea all the way through twenty mattresses and twenty more feather beds. Nobody but a Princess could be so delicate." - Hans Christian Andersen

In his tournament preview on SI.com, Jon Wertheim took a "put up or shut up" angle on Azarenka at this slam, even going so far in showing his lack of belief in her progress and/or chances that he picked Julia Goerges (????) to reach the semifinals from her quarter, then threw in one of those oh-so-tired cracks about how much noise she makes on the court for good measure. Please, is it possible that Carl, of all "people," has better eyesight when it comes to Azarenka? He actually picked her to win the whole tournament. Personally, I didn't pick Vika to win the title, but I'm pretty far away from Wertheim when it comes to assessing the current state of Azarenka.

Geez, I'm getting a little uncomfortable agreeing with Carl on so many things of late.

From here, I see CLEAR progress when it comes to Azarenka's rise through the ranks, and have to raise an eyebrow at someone as knowledgable as Wertheim issuing such an "ultimatum" at a point in the Belarusian's career where she's actually been looking better than ever for more than a six-month stretch. Just since last summer, she's reached her first career slam SF in London (and pushed eventual champ Petra Kvitova there), put together that great (though ultimately unsuccessful) mini-comeback against a very-in-form Serena, forcing a 2nd set tie-break at the U.S. Open after finding herself down 3-5, love/40 and facing a handful of match points. She also reached a career-high ranking, ended '11 as the only player ranked in the top dozen players in BOTH singles and doubles, and cut back (a bit) on her retirement-to-tournament ratio, as well as (more than quite a bit) on her emotional-turmoil-to-match average. She ended last season, showing her physical improvement, with back-to-back finals (including the WTA Championships, where she once again proved to be possibly the best-equipped of the young twentysomethings to develop a rivalry with Kvitova) and finding herself with a shot at year-end #1. She's opened '12 by reaching a third straight final, winning Sydney by handing Li Na her (so-far) only loss of this season in the final.

On Day 1, she lost the first game of her match with Heather Watson, then put the Brit out of her misery by claiming twelve straight games. It's hard to believe that any top player will manage to be more impressive in their opening round match than she was today. Yes, the Eye of the Belarusian is still looking pretty strong in the very same slam in which she's twice flirted with upsets of Serena in years in which Williams has gone to to win the title, once being forced to retire in intense heat conditions after having dominated the American in their match's early going, then fumbling away a 6-4/4-0 lead against her the last time Serena appeared Down Under.

She got a break today, playing first-up on Laver before the day's heat set in, and avoided the called-for high temperatures on Day 2 (let me say it now... the AO medics should be on "Stretcher Alert" on Tuesday). It translated in Azarenka being the very first player to get a match win at this Australian Open. But she surely wants to get the LAST one someday, in Melbourne, Paris, London or New York. It could happen in less than two weeks, or within the next eight months. Maybe Carl has a crystal ball stashed somewhere in his cave, and Azarenka will sprout butterfly wings by the time she leaves Melbourne? We shall see.

Thing is, Vika might end up getting to #1 before she can win a slam. She certainly wouldn't turn down the honor, but, as her friend Caro might tell her, getting to the top spot "the right way" would be better for ALL involved. Putting the proverbial cart before the horse ('roo?) generally causes more headaches than it's worth.

=DAY 1 NOTES=
... a few seasons ago, Azarenka and Wozniacki used to be compared often in this space, with the Dane generally coming out on top of the conversation. At some point during the second half of the '11 season, that dynamic began to shift. But, for Day 1, I'll go back to (sort of) linking the on-court action of the two off-court friends.

“He found whole figures which represented a written word; but he never could manage to represent just the word he wanted -- that word was 'eternity', and the Snow Queen had said, 'If you can discover that figure, you shall be your own master, and I will make you a present of the whole world and a pair of new skates.' But he could not find it out.” - Hans Christian Andersen

While her Belarusian friend might be getting close to finding a way to link some sort of "eternity" to the memory of her tennis career, the same can't yet be said for Caroline's elusive search for her metaphorical 'roo -- a grand slam title that would immediately change every opinion about her possibly-soon-to-end reign as the women's #1. After just one ESPN2 broadcast, she's been called out for "chasing money" in exhibitions in the offseason, ranted on for commentators angry will having to continue to talk about her, and accused of essentially "embarrassing" the women's game by holding the #1 ranking for so long without even reaching a slam final during her 66 weeks in the top spot. And that was before she'd even taken the court for the first time in this 100th Australian Open.

Although she won on Night 1, nothing happened to change the course of the Wozniacki discussion.

While Azarenka allowed just one game to her opponent, Wozniacki dropped just three in her night match against Aussie Anastasia Rodionova. The Dane's 1st Round match, what with her left wrist injury potentially hampering her best (only?) real groundstroke weapon, was set up to be something of a litmus test for her ability to even come close to surviving a monster quarter of the draw that includes two other former #1-ranked players and a pair of slam winners. Truthfully, though, little was really ascertained by what went on, as Rodionova's penchant for ill-timed errors pretty much made the match a non-contest under the lights on Laver.

Rodionova DID have break points at 2-2 in the 1st set, but her string of errors kept Wozniacki from truly being tested (or that monster-sized locket she had hanging around her neck from bouncing around so much that it threatened to crack the Dane's breastplate from the violent action of her having to chase down balls from one side of the court to the other). As it was, during her 6-2/6-1 win, Wozniacki seemed even more allergic to the baseline, playing farther behind it, and more often, than usual. Hmmm, maybe THAT was the sign that she was worried about her wrist taking the potential punishment associated with having to take balls early? Something to watch in Round 2.

So, Wozniacki's first test of this Australian Open will have to wait. Truthfully, the oddly high number of crickets crawling and jumping around the Laver court surface proved to be more dangerous than Rodionova (hey, those little guys were big -- step on one wrong, and their gushing insides might have caused a player to slip). Anna Tatishvili is next. After that, maybe Monica Niculescu.

...the "almost" result of the day came in the match between #8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (wearing a plain, rather boring green and white outfit... hey, what gives!?). As well as Azarenka played, umm, A-Rad did not. While the Pole stood with the Belarusian in their three-set Sydney semifinal the other day, if they'd met on Day 1 it might have been an ugly affair.

Ultimately, Radwanska won in three sets, but it was mostly because the American wore down as the match went on. BMS was by far the more aggressive of the two, and essentially controlled the flow and outcome of the match. She opened fast, going up 5-2 with two breaks in the 1st, only to see A-Rad force a tie-break. There, Mattek-Sands came back from a 1-5 hole to win 12-10 and claim a set in which she utilized many drop shots and had over forty overall winners. The final scoreline read a 6-7/6-4/6-2 win for Radwanska in more than three hours, but this was surely not the A-Rad who has transformed her game enough over the past six months to become a legit threat in big events. It was more like a lesser version of A-Rad 1.0. She got away with it against BMS, but she might have been blown off the court by one of the tour's better players. It's only one match, but it made one remember that, since her big upset of Sharapova at the Open a number of years ago, Radwanska hasn't exactly been at her best in the slams, even when she's entered in good form (after her good hardcourt season last summer, remember, she went out in the 3rd Round in New York).

Watching her slip through today in a match that likely wouldn't have gotten the ESPN2 treatment if an American wasn't playing in it, I couldn't help but wonder how the commentators would have reacted if it was Wozniacki (who A-Rad beat just last week) scratching out this victory. I'd say she probably would have been raked over the coals. As it was, Radwanska got something of a pass. Other than Mary Joe Fernandez, no one seemed to really have much clue about how A-Rad has upped her game of late with a bit more aggression, good net play and a better first serve. None of that improvement was in evidence during this match. Maybe it was because of the windy conditions, it was surmised by MJF. Maybe it was Mattek-Sands' early play, too. Or maybe it was simply A-Rad, once again pulling her game back a notch in a slam. Her consistency should allow her to get to that Round of 16 match with Francesca Schiavone, but if she plays like this again she might not make the date, after all.

...Kim Clijsters opened up her defense of her '11 title, as well as her final AO, by getting some surprising early push-back from teenage qualifier Maria Joao Koehler of Portugal, as the match stood at 5-5 in the 1st set. Clijsters won the set, and then rushed through the 2nd, though. She didn't have the form that Azarenka showed, but at this point it doesn't really matter. Her first truly BIG match might not come until the 4th Round, where she could meet...

Li Na, who continued her great '12 play by taking out the newest Kazakh, Ksenia Pervak 6-3/6-1 to run the '11 AO runner-up's "unofficial" record to 8-1 this year. The result continues Kazakhstan's poor overall start to this season. At this tournament alone, Pervak's 1st round loss comes on the heels of opening qualifying round losses by Yaroslava Shvedova and Sesil Karatantcheva. Late in the day, at least, Galina Voskoboeva managed to more than uphold her adopted nation's honor, taking out #28 seed Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets. The Belgian's loss proved that a run to the Hobart final this year meant even less than her trip to the Auckland final did a year ago, as she was taken out in the 2nd Round in Melbourne in '11.

Elsewhere, Jelena Jankovic opened strong, taking out qualiifer Laura Robson 6-2/6-0; while 15-year old Aussie wild card Ashleigh Barty lost to Anna Tatishvili.

...LIKES FROM DAY 1: KC's shorter hairdo, and JJ's dress.

...unfortunately, the "First Seed Out" turned out to be #19 Flavia Pennetta, whose last memory of Melbourne was of winning the Doubles title a season ago. But this AO didn't prove to be too kind to Flavia's flavor. She lost to Russian qualifier Nina Bratchikova 6-3/1-6/6-2. This marks the fifth time in the last six years that the first seed to exit in the Australian Open was ousted by a Hordette. And, in the sixth year during the stretch, the honors were done by the aforementioned Voskoboeva, a Moscow-born woman who USED to play for Russia.

The second seed to go bye-bye was #24 Lucie Safarova, sent packing by Christina McHale 6-2/6-4. Making me eat my pre-tournament words, I guess the American is going to be one of those players who can step up her game at the slams, since her slow start to '12 surely didn't make the upset seem a good possibility. Then again, this result also sort of shined the light on Safarova, who showed precisely why we never really know what we're going to get from her.

Meanwhile, McHale's fellow American U.S. Open thriller Irina Falconi wasn't as fortunate as Christina, losing to Alberta Brianti.

...so far, the "additions" to the main draw have found some success. Aussie wild cards Casey Dellacqua and Olivia Rogowska both won, while qualifiers Paula Ormaechea (Q-POW), Nina Bratchikova and Chang Kai-Chen also advanced.

...WEEK 2 AWARDS UPDATE: 17-year old American Grace Min wins the "ITF Player of the Week" award. The U.S. Open junior champ qualified, defeated fellow Bannerette Lauren Davis in the semis, and then defeated Gail Brodsky in the final of the $25K challenger in Innisbrook, Florida to claim her first pro singles title.

Elsewhere, 17-year old Belgian Alison van Uytvanck won the $10K in Glasgow, Scotland. There are really two reasons why I'm mentioning the Waffle's win. One, because I still love that her bio on the ITF website lists "relaxing" under her Personal Interests and, two, because if you combine both Min and van Uytvanck's ages you'd still come up seven years short of the age of Week 1 ITF POW Kimike Date-Krumm (41), who lost her 1st Round match in Melbourne on Monday to Eleni Daniilidou.

In junior action, 17-year old Hordette Daria Salnikova won the G1 Copa Gatorade event in Caracas, Venezuela.

...Chris Evert officially joined ESPN2's Australian Open coverage for the first time on Day 1. She revealed that she actually enjoyed the dastardly Vegemite, and even did a commercial Down Under for the product. That sound you here is her reputation taking a few body blows.

Speaking of ESPN2, coverage kicked off with a 30-35 minute pre-show on Sunday night. I'd say about ninety seconds were devoted to talking about the women's draw. Well, that might be an exaggeration. Maybe it was two minutes, if you count Patrick McEnroe's one-man rant about Wozniacki being the #1-ranked player in the world.

There were so many birds chirping in the background during some of ESPN2's match coverage I almost wondered if, like CBS's coverage of the Masters golf tournament, the noise might be being added electronically to help "create an atmosphere." Sheesh.

So far, so good. No Hannah Storm in sight. Hopefully, the long plane trip to Australia will preclude an appearance. Crossing fingers.

...and, finally, just in case you were wondering, yes, the James Keothavong who served as the chair umpire during the del Potro/Mannarino match on Day 1 IS related to Anne Keothavong. He's her brother. Needlesss to day, he probably had a better day than she did on Monday. Anne was forced to retire after losing the 1st set at love to Mona Barthel (the German's Hobart magic continues, this makes eight straight wins). The loss dropped the Brits to 0-4 in Day 1 matches on the women's side, putting them in prime contention for this slam's Nation of Poor Souls award.

*RECENT AO "FIRST SEED OUT"*
2005 #16 Ai Sugiyama, JPN (lost to Sucha)
2006 #9 Elena Dementieva, RUS (lost to Schruff)
2007 #25 Anabel Medina-Garrigues, ESP (lost to Vesnina)
2008 #32 Julia Vakulenko, UKR (lost to Vesnina)
2009 #23 Agnes Szavay, HUN (lost to Voskoboeva)
2010 #14 Maria Sharapova, RUS (lost to Kirilenko)
2011 #28 Daniela Hantuchova, SVK (lost to Kulikova)
2012 #19 Flavia Pennetta, ITA (lost to Bratchikova)

*RECENT AO "FIRST VICTORY" HONORS*
2009 Patricia Mayr, AUS (def. Schruff)
2010 Dinara Safina, RUS (def. Rybarikova)
2011 Evgeniya Rodina, RUS (def. Rogowska)
2012 Victoria Azarenka, BLR (def. Watson)

TOP QUALIFIER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #3 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (def. Heather Watson/GBR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (1st Rd.- lost to Nina Bratchikova/RUS)
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: xx
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: xx
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: xx
IT: xx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK PLAYERS: xx
CRASH & BURN: xx
ZOMBIE QUEEN: xx
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx

All for Day 1. More tomorrow.

Australian Open Preview: This Slam is Like a Storybook Story

2012-01-15T13:43:00.007-05:00

"Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch." - Hans Christian Andersen

Any time someone wins a slam crown, at least to the player in question, it's somewhat akin to a fairy tale being played out in real life. It will be no different when it comes to which woman ends up being crowned champion of this 100th Australian Open. But, make no mistake, there seem to be a few more classic ready-for-telling stories bouncing around this draw than normal at this time of year. Case in point, SIX different women enter this event with a chance to be at #1 in the rankings two weeks from now. But that's not the only storyline.

Serena Williams is trying to return to the winner's circle at the tournament that she'd won in back-to-back years before her absence a year ago, and Melbourne would seem to be as good a place as any (and maybe even better that most) to finally get un-stuck from that thirteen career slam titles total which has proven to be quite "unlucky" for her since the achievement preceded, literally by mere days, her string of serious health scares. Meanwhile, Kim Clijsters is the AO's defending champion, and in what is supposed to be her "farewell" season, this will likely be the Belgian's final competitive appearance in Oz. A second title would surely be her preferred carry-on baggage when she boards the plane to leave the nation that has essentially "adopted" her over the years. Petra Kvitova is looking to back up her Wimbledon crown and late-season mastery by officially rising to the top of women's tennis via a second slam crown and the #1 ranking that would go with it. Li Na, at the slam that announced her as a major title contender twelve months ago, is looking for a bit of redemption, not just for the slam final she lost to Clijsters, but for the forgettable results she put up last season after she won Roland Garros. Then there's Samantha Stosur, the still newly-minted U.S. Open champ, trying to bring her success back home; and Victoria Azarenka, trying to follow Kvitova into the early twentysomething slam winner's club, as well as maybe kick up something of a rivalry with the Czech who could do battle with her at many stops along the schedule in '12.

Of course, the player with the most "fairy tale-like" scenarios floating around her is world #1 Caroline Wozniacki. She's armed with a new coach in Ricardo Sanchez, and one has to wonder if the working relationship between the Spaniard and the Dane might be shaped, for good or for bad, by how things play out in Melbourne. Wozniacki's quest for her first slam title -- the search for her metaphorical 'roo -- is looking like it's ready to begin a new chapter. Whether the turn in the story will be for the good or bad, though, is yet to be determined. She barely held onto her #1 ranking in Sydney, and will be hard-pressed to head home with it in two weeks. Throw in a very sticky draw (Li AND Clijsters in her quarter?) and the left wrist she injured in Sydney, and the earlier notion that THIS particular AO might provide her best shot to win a slam in a career-defining '12 season will be sorely tested.

Actually, that thought might have already fallen by the wayside. As I've done if recent slams, I've tried to put together a quick "short list" of the players I think begin play on Day 1 being CAPABLE of winning the title, and the list ended at six. Wozniacki wasn't on it but, then again, neither are '08 champ Maria Sharapova nor prospective-contender-a-few-weeks-ago Samantha Stosur. The list? Serena, Clijsters, Kvitova, Li, Azarenka and Bartoli. That's it. That's the list.

Finally, with the whole fairy tale tie-in, it should be noted that installing Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-75) as my "writing partner" for this slam seems like a natural. Hopefully, his long-ago words and wisdom will provide some additional context for the happenings of the next two weeks just as his countryman Søren Kierkegaard and Yogi Berra have before him. Now, Andersen WAS born in Odense, Denmark, just like that other aforementioned Dane. But that doesn't mean Wozniacki is being touted in this space as the eventual "fairy tale champion" in Melbourne.

Of course, if that DID happen, though, it would be nice to have HCA's words helping to pave the way, huh?

"To move, to breath, to fly, to float. To gain all while you give. To roam the roads of lands remote. To travel is to live." - Hans Christian Andersen

Here's a quick overview of the draw, quarter-by-quarter:

=WOZNIACKI QUARTER=
...Caro gets no favors from this draw. The (female) Dane comes to Melbourne as the #1 seed once again and, after sweating it out in Sydney, she's still the #1-ranked player, too. But it's hard to see her as anything better than than third-most likely player to emerge from her quarter, which sports BOTH finalists from last year.
=============================
*POWER RANKINGS*
1. Kim Clijsters, BEL
2. Li Na, CHN
3. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
4. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
5. Lucie Safarova, CZE
THE BRACKET BUSTER: Ksenia Pervak/KAZ... sure, the new Kazakh's 1st Round opponent is Li Na, the '11 runner-up and the same woman who has looked in great form so far Down Under. But it's also the same Li who went out in the 1st Round in NYC last summer, too. As good as Li has looked, it still wouldn't be shocking to see her tripped up early. And if she DOES go out, the draw opens up a bit, especially if Clijsters' injury issues (new or old) resurface.
THE WILD CARD: #31 Monica Niculescu/ROU... she's not off to a great '12 start, but she reached the Round of 16 at the Open last year. The Romanian is a possible 3rd Round opponent for Wozniacki.
DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS: #13 Jelena Jankovic/SRB... she got the "unlucky" #13 seed with Petkovic's exit, and has to live with the prospect of meeting Wozniacki -- and ex-coach Ricardo Sanchez -- in the Round of 16. JJ might be a bit too adrift at the moment to mount a charge to that match, though, and a 3rd Rounder with the always-potentially-tough Safarova might be too much to overcome.
THE POOR SOUL: Speaking of Safarova, her 1st Round opponent could be Christina McHale, in her first slam action since her U.S. Open heroics. McHale has already lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in '12, the same Russian the American beat TWICE in her breakthrough '11 season. The "Year After Rules" might mean McHale is ousted in the opening round in Melbourne.
=MATCHES OF NOTE=
2nd Rd. - #1 Wozniacki vs. Barty (WC)
...the 15-year old gets her time in the spotlight. If the match happens, would it be scheduled at night... possibly ending way past the Aussie's bedtime?
4th Rd - #1 Wozniacki vs. #13 Jankovic
...come on, who doesn't want to see the screwy dynamics of this one play out in real time?
4th Rd. - #5 Li vs. #11 Clijsters
...if Li were to win it, she might be the favorite for the title.

=AZARENKA QUARTER=
...Sydney champ Azarenka, on a three-tournament run of appearances in finals going back to last year, is looking good coming into Melbourne. And, unlike Wozniacki, her draw doesn't include the likes of Clijsters and Li... or Serena, Stosur, Bartoli, Sharapova or Kvitova, either. A-Rad is an intriguing prospect, but Vika has already beaten her once in '12.
=============================
*POWER RANKINGS*
1. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2. Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
3. Francesca Schiavone, ITA
4. Flavia Pennetta, ITA
5. Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
THE BRACKET BUSTER: #19 Flavia Pennetta/ITA... she's dealing with a back injury, and Melbourne doesn't have the same Flavor of Flavia potential that NYC traditionally has for the Italian. But she's definitely lurking in this quarter's shadows.
THE WILD CARD: #10 Francesca Schiavone/ITA... Melbourne isn't Paris, either. But Schiavone returns to the Australian one year after her record-breaking 4:44 match of '11, and is nestled in a spot in the draw that could lead to a very intriguing Round of 16 match against A-Rad.
DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS: #16 Peng Shuai/CHN... Peng reached the Round of 16 at three slams last year, but that 1st Round match against Wild Card Aravane Rezai sets off all sorts of "upset alert" bells and whistles.
THE POOR SOUL: The highest-ranking Germans have been driving off into the ditch through the season's first two weeks, and there's no reason to expect anything different in Melbourne. #22 Julia Goerges might be the first to exit, possibly at the hands of Polona Hercog in the 1st Round.
=MATCHES OF NOTE=
1st Rd. - Dellacqua (WC) vs. Jovanovski
...Dellacqua, the Round of 16 star of '08, faces the transportation-impaired Serb, who recently followed up her Carlsbad plane trip fiasco with a fender bender in a courtesy car in Sydney. They'll meet as long as Bojo manages to show up for the match on time, and it one piece.
3rd Rd. - Barthel vs. #3 Azarenka
...the German was an unlikely star in Hobart. Could it possibly translate in Melbourne?
4th Rd. - #8 A.Radwanska vs. #10 Schiavone
...neither are likely to win this tournament, but they could contribute with a wonderfully fascinating match here, as two of the most creative players on tour try to out-clever each other.

=SHARAPOVA QUARTER=
...Sharapova is the high seed in this quarter, but she's hardly the main topic of conversation. Setting aside her serve's inability to hold up for seven straight matches, she's had a very slow return from her late '11 ankle injury... and her first competitive match of the season will come against Dulko in the 1st Round. Don't be shocked if something "weird" happens there. With all due respect to Maria, Kaia, Vera, Sabine and the rest, the story of this quarter begins and ends with one player: Serena.
=============================
*POWER RANKINGS*
1. Serena Williams, USA
2. Kaia Kanepi, EST
3. Maria Sharapova, RUS
4. Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
5. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
THE BRACKET BUSTER: #25 Kaia Kanepi/EST... as she showed in Brisbane (and Wimbledon), the Estonian has the potential to cause a little havoc. She could get Zvonareva early, and maybe Serena in the Round of 16. No easy days there. But things could fall her way, and if you're looking for a true dark horse contender for a SF or Final run, Kanepi might not be a bad bet.
THE WILD CARD: #18 Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS... the Contessova is always a potential champion, if she dares to fully put her mind to it. She's started off '12 in good form, and could slip through to the 4th Round to possibly face Sharapova. A win there and she could get Serena in the QF.
DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS: #14 Sabine Lisicki/GER... once upon a time, the thought was that Lisicki might be a threat a this tournament. One abdominal muscle injury just a few matches into Week 1 and that has changed. She's got a workable draw in the opening rounds, but I won't be holding my breath waiting to see her reach the second week.
THE POOR SOUL: Tamira Paszek/AUT... she'll face Serena in the 1st Round. Williams is 45-0 in 1st Round matches in grand slams.
=MATCHES OF NOTE=
1st Rd. - #7 Zvonareva vs. Dulgheru
...Dulgheru made Kvitova the "First Seed Out" at the U.S. Open, and pushed her to three sets in Sydney. I don't quite know why I'm down on Zvonareva this season, but until further notice, I guess I'll continue to be.
1st Rd. - #14 Lisicki vs. Voegele (Q)
...just to see if Sabine can make it through the match. Her injury-related slam exits have a tendency to be quite dramatic, you know.
3rd Rd. - #4 Sharapova vs. #4 Kerber
...Sharapova, already with no tune-up events under her belt, just does not have an easy potential road in this tournament.

=KVITOVA QUARTER=
...Li is nowhere to be found in her quarter, so maybe Petra will find safe passage through to the SF. After Week 1, no one had been able to find a way to defeat Kvitova since last fall. After Week 2, one person had... Kvitova herself. Sure, Li has proven resilient and intelligent in how she's handled herself in recent come-from-behind wins over the Czech, but those results don't happen if Kvitova's slippage doesn't let her back into a pair of matches that seemed about fifteen minutes from ending. Of course, maybe, as was the case when Petra blew that match against Bartoli right before Wimbledon, that frustrating loss in Sydney will serve to remind Kvitova about the need to not go full-tilt on EVERY shot when a more simple, cleaner game is sometimes all that is necessary to close out a match. It worked as a great learning experience for her in London. In Melbourne? We'll see.
=============================
*POWER RANKINGS*
1. Petra Kvitova, CZE
2. Marion Bartoli, FRA
3. Samantha Stosur, AUS
4. Maria Kirilenko, RUS
5. Nadia Petrova, RUS
THE BRACKET BUSTER: Anyone Who Plays Samantha Stosur in the First Three Rounds... since winning in NYC, Stosur has spoken like a grand slam champion, but she left her big stick at home during 2012's opening weeks. Will two disheartening results be enough to bring down her always-shaky confidence? We'll find out in the first few rounds. She'll face Sorana Cirstea first, then Alison Riske or Urszula Radwanska. After that? Maybe Nadia Petrova. Oh, Nadia... do you have it in you?
THE WILD CARD: #6 Samantha Stosur/AUS... all that previously said, Stosur will probably be treated to a series of night matches on Laver and a very favorable crowd. The nighttime was the right time for her in NYC, and it might bring back good memories of her title run there.
DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS: #15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS... she seemed on the brink of a slam breakthrough in '11, but her results have been very lacking in the season's first two weeks.
THE POOR SOUL: Anna Chakvetadze/RUS or Jelena Dokic/AUS... they meet in the 1st Round, so one will leave Melbourne very unhappy. Of note, in their only previous meeting, Dokic defeated the Russian in the 2nd Round during her Story of the Tournament run to the AO quarterfinals in '09.
=MATCHES OF NOTE=
1st Rd. - #9 Bartoli vs. Razzano
...hmmm, has it really already been almost three years since the Pastries had a bit of a "disagreement" about the lengths that Bartoli would go to to win matches?
2nd Rd. - #2 Kvitova vs. Begu
...Kvitova has already had a few nightmares about a Romanian opponent in a slam.
2nd Rd. - #9 Bartoli vs. Dokic
...Dokic admitted to a case of nerves in her ugly-ish loss to La Trufflette in Sydney. But JD's heart can grow ten sizes one day in a slam. I'm picking Bartoli to go through if this match happens, but if The Fair One pulled off an upset here a certain Backspinner would have another one of those Jelena-inspired flashback moments.

=QUALIFYING ROUNDS=
TOP PLAYER: Paula Ormaechea/ARG
...the Argentine notched wins over Coco Vandeweghe, as well as "professional slam qualifiers" Hsieh Su-Wei & Yvonne Meusburger.
RISERS: Jamie Hampton/USA & Valeria Savinykh/RUS
SURPRISES: Irena Pavlovic/FRA & Maria Joao Koehler/POR
VETERANS: Andrea Hlavackova/CZE & Nina Bratchikova/RUS
FRESH FACES: Laura Robson/GBR & Alison Riske/USA
DOWN: #1 Vesna Dolonts/RUS (1q) & Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ (1q)
OTHER QUALIFIERS: Chang Kai-Chen/TPE, Varvara Lepchenko/USA & Stefanie Voegele/SUI
WILD CARDS: Ashleigh Barty/AUS (won WC Playoff), Bojana Bobusic/AUS, Casey Dellacqua/AUS, Isabella Holland/AUS, Madison Keys/USA, Aravane Rezai/FRA, Olivia Rogowska/AUS, Zhang Shuai/CHN
LUCKY LOSER: none so far

=QUALIFYING MATCHES=
Q1: Kiki Bertens/NED d. #1 Vesna Dolonts/RUS 6-0/4-0 ret.
...Dolonts was Backspin's Q-Player of the Week at last year's AO.
Q1: Bibiane Schoofs/NED d. Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ 6-4/3-6/11-9
...the Kazakhs are REALLY slow out of the gates in '12.
Q1: #14 Laura Robson/GBR d. Melanie Oudin/USA 6-3/6-4
...oh, the coming-of-age stories they could relate to one another. In between the ten match points it took to end this one, that is.

*AO "Q-PLAYER OF THE WEEK" WINNERS*
2006 Ashley Harkleroad, USA
2007 Julia Vakulenko, UKR
2008 Julia Schruff, GER
2009 Elena Baltacha, GBR
2010 Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
2011 Vesna Manasieva (Dolonts), RUS
2012 Paula Ormaechea, ARG

*SLAM QUALIFYING STREAKS*
=TWO CONSECUTIVE SLAMS=
Laura Robson, GBR
=TWO CONSECUTIVE AO's=
Jamie Hampton, USA

*PREVIEW NOTES*
...top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki sits atop the Australian Open women's draw for the second straight season. Ranked #1 for the sixth consecutive slam, her's is the longest such streak by any woman since Martina Hingis was the top seed at eleven straight slams from 1998 to 2001.

=LONG #1 SLAM SEED STREAKS - last 15 years=
11 - Martina Hingis, '98 RG to '01 US
7 - Martina Hingis, '97 RG to '98 US
6 - CAROLINE WOZNIACKI, '10 US to '12 AO
4 - Serena Williams, '02 US to '03 WI
4 - Justine Henin, '07 RG to '08 AO
3 - Lindsay Davenport, '05 AO to '05 WI
3 - Amelie Mauresmo, '06 RG to '06 US
3 - Dinara Safina, '09 RG to '09 US

Meanwhile, the Dane's Monte Carlo neighbor, world #1 Novak Djokovic, comes to Melbourne as the #1 seed at a slam for the second straight time. The last man not named either Roger or Rafa to be top-seeded at back-to-back slams was Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon in '03. It was the Aussie's last of seven straight slams as the top seed.

...while six different women have lifted slams in the past two years (and twelve players since '06), the three-headed monster -- Djokovic, Nadal & Federer -- at the top of men's tennis has cornered the slam market. They've won 26 of 27 slams, and 28 of 30 going back to the '04 season. And while the legendary Nadal/Federer combo once combined to take a men's record eleven consecutive slam crowns, the Djokovic/Nadal twosome isn't far behind. The two men have shared the last seven slams, the second-longest men's streak for a pair of players.

=LONG ATP SLAM TITLES STREAKS - TWO PLAYERS=
11 - Federer/Nadal, 2005-07
7 - DJOKOVIC/NADAL, 2010-11
6 - Sampras/Bruguera, 1993-94
5 - Borg/Connors, 1974-75

Djokovic and Nadal, of course, are on opposites sides of the draw, so they could meet in the final. If they do, it'd be their fourth meeting in a slam final, a number which would move them in to a tie for fourth on the all-time men's list.

=MOST SLAM FINAL MATCH-UPS - MEN=
8 - Federer/Nadal
5 - Agassi/Sampras
5 - Lendl-Wilander
4 - Borg/Connors
4 - Borg/McEnroe
4 - Federer/Roddick
-
(3-Djokovic/Nadal)

...Federer, for his part, is appearing in his 49th consecutive slam, and is closing in on Wayne Ferreira's record of 56. Francesca Schiavone will appear in her 46th straight, the longest such run on the women's tour. But she's still quite a few behind the WTA's all-time leader -- Ai Sugiyama, who had 62.

...Serena Williams comes into Melbourne with a 14-match winning streak in Melbourne, having won the title in her last two appearances in 2009-10. With 51 career wins at the Australian Open, Williams stands just nine victories behind the tournament's all-time leader, Margaret Court (60). With 208 career slam wins, Serena can move past her sister Venus (210) with three victories. Meanwhile, Roger Federer, who became the all-time AO men's match win leader (w/ 59) last year, needs just five more match wins in Melbourne to pass Jimmy Connors on the men's all-time grand slam match win list for the Open Era.

=ALL-TIME SLAM MATCH WINS - OPEN ERA=
[women]
306...Martina Navratilova
299...Chris Evert
278...Steffi Graf
210...Venus Williams
210...Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
208...Serena Williams
[men]
232...Jimmy Connors
228...Roger Federer
224...Andre Agassi
222...Ivan Lendl
203...Pete Sampras

...before Andrea Petkovic's injury-related withdrawal from the tournament, Serena had been set to be the #13-seed. No #13-seed has ever been lucky enough to win a slam singles crown. But the German's exit lifted Williams up to #12 (Capriati's '01 title in Australia was as the #12 seed), so the 30-year old American is at least no longer fighting against history on the front. Speaking of "unseen forces," just this past week, Kim Clijsters talked of feeling some sort of spooky "connection" with her late father because of the many odd times that she encounters multiple number's "1's" (such as waking up and seeing the clock reading 1:11) and certain music that she happens to hear playing at big moments in her career. She won her last slam title in Melbourne in '11, and Petkovic's exit changed HER seeding, too. Rather than be #12, she's now, wait for it... #11. Are the numbers trying to tell us something? No #11-seed has won a slam, though.

...at least one Russian woman has reached the semifinals at twenty-seven of the last thirty-one slams, but if none make it that far in Melbourne it would mark the second straight slam at which no Hordette was in the final four.

...meanwhile, women's wheelchair champ Esther Vergeer is back for more. The 19-time slam singles champion Dutch woman has won 434 straight matches, a run that dates back to January 2003.

"Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale." - Hans Christian Andersen

=ROUND OF 16 PREDICTIONS=
#1 Wozniacki d. #24 Safarova
#11 Clijsters d. #5 Li
#3 Azarenka d. #19 Pennetta
#8 A.Radwanska d. #10 Schiavone
#12 S.Williams d. #25 Kanepi
#18 Kuznetsova d. #4 Sharapova
#9 Bartoli d. #6 Stosur
#2 Kvitova d. #21 Ivanovic

=QUARTERFINAL PREDICTIONS=
#11 Clijsters d. #1 Wozniacki
#3 Azarenka d. #8 A.Radwanska
#12 S.Williams d. #18 Kuznetsova
#2 Kvitova d. #9 Bartoli

=SEMIFINAL PREDICTIONS=
#11 Clijsters d. #3 Azarenka
#12 S.Williams d. #2 Kvitova

=FINAL PREDICTION=
#12 S.Williams d. #11 Clijsters

...yeah, this was my AO prediction before the year even began. With both players having injury issues in Week 1 (though they say their ailments either aren't serious, or are getting better every day), there was a slight waver on my part when it comes to sticking with it. Well, at least when it came to Clijsters. Serena has won multiple AO titles in the past while dealing with injuries, inactivity, near-losses or all of the above. With Clijsters, her injuries tend to mount... and usually lead to early defeats. If they're both healthy for two weeks, it's hard to pick against the the winners of the last three AO titles reaching the final. Once there, it'd be anyone's title. Five-time champ Serena has a special connection with the AO when it comes to success, but KC has that whole "Aussie Kim," last appearance Down Under, defending champion, psychic connection to multiple "1's" (and her late bump-up to the #11 seed with Andrea Petkovic's exit certainly had to make her heart skip a beat) thing(s) going for her.

"Why didn't they choose a Danish composer?" - Hans Christian Andersen

...as far as the men are concerned, don't expect anyone or anything (not even Carl) to even think about picking two double-digit seeds in the final. With the ATP field, it's just a matter of whether or not ALL the semifinalist slots will be filled by Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray. The foursome has filled at least three of the four spots in the last six slams, and twice last year they filled them all.

=ROUND OF 16 PREDICTIONS=
#1 Djokovic d. #23 Raonic
#9 Tipsarevic d. #5 Ferrer
#4 Murray d. #19 Troicki
#6 Tsonga d. #12 Simon
#11 del Potro d. #8 Fish
#3 Federer d. #22 Verdasco
#7 Berdych d. Baghdatis
#2 Nadal d. #16 Isner

=QUARTERFINAL PREDICTIONS=
#1 Djokovic d. #9 Tipsarevic
#6 Tsonga d. #4 Murray
#3 Federer d. #11 del Potro
#2 Nadal d. #7 Berdych

=SEMIFINAL PREDICTIONS=
#1 Djokovic d. #6 Tsonga
#3 Federer d. #2 Nadal

=FINAL PREDICTION=
#1 Djokovic d. #3 Federer

**MOST SLAM #1 SEEDS - ACTIVE PLAYERS**
8...Serena Williams, USA
6...CAROLINE WOZNIACKI, DEN
3...Maria Sharapova, RUS
3...Dinara Safina, RUS
2...Ana Ivanovic, SRB
1...Kim Clijsters, BEL
1...Jelena Jankovic, SRB
1...Venus Williams, USA

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN TOP SEEDS*
2003 Serena Williams (W)
2004 Justine Henin-Hardenne (W)
2005 Lindsay Davenport (RU)
2006 Lindsay Davenport (QF)
2007 Maria Sharapova (RU)
2008 Justine Henin (QF)
2009 Jelena Jankovic (4th)
2010 Serena Williams (W)
2011 Caroline Wozniacki (SF)
2012 Caroline Wozniacki

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINALS - IN 2012 DRAW*
5 - Serena Williams (5-0)
2 - Kim Clijsters (1-1)
2 - Maria Sharapova (1-1)
1 - Ana Ivanovic (0-1)
1 - Li Na (0-1)

*RECENT AUSTRALIAN OPEN SEMIFINALISTS*
2006: Mauresmo (W) - Henin-Hardenne (RU) - Sharapova/Clijsters
2007: S.Williams (W) - Sharapova (RU) - Clijsters/Vaidisova
2008: Sharapova (W) - Ivanovic (RU) - Jankovic/Hantuchova
2009: S.Williams (W) - Safina (RU) - Zvonareva/Dementieva
2010: S.Williams (W) - Henin (RU) - Li/Zheng
2011: Clijsters (W) - Li (RU) - Zvonareva/Wozniacki

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN GIRLS FINALS - since 2000*
2000 Aniko Kapros/HUN def. Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez/ESP
2001 Jelena Jankovic/SRB def. Sofia Arvidsson/SWE
2002 Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova/CZE def. Maria Sharapova/RUS
2003 Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova/CZE def. Victoriya Kutuzova/UKR
2004 Shahar Peer/ISR def. Nicole Vaidisova/CZE
2005 Victoria Azarenka/BLR def. Agnes Szavay/HUN
2006 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS def. Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
2007 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS def. Madison Brengle/USA
2008 Arantxa Rus/NED def. Jessica Moore/AUS
2009 Ksenia Pervak/RUS def. Laura Robson/GBR
2010 Karolina Pliskova/CZE def. Laura Robson/GBR
2011 An-Sophie Mestach/BEL def. Monica Puig/PUR

**FIRST-TIME SLAM CHAMPS AT AUSTRALIAN OPEN**
[Open Era]
1977 Kerry Melville-Reid, AUS
1978 Chris O'Neil, AUS
1979 Barbara Jordan, USA
1980 Hana Mandlikova, CZE
1995 Mary Pierce, FRA
1997 Martina Hingis, SUI
2001 Jennifer Capriati, USA
2006 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA

All for now. Day 1 awaits.

Wk.2- Bare Bones Backspin: Carl & the Carla Introduction

2012-01-14T16:04:00.003-05:00

Backspin is bare-boned.

Hello, puny soon-to-be-squished-by-Carl tennis fans. Me Carl. Carl tired from all extra work stupid Todd pass off to me so far this season. He lazy. Carl strong. Carl no sleep if no want to, and time occupied more lately than normal now that Carl have Carla. Carla Carl's woman, and want Carl to officially introduce her this week. Carla not so happy with small role in Christmastime post -- again, Todd fault -- so Carl must do honors. Carl meet Carla in Central Park after U.S. Open last summer. Both out looking for breakfast. Some puny clown snap photo of our first meeting and it go viral and cause Carl all sorts of headaches from many groups. Carl hate Twitter. No worry, though. Carl squish photographer. Photographer not seen since. Never will be.

But, still, photo now in Carla photo folder on new computer Carl steal for her. Carl not sure if Carla like photo. Carl feel Carla may use against Carl sometime in future. Here picture:

Carla calm Carl a little. But no mean Carl not in squishing mood after once again getting no champion picks right in Week 2!!!!!! Think Todd doing something to make Carl pick wrong. Carla listen to "Coast-to-Coast AM" radio show and believe in mind control. Carl looking into it. Carl no put past Todd. Carl will squish Todd. Someday.

*WEEK 2 CHAMPIONS*
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (Premier $637K/hard outdoor)
S: Victoria Azarenka d. Li Na 6-1/1-6/6-3
D: Peschke/Srebotnik d. Huber/Raymond
HOBART, AUSTRALIA (Int'l $220K/hard outdoor)
S: Mona Barthel d. Yanina Wickmayer 6-1/6-2
D: Begu/Niculescu d. Chuang/Erakovic

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Victoria Azarenka/BLR

...Vika coming of age? Win Sydney in third consecutive appearance in tour singles final going back to 2011 season. Big wins over Jankovic, Bartoli, A.Radwanska and Li sends to Melbourne confident, and one of six women with shot at #1 ranking in two weeks.
=============================
RISER: Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
...get easy win in unwanted 1st Round match against sister Urszula, plus beat Petkovic and Wozniacki (both injured, though) to reach Sydney SF. Look like same player from late '11. A LONG AND CONVOLUTED (thank Carla for word) way from #1, but is (technically) one of the six woman who can rise to #1 after Melbourne.
=============================
SURPRISE: Angelique Kerber/GER
...German first to reach two singles SF in 2012. 0-2 there, though, after wins over Vesnina, Errani and Cirstea got her to final four in Hobart one week after Auckland.
=============================
COMEBACK: Anna Chakvetadze/RUS
...long road back for Russian, but showing signs that getting close. Reach Hobart QF after wins over Niculescu and Pironkova, then retire from match against Peer with cramping. Carl try to vote for Anna, but chased from polling place with sticks of fire. Carl still hate fire.
=============================
VETERANS: Li Na/CHN & Kveta Peschke/Katarina Srebotnik (CZE/SLO)
...Li win first seven matches in 2012 (three in Hopman, four in Sydney), including over Bartoli in Perth, then Safarova and Kvitova while trying to defend '11 title. Lose three-setter to Azarenka, but Carl intrigued by Na chances in Melbourne. Peschke/Srebotnik top doubles team in '11, but trumped (wink, Carla) in last half of year by Huber/Raymond. In first meeting in '12, though, they strike back and defeat 13-11 in deciding super tie-break to win final over American pair. Their ninth title as team.
=============================
FRESH FACE: Mona Barthel/GER
...21-year old, ranked #64, HUGE week in Hobart. Qualify, then win first career tour singles title. Defeat defending champion (Gajdosova, QF), #2 seed (Medina-Garrigues, 2nd Rd.) and #1 seed (Wickmayer, in Final) along way. "Fourth-best" German? Carl wonder.
=============================
DOWN: Andrea Petkovic/GER
...Lisicki retire Week 1. Goerges retire Week 2. Petkovic withdraw from AO, and out 6-8 weeks with back injury. So long, Top 10 ranking. Curse of Steffi???? Oh, well. At least "unknown" countrywomen, Barthel and Kerber, taking up slack.
=============================

1. Syd SF - Li d. Kvitova
...1-6/7-5/6-2. Kvitova lead 6-1/3-1, with same ease as Carl snap enemy's femur in fight. But start to miss shots, and Li back in match like in Paris last year when Czech lose 3-0 3rd set lead against her. Fool once, shame no Na. Fool twice, shame on Petra. Kvitova know it, too. Toss racket twice in match. Unlike her. End unofficial 18-match, four-event winning streak.
=============================
2. Syd QF - A.Radwanska d. Wozniacki
...3-6/7-5/6-2. Caro go from 4-1 down in 2nd to serving for match at 5-4. Injure left wrist, but no want to retire. Lose match, but end up keeping #1 ranking when Kvitova lose later in day. MRI on wrist show "no major damage," but make Carl not want to pick Dane in Melbourne.
=============================
3. Syd F - Azarenka d. Li 6-1/1-6/6-3
Syd SF - Azarenka d. A.Radwanska 1-6/6-3/6-2
...Carl impressed by Vika coming back from very poor sets to put away matches in Sydney. Carl pick Li to win title, but no want to squish anything in end. Carl interested in watching Azarenka in Aussie Open.
=============================
4. Syd 2nd Rd - Wozniacki d. Cibulkova
...7-5/2-6/6-4. Wozniacki back from 4-0 hole in 3rd. Still, no good way to go into Australian Open.
=============================
5. Syd 2nd Rd - Kvitova d. Dulgheru
...7-5/3-6/6-4. Kvitova almost have flashback to Dulgheru making Czech First Seed Out at last year's U.S. Open. Romanian play #7 Zvonareva in 1st Round in AO.
=============================
6. Hob F - Barthel d. Wickmayer 6-1/6-2
Hob Doubles F - Begu/Niculescu d. Chuang/Erakovic 6-7/7-6/10-5
...Haha! Todd say last week that Romanian "due" to win title, and pick Begu as singles champ. She lose in 2nd Round, but then she and Niculescu (second Romanian) DO win title -- in doubles! Carl still laughing at Todd about that one.
=============================
7. Syd 1st Rd - Jankovic d. Goerges
...6-1/3-1 ret. Carl think JJ soon looking ahead in AO draw and seeing Wozniacki (and ex-coach Ricardo Sanchez) possibly waiting for her there. Carl think she maybe get distracted and not make it that far herself.
=============================
8. Syd Q - Arvidsson d. Dulgheru 6-7/7-6/7-5
Syd 1st Rd - Dulgheru d. Arvidsson 6-1/6-1
...Dulgheru like second chances. But, in 2nd Round against Alexandra, so did Petra.
=============================
9. Syd Doub 1st Rd - Arvidsson/Dokic d. Dulgheru/Krajicek
...6-1/6-3. Arvidsson like third chances.
=============================
10. Hob 1st Rd - Pironkova d. Watson
...7-6/3-6/7-6. Carl think Tsvetana see Heather and think back at Wimbledon. Naturally, Pironkova then win.
=============================
HM- Hob 1st Rd - Cirstea d. Pervak
...6-2/7-6. Pervak lose 1st Round. Voskoboeva lost 1st Round, too. Sesil lose first round of AO qualifying. Not good week for Kazakh women's tennis.
=============================

1. AO Q1 - Pavlovic d. Kr.Pliskova 1-6/6-3/7-5
AO Q1 - Bratchikova d. Ka.Pliskova 6-1/6-2
...bad week for Pliskova sisters, too.
=============================
2. AO Q1 - Flipkens d. E.Sema 6-1/6-2
AO Q1 - Chang d. Y.Sema 6-4/6-3
...ditto for Semas.
=============================
3. Hob Doub QF - K.Bondarenko/An.Rodionova d. Hradecka/Medina-Garrigues
...7-6/3-6/10-6. In case of cross-sister power sharing, two halves of two sibling pairs knock off #1-seeded team in Hobart.
=============================

**DEFEATED DEFENDING CHAMPION & TOP SEED, WON TITLE**
[since 2009]
2009 Miami - Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2009 Quebec City - Melinda Czink, HUN
2009 Seoul - Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
2009 Osaka - Samantha Stosur, AUS
2010 Palermo - Kaia Kanepi, EST
2010 Stanford - Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2011 Auckland - Greta Arn, HUN
2011 Pattaya - Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
2012 HOBART - MONA BARTHEL, GER

**MOST WTA FINALS**
[since 2009]
24...Caroline Wozniacki (15-9)
13...VICTORIA AZARENKA (9-4)
12...Vera Zvonareva (5-7)
11...Maria Sharapova (5-6)
[since 2010]
16...Caroline Wozniacki (12-4)
10...VICTORIA AZARENKA (6-4)
10...Vera Zvonareva (3-7)

**WTA TITLES - 2010-12**
12...Caroline Wozniacki
6...VICTORIA AZARENKA
6...Kim Clijsters
6...Petra Kvitova
4...Maria Sharapova
4...Roberta Vinci
4...Serena Williams

Carl pick five events so far. Three of Carl's champion picks reach final, but Carl still with NO CHAMPIONS CORRECT!!!! Carl want to squish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*WOMEN*
=QF=
li d. wozniacki
azarenka d. schiavone
s.williams d. kuznetsova
bartoli d. kvitova
=SF=
azarenka d. li
bartoli d. s.williams
=FINAL=
azarenka d. bartoli

...Carl think Vika ready. Carl trying to get leg up on Todd. Carl know HE not picking Azarenka.

*MEN*
=QF=
djokovic d. ferrer
murray d. tsonga
federer d. fish
nadal d. dimitrov
=SF=
murray d. djokovic
federer d. nadal
=FINAL=
federer d. murray

...Roger still classic. Just like Carl.

Carl must go now. Carla want Carl to find food, but no want Carl to catch and kill food. Want Carl to go to store and BUY it! Carla domesticated (Carl admit she type out word), and want Carl to be, too. Carl not sure want it, though. Sigh. Carl go look for place to buy food, while dream of finding enemy to squish along way. Could be gone all weekend.

Carla want Carl to post formal picture taken by professional photographer. Look all right. But Carl never stand still that long again.

Anyway, Carl see you... eventually.

Wk.1- Act 1, Scene 1 (2012)

2012-01-09T02:00:00.003-05:00

So, 2012 began just as 2011 ended... with no one being able to find a way to defeat Petra Kvitova.

Of course, the new season also opened to a repeat of the type of injuries problems that have so often wreaked havoc with what might have been great WTA seasons in recent years. Not one, not two, not three, but four Top 20 players exited Week 1 via an injury-related retirement or walkover (and then the year-end #21 just retired in the 1st Round of play for Week 2, as well).

But, hey, at least we had a #1 vs. #2 match to chew on a bit.

While current world #2 Kvitova didn't exactly tell us anything we didn't already know while helping the Czech Republic win its first Hopman Cup title since 1994, her undefeated performance didn't send up any red flags, either. The only thing that might give one pause might have been her five-game skid in the middle of her three-set win over #1 Caroline Wozniacki, apparently helped along when the Czech experienced some asthma-related difficulty. Additionally, the Dane's usual ability to get balls back and force Kvitova to hit a few additional shots could prove to be an important tactic should they meet on one of those typically hot Australian summer afternoons. Kvitova had some problems with her breathing in the heat of the North American hard court season in '11, and the same could happen in both Sydney and Melbourne.

Hmmm, so does that mean that Wozniacki, with her close loss to the Czech behind her, actually "won" in a sense in Perth? Well, at the very least, she need not fear Kvitova should the challenger for her #1 throne show up on the other side of the net again soon. That doesn't mean she still couldn't get hit off the court (even with her seemingly improved serve), but she's got a gameplan that has a shot to work, and it just might in a classic case of two very different styles rubbing up against one another in a very big match.

And, don't look now, but we could have one of those matches in less than a week's time. Both Wozniacki and Kvitova are in Sydney, and very well might meet in the final. If Kvitova wins the title, she'll swipe the Dane's #1 ranking away before everyone heads off to Melbourne. Wozniacki would remain the #1 AO seed, but would be so in name only. Whether that would help or hinder Caroline in her search for her metaphorical 'roo would surely be the question of the day next Monday.

Of course, fairy tales often have a few "dark shadings" (would losing her #1 ranking count?), and with her close match against Kvitova in her memory bank, as well as the knowledge that the likes of both Clijsters and S.Williams exited tournaments in Week 1 with injuries, Sam Stosur looked very un-U.S. Open champ like and that Li Na, while looking very good so far in '12, will still be Li Na, might Wozniacki have disovered a legitimate path to finding a "happy ending" in Melbourne. Well, she DOES share an Odense, Denmark birthplace with one of the greatest writers of fairy tales, you know.

(Don't think that means I'm predicting anything, though. Well, I mean, other than giving a not-very-clandestine hint about another Dane who'll be my "writing partner" during the upcoming Australian Open, starting with this weekend's tournament preview.)

Stay tuned.

*WEEK 1 CHAMPIONS*
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA (Premier $655K/HO)
S: Kaia Kanepi/EST def. Daniela Hantuchova/SVK 6-2/6-1
D: Llagostera-Vives/Parra-Santonjja (ESP/ESP) d. Kops-Jones/Spears (USA/USA)
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (Int'l $220K/HO)
S: Zheng Jie/CHN def. Flavia Pennetta/ITA 2-6/6-3/2-0 ret. (lower back)
D: Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) d. Goerges/Pennetta (GER/ITA)
HOPMAN CUP; PERTH, AUS (Exhib./HI))
Czech Republic (Kvitova/Berdych) def. France (Bartoli/Gasquet)

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Petra Kvitova/CZE
...even though she only won a team "exhibition" title, for the purposes of continuity (and portioning out Week 1's honors), I'll go with Kvitova as POW over Kanepi. Not that I REALLY feel the need to explain it. Until Kvitova loses a match, the extension of her late '11 run into '12 surely means she's penciled in at the top of the page until further notice. Even though her Hopman Cup numbers don't count toward her season stats, her undefeated run in Perth gives her 16 straight victories (four straight titles, with two of them being team competitions) and extends her indoor winning streak to 25 since the start of last season. QUICK QUIZ!!! Who's the last player to defeat Kvitova under the roof? If you didn't say Sofia Arvidsson (in the $100K Poitiers challenger) in October '10, then you were wrong. Of note, Julia Goerges and Kateryna Bondarenko also defeated Kvitova indoors that same month. As far as Perth goes, though, Kvitova lost just one set, but it came against world #1 Wozniacki (who won five straight games from 3-1 down to claim it), which could give the Dane at least some measure of peace of mind when and if she meets the Czech in hot weather Down Under over the next three weeks (it could happen two times this month).
=============================
RISERS: Kaia Kanepi/EST & Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka (CZE/CZE)
...a year ago, Kanepi began the season with a forearm injury that hampered her early results. As the season neared it's end, though, the Estonian notched wins over the likes of Caroline Wozniacki, Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta. After injuring her back in a challenger event in November, there was the fear that 'her 12 might start with injury issues, as well. But with her second career title in Brisbane, her first since Palermo '10, it seems like she may be in the clear. If so, keep an eye on this one. Remember, she was a handful of match points away from climbing over Kvitova to reach the '10 Wimbledon SF. Last week, wins over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (love and 3), '11 runner-up Andrea Petkovic, Schiavone and Daniela Hantuchova (2 & 1) were just a taste of what she's capable of. Plus, as Diane noted the other day on Women Who Serve, Kanepi ended last season in the #34 ranking... the exact same spot from which Kvitova began her climb one year ago. Maybe she's onto something? Hmmm, and maybe I was a bit stingy in predicting ONLY a Top 20 jump for Kanepi in '12. Meanwhile, with '12 being an Olympic year, many of the usual doubles teams (such as Dulko/Pennetta) won't be regular partners this season, so the all-Czech team of Hlavackova and Hradecka are one of the fortunate pairs that can stick close and total up points as a duo over the ENTIRE season. In Auckland, the '11 RG champs kicked off what could be their very good year by claiming their sixth overall title as a pair. They defeated Goerges/Pennetta in the final, but their 6-4/6-0 win over the Auckland defending champion team of Peschke/Srebotnik in the SF was maybe even more telling.
=============================
SURPRISE: Angelique Kerber/GER
...overlooked once more, surprise 2011 U.S. Open semifinalist was again the unexpected Last German Standing last week in Auckland, defeating crowd fave Marina Erakovic, as well her own countrywomen Julia Goerges and top-seeded Sabine Lisicki (who retired). Once again, Kerber reached the semifinals, but this time Flavia Penneta -- the player Kerber beat in the QF in NYC last summer -- finally ended her not-quite-as-"Cinderella"-as-before run. She's also opened up play in Hobart with a win over Elena Vesnina.
=============================
VETERANS: Li Na/CHN & Flavia Pennetta/ITA
...well, the Wheel of Na got its first spin of the 2012 season last week. Where it stops, nobody knows. But the first few spins were pretty good for the '11 AO finalist/RG champ. In the Hopman Cup, Li joined Kvitova as the only women to go undefeated in singles play. Her 3-0 mark (with only marginal help from her male partner, Team China still went 0-3) included straight sets wins over Marion Bartoli, Anabel Medina-Garrigues and Jarmila Gajdosova. Meanwhile, in Auckland, Pennetta reached both the singles and doubles (w/ Goerges) finals. Sure, she lost both, and had to retire in the final with a lower back injury. But, with her wins over Sorana Cirstea, Elena Baltacha, Elena Vesnina and Angelique Kerber (ah, sweet revenge), she showed that she's not yet ready to go quietly into the sweet night. And, at least for one week, neither was Li.
=============================
COMEBACKS: Zheng Jie/CHN & Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS
...hey, didn't you used to be Zheng Jie and Sveta Kuznetsova? They were again in Week 1. Zheng, ultimately, was the more successful vet, going to Auckland and grabbing her first title in more than five and half years after battling through wrist and ankle injuries since she last won in Estoril in '06 (when she defeated Li Na in the final, by the way). In claiming her fourth career title (just one fewer than all-time Chinese leader Li), Zheng got wins last week over Ayumi Morita, Monica Niculescu, Lucie Hradecka, Kuznetsova and Flavia Pennetta in the final. Speaking of Kuznetsova, considering her past, one never knows what to expect on a match-by-match basis. But, last week, she at least showed that she might just be interested again. Her victories over Alison Riske, Christina McHale (did someone say "sweet revenge?") and Sara Errani took her as far as the SF. Today in Sydney, Sveta stepped things up again and knocked off Vera Zvonareva 6-1/6-2, as well.
=============================
FRESH FACE: Ashleigh Barty/AUS
...the 15-year old has been pretty busy lately. In December, she won Tennis Australia's Wild Card tournament to gain entry into the Australian Open main draw, and just ended 2011 as the #2-ranked junior in the world on the strength of her Wimbledon Girls title. It's the highest season-ending rank for an Aussie girl since Jelena Dokic finished #1 back in 1998. She lost to Vania King in Brisbane qualifying last week, but utilized a wild card into the doubles draw (with Casey Dellacqua) to nearly full measure while reaching her first career tour semifinal.
=============================
DOWN: Samantha Stosur/AUS, Sabine Lisicki/GER & Kim Clijsters/BEL
...until further notice, Serena "I don't love tennis, but I still can't live without it" Williams isn't on this list. With her history of coming to Melbourne with ailments and/or inactivity working "against" (for?) her and winning the title anyway, I'll set her aside. As for the rest... oh, boy. Clijsters' "hip injury" has now been declared a "muscle spasm" or some such, but just that she's ALREADY a physical question mark isn't a good sign. She was 9-0 against Daniela Hantuchova before she retired against the Slovak in the SF, so KC obviously THOUGHT the injury was more serious than it's been diagnosed. Not a good sign. As for Lisicki... well, what can you really say? She's looking like she might turn out to be one of those great "what if" type of players. Oh, Sabine. Stosur, though, is the player who maybe should be spotlighted here. For a player with a confidence question to begin with, even with a slam title in her bag, losing so early in her first event raises an eyebrow. That she lost to Iveta Benesova, a sometimes-good player who went and lost to Urszula Radwanska in Sydney qualifying immediately after Brisbane, is another thing to make you go "hmmm." But that Stosur has already been ridden out of Sydney herself in the 1st Round by Francesca Schiavone, meaning the Aussie heads to Melbourne with nothing to make her think she'll be able to turn Australia on its head, makes all the buzzers and red lights go off. Danger! Danger! Maybe she can pull out her NYC memories to help her, but I'd say it might be best to get all the emergency vehicles to the tarmac as quickly as possible.
=============================
ITF PLAYER: Kimiko Date-Krumm/JPN
...KDK just keeps on going. Now 41, she opened '12 with a challenger title in the $50K in Quanzhou, China, getting (is it okay to snicker at the age difference?) wins over the likes of 17-year old Danka Kovinic, 18-year old Caroline Garcia and 18-year Timea Babos in the final. Oh, and she reached the doubles final with Zhang Shuai, too.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Sachia Vickery/USA
...the 16-year old Floridian, a recent Orange Bowl semifinalist, won the G1 Copa Del Cafe in Costa Rica, defeating fellow American Christina Makarova in straight sets in the final.
=============================

1. Bris QF - Schiavone d. Jankovic
...5-7/7-6/6-3. Ah, Francesca is back. And with her comes all the sort of dramatic goings-on that hightlighted this 2:56 session in which the Italian same back to win after saving two match points. Ummm, does she have to EVER retire?
=============================
2. HC rr - Kvitova d. Wozniacki
...7-6/3-6/6-4. You (well, I) asked for a few #1 vs. #2 meetings, and this was the first "unofficial" one of the new season. Hey, if this is what we have to look forward to, then let's go. Less than a week before Kvitova could very well take away Wozniacki's #1 ranking (but not #1 seed in Melbourne, no matter what the rankings will say at this time next week), the two met on essentially "Kvitova's turf." In other words, indoors. Wozniacki showed her ususal defensive skills, and displayed some good serving. But it's hard to tell how to judge the rest. Kvitova led 7-6/3-1, but apparently had some difficulty with her "outdoor asthma" under the roof in Perth, and lost the last five games of the 2nd set, before righting things and taking the 3rd. They could meet again under different circumstances in Sydney... hehe, in the final with the #1 ranking on the line. Are we really going to be treated to THAT match in just Week 2? (Crossing fingers.)
=============================
3. Bris Final - Kanepi d. Hantuchova 6-2/6-1
Auck Final - Zheng d. Pennetta 2-6/6-3/2-0 ret.
...Hantuchova was 3-0 against Kanepi before this loss. It's sort of fitting, though, since she probably didn't "deserve" to be in the final anyway. Meanwhile, Zheng beat out Pennetta to become the season's first "late twentysomething" champion. You KNOW she won't be the last.
=============================
4. Auck QF - Kerber d. Lisicki 6-4/4-3 ret (abdominal muscle)
Bris QF - Hantuchova walkover S.Williams (turned ankle)
Bris SF - Hantuchova d. Cljisters 6-7/3-1 ret. (hip injury)
...sheesh! One week in, and the bodies are already being collected in a pile by the side of the road to Melbourne. Maybe Lisicki should start to think about having the old "Murphy's Law" phrase replaced by "Lisicki's Law" -- if anything might possibly go wrong, it usually will.
=============================
5. Bris 2nd Rd - Benesova d. Stosur 6-4/6-2
Sydney 1st Rd - Schiavone d. Stosur 6-2/6-4
...of Week 1's defeated "big fish," only Stosur didn't go down with a physical issue, but her early Brisbane loss didn't exactly inspire confidence in her chances in Melbourne. Then, she went to Sydney and faced off with her old sparring partner Francesca, and simply flipped the set totals for her second loss of '12. Has the Sammy-believes-she-can-win-the-Australian trial balloon already popped?
=============================
6. HC Final WS - Kvitova d. Bartoli
...7-5/6-1. Bartoli led 5-3 in the 1st, and served at 5-4. Then Kvitova upped her game a single notch and won ten of the final eleven games. Still, it was a good week for Bartoli (especially that double-bagel over Jarmila Gajdosova), who arrives on the '12 scene looking to be in pretty good shape, and with her usual fiery competitiveness and Energizer Bunny motor intact.
=============================
7. Bris 1st Rd - Hantuchova d. Cibulkova
...3-6/6-4/6-3. Although Hantuchova's week can't help but look a little suspect after she reached the final by advancing past both Serena and Clijsters while playing just one and a half sets against the pair (and dropping the only completed set), but she DID open play with a nice win over her countrywoman.
=============================
8. Auck 2nd Rd - Kuznetsova d. McHale 6-1/6-1
Hobart Q2 - Riske d. Falconi 6-0/3-6/7-5
...good examples of how the "year after" doesn't always go according to play. McHale beat Kuznetsova twice in '11, but the pair of "1's" this time consisted of the American's total games won total. Speaking of a Bannerette who starred last summer at Flushing Meadows (and at the Pan-American Games), Falconi opening her '12 season with losses to two fellow Americans -- Jamie Hampton in Auckland qualifying, and Riske this weekend in Hobart.
=============================
9. Bris 1st Rd - Schiavone d. Pervak 4-4 ret. (migraine)
Hobart 1st Rd - Cirstea d. Pervak 6-2/7-6
...Ksenia has had a lot of migraine-inducing decisions to make this offseason (not to mention the accompanying carping from the Russian Fed Cup coach). By the time she got to Hobart, though, she'd gotten over the "shock" of seeing "KAZ" next to her name in the draw. But she still lost.
=============================
10. Auck 1st Rd - Goerges d. Arn
...7-5/3-6/6-4. One year after a 31-year old Greta Arn had her "dream come true" title run in Auckland, the now 32-year old Hungarian didn't have as great a time on her return Kiwi business trip.
=============================
11. Bris 1st Rd - Jovanovski d. Dellacqua
...6-4/6-2. This was Dellacqua's first "official" loss since last year's U.S. Open. Still, she rebounded by reaching the doubles final with Ashleigh Barty, the same 15-year old fellow Aussie who knocked her out of Tennis Australia's AO Wild Card Tournament.
=============================
12. Sydney Q2 - Arvidsson d. Kirilenko 6-3/6-0
Hobart 1st Rd - Chakvetadze d. Niculescu 6-0/6-4
...Russian fortunes are swinging wildly in the opening stages of Week 2. Kirilenko was forced to go through qualifying in Sydney, but didn't make it. While "The Candidate" had a much better time of things a bit farther south in Hobart, getting her first win since missing the back half of the '11 season because of recurring dizziness.
=============================
HM- HC rr - Wozniacki d. Mattek-Sands
...7-6/6-2. Not bad for a player who barely even made it to Perth in time. Wozniacki arrived from Thailand just four hours before her first scheduled match against Mattek-Sands. As it turned out, the organizers decided to switch things up and play the men's singles side of the Denmark/USA tilt first, allowing Caro time to get ready. She still won in straight sets. And, no, your eyes weren't playing tricks on you -- Bethanie did pretty much have blue hair. Really, considering who we're talking about, was it really in doubt? It's more surprising that her hair wasn't red, white AND blue, frankly.
=============================
HMJB (Honorable Mention, "just because")- Sydney 1st Rd - Dokic d. Holland
...6-0/6-0. After losing the the 1st Round in Auckland (vs. Barthel) in her first appearance at the event since '06, JD made young Aussie Isabella pay for it in this "battle" of Sydney wild cards. It's Jelena's first tour-level double-bagel win since 2001 at Roland Garros.
=============================

1. Sydney 1st Rd - A.Radwanska d. U.Radwanska
...6-1/6-1. A-Rad crosses paths with a member of the family and wins. Let's hope U-Rad isn't the last relative to be the "triumphed over" when it comes to the elder Radwanska sister in '12.
=============================
2. Bris 1st Rd - Jans-Ignacik/Jugic-Salkic d. Rodionova/Rodionova
...6-1/6-0. The Aussie-Russian sisters at least avoided opening their '12 season with an unwanted serving of a certain breaded treat, with or without cream cheese.
=============================

**CHINESE - CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLES**
5 - Li Na (2004,08,10-11)
4 - ZHENG JIE (2005-06,12)
1 - Yan Zi (2005)
1 - Sun Tiantian (2006)

**CAREER "DOROTHY TOUR" TITLES - ACTIVE**
5 - Kim Clijsters, BEL
5 - Serena Williams, USA
3 - Eleni Daniilidou, GRE
2 - Petra Kvitova, CZE
2 - Li Na, CHN
2 - Alicia Molik, AUS
2 - ZHENG JIE, CHN

**FOUR CAREER WTA TITLES - ACTIVE**
Gisela Dulko, ARG (last title: 2011)
Daniela Hantuchova, SVK (2011)
Lisa Raymond, USA (2003)
Aravane Rezai, FRA (2010)
Lucie Safarova, CZE (2008)
Francesca Schiavone, ITA (2010)
Katarina Srebotnik, SLO (2005) - retired in singles
Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA (2010)
ZHENG JIE, CHN (2012)

**YEAR-END JUNIOR #'1's - LAST 15 YEARS**
1997 Cara Black, ZIM
1998 Jelena Dokic, AUS
1999 Lina Krasnoroutskaya, RUS
2000 Maria-Emilia Salerni, ARG
2001 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2002 Barbora Strycova, CZE
2003 Kirsten Flipkens, BEL
2004 Michaella Krajicek, NED
2005 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2006 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
2007 Urszula Radwanska, POL
2008 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, THA
2009 Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
2010 Daria Gavrilova, RUS
2011 Irina Khromacheva, RUS

CURRENT STATE: three of our four Week 1 singles champion picks retired from matches. But Petra came through for me as the Czechs won in Perth, while Carl's pick of Pennetta in Auckland came up just a bit short.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (Premier $637K/hardcourt outdoor)
11 Final: Li d. Clijsters
11 Doubles Champions: Benesova/Zahlavova-Strycova
12 Top Seeds: Wozniacki/Kvitova
=============================
=SF=
#1 Wozniacki d. #3 Azarenka
#2 Kvitova d. #4 Li
=FINAL=
#2 Kvitova d. #1 Wozniacki

...come on, I HAVE to pick it this way, right?

HOBART, AUSTRALIA (Int'l $220K/hardcourt outdoor)
11 Final: Gajdosova d. Mattek-Sands
11 Doubles Champions: Errani/Vinci
12 Top Seeds: Wickmayer/Medina-Garrigues
=============================
=SF=
#8 Begu d. #6 Peer
#5 Gajdosova d. #4 Kerber
=FINAL=
#8 Begu d. #5 Gajdosova

...the Swarmettes are due for a title, right?

ALSO: AO QUALIFYING

SYDNEY
=SF=
wozniacki d. bartoli
li d. kvitova
=FINAL=
li d. wozniacki

HOBART
=SF=
wickmayer d. peer
gajdosova d. mattek-sands
=FINAL=
gajdosova d. wickmayer

Later this week, Carl returns for "Bare Bones Backspin," and the Australian Open preview arrives before the Daily Backspin for Day 1 next Monday.

All for now.

The Calm Before the Storm

2011-12-31T19:18:00.004-05:00

Shoes are tied. Wristbands are pulled on. Racket handles are affixed with extra glue (Agnieszka Radwanska only). Yep, the 2012 season is ready to begin.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA (Premier $655K/hard outdoor)
11 Final: Kvitova d. Petkovic
11 Doubles Champions: Kleybanova/Pavlyuchenkova
12 Top Seeds: Stosur/Petkovic
=============================
=SF=
#5 Clijsters d. #4 S.Williams
#2 Petkovic d. Voskoboeva
=FINAL=
#5 Clijsters d. #2 Petkovic

...talk about an unbalanced draw -- Stosur, Clijsters and Serena are all in the top half. On the bright side, a few of the very interesting potential opening week matches seem to stand a good chance of happening -- including Clijsters/Ivanovic, Cibulkova/Hantuchova, Pervak/Voskoboeva (hi, new countrywoman!), Jankovic/Schiavone, Clijsters/Stosur and either Stosur/Serena or Clijsters/Serena. And all of those would happen BEFORE the final, which might turn out to be a bit anticlimactic.

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (Int't $220K/hard outdoor)
11 Final: Arn d. Wickmayer
11 Doubles Champions: Peschke/Srebotnik
12 Top Seeds: Lisicki/Peng
=============================
=SF=
#1 Lisicki d. #4 Pennetta
#7 Wickmayer d. #8 Niculescu
=FINAL=
#1 Lisicki d. #7 Wickmayer

...so, here's the first reality check on whether or not Lisicki is going to have any shot to carry over her '11 success. Whether she can stay healthy might not be addressed this week, but whether she can continue to win WILL get its first test. That said, I can't say I wouldn't do a few backflips (well, at least wish I COULD do a few backflips) if a certain member of the Dokic family (possibly facing Lisicki in the 2nd Round) got a very welcome upset win to begin her season to allow her to head to Melbourne with visions of 2009 dancing in her head.

HOPMAN CUP; PERTH, AUS (Exhibition/hard indoor)
11 Final: United States d. Belgium (Serbia w/d from final)
12 Top Group Seeds: Czech Republic (A), France (B)
=============================
=FINAL=
Czech Republic (Kvitova/Berdych) d. France (Bartoli/Gasquet)

...come on, how could I not go with Kvitova here? Err, I mean Kvitova AND Berdych. Speaking of which, with Kvitova coming into this event off a 21-0 indoor record in '11, Lucie's boyfriend had better not drop the ball. Of note here, world #2 Kvitova is set to face world #1 Wozniacki on the final day of Round Robin play.

All, but that's not all. Carl has managed to convince me (maybe it was our Christmastime truce?) to let him make picks every week. So, here he is:

BRISBANE
=SF=
stosur def. serena
petkovic def. jankovic
=FINAL=
stosur d. petkovic

...Carl want to pick Kim, but Todd do. Carl no pick with Todd. Christmas over.

AUCKLAND
=SF=
pennetta d. dokic
mchale d. peng
=FINAL=
pennetta d. mchale

...Todd take Carl's Kim. Carl take Todd's Jelena. And keep Flavia from him, too.

HOPMAN CUP
france d. united states

...Berdych let Kvitova down. Carl will laugh at sullen Todd. Marion dance like Petko. Carl, too. This just start of Carl defeating Todd in picks over whole 2012 season.

**HOPMAN CUP CHAMPIONS**
[since 1999]
1999 Australia (Dokic/Philippoussis)
2000 South Africa (Coetzer/W.Ferreira)
2001 Switzerland (Hingis/Federer)
2002 Spain (Sanchez-Vicario/Robredo)
2003 United States (S.Williams/Blake)
2004 United States (Davenport/Blake)
2005 Slovak Republic (Hantuchova/Hrbaty)
2006 United States (Raymond/Dent)
2007 Russia (Petrova/Tursunov)
2008 United States (S.Williams-Shaughnessy/Fish)
2009 Slovak Republic (Cibulkova/Hrbaty)
2010 Spain (Martinez-Sanchez/Robredo)
2011 United States (Mattek-Sands/Isner)
[most titles]
6 - United States
3 - Slovak Republic, Spain
2 - Germany, Switzerland
1 - Australia, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Russia, South Africa, Yugoslavia

**MOST "DOROTHY TOUR" TITLES**
[active players; Wk.1 titles in parenthesis]
5 - Kim Clijsters (1), Serera Williams (0)
3 - Eleni Daniilidou (2)
2 - Petra Kvitova (1), Li Na (1), Alicia Molik (0)

=AUSTRALIAN OPEN - POWER RANKINGS... from two-plus weeks out=
1. Kim Clijsters: the defending champ, and in likely her last AO appearance in the nation that "adopted" her even after she broke up with its native son Lleyton
2. Serena Williams: a five-time champ at historically her "best" slam, and with something to prove
3. Petra Kvitova: her first "year after" test
4. Samantha Stosur: ditto
5. Li Na: back to the final or bust, with neither option more likely than the other
6. Caroline Wozniacki: Oz might be her best '12 chance to get the 'roo -- err, I mean monkey -- off her back
7. Victoria Azarenka: she's come close to conquering the moment in Melbourne in the past, but the heat and/or Serena has usually conquered her (think she'll be searching her draw for someone?)
8. Agnieszka Radwanska: can A-Rad 2.0 work in 2012, or has the new her already been corrupted by dad?
9. Maria Sharapova: it's been four years since she won slam #3 at the AO in '08, and she comes in dragging an injured ankle
10. Vera Zvonareva: holding on
Wild Card- Andrea Petkovic: Ms. Consistency in the slams
Wild Wild Card- Sabine Lisicki: if not, the countdown to Wimbledon begins
Just Because- Jelena Dokic: no player has recently ridden an emotional wave in Melbourne better (well, maybe one... a few times)

Until we have our first champions of 2012. All for now.

==2012 PREVIEW SERIES==
* - Grand Slam Master List
* - 'Twas the Backspin Before Christmas: The Search for Caroline's Roo
* - The Intriguing 100
* - Prediction Blowout
* - 2012 Week 1 Picks & AO Power Rankings (you are here)