Day 2 & 3 of Qualifying - My Report/s (UPDATED)

After two days I think Im all 'qualied out' :o

OK, arrived a little late today (about 20 mins) and Lina was already a set up! So thats where I'll begin....

Lina Krasnoroutskaya v Alyona Bondarenko
The entrance to qualifying is on the eastern side (near Vodafone Arena) so I had a chance to check out some of the matches on this side of Melbourne Park before heading over 'west'. Lina's was one of them. Saw some of this and nothing much to say except it was extremely one sided and Lina looked great! She's hitting the ball so well and just seems to be growing in confidence. Alyona seems like a handy little player, but was outclassed today big time.

Mara Santangelo v Roberta Vinci
Also got to see a bit of this as it was nearby...poor Roby just doesnt look very motivated. It is very clear she has loads of talent (her one handed backhand is superb) but when she actually realises that remains to be seen. Mara has quite an attractive game. Goes for her shots and hits quite hard. Disappoited in Roby, I hope she can have a better time of it this year (ever since Sandrine retired she's been struggling loads)

Melinda Czink v Celine Beigbeder
:o...that just about sums it up. Yesterday Celine was lucky to run into an inexperienced Aussie junior, but today came crashing down to earth as expected. Czink is a talented lefty and ran Celine ragged. After watching Celine yesterday I knew she'd be back on a plane to Paris today.

Klara Koukalova v Christina Wheeler
Along with Lina, Klara was the most impressive today. Everything she hit was just a winner pretty much. Christina is a fiesty little player with lots of talent, but lack of match play leading up to this event and the fact Klara is just in hot form made this a very one sided match. Klara belts the ball and looks like she is finally ready to crack the top 100 after being 'almost but not quite' there in 2 years. Christina had her chances and when she attacked she did well, but Klara rarely gave her the opportunities to do so.

Julia Vakulenko v Barbora Strycova
A lot of power hitting here. Barbora is my fave junior player, and really smacks the ball, but her inexperience cost her dearly. Julia has an unorthodox service motion, but aside from that she is a very impressive player. Top 50 potential easy. Julia had this match by the throat and never let go, but kudos to the young Czech for giving as good as she got in a lot of the rallies. Give Babsi another year and she'll be all the more better in these matches. I think Julia's ready for a good 2003.

Barbara Schwartz v Natalie Grandin
High quality match (well what I saw of it). Natalie is a very talented lefty, but I think she could really benefit from shedding some weight as she's a fairly big girl. This was a battle of the lefty's and there was a lot of entertaining tennis played here. Barbara gutsed out the winner and was very relieved. At one point during the final game, Grandin hit the net cord and it bounced over, to which Schwartz responded with one of the most evil death stares Ive ever seen. I thought she was going to go over and punch Grandin...maybe Natalie did too, cos she was quick to say sorry ;) Barbara will roll over Vanc tomorrow.

Andreea Vanc v Lauren Breadmore
Only 2 words to describe this. LONG and UGLY :o Full credit to both girls for hanging in there for almost 4 hours :eek: but good tennis this wasn't. A lot of heart and emotion, particularly from Breadmore, but she just choked when serving for it for 7-6 5-4. She really should have put the ordinary Vanc away in straight sets, but tightened up and was content to just play Vanc's game, which was to just hit the ball back over the other side, waiting for error. Vanc is left handed and is a smart player, but she has little to no power and is basically a clay courter through and through. A lot of her shots wouldve been eaten up by a bigger hitter than Lauren, but Lauren just didnt have the power as she is a fairly small girl. Vanc can thank her lucky stars she has drawn 2 inexperienced Aussie wildcards in the first two rounds, cos if she hadnt, then Im sure she would not be playing for a place in the main draw. Not an impressive player at all, and I think Schwartz is going to throttle her tomorrow. Lauren got lots of bad calls, but really she should have won this and she knew it. She was visibly upset afterwards, and in a bizarre climax her mother took a photo of the scoreboard after the match...probably just to say 'this is how close you were, this shows you belong out there with these girls'. Good luck to Lauren for 2003, she is a gutsy young player. Lots of interested Aussie spectators at various points throughout the day (yes Im referring to this match as 'day')...including Trudi Musgrave, Sarah Stone, Monique Adamczak, Mireille Dittmann, Gaby Baker, Sophie Ferguson and Olivia Lukaszewicz. Tony Roche was watching most of the match also.

Elena Tatarkova v Amanda Grahame
A non event. I dont know where Amanda's head was today, but wasnt on court 7 or wherever it was they were playing. She handed this match to Elena on a silver platter. In typical Grahame fashion she didnt show any emotions, just came and went. Very disappointing as I expected a lot more in this match. Elena is a good player but they have similar lefty games, but Elena was the one who brought hers with her today.

Marie-Eve Pelletier v Yulia Beygelzimer
Marie-Eve gets the award for 'most annoying support group' of the day, but aside from that she was the better player today and deserved to win. Good player, but not overly impressive. Just solid of both wings and moves well. Anyway, I like her attitude and I hope she can qualify finally!

Sunitha Rao v Ashley Harkleroad
One of the days better matches. Very competitive, I imagine both girls know eachother very well, being the same age or thereabouts. Sunitha was hitting harder than Ashley today and controlled a lot of the points, but seemed to lose it mentally at crucial stages. Ashley did well to hang in set 2, and often looked at her support group/coach for motivation and assurance. Anyway, got to hand it Rao, she deserved the win and really impressed me with her game. She has a bright future ahead of her, just needs to work on some things and then Im sure she'll be fine.

Maria Emilia Salerni v Kristina Brandi
Didnt watch too much, but very happy Pitu ran out the winner. Kristina was lucky to win the first set against young Daniela Dominikovic yesterday, and after watching Kristina and her lacklustre game yesterday I knew she'd go down today. She's a consistent hitter, but thats about it. Pitu is looking good, hopefully she is ready to fulfil her potential.

finally...
Maria Sharapova v Maria Goloviznina
Watched most of the first set before leaving for the day. Maria S was too good for Maria G today, in all departments. 'Sharky' just thumps the ball, and has such good placement, and hits with extroardinary confidence. Maria G also is a big hitter, but totally outplayed. Sharky's grunt (or shriek) was again in fine form and along with Lina K and Klara K, stood out as the best player/s of the day. She shouldnt have many problems with Vaskova, but I hope she doesnt get too complacent. She should clearly beat Vaskova in two sets, but should be cautious at the same time. Big crowd for her match, and quite a few photographers too ;)

I saw some other matches too, but not too much of them as Melbourne Park is a big complex and I really wasnt in the mood for walking all day. If you have any questions about any player/s I missed just ask, I could have something to tell.

Go Marie-Eve!

Thanks for the report! Did you happen to see any of Webb's match?

Mitch - yes I saw a little bit of Webb v Ashley, and Vanessa played well but not great. She has a great net game but just lacks a little sting on her groundies...seemed like a pretty good match but only saw bits and pieces. I predict she will beat Rao, but it's going to be tough.

WoW THx!!

Thanks:wavey:

Thanks TS :D

The qualies!! :)

Fun report- keep it up!

Thanks. :) Did you see any action from the Ansley vs. Ani match?

Ashley out:(
feeling sad

thanks terry...if u can take a look at Jelena Jankovic! she beat one of the qully seeds 6-3 6-1 and had about 18 winners to 10 errors, 4 aces and 1 double...:)

thanx Terry for the reports :)
and the good news on Lina's form :)

I hope she can keep it going :)

Roby...... i know she's got bags of talent, just waiting to be nurtured the right way, she's lost the way in last 6 months :sad:

aaron - I got to see the end of this as I was leaving, as I had to pass this court on my way out. Watched the final two games and Ansley fought well to tough it out. Ani had her knee strapped (cant remember which one), and there was quite a big crowd for this one. Lots of American player like Abigail Spears were watching, and it looked like a high quality match. Ansley plays well and I remember seeing her last year too, and thinking the same thing. Very solid lefty, and not afraid to go for her shots.

Oh BTW Steve, didnt get a chance to see Jelena as she was on the 'Vodafone' side. I did see a bit of her yesterday, and I fully expected her to win today. I wont be going tomorrow, but who knows, I might see her in the main draw next week! I'll let you know if I do :)

was nicole Pratt with Christina Wheeler again???

Did you see Samantha Stosur or Adriana Szili??

What sorta game does Bryanne Stewart have can she get back into the top 150???

thanks very much Terry :)

glad you saw some of Marie-Eve, I've been hoping someone would give a report on her! Hopefully she can get past Nuria now ;)

lol Terry, yu were at two of the matches that me, poofy and speedy were at! (The Christina-Klara one, and the Babsi-Natalie one)! ;)

The only other match we saw was Seda vs Chani! Good match too! ;)

I saw most of these matches too. I dont have time to write a full report so i'll just post some comments here.
The first one i saw was Lina K's match, she played very well. I came and i was impressed by Bondarenko's play too, she broke Lina in the first game I saw, then held her serve well, and i couldnt believe someone playing this well was trailing 6-1 3-0. It turns out those were the only two games she won in the set, lol. Bondarenko seemed upset at the loss, but she looks like shes got a lot of potential.

Harkleroad vs Rao was a good match too, Rao was playing very well apart from some points when she got a little shaky. She fully deserved the win and outplayed Ashley, I'm sure she'll be rising in the ranks this year. I noticed Alex Bogomolov Jr was watching them too.

I didnt think Vanc vs Breadmore was that bad. They both had their moments, but Breadmore made a few too many unforced errors especially towards the end. Vanc isnt a bad player, shes just not very powerful.

I agree with you that Pelletiers support team was very annoying. They were even cheering the errors from her opponent. She played well, but her opponent wasnt very impressive either. She looked like she gave up at the end.

I saw the first set of Sharapovas match. She looked good but her opponent didnt give her much competition. Golovznina's serve was very inconsistent and she kept doing double faults, from what i remember.

I kept checking on Cargill vs Ani during the day. At the start it wasnt good quality tennis with a lot of unforced errors, then it got better as the match went on and Cargill was playing well by the end, hitting lots of winners.

I saw the end of Fokina vs Schaul, it seemed like a high standard match from what i saw of it. Both were hitting the ball hard and hitting winners. Schaul seems like a good player.

I was standing near Bovina watching Vliegen vs Tursunov. She was cheering on Tursunov, they must be friends. She looks so tall, she must be around Venus or Davenports height.

rusty - Saw Szili practising for a bit, she was giving the ball a mighty good thumping. Hope she can give Clarisa Fernandez a bit of a match. Nicole wasn't at the Wheeler match (at least I didnt see her), I imagine she was watching the draw being done? I saw Bryanne yesterday, and she played well in set 2 but honestly I dont think she has the desire or motivation to go on. Unfortunately I have a feeling she might pack it in.

Experimentee and Sarah, lol, we probably were sitting/standing next to eachother at various points throughout the day :p Experimentee, yes Vanc v Breadmore wasn't so bad in hindsight, it was just incredibly long and I dont have lots of patience ;) Still bummed that Laurne couldnt close it out. You're spot on about Goloviznina's serve...terrible (did you see some of the faults that landed near the baseline?) Sarah, I saw a bit of Chani-Seda, but only when Chani was winning. Totally surprised to see her lose in the end :confused: BTW, were you the girl with orange hair? If that was you I wonder why you chose that color :p BTW, I was in a bright yellow top with blue on it, and a cap and sunnies, Im sure we bumped into eachother at some point today, hehe.

Seems like Lina's back on track ...
Plz try to watch the Q-r3 match Lina vs Stanislava Hrozenska - she surprised me with this easy win over Lilia.

Thanks for your lines TS - keep us updated :D ;)

Cheers for the very entertaining report Terry... yay for Lina K and Masha S :bounce:

Originally posted by TS
aaron - I got to see the end of this as I was leaving, as I had to pass this court on my way out. Watched the final two games and Ansley fought well to tough it out. Ani had her knee strapped (cant remember which one), and there was quite a big crowd for this one. Lots of American player like Abigail Spears were watching, and it looked like a high quality match. Ansley plays well and I remember seeing her last year too, and thinking the same thing. Very solid lefty, and not afraid to go for her shots.

Thanks Terry. :) From a lot of reports there have been the same comments, Ansley plays well and is a solid lefty. I hope she can handle Seda. + it's great that there are fellow Americans supporting her. :)

thanks :)

Did you see anything of Stanislava?

Well done Rao! :)

GO MARIE EVE!

Jerome I finally got to see her play Lina today (just the end of it, I was late today as I had a late change of plans that allowed me to come ;)). She hits quite hard and was forcing Lina deep at times, and seems like a very good player. She was extremely happy to win. Lina was off her game today big time, and Stanislava took full advantage and played very well. Martina Sucha was watching this match.

Other matches I saw today

Salerni v Obata
Caught the latter stages...Saori has a supportive group of fellow Japanese players (men and women) and family/friends and I really like her attitude cos even when she is losing she looks like she is enjoying herself. Salerni was great off the ground and impressed me with her groundies. Hopefully she is ready to finally break through.

Pelletier v Llagostera-Vives
Nuria is unbelievably quick and unbelievably LITTLE!. Some of the tiny ball kids are even bigger than her! That said, she gives it her all and somehow found her way out of this. Marie-Eve once again fell apart mentally, but full credit to Nuria as she was like a terrier, just kept coming at Marie. Nuria must love Melbourne as she always does well here.

Schaul v Fislova
Like Pelletier, Schaul shoud have won. Wouldve been nice to see two Luxembourg players in the MD, but Eva battled gamely and starting painting the lines. She played better in the end and deserved to win.

Webb v Rao
Good match. Sunitha really has impressed me, but it was clear that Webb always had the upper hand. Sunitha's groundies were firing today as well, but made a few too many errors. Webb is a very classy volleyer and attacks extremely well. I really like Vanessa after watching her the last couple days. Sunitha was gracious in defeat, and knew she was just not good enough today. Her coach/father or whoever he was just said "Its good experience", and that is exactly right.

Czink v Santangelo
I really like Melinda Czink. She has a great attitude and a very good game (hard hitting lefty), and along with Hrozenska and Jankovic was the player that showed the most emotion when she won. Very happy girl.

Jankovic v Obziler
Pretty good match. Tzipora had quite a few Israeli fans cheering her on, and she played well, but Jelena found her range and was giving the ball a good thumping. I overheard her telling her coach that she could not have lasted to a 3rd set (it was getting rather hot) and she was very happy with the win, naturally. She has a bright future ahead of her, and I also expect Obziler to possibly crack the top 100 soon.

Koukalova v Vakulenko
High quality match full of punishing groundies. Unlike last year at quallies, Klara looks really focused and ready to break through. Every time Julia came at her, she had answers. Julia has played well this week and has nothing to be ashamed of, she just ran into one of the best players in qualifying.

Missed a few matches that were over by the time I arrived. I was not surprised to see Schwartz "Vanc"quish Vanc (sorry, lol), Sharapova blitz through Vaskova and Lindsay Lee roll through Tatarkova as these 3 girls are clearly top 100 players and dont belong in qualies. Also missed Ansley's thrashing of Noorlander.

Watched a few mens matches as well and sorry to see Economidis of Greece bow out :( On a brighter note for Aussie tennis, Jaymon Crabb won through in a good fightback against Saulnier.

More big names out and about. Saw Anne Kremer practising, and she looks OK, no sign of injury. Paola Suarez was working up a sweat with an almost nude Mariana Diaz Oliva. Anastasia Myskina was an interested spectator in the Moyano-Bogomolov Jr match. I didnt know she was that short :eek: Eva Dyrberg was also walking around, so all of you who are sceptical whether or not she is here, there is your proof ;) Amanda Coetzer and Lori McNeil were watching the Waske-Salzenstein match for ages! I just read it went 13-11 in the 3rd to Waske!

Qualies was fun these 3 days (but tiring), now bring on the main draw! :)

Thanks for the report TS :) I went to the AO today as well, but I missed most of the matches you're reporting as I had to go early to Kooyong...

I saw a bit of Maria S's match... She hit the ball very hard and her grunt, OMG, can't believe her grunt is as loud as Monica or even louder... But pretty happy she's through to the main draw... Her opponent is not bad actually, but Maria just hitting so hard to force her opponent did a lot of UEs. Hope Maria S will do well in MD as well :)

I also saw a bit of Lina's match at the end, so I guess we're in the same court. I didn't saw Martina Sucha though :( Lina was not playing her best today, especially her serve which let her down... She was broken so many time.. Well done to her opponent though, and I agree she hit the ball hard... Better luck next time, Lina... She's pretty sad after the match, I can see it in her face...

Unfortunately, I missed Ansley's match as well :( But well done to her to be in the MD :)

thanks again Terry :)

glad you are growing to like Vanessa :) she always gives it her all out there and I'm really pleased she's qualified this time around :)now she just needs to finally qualify for Wimbledon and she's played all the slam maindraws ;)

Shame Pelletier lost in the final stage yet again, but she is just not there yet mentally, and that's something she is going to really need to work on if she hopes to make a breakthrough this season. Good effort though anyway :)

Thanks Terry and Henry. :)

I was quite surprised myself at the scoreline. I was hoping Ansley would eek it out. But I never thought she was going to thrash Seda. :( Can't believe both of you missed Ansley's match. Hopefully you guys can catch Ansley on Monday. By the way thanks also Experimentee.

Thanks :)

Little...but killer :p

go Terry! :)

thanks terry :D

http://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk/smilie/clap.gif 4 Terry!! Nice reports!! :bounce: ;)