Australian Open 2008: Andrew's reports (first round added)

===============
AUSTRALIAN OPEN (Melbourne, Australia; outdoor hard (Plexicushion); Grand Slam)
=============== http://www.australianopen.com/

This is a Lucie-filtered subset of my Australian Open preview. You can follow my full reports at any of the following:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=328704
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharapova_vaidisova_hantuchova/

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Contents
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1. UK TV-alert
2. First-round draw: Bottom half
3. Second-round draw: Top half
4. Lucie Šafářová preview
5. Order of Play for Tuesday

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1. UK TV-alert
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The evening-sessions of the Australian Open will be televised on BBCi from 08:25 GMT each day of the tournament (digital viewers press Red or select the appropriate Freeview-channel: either 301 or 302 - today it was 301).

My understanding is that this coverage will consist of the women's match on the evening-session of the Rod Laver Arena (Kanepi v Molik on Monday), followed by the men's match, followed by recorded coverage of the "best" match of the day on a continuous loop.

But don't set your hopes too high - last year, only 7% of BBCi's Australian Open coverage was of the women! :mad: There isn't a women's match on the Rod Laver Arena evening-session every day.

Other Australian Open coverage on BBC television:
* Sunday 20th January on BBC 2 (12:30 to 14:00 GMT);
* Saturday 26th January: Women's Singles final on BBC 1 (from 02:20 GMT);
* Saturday 26th January: repeat of WS final on BBCi (from 07:00 GMT);
* Saturday 26th January: highlights of WS final on BBC 2 (13:00 to 14:00 GMT);
* Sunday 27th January: Men's Singles final on BBC 2 (from 08:30 GMT);
* Sunday 27th January: repeat of MS final on BBCi (from 10:00 GMT).

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2. First-round draw: Bottom half
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2.1 Third quarter: Iroda Tulyaganova
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* Yan,Zi [s] v VENUS WILLIAMS [8] (jia you Zi!)
* Camille Pin v Monica Niculescu [Q]
* Timea Bacsinszky [Q] v Sophie Ferguson [WC] (hopp Timea!)
* Iroda Tulyaganova [WC,EF] v SANIA MIRZA [31,DF] (I like Sania a lot, but DAVAI IRODA!!)

* Séverine Brémond v LI,NA [24] (allez Séverine!)
* Maria Elena Camerin v Christina Wheeler [WC] (forza Maria Elena!)
* Marta Domachowska [Q] v Mathilde Johansson [WC] (my loyalty is to Marta)
* MARION BARTOLI [10,DF,S] v Sofia Arvidsson (allez Marion!)

* Sabine Lisicki [Q] v DINARA SAFINA [16] (komm jetzt Sabine!)
* María Emilia Salerni v Mariya Koryttseva (¡vamos María Emilia!)
* Gisela Dulko [DF] v Caroline Wozniacki (my loyalty is to Gisela)
* ALYONA BONDARENKO [21] v Alla Kudryavtseva (davai Alyona!)

* KATARINA SREBOTNIK [28] v Lourdes Domínguez Lino (dajmo Katarina!)
* Angelika Bachmann v Anastasia Rodionova
* Tathiana Garbin v Eleni Daniilidou
* ANA IVANOVIĆ [4,DF] v Sorana Cîrstea (my loyalty is to Ana)


2.2 Bottom quarter: Chakvetadze, Šafářová, Hantuchová
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* ANNA CHAKVETADZE [6,EF] v Andrea Petkovic (DAVAI ANNA!!)
* Peng,Shuai [s] v Alisa Kleybanova [Q] (jia you Shuai!)
* Michaëlla Krajíček [DF] v Akiko Morigami [s] (my loyalty is to Michaëlla)
* MARIA KIRILENKO [27,DF] v Meilen Tu (davai Maria!)

* LUCIE ŠAFÁŘOVÁ [22,EF] v Catalina Castaño (POJĎME LUCIE!!)
* Roberta Vinci v Virginia Ruano Pascual (may the better win)
* Alizé Cornet v Clarisa Fernández (allez Alizé!)
* DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [9,EF] v Vania King (POĎME DANIELA!!)

* NADIA PETROVA [14] v Nicole Pratt
* Anne Kremer v Evgenia Linetskaya (dajee Anne!)
* Laura Granville v Yvonne Meusburger
* Ekaterina Makarova v ÁGNES SZÁVAY [20] (I did a Google Image search for "Ekaterina Makarova" and found an absolute stunner, but unfortunately she wasn't the tennis-player)

* AGNIESZKA RADWAŃSKA [29] v Olga Savchuk
* Martina Müller v Pauline Parmentier
* Tsvetana Pironkova v Olga Govortsova (my loyalty is to Tsvetana)
* Nathalie Dechy v SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA [2] (allez Nathalie!)

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3. Second-round draw: Top half
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* Olga Poutchkova v JUSTINE HENIN [1] (davai Olga!)
* Angelique Kerber v FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE [25]
* Hsieh,Su-Wei [Q,S] v SYBILLE BAMMER [19] (jia you Su-Wei!)
* TATIANA GOLOVIN [13,DF] v Aravane Rezaï (my loyalty is to Tatiana)

* ELENA DEMENTIEVA [11] v Anabel Medina Garrigues (davai Elena!)
* SHAHAR PE'ER [17] v Jessica Moore [WC] (kadima Shahar!)
* Elena Vesnina v Jill Craybas (davai Elena!)
* MARIA SHARAPOVA [5,EF] v Lindsay Davenport (DAVAI MARIA!!)

* JELENA JANKOVIĆ [3] v Edina Gallovits
* Flavia Pennetta [DF] v VIRGINIE RAZZANO [30] (forza Flavia!)
* Yaroslava Shvedova v AMÉLIE MAURESMO [18] (davai Yaroslava!)
* Casey Dell'Acqua v PATTY SCHNYDER [15]

* NICOLE VAIDIŠOVÁ [12,EF] v Alicia Molik (POJĎME NICOLE!!)
* Tatiana Perebiynis v Ai Sugiyama (davai Tatiana!)
* VICTORIA AZARENKA [26] v Sandra Klösel [Q]
* Yuan,Meng [Q] v SERENA WILLIAMS [7]

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4. Lucie Šafářová preview
-------------------------

I inducted Lucie into my Eternal Fanship on 6th January, having evaluated her from some DVDs I acquired in December from Tennis Videos International (http://www.users.bigpond.com/tennisvideos1/): her sensational upset of Amélie Mauresmo in the fourth round here last year, her quarter-final against Czech mate Nicole Vaidišová, and her Paris final against Nadia Petrova (unfortunately the pre-final rounds - including Lucie's upset of Justine Henin - are unavailable from TVI).

Lucie is a joy to watch, the way she goes for broke with her groundstrokes of flairsome power, and the way she runs like the wind and makes amazing winners at full stretch. She upset Mauresmo again at the French Open, and her encounter with Jelena Janković at Wimbledon would have been the match of the tournament had it not been trumped by the even more amazing Vaidišová v Ivanović quarter-final. I just can't wait for a Fed Cup tie between Czechia and Serbia!

After Wimbledon, Lucie's form was disappointing for the rest of the year, and she didn't win a match after reaching the third round of the US Open. She missed the last few weeks of the WTA season with an unspecified illness according to the WTA, while she herself is quoted at www.lucie-safarova.com (http://www.lucie-safarova.com) as saying: "I was injured and I couldn't play for 6 weeks. So I decided to prevent muscular injured [sic] with some special exercises."

Lucie lost to Alicia Molik in her first Hopman Cup singles-rubber, but earned praise from Serena Williams after pushing her to a 7-5 third set in which Lucie had a point for 5-2, despite struggling with a virus. Lucie finally got the win I needed so badly from her as she beat Sania Mirza, and at Sydney she avenged her loss to Molik before having to pull out of the tournament with a right gluteal (buttock) strain.

I sincerely hope Lucie will have had enough time to recover as she prepares to defend her quarter-final.


4.1 First round
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Lucie couldn't have asked for an easier opponent than Catalina Castaño, whose last match was a 6-0 6-0 loss to Sorana Cîrstea in the first qualifying-round of Hobart last week, and who also lost to a player ranked #948 in the first qualifying-round of Auckland. In fact, Castaño is on a losing-streak of 8 matches, stretching back to the quarter-finals of Seoul last September; she also had a 9-match losing-streak from June to September. This was the girl who lost 6-0 6-1 to 47-year-old Martina Navrátilová at Wimbledon 2004.

Lucie has never played Castaño before, but injured or not, she should be able to beat her with her legs tied together.

I don't have time to preview beyond the first round now, save to acknowledge that the seedings decree a mouthwatering third-round match with Daniela Hantuchová - it's a shame that one of them will have to lose earlier than she did last year.

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5. Order of Play for Tuesday
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Court 13 (start 11:00 AEST = 00:00 GMT)
MS 1r: Thierry Ascione v FERNANDO VERDASCO [25]
WS 1r: Ekaterina Makarova v ÁGNES SZÁVAY [20]
WS 1r: LUCIE ŠAFÁŘOVÁ [22,EF] v Catalina Castaño
MS 1r: Fabrice Santoro [s] v John Isner

Full order of play:
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/safar/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Lucie_Safarova/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/

===============
AUSTRALIAN OPEN (Melbourne, Australia; outdoor hard (Plexicushion); Grand Slam)
=============== http://www.australianopen.com/
Contents
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1. Photos
2. First round: Šafářová v Castaño review

Apologies for the delay.
This was due to Maria going all the way!

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1. Photos
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Lucie Šafářová:
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=safarova
search Getty Images for "safarova"

Many players:
http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/gallery?pg=1&cap=1

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2. First round: Šafářová v Castaño review (Tuesday 15th January)
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- LUCIE ŠAFÁŘOVÁ [22,EF] lt. Catalina Castaño, 1-6 4-6

When I said that Lucie could beat Castaño with her legs tied together, I didn't mean that she should actually put that claim to the test! :-o

Seriously, I can only assume that Lucie hasn't recovered from her right gluteal strain, and didn't want to miss a Grand Slam. The annoying thing is that the media don't go into any detail about this match, or even acknowledge that Lucie was injured.

Janine <www.lucie-safarova.com>: "yes if she wasn´t 100% because she was injured on the leg, and in sydney on another place on the same leg... it´s affected her but It was already better"

The statistics on this match don't include W:UE ratios, which Lucie lives and dies by. Her service-stats don't look too bad (6 aces and reasonable percentages), but it appears she didn't put nearly enough pressure on Castaño's second serve - attacking her opponent's second serve is one of Lucie's great strengths when she's playing well. Lucie had two break-points and squandered them both, while Castaño converted 3 of 8.

It's such a shame, but this is one of the reasons I inducted Lucie into my Eternal Fanship this month instead of waiting for her next big win: I'm well aware that the last few months haven't worked out for her, but I know how I feel about her now, and I'm not a bandwagon-jumper or a fairweather-fan. I'm in this for the long haul, for better or for worse.


Bartoli suffers shock loss [Teletext 495->497]
>>>
Bartoli upset by Swede [Teletext 497]

Wimbledon-finalist Marion Bartoli became the highest women's seed to fall in the first round, losing to Sofia Arvidsson in three sets in Melbourne.

Tenth seed Bartoli has struggled since her breakthrough at SW19, and crashed out 6-7 6-4 6-3 against the Swede.

Dinara Safina, seeded 16th, was beaten 7-6 4-6 6-2 by world No 194 Sabine Lisicki, while Catalina Castaño saw off 2007 quarter-finalist Lucie Šafářová.
<<<

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/safar/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Lucie_Safarova/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/