[Doc]

Australian Open 1st Round:

Alicia Molik
Anastasia Myskina (6)

It really is annoying that though Alicia is playing well, it isn't reflected in her ranking because she keeps getting drawn against really tough players in the early rounds of tournaments. She's had Kuznetsova twice, Venus, Meghann and Davenport, all in early rounds in past months.

If Alicia had had average levels of difficulty in her draws, she would almost certainly have been seeded for RG. She missed it, and now gets Myskina in the first round.

I hope Alicia can pull through this one, but Anastasia is tough and will want revenge for the Fed Cup. I want to see Alicia seeded for Wimbledon.

[Vicky88]

I agree it is a tough draw, however the only way meeting a seed can be avoided is if Alicia plays well enough consistently enough to get her ranking up. If she hadn't of bombed out in first round and Estoril she may have been seeded for the FO. However with her Vienna results she will be sitting on the cusp of a seed for Wimbeldon, so I guess it depends on what those around who achieve at the FO, whether or not she gets that Wimbeldon seed.

I know I will most likely be jumped on for saying this, but I don't really think Alicia has played well enough this year to say that she should be ranked higher. Her year started with a lot of promise but she hasn't really followed through.

If she does get by Myskina her ranking will be in the top 30 I am sure.

[broncosven]

If Alicia wants to be a seed then she should be able to beat a seed !!

Good luck Alicia

[Mr_Molik]

pros of this draw:
-this is myskinas worst surface
-alicia beat her easily in fed cup recently so knows how and that she can beat her
-alicia has no points to defend and therefore has nothing to lose
-alicia is the underdog
-myskina has a poor record at RG(never gone past 2r)
-myskina will be feeling alot of pressure bcos of her history at rg, high seeding and the fact alicia beat her recently
cons:
-myskina is a more acomplished and experienced player

[Doc]

There's always a certain amount of luck in rankings. Where Alicia has lost this year it has often been to far better than average players in extremely tough matches in early rounds. There are other players ranked quite a bit higher than Alicia who have not IMO performed at nearly such a high levelas Molik, but who have had easier draws this year.

Of course part of the problem has been Alicia playing too few lower level tournies to get her ranking up, and she has missed some good chances too, such as at Estoril. Anyway good luck Alicia at RG.

[broncosven]

Well lets look at it better

Alicia didnt draw the top 5 seeds who i would say are better performed on clay

[dubro]

but shes leadin 6-4 now !!!!!!

[azza]

she fucken lost 6-4 3-6 4-6 had 2 break pts in final game then lost next 4 pts fucken pathetic and im not being to harsh

[broncosven]

close but no cigar

Oh well unlucky Alicia but you should be abke to close these out by now

did neone see any of the match ??

[Doc]

It's so annoying to see Alicia go out and get no points when she could beat 90% of the players at RG with no sweat.

It's no use being mad at Alicia. Yes she made a lot of UE, but she was facing the World No 6, who is a tough, street-fighter to boot.

The only players I would PREDICT ALicia to lose to (out of 120 possible opponents at RG) would be:

Myskina
Venus
Serena
Kim
Justine
Amelie
Kuznetsova
Capriati
Petrova

It's just tough luck for Alicia to meet one of them in Round One.

[broncosven]

Well thats life

if Alicia can get inside the top 30 and be seeded (like wimbly hopefully) then she wouldnt have to face the higher seeds early on . . . thats the same for all our girls like all 4 of them could of faced the top 4 seeds ??

thats the luck or the 'rig' of the draw

[Mr_Molik]

i agree it is absolutely pathetic how many chances can you miss
it is ridiculous the number of close matches she has lost to top players
and i agree the draw was completely fucked with a better draw alicia could have easily made r16 or even qfs

[dubro]

she also had good chance to go at 4-4 on second set ... very poor draw.

[Mr_Molik]

it shits me so much to see players like weingartner (who alicia beat 2 and 3 last week!) still going

[broncosven]

Luck of Draw . . . . weingarter had to turn up and still win 2 matches . . . . . Of course its Frusterating but the signs from Alicia were good that she oculd push the 7th seed to 3 close sets

Sometimes that is better for Her then a couple easy victories