[Sam21]

First round scores for the aussies

Peers d Bobusic 61 67(3) 75
Han d Adamczak 63 63
Holland d Woolcock 75 64
Sanders d Tananta 61 64
Ozgen d Billett 61 61
Omae d Starr 62 60
Murray d Calderwood 61 63
South d Hubacek 63 61
Patterson d Grajdek 75 46 63
Alves d Dominikovic 63 57 76(2)
Bai d Keir 36 76(4) 64
Rogowska d Myers 53 75

pretty decent results except for Adamczak. does anyone know anything about Keir? she went alright against Bai.

[Territory]

Keir's been doing really well in AMTs this year.

Dani D's result is a bit disappointing. Nice to see Tammi get a win. I think it's been a while for her and she has so many points to defend in these ITFs. Good to see our top 3 seeds get through, though Sally struggled!

In the doubles QF:

Rischbieth/Sanders def. Calderwood/Bengson

Storm's having a good tournament

[jack21]

Pretty much all results were expected. Glad that Tammi finaly got a win, injury has disrupted what I thought would be a big year for her.
Good effort by Abbie to push Rogowska so far.

GL in R2 Sally, Liv, Bella, Tammi and Storm.

[OZTENNIS]

So the long march to the Australian Open begins this week for our girls.

I am going to be critical over the next few months because I think in the past I have fallen into a false sense of hope for the summer

I want Sally, Olivia and Isabella to stand up and really deserve their (potential) wildcards into the main draw. Quarter finals don't cut it in my books - I'm looking for consistent semi final, runner up and winning performances. If they don't deliver, they don't deserve to be given wildcards into the Open IMO. All three (but particularly Sally and Olivia) are at a crucial time in their career right now - do well and move away from playing the Aussie 25ks and on to bigger and brighter things, or get stuck in a rut and struggle to get out touring Australia twice annually.

Looking at today's results - none of the three were impressive at all.

Peers has struggled since the Open and looks like she was lucky to survive Bobusic. Who would have thought, going from the 2nd Round of the US Open as a qualifier in 2010 to almost losing in the opening round of a 25k in Alice Springs to someone ranked outside the top 300 in 2011. Sally needs to build form and confidence (and rebuild her ranking) in these tournaments.

Isabella's 7-5 6-4 win over Woolcock is hardly inspiring either. Woolcock might be a fellow AIS athlete but she hasn't exactly set the world alight on the junior circuit this year. Was expecting a more convincing win here. Hopefully Isabella can step it up in the next round and make the semi finals. I'll be disappointed if she doesn't.

Olivia probably had the best win of the three but it still wasn't convincing. Myers is a decent junior but Olivia is capable of beating someone like her much more comfortably IMO. Cakewalk draw to the quarter finals, she should make it to at least the final.

I'm also looking for the junior generation to step up. Rajicic has been bitterly disappointing since her performance in AO Quallies. She has the talent to go far but she's simply got to play more matches to make the next step. However given her seemingly part time commitment to tennis this year she needs to perform well - and consistently - this year to warrant another run in qualifying IMO. I hope tennis soon gets her full attention, if not, it is a waste of talent.

Sanders has scored two great wins - I'll be following her results over the rest of the circuit closely. Hadzic has a few points to defend and hasn't done a lot since her run in Cairns last year, though she has travelled. She deserves a run in AO Quallies if she plays out the 25ks and can improve her ranking. Woolcock, too, could get a run in qualifying if she can improve her ranking and win some matches in the main draws.

If none of the juniors can prove their worth then the wildcards should go to the likes of Bobusic, Dominikovic, Adamczak, Patterson (hopefully her body is right and she can end an otherwise disappointing season well), Letcher (where is she, very promising start to the year now MIA) etc etc

[TS]

Quite concerned about Monique. I'm not sure if her heart is in it anymore...

Knew Dani would have a tough one. A player like Alves (former top 200 or thereabouts) doesn't travel all the way here for a first round loss. Should've got through though, and especially in the doubles

Meh. Same old, same old really with the others. Sure they got through but I'll eat my hat if one of them wins the actual tournament.

[Sam21]

Storm beat the 6th seed Pemra Ozgen today, 76(4) 64. Ozgen is ranked 301 so I didnt expect her to win this one, but hopefully she can keep her form going for the rest of the pro tour tournaments. next up she'll play the winner of Holland and Litvak.

[jack21]

(Q)Storm Sanders (AUS) def. (6)Pemra Ozgen (TUR) 7-6(4) 6-4

Another great win for Storm. Potential QF vs Holland. No other Aussie results today, must have been rained out or something.

Doubles SF: Holland/Peers vs. Sanders/Rischbieth

[Keadz]

Nice to see a younger player getting some good wins.

I refuse to get my hopes up with any Australian player anymore though.

Its funny though, you see how bad the level of play is during a lot of the AO maindraw matches plus qualifying and compare it to the level of some of our girls and I struggle to comprehend why they can't break through. Seems to be just general lack of consistency more than anything as well there just being a mental barrier in which they don't believe they should win or be competing at that level.

[Territory]

The line-up for Cairns next week has quite a bit more depth than Alice Springs. Wildcards have been announced:

Azra Hadzic
Belinda Woolcock
Ebony Panoho
Brooke Rischbieth

Don't know why they gave one to Panoho when she got flogged by Ivana Kafedjiyksa 0-6 1-6 today in Cairns. And I would've thought Storm might have been in with a chance too. She'll be stuffed if she has to rush off to play qualies in Cairns after she's done in Alice.

[jack21]

Yea, not sure why Panoho is getting all of these WC's. There seem to be plenty of other girls around her age and younger who are better. I 'd like to see some of the older girls who made the effort to get oversease given a few chances.

Also I got the impression that Shannon Golds would be making an appearance in these 25K's. Didn't she un-retire herself?

[ozfan44]

Panoho really

Continual good work by the wildcard selectors

Storm does well this week and whats her reward a rushed flight to Cairns for qualies again....that makes sense...

[Vicky88]

I'd say it's been a dire year for the lot of them. Personally I think that TA should put it out there, WCs are going to be strictly awarded on ranking, the first x outside of DE get in and down the line they go.

It does no good at all winning 2 rounds of a Oz $25k then bombing out in the first round for the next 3. We need consistency, and the rankings at the end of the year is going to show who has been consistent.

I don't care how old any of them are, it should be ranking based.

[Dani12]

Gawd....Panoho is terribubble. They are trying to shove her down worse than Nancarrow, and she probably isn't even as good.

[OZTENNIS]

R16 [3] Isabella Holland (AUS) def Lena Litvak (USA) 6-3 3-6 6-0 Alice Springs Tennis International #protour

R16 [8] Tammi Patterson (AUS) def Maria-Fernanda Alves (BRA) 7-6(3) 6-4 Alice Springs Tennis International #protour

[Dani12]

Nice results! 5 in the quarters would be a good result, Sally should win