Tuesday, January 14, 2014

DAY 3 PICKS AND DAY 2 REVIEW

by Karen 

The word out of the Australian Open on Day 2 was that it was hot.  There were complaints from players as well as the ever present defending fans.  The Spin's advice, shut up and play.  

I have to confess that I barely watched any of the Day 2 action.  I glimpsed Simona Halep doing her thing against a player I had never heard of, Piter and it was great to see Halep, winner of 6 titles in 2013, running away with her match with a scoreline of 0 and 1. 

Jelena Jankovic, one of the Dark Horses in this tournament took care of her opponent with a very impressive scoreline as did Caroline Wozniacki who dealt with what could have been a very tricky opponent in Lourdes Dominguqez-Lino.  

The No. 3 seed, Maria Sharapova had a bit of a struggle in the second set against Bethanie Mattek-Sands but pulled away in the dying moments of the match with a score line of 3 and 4. 

Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to Elina Svitlonia.  I don't know whether to call this a loss or just Sveta being Sveta. Either way Sveta is out of the tournament. 

Victoria Azarenka battled the heat, her opponent and her wayward strokes to gut out a straight set match on Rod Laver Arena against Johanna Larsson.  Larsson served for the first set on 2 occassions but was unable to do the deed.  However, this match led me to consider the reason why a 2 time defending champion continues to get such shitty court assignments, or rather why does it seem as if her matches get scheduled either during the early in the day sessions or late at night.  Meilen Tu get on that STAT. 


Below are today's Day 3 matches with Spin's Picks

Serena Williams  v Vesna Dolonc
Karolina Pliskova v Daniela Hantuchova 
Samantha Stosur v Tsvetana Pironkova
Annika Beck  v Ana Ivanovic 

Jie Zheng v Madison Keys
Casey Dellacqua v Kirsten Flipkens 
Eugenie Bouchard v Virginie Razzano
Lauren Davis v Julia Goerges 

Na Li v Belinda Bencic
Lucie Hradecka v Lucie Safarova 
Ekaterina Makarova v Irina Falconi
Monica Niculescu v Sabine Lisicki 

Angelique Kerber v Alla Kudrayvtseva
Yanina Wickmayer v Alison Riske 
Flavia Pennetta v Monica Puig
Mona Barthel v Luksika Kumkhum 


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