by Karen
With the carnage
and destruction that heralded Day 1 of the Australian Open, there were lots of
tennis fans who were no doubt hoping that this upset special did not carry over
into Day 2. Seems there was nothing to
fear as all if not most of the top seeds came through their matches quite
easily. The Spin’s team prediction
column looks a bit more black than red, unlike Day 1.
|
Court
|
Player A
|
Player B
|
|
|
Shelby
Rogers (USA)
|
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS)
|
|
Show Court 2
|
Olivia
Rogowska (AUS)
|
Nicole Gibbs (USA)
|
|
Show Court 3
|
Shuai
Zhang (CHN)
|
Alize Cornet (FRA)
|
|
|
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)
|
Kirsten
Flipkens (BEL)
|
|
Court 6
|
Madison Brengle (USA)
|
Andrea
Petkovic (GER)
|
|
|
Flavia
Pennetta (ITA)
|
Camila Giorgi (ITA)
|
|
Court 7
|
Garbine Muguruza (ESP)
|
Marina
Erakovic (NZL)
|
|
|
Vera Zvonreva (RUS)
|
Ons
Jabeur (TUN)
|
|
|
Kimiko
Date-Krumm (JPN)
|
Anna Tatishvilli (USA)
|
|
Court 10
|
Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL)
|
Heather
Watson (GBR)
|
|
Court 11
|
Irina Falconi (USA)
|
Kaia
Kanepi (EST)
|
|
|
Alla
Kudryavtseva (RUS)
|
Johanna Larsson (SWE)
|
One result that
completely shocked me was Andrea Petkovic losing to Madison Brengle. I would have thought that Petkovic being the
fresher of the two would have had a chance to move easily past Brengle who not
only had to qualify for Hobart, but also played the final against eventual
winner, Heather Watson. The fact that
Watson lost to Pironkova makes this loss by Petkovic even more alarming.
Dominika
Cibulkova seems to have realised that if she does not do well at this event her
rankings will be going even further south.
That was a quality win over Kirsten Flipkens and the match was hard
fought and of very good quality.
As a result of
the decimation of the seeds in the bottom half of the draw, we will be getting
some matches that we would not otherwise have seen. This will either be good or bad for the WTA
side of things, depending on who you speak to.
I think it will be good for the women’s game if we have a Cinderella story
from this fortnight of tennis. The women
who have made it this far are not household names, but if they are able to
carry through to the second week, how great a conversation will it be as we
will see the depth and range of talent that is to be found on the women’s tour.
Day 3 also sees the start of the doubles competition and the pairings will make
for some great tennis watching.
The order of
play for Day 3 sees the bottom half of the draw taking the Court. The matches and the Spin’s team picks are
(black for singles, red for doubles)
|
Court
|
Player A
|
Player B
|
|
Rod Laver Arena
|
Roberta Vinci
|
Ekaterina Makarova
|
|
|
Alexandra Panova
|
Maria Sharapova
|
|
|
Simona Halep
|
Jarmila Gajdosova
|
|
Margaret Court Arena
|
Klara Koulakova
|
Julia Georges
|
|
|
Sara Errani
|
Silvia
Soler-Espinosa
|
|
|
Eugenie Bouchard
|
Kiki Bertens
|
|
Hisense Arena
|
Magdalene Rybarikova
|
Shuai Peng
|
|
|
Karolina Pliskova
|
Oceane Dodin
|
|
|
|
|
|
Show Court 2
|
Yaroslava Shvedova
|
Monica Puig
|
|
|
Medina-Garrigues/Shvedova
|
Serena
& Venus Williams
|
|
Show Court 3
|
Lara Arruabarrena
|
Yanina Wickmayer
|
|
|
Kuznetsova/Stosur
|
Chan/Peschke
|
|
Court 6
|
Carina Witthoeft
|
Christina McHale
|
|
|
Stefanie Voegele
|
Caroline Garcia
|
|
Court 7
|
Bencic/Siniakova
|
Hingis/Pennetta
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court 8
|
Kristina Mladenovic
|
Bethanie
Mattek-Sands
|
|
|
Irigoyen/Oprandi
|
Hsieh/Mirza
|
|
|
Peng/Xu
|
Date-Krumm/Dellacqua
|
|
Court 10
|
Muguruza/Suarez-Navarro
|
Lepchenko/Tatishvilli
|
|
|
Krajicek/Strycova
|
Erakovic/Puig
|
|
Court 11
|
Kalashnikova/Nara
|
Barthel/Minella
|
|
|
Diatchenko/Niculescu
|
Davis/McHale
|
|
Court 12
|
Lucie Hradecka
|
Polona Hercog
|
|
|
Aoyama/Voracova/
|
Kudryavtseva/Pavlyuchenkova
|
|
Court 13
|
Zarina Diyas
|
Anna Schmiedlova
|
|
|
Rodionova/Rodionova
|
Bains/Tomic
|
|
Court 15
|
Gavrilova/Sanders
|
Adamczak/Rogowska
|
|
Court 22
|
Dabrowski/Rosolska
|
Black/Zheng
|
|
|
Jans-Ignacik/Klepack
|
Jankovic/Parra
Santonja
|
|
|
Rogers/Vekic
|
Cornet/Parmentier
|
This and That
With the
decimation of the top seeds in the bottom half of the draw many fans, and I am
sure TV commentators will be at pains to find a narrative for players that some
of them may have never heard of. I think
this will either prove challenging for TV commentators or they can use the
opportunity to highlight the depth and range of talent that is to be found on
the women’s tour.
One thing that
tennis fans and commentators need to get over is that we are now living in a
global economy. Tennis does not only
reside within the 4 Grand Slam nations, but it exists everywhere. If you look at the faces of the many fans who
visit the Grand Slams every year you will find people from Europe, Asia, South
America, the Caribbean and Africa who watch and enjoy this sport. We should also be reminded that there are
migrants living in the US, Canada and many other big 4 countries that follow
tennis. Who can forget the Serbian show
of support in France during Ana Ivanovic’s run to the French Open title or how
much the Greek Cypriots celebrate whenever Marcos Baghdatis played tennis in
Australia. There is a strong Eastern
European contingent that resides in Australia and New Zealand and with the rise of the Eastern European countries
in tennis, this has given rise to a very large and growing fan base.
It does not
matter that you and I have no idea who Carina Witthoeft is, I am sure that
there are people who live in the US and Canada and even Australia who have been
following her career for the longest time and are now happy that she is still
in contention at the Australian Open.
This happened
last night during Serena Williams’ match against Alison Van Uytvanck
And this one
Serena is rocking that outfit! Cut out back #sexy #outfit #ausopen @serenawilliams
— victoria azarenka (@vika7) January 20, 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment