 |
|
 |
|
|
||||||
|
 |
|
|
By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net
The 2008 season has begun with a bang, even while much of the world outside of Australia and New Zealand is still crawling out of its collective bed post raucous New Year's celebrations. Six events dot the pre-Aussie Open landscape and all of them have some relevance. AUCKLAND: It looks like New Zealand finally has a player again. Marina Erakovic, all of 19-years-old, upset top-seed Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5). Erakovic was joyful and Vera Z. was down in the dumps after a series of questionable calls in the third set. Said the new star, "She got a little mentally frustrated. I was coming at her. I was staying with her. She must not have liked it at all." ASB Classic tournament director Richard Palmer was thrilled, too. "Every year you give Kiwis wildcards," said Palmer in his twelfth year in the role. "You always hope something will happen. This year it has. There was some real national pride out there. Let's hope it is not finished yet." Erakovic will face another youngster, France's Aravane Rezai, while tournament favorite Lindsay Davenport will face the tour's most promising 17-year-old, Austrian Tamira Paszek, who crushed Maria Kirilenko. That contest will be a great test of where both mom Davenport's and fresh face Paszek's games are. HOPMAN CUP: This unique and fun competition is under fire again, this time because Serbia has advanced to the final despite the fact that Jelena Jankovic was forced to retire from her last two singles matches with a hamstring injury. However, Novak Djokovic has crushed the competition and he and JJ have managed to win all their mixed doubles matches. That puts them into the final against the US, with JJ questionable to face Serena Williams and Djokovic favored over Mardy Fish. You have to give the edge to America in the doubles, given that Fish and Serena have stronger resumes. But why is JJ continuing to compete when she is putting her AO chances at risk? Some positives from the Hopman Cup: Alicia Molik and Lucie Safarova both played Serena tough, making them AO second-week dark horses. Tomas Berdych also looks good, as does Tatiana Golovin, but Sania Mirza is struggling to pull out three setters again. GOLD COAST: Upsets ruled as Amelie Mauresmo, Nicole Vaidisova and Dinara Safina all went down. Former AO champ Mauresmo fell to old foe Patty Schnyder, 6-4, 6-4, while Vaidisova lost to the recently returned Li Na 6-3, 6-3. Shahar Peer took out Safina 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(8) and will meet another fresh face, Victoria Azarenka, in the semis. Azarenka defeated Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Vaidisova hurt her ankle during the match, but says it's nothing serious. It's good to see Peer back to grinding, rather than flailing on offense. QATAR: In the first truly enticing men's match of the year, Nikolay Davydenko will take on Andy Murray in the semis. Davydenko bested Dmitry Tursunov, 7-5, 6-3, who stole his Davis Cup spot from him. Murray beat Thomas Johansson 7-6(4), 6-0. Ivan Ljubicic will take on Stan Wawrinka in the other semi. CHENNAI: Rafa Nadal crushed US qualifier Rajeev Ram 6-4, 6-1 to gain the Chennai Open quarterfinals, where he'll face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Nadal really needs to start of the year with a tournament title and the field is ripe for the picking. Teen Marin Cilic beat fifth-seeded Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 6-4 and will face Robin Haase. The other quarters feature Carlos Moya v. Florent Serra, and defending champion Xavier Malisse v. Mikhail Youzhny. ADELAIDE: Odds are that Lleyton Hewitt will win his hometown tournament in Adelaide before the tour waves goodbye to it next year. Hewitt wasted Jose Acasuso 6-2, 6-2. Next he will meet sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who downed 19-year-old Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-3. Jarkko Nieminen knocked off Frank Dancevic 6-4, 6-1 and will meet never-say-retire American Vince Spadea, who bested Mischa "Little Natasha" Zverev 6-3, 7-5. © TennisReporters.net 2008
|
|
|||||||||||
