===============
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
(Melbourne, Australia; outdoor hard (Plexicushion); Grand Slam)
=============== http://www.australianopen.com/

This is an Anna-filtered subset of my Australian Open preview.
You can follow my full reports at any of the following:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=328704
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharapova_vaidisova_hantuchova/

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Contents
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1. Photos
2. UK TV-alert
3. First-round draw: Bottom half
4. Second-round draw: Top half
5. Anna Chakvetadze preview
6. Women's Doubles: First-round draw
7. Order of Play for Tuesday

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1. Photos
---------

Search Getty Images for "chakvetadze"

Many players:
http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/gallery?pg=1&cap=1

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2. UK TV-alert
--------------

The evening-sessions of the Australian Open will be televised on BBCi
from 08:25 GMT each day of the tournament (digital viewers press Red
or select the appropriate Freeview-channel: either 301 or 302 - today
it was 301).

My understanding is that this coverage will consist of the women's
match on the evening-session of the Rod Laver Arena (Kanepi v Molik
on Monday), followed by the men's match, followed by recorded
coverage of the "best" match of the day on a continuous loop.

But don't set your hopes too high - last year, only 7% of BBCi's
Australian Open coverage was of the women! :mad: There isn't a
women's match on the Rod Laver Arena evening-session every day.

Other Australian Open coverage on BBC television:
* Sunday 20th January on BBC 2 (12:30 to 14:00 GMT);
* Saturday 26th January: Women's Singles final on BBC 1 (from 02:20
GMT);
* Saturday 26th January: repeat of WS final on BBCi (from 07:00 GMT);
* Saturday 26th January: highlights of WS final on BBC 2 (13:00 to
14:00 GMT);
* Sunday 27th January: Men's Singles final on BBC 2 (from 08:30 GMT);
* Sunday 27th January: repeat of MS final on BBCi (from 10:00 GMT).

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3. First-round draw: Bottom half
--------------------------------
3.1 Third quarter: Iroda Tulyaganova
------------------------------------

* Yan,Zi [S] v VENUS WILLIAMS [8] (jia you Zi!)
* Camille Pin v Monica Niculescu [Q]
* Timea Bacsinszky [Q] v Sophie Ferguson [WC] (hopp Timea!)
* Iroda Tulyaganova [WC,EF] v SANIA MIRZA [31,DF] (I like Sania a
lot, but DAVAI IRODA!!)

* Séverine Brémond v LI,NA [24] (allez Séverine!)
* Maria Elena Camerin v Christina Wheeler [WC] (forza Maria Elena!)
* Marta Domachowska [Q] v Mathilde Johansson [WC] (my loyalty is to
Marta)
* MARION BARTOLI [10,DF,S] v Sofia Arvidsson (allez Marion!)

* Sabine Lisicki [Q] v DINARA SAFINA [16] (komm jetzt Sabine!)
* María Emilia Salerni v Mariya Koryttseva (ˇvamos María Emilia!)
* Gisela Dulko [DF] v Caroline Wozniacki (my loyalty is to Gisela)
* ALYONA BONDARENKO [21] v Alla Kudryavtseva (davai Alyona!)

* KATARINA SREBOTNIK [28] v Lourdes Domínguez Lino (dajmo Katarina!)
* Angelika Bachmann v Anastasia Rodionova
* Tathiana Garbin v Eleni Daniilidou
* ANA IVANOVIC [4,DF] v Sorana Cîrstea (my loyalty is to Ana)


3.2 Bottom quarter: Chakvetadze, Šafárová, Hantuchová
-----------------------------------------------------

* ANNA CHAKVETADZE [6,EF] v Andrea Petkovic (DAVAI ANNA!!)
* Peng,Shuai [S] v Alisa Kleybanova [Q] (jia you Shuai!)
* Michaëlla Krajícek [DF] v Akiko Morigami [S] (my loyalty is to
Michaëlla)
* MARIA KIRILENKO [27,DF] v Meilen Tu (davai Maria!)

* LUCIE ŠAFÁROVÁ [22,EF] v Catalina Castańo (POJDME LUCIE!!)
* Roberta Vinci v Virginia Ruano Pascual (may the better win)
* Alizé Cornet v Clarisa Fernández (allez Alizé!)
* DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [9,EF] v Vania King (PODME DANIELA!!)

* NADIA PETROVA [14] v Nicole Pratt
* Anne Kremer v Evgenia Linetskaya (dajee Anne!)
* Laura Granville v Yvonne Meusburger
* Ekaterina Makarova v ÁGNES SZÁVAY [20] (I did a Google Image search
for "Ekaterina Makarova" and found an absolute stunner, but
unfortunately she wasn't the tennis-player)

* AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA [29] v Olga Savchuk
* Martina Müller v Pauline Parmentier
* Tsvetana Pironkova v Olga Govortsova (my loyalty is to Tsvetana)
* Nathalie Dechy v SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA [2] (allez Nathalie!)

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4. Second-round draw: Top half
------------------------------

* Olga Poutchkova v JUSTINE HENIN [1] (davai Olga!)
* Angelique Kerber v FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE [25]
* Hsieh,Su-Wei [Q,S] v SYBILLE BAMMER [19] (jia you Su-Wei!)
* TATIANA GOLOVIN [13,DF] v Aravane Rezaď (my loyalty is to Tatiana)

* ELENA DEMENTIEVA [11] v Anabel Medina Garrigues (davai Elena!)
* SHAHAR PE'ER [17] v Jessica Moore [WC] (kadima Shahar!)
* Elena Vesnina v Jill Craybas (davai Elena!)
* MARIA SHARAPOVA [5,EF] v Lindsay Davenport (DAVAI MARIA!!)

* JELENA JANKOVIC [3] v Edina Gallovits
* Flavia Pennetta [DF] v VIRGINIE RAZZANO [30] (forza Flavia!)
* Yaroslava Shvedova v AMÉLIE MAURESMO [18] (davai Yaroslava!)
* Casey Dell'Acqua v PATTY SCHNYDER [15]

* NICOLE VAIDIŠOVÁ [12,EF] v Alicia Molik (POJDME NICOLE!!)
* Tatiana Perebiynis v Ai Sugiyama (davai Tatiana!)
* VICTORIA AZARENKA [26] v Sandra Klösel [Q]
* Yuan,Meng [Q] v SERENA WILLIAMS [7]

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5. Anna Chakvetadze preview
---------------------------

Anna comes here on the back of a 7-5 6-1 loss to Katarina Srebotnik
in the first round of Sydney, but I sincerely hope that was just an
aberration. I don't think Anna would have beaten Daniela Hantuchová
at Hong Kong if she hadn't recovered from her burglary-ordeal of 18th
December 2007. Then again, Daniela was suffering from abdominal pains
at Hong Kong, so I do wonder if Anna is still affected by the trauma.


5.1 First round
---------------

Anna needs a nice, easy match to, well, ease her way into the
Australian Open after the Sydney setback, and she should have one in
#92-ranked Andrea Petkovic, against whom she has never played before.

20-year-old Petkovic has snuck into the top 100 almost unnoticed by
me, but she's been in and out of there since August 2007. She played
many ITF tournaments and WTA qualifying in 2007, and is currently on
a 3-match losing-streak after losing her opening-round qualifying-
matches at Gold Coast and Sydney to players in the #120s. So if Anna
doesn't beat her, she ought to be shot, really.

I don't have time to preview beyond the first round now.

------------------------------------
6. Women's Doubles: First-round draw
------------------------------------

* Anna Chakvetadze [EF]/Li,Na v (PENG,SHUAI/SUN,TIANTIAN)[8]

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7. Order of Play for Tuesday
----------------------------

Vodafone Arena (start 11:00 AEST = 00:00 GMT)
WS 1r: ANNA CHAKVETADZE [6,EF] v Andrea Petkovic
MS 1r: Thomas Johansson v MARCOS BAGHDATIS [15]
WS 1r: ANA IVANOVIC [4,DF] v Sorana Cîrstea
MS 1r: JAMES BLAKE [12] v Nicolás Massú

Full order of play:
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/chakv/