===============
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
(Melbourne, Australia; outdoor hard (Plexicushion); Major)
=============== http://www.australianopen.com/
Contents
--------

1. Photos / Videos
2. First-round TV-report: Hantuchová v Dell'Acqua
3. Second-round draw
4. Second-round preview
5. Andrew's wishes
6. Women's Doubles: First-round draw
7. Order of play for Wednesday

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1. Photos / Videos
------------------
1.1 Photos
----------

Daniela Hantuchová:
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/players/related/wta080394.html

Various players including Daniela:
http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/photogallery/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7836743.stm


1.2 Videos
----------

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/multimedia/default_video.asp
- Night 1 Highlights: Daniela Hantuchová v Casey Dell'Acqua

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2. First-round TV-report: Hantuchová v Dell'Acqua
(Monday 19th January 2009)
-------------------------------------------------

+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [19,EF] d. Casey Dell'Acqua, 7-6 (13/11) 6-4

BBCi showed this match from 4-5* in the first set (prior to which I
followed live scores at www.australianopen.com).

Daniela played very poorly in the three games before the tiebreak, but
much more like her usual self from the tiebreak onwards. Dell'Acqua is
a left-handed player who likes to go for broke on her groundstrokes,
so it isn't easy to get into a rhythm against her.

Dell'Acqua is an even bigger choker than Daniela. She served for the
first set at *5-4 and *6-5, and wasted five set-points (one at *6-5
and four in the tiebreak).

The second set was much more comfortable for Daniela, as she cruised
through on the strength of a single break in the first game. She had
her first match-point in a game of five deuces at 5-3*; then at *5-4,
she recovered from 0/40 to serve out the match.

Daniela's form was a far cry from that which took her to the
semi-finals of the Australian Open 2008, and will need to improve
quite a lot if she is to get past Alizé Cornet in a likely third-round
match.

Sam Smith observed that Daniela had been doing a lot of physical
training in the gym, and speculated that she was putting
fitness-training ahead of tennis-training to set herself up for later
in the year, "and if she gets a few results [now], she gets a few
results".

I'll post my full TV-report at a later date.

--------------------
3. Second-round draw
--------------------
3.1 Top half
------------

* Kirsten Flipkens v JELENA JANKOVIC [1] (komaan Kirsten!)
* Nathalie Dechy v AI SUGIYAMA [26] (allez Nathalie!)
* Lucie Šafárová [EF] v Marina Erakovic (my loyalty is to LUCIE)
* Tsvetana Pironkova [DF] v MARION BARTOLI [16,DF,S] (my Reason says
Marion, but my Passion says Tsvetana)

* Sania Mirza [DF] v NADIA PETROVA [10] (go Sania!)
* Karin Knapp v Galina Voskoboeva
* Monica Niculescu [S] v Sara Errani (hai Monica!)
* VERA ZVONARËVA [7,EF] v Edina Gallovits (DAVAI VERA!!)

* Ekaterina Makarova v DINARA SAFINA [3]
* Patricia Mayr v KAIA KANEPI [25]
* DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [19,EF] v Mathilde Johansson (my loyalty is to
DANIELA)
* ALIZÉ CORNET [15] v Andrea Petkovic (allez Alizé!)

* CAROLINE WOZNIACKI [11] v Virginia Ruano Pascual (my loyalty is to
Caroline)
* Jelena Dokic [WC,EF] v ANNA CHAKVETADZE [17,EF] (having to lose one
of them so early is like a dagger in my heart)
* ALISA KLEYBANOVA [29] v Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro
* ANA IVANOVIC [5,DF] v Alberta Brianti [Q] (ajde Ana!)


3.2 Bottom half
---------------

* VENUS WILLIAMS [6] v Carla Suárez Navarro
* María José Martínez Sánchez v Akgul Amanmuradova
* ANABEL MEDINA GARRIGUES [21] v Julie Coin
* FLAVIA PENNETTA [12,DF] v Jessica Moore [WC] (my loyalty is to Flavia)

* PATTY SCHNYDER [14] v Virginie Razzano
* DOMINIKA CIBULKOVÁ [18] v Chan,Yung-Jan (podme Domi!)
* Sabine Lisicki v Samantha Stosur (komm jetzt Sabine!)
* Iveta Benešová v ELENA DEMENTIEVA [4] (pojdme Iveta!)

* Tatjana Malek v SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA [8] (komm jetzt Tatjana!)
* ALYONA BONDARENKO [31] v Séverine Brémond (my loyalty is to Alyona -
slightly)
* ZHENG,JIE [22] v Melinda Czink (jia you Jie!)
* Kateryna Bondarenko v Lourdes Domínguez Lino (davai Kateryna!)

* VICTORIA AZARENKA [13] v Tathiana Garbin (davai Victoria!)
* Elena Baltacha [Q] v AMÉLIE MAURESMO [20] (go Elena!)
* Peng,Shuai [S] v Sesil Karatantcheva [Q] (jia you Shuai!)
* Gisela Dulko [DF] v SERENA WILLIAMS [2] (ˇvamos Gisela!)

-----------------------
4. Second-round preview
-----------------------

Mathilde Johansson went 45:24 in 2008, winning ITF singles-titles at
Cali in February, and Petange in July. She got some Major experience
by losing 6-2 7-5 to Serena Williams in the second round of the French
Open, and 6-7 7-5 6-3 to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round of
Wimbledon (after qualifying). But she finished 2008 on a 4-match
losing-streak.

Mathilde got a couple of wins in Auckland-qualifying, but nothing
Daniela should be too worried about, as her opponents were #180 and
unranked. She lost to #144 Aiko Nakamura in the third qualifying-
round for Auckland, and to #263 Sophie Ferguson in the first
qualifying-round for Sydney. In the first round here, she squeezed
past #65 Jill Craybas 6-2 1-6 7-5.

Daniela has never played Johansson before, but should have too much
big-time experience - and of course talent - for the world #87.

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5. Andrew's wishes (updated after Tuesday)
------------------

DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [19,EF]:
2r + Mathilde Johansson
3r + ALIZÉ CORNET [15]
4r + Ekaterina Makarova
qf + Jelena Dokic [WC,EF]
sf + VERA ZVONARËVA [7,EF]
_f + Gisela Dulko [DF]

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

* (DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [EF]/AI SUGIYAMA)[9]
v Isabella Holland/Sally Peers

AO Doubles Preview
http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/1/newsroom/stories/?ContentID=2899
>>>
Other seeds of note include Daniela Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama at
No.9; Sugiyama's regular partner of 2008, Katarina Srebotnik, is out
with injury, but of course the popular 'Hantuyama' unit isn't short on
history or prospects.
<<<

Full draw:
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/wd/

------------------------------
7. Order of play for Wednesday
------------------------------

Show Court 3 (start 11:00 AEDT = 00:00 GMT)
MS 2r: Dominik Hrbatý v DAVID FERRER [11]
WS 2r: DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [19,EF] v Mathilde Johansson
MS 2r: STANISLAS WAWRINKA [15] v Brydan Klein
MD 1r: (MAX MIRNYI/ANDY RAM)[9] v Greg Jones/Peter Luczak

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

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://tinyurl.com/andrewbroad-hantu