The women's draw is out.

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores...s/ws/index.html

Basically, the Williams sisters are ruling the roost in the top half of the draw. The still-untested and injury-prone Wozniacki and Azarenka are the only other top seeds in sight. I usually have angst whenever Venus and Serena are in the same half, but they can only meet in the semis, and when that happens usually Venus doesn't even make it that far. So I'll hold off on that angst.

The REAL angst is Henin and Dementieva, aka Brisbane and Sydney finalists already this year, are slated to meet in the second round. Ugh. Whoever survives that early bloodbath will then have to face Clijsters in the QFs. Meanwhile, flaky No 1 has-beens Safina and Jankovic are breathing more easily in the other quarter of the bottom half, although Sharapova will probably take care of both of them if she's fit and playing well.

OMG...I mean its great for my faves the WS but this draw is crazy!! On paper, Serena has a cakewalk to the final (that match with Sabine could be interesting though and like Rezai showed...these girls really step it up for Serena. Lets see if heat is a factor again this year). Venus got it good too but she's had some shaky losses in Australia.

Justine vs Elena 2nd round? That sucks!!!!!

Justine's possible path:

R1: Flipkins
R2: Dementieva
R3: Dokic/Kleybanova
R4: Pennetta
QF: Clijsters/Kuznetsova
SF: Sharapova
F : Serena/Venus

If that girl wins this thing I will forever worship her!!!!

On Serena's top half: on Serena's top half: Wozniacki, Venus, Azarenka, Zvonareva, Lisicki, Radwanska, Stosur, Li and Ivanovic

On the bottom half: Safina, Dementieva, Kuznetsova, Henin, Clijsters, Sharapova, Jankovic, Bartoli, Pennetta, Rezai, Zheng, Peng, Petrova

Someone posted on another forum that this was the ITF's apology to Serena for the US Open debacle. Now we know where that $80,000 REALLY went to...this freakin easy draw for Serena!!!

Dementieva, THE most overdue woman on the tour to collect a Major, is a brutal 2nd Round for Justine. The most remarkable thing about Justine's match with Clijsters in Brisbane was how underperforming her serve was and she still almost won it. Her success through the tournament will be determined by that shot. The rest of her game was as if she never left. If she serves well, the rest of these ladies have a lot to fear. And when you consider how overloaded the bottom half of this draw is, you have to say that the top half is exactly Serena's to lose. Venus - well, her best hard court days are behind her now. Especially when she has to win 7 matches on it. Venus has never won here, and that trend will continue.

Sharapova is in the Drivers Seat, IMHO. The 3rd Quarter brutality will likely take its toll on whoever comes through it, and Sharapova has more belief she can win one of these than Safina. I'm thinking Serena & Maria will decide this one, and I'll go out on a limb and say Sharapova will take down Serena in 3 Sets to lift the trophy.

I remember the Williams sisters use to get saddled with the crappiest draws, but this year's is the easiest I've seen for both in a while. Basically, the top half of the draw feels like a 2009 slam draw. The bottom half is packed, especially that 3rd quarter. Elena, Henin, Clijsters AND Sveta? They could easily have been the four semifinalists of a slam. All of them have reached multiple grand slam finals at a minimum. Even the also rans of that quarter (Cirstea, Petrova, Kleybanova, Pavlyuchenkova, Penetta, Rezai) are notable. Heck, I'm just going to declare the 3rd quarter to be its own tournament -- call it the Belgian Comeback Open.

Sharapova beating Serena? Naw. I think Serena has made it a point to never lose to Maria Sharapova again. She has thrashed her the last few times they have played and I don't see that trend stopping. Even though Serena will never admit it, I'm sure she feels a lot of jealousy that Maria basically became the face of the tour after her Wimbledon win. Maria makes more in endorsement money (mainly because of her looks) and I think that really gets under Serena's skin. And, because so many would prefer to see Serena and Venus go away, I really think Serena has made it a point to show Maria who is boss when they get on court these days.

Well ... that's why they actually play the matches, instead of handing out the trophies based on blogpost prognostications.

Well...you made your prediction and I made mine. Whats the damn difference between you picking Sharapova and me picking Serena? Exactly!!! None...kthanksbye!!

Uh..wrong again. Here's the difference, genius. Your post prior to the one above wasn't a prediction - it was a rebuttal to my prediction saying it was wrong, basically. It was specifically directed to the content of my post. If you can't see the difference in something that obvious then you are as dumb as I think you are.

LOL whatever...its Friday and I have way too much to be happy about then to get into another dick swinging contest with your ass. I'm also not going to subject the rest of the board to this foolishness. Its obvious I can't respond to anything you write without receiving a sarcastic laced response in return and you're so not worth it. But, have a great weekend and we'll see how the AO unfolds.

Kind of amazing that we're looking at a draw with both Williams Sisters on one side and thinking it may be the easier half! But with both Belgians and all the significant Russians (Sharapova, Kuznetsova, Dementieva) in the bottom half, most of the players with experience deep in the majors are on that side. Azarenka hasn't done much since last March and has yet to really shine at the majors, so Wozniacki seems like the chief non-Williams threat there, barring an Ivanovic resurgence.

I'm not convinced that Serena's determination to beat Maria is really the issue--I've got to think that she'd rather crush Justine than Maria, given the choice. Maria's problem is that she doesn't move all that well and keeping Serena on the defensive is a very difficult task, unless she's serving perfectly. Serena really ought to take the top half, but I could see her going down to Wozniacki if she has a bad day. Venus is always hard to bet on away from Wimbledon; honestly, she might lose to Lucie in the first round. And of the major threats in the bottom half, I'd say Maria's less scary for Serena than either Belgian, maybe even less scary than Dementieva...I'll make that call when I see her serve.

And it just got more brutal with Wickmayer in there.

I think it's criminal that a player like Wickmayer was forced to qualify to play in this tournament, all due to a ridiculous ban that should have never occurred. While she's somewhat dark-horse-ish, I think it would be sweet, poetic justice if she were to win the whole thing.

Bizarre that Henin drew another Belgian for her first match back. (Flipkens) The luck of the draw, as always. Just weird. Of all the countries in the world, another Belgian. And #2 behind Clisters, I believe.





And yeah, I think this is the first big tourament since Amelie retired. Perhaps I should change my photo. <sigh>

I agree 100%!

My only concern is Serena's health.

If Serena's knee is giving her more trouble than what she says, she will not win. Especially since she and Venus are playing doubles.

Agreed. I hadn't heard of it, so had to look up the story. Cripes, she didn't even have a dirty u.a. Frickin technicalities. Same with countyman Malisse. is it a Belgian thing? Wickmayer had momentum. Might have given a run to Kim for #1 in Belgium. Well I hope she does well.

DAY 1 ORDER OF PLAY

Based on her performance so far, Sharapova will be lucky to get to week 2 let alone the final.

Edited: POVA and out!!!! Apparently, Maria still has a LOT of work to do. Her serving woes are not over and she prayed the ball horribly today. But credit to Kirilenko. She played well enough to finish off an erratic Sharapova who I thought would maybe pull it out in the third when she broke while MaKiri was serving for the match.

I like Maria, but her game remains so mechanical. Watching it fall apart over and over these last 12 months partly shows just how well someone like Serena thinks out there, and how much more in terms of variety Serena has to draw upon.

Maria can play blindingly good tennis. When she trounced Henin at the AO a few years back that performance was superlative -- not just her shotmaking but also her thinking out there was razor sharp. Not so today, from what I saw in the first set.

Makiri is another WTA underachiever. There's a lot to like about her game.

I don't think anyone saw that coming. When Kirilenko got nervous serving at 5-3, and lost that game in the third, I seriously thought it was over. I figured another player with a huge opportunity against a big name would fold, and the big name who always finds a way to win...would find a way to win.

Maria's mental toughness has always been there, even when her strokes have failed her. Very uncharacteristic loss of that toughness when she served at 4-5 in the final set. It was also strange that she had the lead in the first set, and let that get away, too, both during the set, and then in the first set breaker.

I wonder how much tinkering a serve can endure before the player contracts a severe case of what ails many Russian women...servesky-yipsky. Granted, she had shoulder problems and tried all kinds of variations on the abbreviated motion, but now, has gone back to the full motion. Her mental toughness has probably helped her compensate better than most players, but like Two-Hander has said, when a game is so based upon mechanics, the mind can only compensate so much.

That bottom quarter now looks wide open. Safina is clearly still struggling with her serve and game, so the favorite is probably Jankovic or maybe Bartoli?

The two former #1s who never won a slam, one who is still #2 in the world, and people still don't want to bet on either of them making it out of that quarter. Damn, that is one SOFT quarter, made even softer by Maria's early exit!! If JJ ever wants to get some respect back, now's the time. And if she or Safina don't make it out of this quarter, they may just go down in the history books as poster children for a questionable ranking system.

And it's not just Sharapova's serve that failed her. The Forehand is what was just as unpredictable. Her timing on both shots is below where it used to be when she won this 2 years ago. Basically, she needs to play more matches. Thats the only way she can sharpen the range of those two shots that are the signature of her game.

Well the Cinderella story that was Melanie Oudin will not be continued at this tournament. One of the few tennis stories that continued post US Open was how hard she was working out, and working on her game. 1st round? Oudin. Out. Ouch.

I would pay to watch Justine v. Elena. (I think ED will crush JH, unfortunately) Don't think it is on anywhere except tennis channel?

Wow it was such a winnable match for Oudin. She had 3 match points and just couldn't recover in the third. She tightens up on that forehand when things get close but man can she defend and then blast a forehand. I like her game and with improvement in that serve she could be a solid player.

One of the most intriguing first round matchups was Lucie Safarova vs Venus Williams. Many were picking upset but Venus (even in yellow which seems to be unlucky for her) played very solidly. Of course she had PLENTY of help from Safarova who sprayed the ball all over the place. But still....good match from start to finish from Venus, which is rare these days.

I also am pleased with Venus, but it stems from this reflexive feeling that her non-Wimbledon days of success are over. Just glancing over her tournaments last year, however, a case could be made that Venus is not all that far off from her best. Last year she participated in 10 hardcourt tournaments including the Aussie and the U.S. Open. The big head scratcher for me was her loss to Carla Suarez Navarro at the Aussie, as she was in the midst of winning 3 of 4 hardcourt tournaments. She even found her way to the semis of Miami, where she lost to an injured Serena.

Her good success died during the claycourt season and then Venus remerged at Wimbledon with tape on her knees that seemed to indicate some kind of lingering injury. Since Wimbledon her results on hardcourt really tapered off. She got to the finals of Stanford (where she inexplicably lost to Bartoli) and then lost early in Cincinnati, Toronto, U.S. Open (to Clijsters), Tokyo and Beijing. At the Year End Tour Champions she lost two straight round robin matches in three sets and then turned things around against Kuznetsova, before beating Jankovic and making it to the finals of that event.

During the 9 hardcourt tournaments Venus lost last year, the winner was pushed to a third set 6 times. The other two losses were 76, 64 to Penetta in Cincinnati and 76, 75 to Pavlyunchenkova in Tokyo. Her worst hardcourt loss was the year-end final to Serena where the score was 62, 76.

Thus, I feel I could reinterpret Venus's 2009 as follows:

For the Winter/Spring hardcourt season, Venus was near her best form, other than the WTF moment at Australia.

During the claycourt season, Venus lost her way.

From Wimbledon through the summer hardcourt season and into the fall hardcourt season, Venus was fighting some kind of knee injury and was losing tight matches.

At the Year End, Venus continued her trend of losing tight matches, until she turned it around against Kuznetsova and started to regain her confidence.

So now, my 2 questions where Vee is concerned are whether her knee is still an issue and whether she has regained the confidence she needs to reverse her recent problem of losing close matches. Assuming she avoids another fluke match like she had last year, Venus's game is still there and she still ought to be able to make some noise at this slam.

Annoyed that I couldn't even listen to the Justine/Elena match as it happened during the night here. But very glad to see that I was wrong about the possible results. Looks like it was a tight match, but the old Justine the fighter is back.

Amazingly, the broadcast of the men's match is still on at 7:30 this morning. Almost 2am in Australia. Is anyone still in the stands? The announcers sound punch drunk.

Thursday matches to keep an eye on:

Obviously, there's nothing to match Dementieva/Henin tonight but a couple matches of interest to me:

Na Li/Agnes Szavay
Szavay beat Jankovic last week, so she may be finding her form. She's a crafty player who could give the rather one-dimensional Li a tough match.

Ivanovic/Dulko
Although she was trounced by Justine earlier this year, there are some signs of revival from Ana...but I think Gisela has enough game to challenge her if she's not on. The straight boys will love the match up for other reasons.

That was a great match between Justine and Elena. Its ashame that Elena had to be the high seed to draw Justine because Elena was playing good enough to make the quarters at least. Justine has to work out the kinks in her new serve but its only her second tournament back and she should be able to. Her commitment to move forward to the net will pay off for her at Wimbledon if her serving is together. She can't serve that way deep in a Wimbledon match and expect to win. But wow..she's a fighter. The more things change the more they stay the same. Form is temporary....class is permanent...and Justine is in such a high class of players. Second tournament back and its almost like she didn't miss a beat. Women's tennis is going to be great this year.

What really stands out from the match stats on Elena/Justine is Justine winning 35 out of 43 points at the net. When was the last time you saw a woman's match essentially decided by net play?

Justine's serving was poor, but then she's never been a high percentage server and Elena has always had a terrific return game.

Justine had said that net play was going to be the big change that she brought to her game this time around. I guess so! Then I'm thinking back to how word was that one of the motivations for Henin coming back was to get another shot at Wimbledon. Well...net play will certainly help her there.



You picked those correctly. Both surprising results (to me). Na Li winning and Dulko beating Ivanovic. Both very tough matches.



You picked those correctly. Both surprising results (to me). Na Li winning and Dulko beating Ivanovic. Both very tough matches.

There have been some interesting early rounds, that's for sure. I reckoned the cruelest first-round draws were Venus v Safarova and Sharapova v Kirilenko: the big names were facing players who were once in the Top 20 and have had good results Down Under in recent years (QFs for Safarova, 4th Rd for Kirilenko), and players who had each defeated them recently as well. I figured Maria would get through and Venus would probably flop, and instead the reverse happened.

It's a shame about Sharapova, since she had a reasonably soft draw to the QFs or even semis if she played to her ability, which would have done wonders for her ranking. But Kirilenko thoroughly deserved the win. As for Venus, she's been playing as well as I've seen her play at the AO for a while now, although today's second set against Bammer was pretty scratchy (which was another match-up against a sometime Top 20 player who is actually 2-0 against Serena I think); the important thing is she didn't get herself extended to a third set where, as we saw last year against CSN, anything could happen.

As for Henin and Dementieva, well, it was the barn-burner everyone anticipated, although it was unfortunately overshadowed or at least had to compete for oxygen against the equally thrilling Blake and Delpo match which was going on at the same time. Those two women spent 2 1/2 hours on court for just two sets, which shows how competitive every single game (and point) was; you don't see two-setters clock nearly that much time unless either Nadal, Sharapova or Djoko are involved. As you guys have noted, Henin did crowd the net early and often, and although Dementieva is usually good with the passing shots, she was being asked too often to come up with them. It was a lot like the Brisbane final as well, where Henin's serve emerged as the only considerable liability which cost her the win there and nearly again yesterday - once she gets that cleaned up, I think she's going to be a lot to handle. Right now she's on course to be the fellow Belgian slayer at this tournament, having taken care of Flipkens, with Wickmayer (who is still looking impressive after surviving that opening-round marathon) probably up next and likely Clijsters in the QFs. (And they're all Flemish Belgians, which adds salt to the wounds for them I'm sure. )

I do feel bad for Elena, though. She'd been doing so well at the Slams for the past couple of years, but now she's had to play the 2nd-round sacrificial lamb for two Slams running to players with French surnames ending with '-in'. (Speaking of which, spare a thought for young Melanie, who choked away her match from what was going to be a straightforward straight-setter as surely as Molik did hers.) I kind of felt the AO was always the best chance for her to win a title finally; even though she's had her best results at the USO, there is too much competition at the top there. At any rate, it's looking even more likely now that the Henin-Clijsters QF will decide the finalist from the bottom half. Kuznetsova is always overlooked, and I try not to do it myself, but she doesn't really do well in Melbourne - I don't think she's ever reached the semis before, although now would be a good time to do it. Safina has been businesslike with her matches, which is a relief given her USO horror show, which made it too easy to forget that she has been remarkably consistent at the majors (SFs or better at five of the six before then). But I don't see her doing much beyond putting in a halfway respectable showing, which is actually a good result for her given all the head-shaking lately. As for Jelena, I think Bartoli is going to show her up like last year, although it will be tighter this time.

I'm looking forward to a Serena v Azarenka QF, since they have both been looking good despite recent injury complaints. They had a pretty exciting Wimbledon QF (the scoreline didn't do justice to Vika) and of course there's the history from last year, where Azarenka was up a set on her before retiring and then defeated a subpar Serena in the Miami final. Meanwhile Wozniacki seems to have shown up in good form, and if she reaches the quarters she's exactly the sort of consistent, wily retriever who can give a player like Venus fits. So even though I'd like to see that all-Williams semi, it might not be as straightforward as it seemed to me at first.

Jankovic out in 2 easy sets. wth? anyone see it?

Well I guess whatever is in the Serbian water is also affecting Jankovic. Ivanovic losing was no surprise. Hopefully Novak doesn't succumb. I don't even have an explanation other than the fact that she may just need a break.

Venus played well before going on a short walkabout in the middle of her second set. A back board like Bammer though is what she needed to get her timing right. The positive about Venus and Serena on the same side is that because they are in doubles their match on their off singles day is their practice.

Serena played lights out against Kvitova yesterday. Kvitova hits a really hard ball but the movement isn't there. Seems like she has the tools there but injury last year caused her to slide in the rankings. Serena was just on it though. Her returns were sick and her ball striking was scary, even all mummified up. Nice to see Serena playing this well at the start of the AO. BTW...did anyone hear the bitch fest that was going on between Mary Carillo and Pam Shriver last night over Serena. First it was Mary Jo and Pam arguing about Venus' overall game and technique. But the real fireworks were between Mary and Pam. Pam kind of owned Mary though when Mary was talking about Serena's US Open tirade and how football players get fined more. Well, Pam did some research of her own and pointed out that football players have been fined up to $25,000 for physically touching a referee. Mary was trying to make it seem like Serena didn't pay enough of a fine for her US Open tirade. Pam kind of owned her on that one. But man they were going back and forth about who has the most dominant serve and phew...it was interesting. Catfight....CATFIGHT!!!

Henin and Kleybanova are in a third set tussle with Justine up a break in the third. Maybe a let down from the Elena match or just needing to get used to the grind of the tour again. Still, I want to see the showdown between her and Kim so....C'MON JUSTINE!!!!

Dinara is playing well to start and her draw got softer with Maria going out. So it looks like she won't lose too many points. I can't see her making it past the quarters though. But, who knows.

I'm glad to hear somebody challenged Carillo on one of her outlandish points of view; I can't believe she's still being sanctimonious about the Serena outburst, when everybody else has pretty much moved on. I can overlook (barely) her voice being unpleasant on just a sonic level, but that woman spouts some of the most ridiculous, banal and churlish nonsense around. I wish there were some way to send her into commentary exile. What is it with these careers-for-life anyway, with her and Enberg? Term limits shouldn't just apply to politics. I'm a pretty laid-back guy, but she really sets my teeth on edge. I've actually had to watch portions of matches with the volume down because of her.

Uh, where was I? Sorry. She's a big pet peeve. Maybe I should form a Facebook anti-fan group to get it out of my system.

I was actually here to express relief that Henin and Wickmayer escaped their matches. Assuming Clijsters and Kuznetsova do the same, we're going to have to 11 Slam titles (and one maiden Slam semi) jammed into one quarter of the draw. Ugh. I'm actually really starting to think Sveta might crash the party; I think she matches up well against Kim (they actually have similar styles and of course belong to the exclusive doing-splits-to-stay-in-points club, joined only by Jankovic), and despite her atrocious record against Justine, she might be able to turn the tables on her while she's still vulnerable, like Kim did in Brisbane.

Anyway, the other quarter gets softer and softer. I guess when I predicted Bartoli to defeat Jankovic in a fourth-round rematch, it doomed them both to go out tamely. Still, Bondarenko is no slouch (Wickmayer's run at the USO was almost hers instead), and Zheng not only defended her 4th round points but had that Wimbledon semi a while back. And before facing one of them, Safina still has to worry about Kirilenko, who is aiming to take out another top countrywoman. I guess it's smirkworthy that the No 2 player still isn't a clear favourite to make it through that section.

Edited to add: Okay, my posts have some voodoo power. Now Clijsters is being shown the exit by Petrova. At first it looked like she was trying to match Jankovic's 40 unforced errors from earlier today, and then like she wanted to match Henin's big comeback win. Instead, it looks like Petrova, who never defeated Clijsters (0-4) is on a mission. Looks like it will be 6-0, 6-1 in a WTF upset. I guess that relieves some of the angst about Kim and Justine being drawn to play each other relatively early, eh? I hope I didn't doom Sveta's match also.

KIMMY....WHAT THE f**k WAS THAT!!! That was ASTONISHING!! Is her husband banging the nanny. Ya know one thing I don't think many people think about...nor have I even heard talk about is how women deal with their periods as professional athletes. While I've never heard one admit it...maybe Kim was having a bad period day. I don't know...that was the biggest wtf in recent memory. Opportunity for people in that bottom half just made them a lot happier. Justine? Dinara? Sveta?

Yeah, I'm feeling pretty blindsided. I think to find a comparison to the last time I felt this stunned by a match outcome, I'd have to go back to Rafa's loss as the French last year, which was obviously on a different level of magnitude but at least was a drawn-out process instead of a rout that barely lasted an hour (did it?). I mean, Petrova is former Top 10, current Top 20 and has made noise at a few Slams before, but the last time we saw her, she was fodder for Oudin's upset express, and Justine straight-setted her in Brisbane the other week. This time, the first set was a lot like the bagel Clijsters dropped to Venus at the USO, except there was no bounce back this time. I mean, a lot of the games in the second were tight affairs, but they always went Nadia's way - and to her credit, she needed a few match points to put it away and never wavered - I didn't think we'd see a comeback/choke like Sabatini and MJ Fernandez at the French, but at least a more respectable scoreline.

As far as women's troubles the only time I recall someone hinting at it was Sharapova after her double-bagel loss to Davenport at IW several years ago. Considering Lindsay never even came close to beating her again, let alone dominated her like that, maybe there was something to that. But I don't think that was Kim's issue. It's hard to see how this doesn't sap all the momentum out of her comeback. A loss in the QFs would have been fine, but I don't think she came back to suffer the biggest loss of her career (the on-screen graphic said before this it was a 6-0, 6-2 beatdown from Serena in Miami something like a decade ago, before Clijsters was anybody). She also likes to complain about how much she hates clay (yeah, the twice-RG finalist - go figure), and other than IW/Miami, that's all that's left until Wimbledon, though I guess she'll do a few of the Euro indoor events because they're convenient. I hope she doesn't go into hiding again because of this and finds motivation to come back out and compete.

Well it just goes to show you....to each their own, etc. I sometimes record shows even if I am not that interested in...save them forever....if Mary is in them. I love her.
I can't stand Pam and her Republican grandstanding. I think Mary Jo is very good. Middle of the road. Tracy Austin us too froo froo and intense. I think Mary is funny and very witty.

Now the Henin match. She pulled another one out, admitting she was tired from the Dementieva match. I hope she recovers and keeps going.

I'M BAAAAAAAAACK! Did you all miss me?

I just can't get over the Kim result. There was obviously something going on behind the scenes. I'm thinking she caught her hubbie with Henin's ex.

Oh, and that Pam-Mary catfight was hilarious, but I still like Mary. The only commentator i cannot bear is Enberg.

Inexplicable. I had pretty much left Petrova for dead, anyway, but 6-0, 6-1? 26 unforced errors from Kim in 13 games? I'm with snicks--there had to be something going on.

edited to add:
I'm starting to think Safina will make the semis here. She was so horrible after Wimbledon last year that she's barely looked like a top 50 player. But she seems to have gotten stronger with each round, she hasn't been double faulting, and while the other players remaining in her quarter are all competent, but in decent form she should be able to handle any of them.

Oh My!



I am remembering back to Kim's match with Venus where there were bagels from each. So she is streaky. Petrova has always had the talent. Always seemed to mess up. Today she caught Kim at a bad time, and didn't fall on her face.

Reminds me of that time Hingis beat Seles by about the same score...we later found out that Monica's foot injury was severe but she refused to default...There has to be more to this story - Kim's already beaten Petrova twice in her comeback...granted, Petrova looks like she's in the best shape that she's ever been in but Kim is still a better player...there's more to this story, perhaps Kim is just being too classy about it all...

Who knows? I only caught the end of the match, but Petrova was beating Kim's ass. Nadia's serve was scary as hell.

It could just be a case of a top player having a terrible day at the office while a talented and dangerous opponent was in full working order.

Petrova has often played like this in the past, but usually at crap like Generali Ladiez Linz, not a major.

Also, Petrova has choked so many times, against Serena, against Oudin, usually with the crowd rooting against her, so this is some kind of payback for her.

ps:
Welcome back Snicks.

I would consider Petrova more than just a dangerous opponent. She's someone who has all the weapons and talent she needs to be an elite player, except where her mental game is concerned. She is relegated to dangerous opponent status only because she hasn't lived up to her full potential, but that potential is still there waiting to be tapped into.

She's into a tight match with Kuznetsova right now. She won the first set at 3, and I thought she might be continuing with her good play, but not to be. Another streaky match.

You're right, I could have chosen my words better. I just never would have guessed now would be the time for Petrova to play this way.
She's been top 3 (or 5?), and there have been months where she's the best player in the world. But usually those months are April or November.
She just knocked out Kuznetsova, and again, Nadia's serve is beautiful technically and very powerful.

I hope she can keep it up. You always feel like the other shoe is going to drop with Nadia. If Nadia can continue to play at this level - and this is asking for a lot - she may be winning her first slam before Elena Dementieva does, even if it's not in Australia. Another thing about her, I don't recall her every having anything snarky or b*tchy to say about her opponents, even when they win. Maybe it's because she's so used to underachieving, she doesn't know how to be arrogant.

Wickmayer is the real deal.

She has exclent technique and a kick-ass attitude on court.

Pam Shriver should choke on her sarcasm.

Amazing points between her and Henin.

From the written reports about the match, it was a classic. So Henin faced another Belgian...the only top Belgian she'll miss in this tournament will be Clisters.
Sweet that Wickmayer said Henin was her idol. That must be tough to play against.
YES, to the comment about Shriver. Too bad she didn't retire when she divorced her 99 year old "husband."

Next for Henin will be Petrova. Another interesting match, considering how Petrova seems to really be on.
It seems like Justine is giving so much in these matches....one worries that she will burn out again already.

Well she did have some snark for the Kuz when she said something like "maybe she'll have a harder time against a shorter, chubbier Russian" when asked about who could challenge Serena last year at one event when Serena was just knocking out Russian after Russian. That was somewhat mean and catty.

I do agree about waiting for the other shoe to drop, though. Like Hantuchova and early Clijsters and early Mauresmo...you just felt they'd always find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with monumental mental lapses. Nice to see her staying so tough when absolutely killing someone (Kim) and when starting strong and having the opponent staging a rally (the Kuz). Nadia's been too good a player not to have at least a few slam finals or maybe even a slam title on her résumé.

Comeback stories are nice and all, and yet, I still have somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth for Henin. I would have thought I'd root for her more, but I can't seem to do it. There's no doubt her return is impressive, none at all, but the ghosts of attitude-and-poor-sportsmanship-past still haunt my mind. That and the fact that I wanted Wickmayer to really succeed here due to her egregious treatment forcing her to qualify for this event.

Props to the two talented Chinese ladies making it to the fourth round, with one already in the qtrs. Na I kind of expected, but Zheng? I knew she was talented, but taking out seeds like Martinez Sanchez, Bartoli and A-Bond? Have to admit I didn't expect that.

We all knew the bottom quarter was "soft", but who really expected it would be Kirilenko and Zheng as the last two standing? What a great story they're turning out to be. Even though Nadia's had many eating their words, I really do think that the bottom half (and that carnage-of-a-quarter) is Henin's for the taking.

I'm trying to keep an open mind about Justine in her comeback, but it's difficult when the first thing i think when they show a closeup of her is "Meth Face". Maybe those breakouts on her face are because of nerves, but they make me wince.
As far as her game goes, it's not nearly where it was, but I think that'll come in time. Serena better hope she gets her in the first part of the year (where I suspect Serena will mop the floor will with her) before Justine pulls it all together.