|
|
Post by Brinyi on Jan 11, 2008 13:00:07 GMT -5
Other than the 2R showdown duly noted, I see:
- Loit-Schiavone should be a nice throwback mach with spins and stuff.
- Will Paszek test Jankovic?
- Can the Giant Uzbek oust Azarenka to set up a 3R showdown with Silliams?
- Romanian kids Olaru and Cirstea got shafted by the Aussie draw-riggers, facing Vaidisova and Ivanovic.
- Morigami could make some waves with Krajicek and Kirilenko or Tu as her first two opponents
I like Li Na's draw. Also Szavay's
Cornet-Fernandez, what's not to like about that tilt?
A-Rad vs Savchiuk could be a close one.
|
|
|
|
Post by DevilishAttitude on Jan 11, 2008 13:08:34 GMT -5
Justine Henin BEL (1) vs Aiko Nakamura JPN
Monique Adamczak AUS vs Olga Poutchkova RUS
Maret Ani EST vs Angelique Kerber GER
Emilie Loit FRA vs Francesca Schiavone ITA (25)
Sybille Bammer AUT (19) vs QUALIFIER
QUALIFIER vs Klara Zakopalova CZE
Kateryna Bondarenko UKR vs Aravane Rezai FRA
Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA vs Tatiana Golovin FRA (13)
Elena Dementieva RUS (11) vs Tzipora Obziler ISR
Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP vs Petra Cetkovska CZE
Jessica Moore AUS vs Julie Ditty USA
Renata Voracova CZE vs Shahar Peer ISR (17)
Julia Vakulenko UKR (32) vs Elena Vesnina RUS
Jill Craybas USA vs Yung-Jan Chan TPE
Lindsay Davenport USA vs Sara Errani ITA
Jelena Kostanic Tosic CRO vs Maria Sharapova RUS (5)
Jelena Jankovic SRB (3) vs Tamira Paszek AUT
Stephanie Dubois CAN vs Edina Gallovits ROU
Flavia Pennetta ITA vs Dominika Cibulkova SVK
Ashley Harkleroad USA vs Virginie Razzano FRA (30)
Amelie Mauresmo FRA (18) vs Tatiana Poutchek BLR
Yaroslava Shvedova RUS vs Tatjana Malek GER
Casey Dellacqua AUS vs Karin Knapp ITA
Lilia Osterloh USA vs Patty Schnyder SUI (15)
Nicole Vaidisova CZE (12) vs Ioana Raluca Olaru ROU
Kaia Kanepi EST vs Alicia Molik AUS
Madison Brengle USA vs Tatiana Perebiynis UKR
Ai Sugiyama JPN vs Vera Zvonareva RUS (23)
Victoria Azarenka BLR (26) vs Akgul Amanmuradova UZB
QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER
QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER
Jarmila Gajdosova AUS vs Serena Williams USA (7)
************
Venus Williams USA (8) vs Zi Yan CHN
Camille Pin FRA vs QUALIFIER
Sophie Ferguson AUS vs QUALIFIER
Iroda Tulyaganova UZB vs Sania Mirza IND (31)
Na Li CHN (24) vs Severine Bremond FRA
Maria Elena Camerin ITA vs Christina Wheeler AUS
Mathilde Johansson FRA vs QUALIFIER
Sofia Arvidsson SWE vs Marion Bartoli FRA (10)
Dinara Safina RUS (16) vs QUALIFIER
Ma. Emilia Salerni ARG vs Mariya Koryttseva UKR
Caroline Wozniacki DEN vs Gisela Dulko ARG
Alla Kudryavtseva RUS vs Alona Bondarenko UKR (21)
Katarina Srebotnik SLO (28) vs Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP
QUALIFIER vs Anastasia Rodionova AUS
Tathiana Garbin ITA vs Eleni Daniilidou GRE
Sorana Cirstea ROU vs Ana Ivanovic SRB (4)
Anna Chakvetadze RUS (6) vs Andrea Petkovic GER
Shuai Peng CHN vs QUALIFIER
Akiko Morigami JPN vs Michaella Krajicek NED
Meilen Tu USA vs Maria Kirilenko RUS (27)
Lucie Safarova CZE (22) vs Catalina Castano COL
Roberta Vinci ITA vs Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP
Alize Cornet FRA vs Clarisa Fernandez ARG
Vania King USA vs Daniela Hantuchova SVK (9)
Nadia Petrova RUS (14) vs Nicole Pratt AUS
Evgenia Linetskaya ISR vs Anne Kremer LUX
Laura Granville USA vs Yvonne Meusburger AUT
Ekaterina Makarova RUS vs Agnes Szavay HUN (20)
Agnieszka Radwanska POL (29) vs Olga Savchuk UKR
Martina Muller GER vs Pauline Parmentier FRA
Olga Govortsova BLR vs Tsvetana Pironkova BUL
Nathalie Dechy FRA vs Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (2)
|
|
|
|
Post by DevilishAttitude on Jan 11, 2008 13:16:23 GMT -5
Paszek will not beat Jankovic I just don't see that happening. Tamira's good, but she doesn't have enough in her game yet to beat Jankovic.
Razzano or Pennetta would both have a better chance, although they would probably choke against her if they even got to that position.
Sharapova vs Davenport... Could be a classic, will probably be a horror show. Whoever wins will almost certainly reach at least the QF.
Mauresmo vs Schnyder again possibly...
Sugiyama vs Zvonareva, might be a good match, but Ai seems to always play very badly in Australia. And everywhere else nowadays.
Cirstea vs Ivanovic... I guess we will see just how good this Romanian is.
And if Dechy beats Kuznetsova I will be a fan of hers forever, but she won't.
|
|
|
|
Post by Grarliner on Jan 11, 2008 14:22:09 GMT -5
Paszek will not beat Jankovic I just don't see that happening. Tamira's good, but she doesn't have enough in her game yet to beat Jankovic. Razzano or Pennetta would both have a better chance, although they would probably choke against her if they even got to that position. Sharapova vs Davenport... Could be a classic, will probably be a horror show. Whoever wins will almost certainly reach at least the QF. Mauresmo vs Schnyder again possibly... Sugiyama vs Zvonareva, might be a good match, but Ai seems to always play very badly in Australia. And everywhere else nowadays. Cirstea vs Ivanovic... I guess we will see just how good this Romanian is. And if Dechy beats Kuznetsova I will be a fan of hers forever, but she won't. Actually, the AO is the site of Ai's best Slam result (QF). The top half of this draw is amazingly strong. But the bottom half is not ... totally weak, really. The bottom quarter anything could happen but probably won't. The third quarter is still tough with a lot of potential surprises. Looking forward to Venus-Yi, and whether or not Mirza or Na Li can upset her before the quarters. Srebotnik impressed in Sydney, but she never gets the big win, especially not at a Slam. Otherwise, I'd give her a shot against Ana in the third round. Chakvetadze is probably the weakest top 8 seed. Good chance for Peng Shaui and Kirilenko a round later. Oh my God, I hope Petrova loses to Pratt. So ... Kuznetsova actually has a great shot at reaching another Slam final here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Golovin 4r might be a test for Justine, but an upset seems a distant probability. Dementieva may lose to Obziler ... hope not. Peer will have trouble making another QF run. Lindsay should beat Sara Errani, and Sharapova should down Kostanic Tostitos. Their match should be won by Maria, but it's not definite. I give Sharapova about a 25% chance of beating Justine. Jankovic-Paszek could be a fun match. I give Tamira a fair chance ... Jankovic might be vulnerable. And if not her, I'm sure Dubois will knock her off in the second round.  It's harsh that only one of Cibulkova, Pennetta and Razzano can make the third round. If Virginie has any magic left, she can make a fourth round run here. Amelie is a great wild card there, but I don't expect too much beyond a simple passage to the third round. She probably will beat Schnyder, but could not. If she gets as far as the fourth round, she does have the experience to go further. Vaidisova-Olaru is a standout, as is Kanepi-Molik. Vera turned her ankle in Hobart, I guess. If she's not too badly off, she's got a shot in that quadrant. Optimistic, I know, but she can get through there. It's not an easy draw for Serena. I don't think she will defend this year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You gotta go with the goods, maybe. I pick Justine to win it. |
|
|
|
Post by janie on Jan 11, 2008 14:23:06 GMT -5
Kuzy must have sold her soul to the devil to be gifted with a quarter like that. :satan:
|
|
|
|
Post by Self-Love, Baby! on Jan 11, 2008 16:06:33 GMT -5
Cornet to the semis out of the bottom quarter! ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by Denise49IQ on Jan 12, 2008 9:15:35 GMT -5
The bottom half looks like a Stanford draw with an extra round.
|
|
|
|
Post by sasha on Jan 12, 2008 12:27:36 GMT -5
Hey, Ana with another easy draw. I actually hope Venus comes out of that section... as a final here pretty much locks Ana with a 1 or 2 by her name for most of 2008.
|
|
|
|
Post by lexpretend on Jan 12, 2008 14:23:14 GMT -5
Has Ana ever even managed to take a set off Venus? Despite having repeatedly played Venus at her most vulnerable. Unless she has an early round stutter against Li or someone, or just gets overpowered by the mighty serves of Cammee Pan, it's hard to see Venus not making it to the final...obv Sweta has the game to beat her, but she can only do that at Warsaw, not in a Slam SF.
I think Paszek will beat Jankovic.
|
|
|
|
Post by sasha on Jan 12, 2008 14:46:24 GMT -5
Tamira has the shots to beat Jelena, especially with Jelena's current form... but, I doubt she'll perform well enough. I give her maybe a 10% chance.
Ana has never won a set off Venus. But, although Venus dominated in Hong Kong... no competitive matches in a few months, and this isn't Wimbledon. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Praying Mantis go long 12342 times in a loss to unseeded player.
|
|
|
|
Post by lexpretend on Jan 12, 2008 14:50:16 GMT -5
Well, I would laugh for about three years if Venus did that against Pin. A repeat of last year, please, except with Our Cam closing it out!
|
|
|
|
Post by corswandt on Jan 12, 2008 14:57:13 GMT -5
Venus dominated in Hong Kong... And how. I mean, the final featured some of the cleanest hitting I ever saw from Maria, yet it was never in doubt. I may be wrong, but Venus' FH seems fixed. Absolutely no serving lapses against Maria. But granted, Maria never does anything with 180+ km/h serves. |
|
|
|
Post by sasha on Jan 12, 2008 15:24:52 GMT -5
We've been through that one before many Julies.
There's a big difference once the matches are competitive... we'll see how Venus does...
|
|
|
|
Post by Self-Love, Baby! on Jan 13, 2008 4:14:29 GMT -5
Venus is the biggest question mark of the AO by far - she really can do anything bad or good. I'm excited to see what kind of form she delivers. The older she gets, and the crappier young players that come up, the more I pull for and respect her.
|
|
|
|
Post by DBBN on Jan 13, 2008 13:32:19 GMT -5
Venus really should make the final easily, and hopefully she will get Zi Yanned and the bottom half will fall to shit immediately. I would love to see Szavay in the final, or....hell, I don't know, Pironkova. Or CAKE!!  |
|
|
|
Post by DBBN on Jan 13, 2008 13:32:58 GMT -5
It's actually too bad Golovin didn't end up in the bottom half...
|
|
|
|
Post by Edna Krabappel on Jan 13, 2008 13:35:01 GMT -5
I fear the only obstacle between Venus and the final is Na Li.
|
|
|
|
Post by sasha on Jan 13, 2008 13:42:16 GMT -5
It's actually too bad Golovin didn't end up in the bottom half... Yeah, so she could inexplicably lose to a fat Aussie player. Or Pratt. |
|
|
|
Post by lexpretend on Jan 13, 2008 13:44:55 GMT -5
As it is, that honour will fall to Petrova.
|
|
|
|
Post by sasha on Jan 13, 2008 13:47:41 GMT -5
Speaking of probable 1st round upsets: Whoever plays Dementieva. Obziler is the winner of the sweepstakes. I'm sure this board will be pleased with that one.
|
|
|
|
Post by lexpretend on Jan 13, 2008 13:54:22 GMT -5
Chakvetadze is probably an early victim in the making, too. Peng or Kleybanova in the second round would at least be vaguely deserving recipients.
|
|
|
|
Post by corswandt on Jan 13, 2008 14:02:55 GMT -5
Speaking of probable 1st round upsets: Whoever plays Dementieva. Obziler is the winner of the sweepstakes. I'm sure this board will be pleased with that one. Yes, Obziler is just the kind of player she loses to when she's on full "where is my mind?"/must-get-myself-outta-here mode. I used to mind Lena D.'s lack of professionalism towards the Australian season, but now I just don't care. |
|
