Women's qualifying

[lexpretend]

(1)Sharon Fichman (CAN) v Belinda Bencic (SUI)
Nastassja Burnett (ITA) v Eleni Daniilidou (GRE)
(wc)Priscilla Hon (AUS) v Nicole Gibbs (USA)
(wc)Maddison Inglis (AUS) v (19)Marta Sirotkina (RUS)

(2)Coco Vandeweghe (USA) v Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)
Melanie Klaffner (AUT) v Carina Witthoeft (GER)
Richel Hogenkamp (NED) v Ana Vrljic (CRO)
Alize Lim (FRA) v (21)Maria Joao Koehler (POR)

(3)Johanna Konta (GBR) v Grace Min (USA)
Sachie Ishizu (JPN) v Olga Savchuk (UKR)
(wc)Ana Konjuh (CRO) v Diana Marcinkevica (LAT)
Nigina Abduraimova (UZB) v (18)Mathilde Johansson (FRA)

(4)Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER) v Andreea Mitu (ROU)
Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) v Zarina Diyas (KAZ)
Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA) v Stephanie Dubois (CAN)
Alberta Brianti (ITA) v (15)Alexandra Panova (RUS)

(5)Katarzyna Piter (POL) v Eva Birnerova (CZE)
Yurika Sema (JPN) v Julia Cohen (USA)
Kristina Kucova (SVK) v Paula Kania (POL)
Maria Sanchez (USA) v (13)Claire Feuerstein (FRA)

(6)Maryna Zanevska (UKR) v Danka Kovinic (MNE)
Sofia Shapatava (GEO) v Eri Hozumi (JPN)
Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) v Aravane Rezai (FRA)
(wc)Naiktha Bains (AUS) v (17)Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)

(7)Heather Watson (GBR) v (wc)Arina Rodionova (AUS)
Stephanie Foretz Gacon (FRA) v (wc)Tammi Patterson (AUS)
Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) v Chanel Simmonds (RSA)
Saisai Zheng (CHN) v (23)Irina Falconi (USA)

(8)Magda Linette (POL) v Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR)
Lucie Hradecka (CZE) v Tereza Mrdeza (CRO)
Maria Irigoyen (ARG) v Anastasiya Vasylyeva (UKR)
Renata Voracova (CZE) v (16)Sofia Arvidsson (SWE)

(9)Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) v Alisa Kleybanova (RUS)
Victoria Duval (USA) v Yuliya Beygelzimer (UKR)
Katerina Siniakova (CZE) v Cagla Buyukakcay (TUR)
Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) v (20)Olga Puchkova (RUS)

(10)Vera Dushevina (RUS) v Ilona Kremen (BLR)
Erika Sema (JPN) v Tara Moore (GBR)
Tamira Paszek (AUT) v (wc)Sara Tomic (AUS)
Ying-Ying Duan (CHN) v (22)Sesil Karatantcheva (KAZ)

(11)Shelby Rogers (USA) v Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)
Madison Brengle (USA) v Tereza Smitkova (CZE)
Petra Rampre (SLO) v Jovana Jaksic (SRB)
Stephanie Vogt (LIE) v (14)Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU)

(12)Anna Tatishvili (GEO) v (wc)Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN)
Arantxa Rus (NED) v Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS)
Risa Ozaki (JPN) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR)
Viktorija Golubic (SUI) v (24)An-Sophie Mestach (BEL)

[lexpretend]

You really couldn't see more of a contrast than between the piss-weak 5th section and the brutal 9th section. Kudryavtseva/Rezai

OTOH, great draw for Konjuh. Apparently she's going to have elbow surgery after the AO - it completely sucks that the best WTA hope in ages is already having injury issues - so a good run here would be welcome.

THINK | HOPE

Bencic | Bencic
Witthoeft | Lim
Konjuh | Konjuh
Friedsam | Diyas
Kucova | Y.Sema
Rezai | Rezai or Kovinic
Watson | Watson
Arvidsson | Vasylyeva
Kleybanova | Kleybanova or Siniakova or Dulgheru - as I said, OUCH
Karatantcheva | Duan or Paszek or Karatantcheva
Brengle | Rampre or Vogt or Smitkova
Mestach | Ozaki

[Paean]

Fichman/Fichman - I don't like her anymore because of her shameless oncourt attitude, but I did predict a Llagostera Vives-like career a few years back, so she better back up my words and qualify here.
Vandeweghe/Klaffner
Ishizu/Marcinkevica
Panova/Nok
Kania/Y-Sema
Kovinic/Hozumi
Watson/Camerin
Hradecka/Voracova
Kleybanova/Beygelzimer
Paszek/E-Sema
Brengle/Rampre
Wozniak

Sema/Cohen moonball contest.

[janie]

Wow, what a treat to find this here! I don't think I would have looked at the draw if I had to go anywhere else to see it. What a shame to have Ying-Ying vs Sesil in Q1. Also sad to see Kleybs and Duval in the same section. Am impressed that Rampre is ranked high enough to get in; good for her.

Welcome back and good luck, Akgul!

HUGE shame about Konjuh.

[lexpretend]

Rampre was the 4th last in after several withdrawals. Highest AO cut-off that I can remember. Really disappointed for Mayo Hibi, who left North America for once but ended up four out.

Baffling no-show - Victoria Kan, who didn't enter in the first place. I know she barely plays off clay (and has never started her season in January) but you'd think she'd make an exception for her first Slam.

[janie]

As expected, Rampre's getting clobbered.
Duval through Q1
Kleybs lost
Ying-Ying back on track, defeating Sesil
Easy win for RISA OZAKI

[janie]

Am not going to stay up for it, but: GOOOOOOOOO AKGUL!

[janie]

Wake up, Saisai! Surely you're not a worse player than Falconi, are you?

[lexpretend]

Well, looks like she is.

Both the super-kids won - Bencic easily taking out top seed Fichman (ha! yes!) 6-3 6-1; Konjuh trashing Marcinkevica 6-4 6-0. Siniakova also won in three sets over Buyukakcay.

Second seed Vandeweghe also out to Rodionova Sr. That match must have set new records in on-court sportsmanship. Fourth seed Friedsam, who did so well in Shenzhen, also lost to Mitu

Kleybs losing to Kristyna Pliskova 3-6 4-6 is disappointing, though Auckland did seem to indicate that the Pliskovas are in good form.

Good wins for Young Japan, Hozumi and Ozaki through - the latter over Sasnovich, who seems to be as mediocre on outside courts as she is stellar on inside courts.

Caravane lost to Kudryavtseva Tough opener.

Ying-Ying and Zarina through

[lexpretend]

Incidentally, if you didn't catch Konjuh beating Vinci last week, the whole match is on Youtube - these highlights certainly showcase her talent though.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE1vIcApHvM

[Paean]

Very good day for the Sema Japan, too. both advancing to the next round.

[janie]

Did they?? Great! I only noticed one Sema as I skimmed through the scores. Sema-blindness.

Sad for Akgul and Aravane.

[lexpretend]

Impressive cool head from Konjuh again - lost a second set TB to Johansson and almost lost a 4-1 final set lead. Then just calmly won 8 points in a row for the match. Johansson's DF on MP was the most NID in the history of NID though.

Very impressive scoreline by Duval against an in-form Pliskova, 2 and 2.

FQR set, potential debutantes bolded. Lots of them, and plenty of those are actually exciting talents. The seeds have been massacred.

Belinda Bencic vs. (19) Marta Sirotkina
Carina Witthoeft vs. Alize Lim
Olga Savchuk vs. Ana Konjuh
Zarina Diyas vs. Stephanie Dubois
(5) Katarzyna Piter vs. (13) Claire Feuerstein
Danka Kovinic vs. Alla Kudryavtseva
(7) Heather Watson vs. (23) Irina Falconi
Lucie Hradecka vs. Renata Voracova
Victoria Duval vs. Katerina Siniakova
(10) Vera Dushevina vs. Ying-Ying Duan
Madison Brengle vs. (14) Irina-Camelia Begu
(12) Anna Tatishvili vs. Risa Ozaki

Goooo: Bencic, Lim, Konjuh, Diyas, Piter, Kovinic, Watson, Voracova, Siniakova, Duan, Begu, Ozaki! Active enthusiasm about most of those.

[lexpretend]

And we haven't been paying attention to the men so let's look at their FQR (debutants bolded):

Damir Dzumhur vs. (25) Ruben Bemelmans
(2) Martin Klizan vs. (17) Dominic Thiem
David Guez vs. (32) Yuichi Sugita
(4) Denis Kudla vs. (20) Alex Kuznetsov
(5) Dusan Lajovic vs. Tsung-Hua Yang
Ze Zhang vs. Illya Marchenko
(7) Stephane Robert vs. (22) Michael Berrer
(8) Frank Dancevic vs. (28) Potito Starace
Adrian Menendez Maceiras vs. (19) Wayne Odesnik
(10) Thomaz Bellucci vs. Taro Daniel
Vincent Millot vs. Marton Fucsovics
Jimmy Wang vs. Daniel Kosakowski
(13) Rhyne Williams vs. (23) Thiemo De Bakker
(14) Ricardas Berankis vs. (24) Andrej Martin
Blaz Rola vs. (27) Pierre-Hugues Herbert
(16) Peter Gojowczyk vs. Flavio Cipolla

Blaz Rola (another SLOperstar!) has to be up there in the pantheon of great tennis names. Go him, and I don't know anything about this Adrian Menendez Maceiras, but go him as well.

[Paean]

Rola is a lefty with a powerful, but error-prone game. We could use another SLOperstar, because one is injured and unlikely to return for some time and some other has apparently no intention to be a SLOperstar anymore. So we're left with Kavcic.

Voracova back in contention for GS main draws! Go her, Ozaki, Feuerstein and Thiem.

[janie]

I noticed the new Blaz! Great to hear he's a lefty. Too bad about the other SLOs; who is injured and who is the unambitious one?

Konjuh does this well with a bad elbow that needs surgery?? I'd think if it's that bad she couldn't play at all, much less win tough matches like this one. Mystifying.

[lexpretend]

I think it's similar to Muguruza's situation last year? We knew she'd have surgery after Wimbledon during the clay season but she played RG/Wim anyway. From what I gather in both cases they're playing through pain, but it's manageable and they're not making the condition any worse, but at some point it needs to be sorted out. I think Jabeur did that too - she's not at the AO because she had her ankle surgery.

The positive side is that Konjuh would have been on a limited schedule this year anyway, and has no points to defend until May. So another win should secure her RG/Wim qualifying place, then hopefully she can make up the lost time with a fuller second-half schedule.

[janie]

Oh, I see. This is good timing for her break, then. I just hope she has a good surgeon and her elbow will be 100%; wish I were not so skeptical of doctors.

[janie]

Speaking of men's qualifying: Cipolla means onion. See the benefit of studying Italian on duolingo? Now I really have to start rooting for Flavio Onion. It's odd, though, that in English, Onion is not a last name you hear.

[janie]

The AO main draw lost a chance at a great casserole when Potito and Onion both lost. Sad for Duval and Ozaki, too. And Odesnik won.

But there was a lot of good news, too: Konjuh, Duan, Dancevic, Dzumhur(BIH), Bencic all made it.

Where is Larcher de Brito, by the way?

[janie]

Oh no! Just saw that Jamie Hampton had to w/d with her hip injury -- though what were the odds a hip injury could improve so quickly, anyway, I guess -- and Irina Falconi gets to take her place in MD. Talk about a lose-lose situation!

[janie]

Jan 11, 2014 7:04:33 GMT -5 janie said:

Where is Larcher de Brito, by the way?

Checked TF; apparently she's out with another knee injury.

[Paean]

Jan 10, 2014 7:40:06 GMT -5 janie said:

I noticed the new Blaz! Great to hear he's a lefty. Too bad about the other SLOs; who is injured and who is the unambitious one?

The new Blaz has qualified!

Zemlja is injured, has some sort of muscle disorders. Bedene is apparently switching nationalities because he gets no support from our Tennis federation.

[janie]

Muscle disorders? Ouch, sounds pretty ominous. Poor guy. Too bad about Bedene jumping ship, though. New Blaz stepped up just in time!