In Brisbane two weeks ago, Kim
Clijsters and Daniela Hantuchova, both 28, reminisced about their tennis
careers – surprised that having met as juniors they are still out on the tour
competing.
Their first professional match
was in Antwerp in Clijsters’ native Belgium and since she has dominated the
rivalry, winning all nine matches between 2000 and 2007 at the loss of only one
set.
Hantuchova advanced after their
most recent encounter in Brisbane when Clijsters retired with a hip problem
leading 7-6(4), 1-3 – but that hardly counts.
Over her career, the Slovak has
shown remarkable endurance, playing 45 Grand Slam events in a row since her
first at the 2001 Australian Open, while Clijsters has missed 18 (injuries and
a two-year retirement) since her debut at Wimbledon in 1999.
Old habits die hard and a fit
Clijsters’ mastery of Hantuchova should continue in Hisense Arena this evening.
In other day five women’s
matches, fast-rising Christina McHale, 19, of the United States plays
26-year-old Jelena Jankovic, whose ranking has steadily slipped from a lofty
peak of No.1 in 2008 to a current No.13. McHale improved from No.115 to No.42
in 2011 and could soon be beating the Serb, but probably not quite yet.
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki,
continuing to manage her left wrist problem, will face her toughest test so far
in Monica Niculescu, an intense 24-year-old Romanian who broke into the top-30 for
the first time last October.
Victoria Azarenka, who has won
her first two matches by identical 6-1 6-0 scores, faces Mona Barthel, the
rangy (six-foot-one) German who won her first WTA title in Hobart last week.
On paper, Julia Goerges seeded
No. 23, should beat Romina Oprandi but the Italian is coming off an
inspirational victory over her compatriot Francesca Schiavone and has a real
chance to beat her second seeded player in a row.
Roger Federer, following a free
pass to the third round when Andreas Beck withdrew on Wednesday, has an
interesting history with Ivo Karlovic, the lean six-foot-10 Croat. Federer is
9-1 against the serving machine and did not lose his own serve in the only loss
– a 7-6(6) 4-6 7-6(5) result in Cincinnati in 2008.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal is 2-0
versus qualifier Lukas Lacko and will hope to duplicate a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 victory
over the Slovak at the same stage in 2010 at Melbourne Park.
With his game sharpened by
winning the Hopman Cup two weeks ago, Tomas Berdych is in excellent form. His
previous-round opponent, Olivier Rochus, declared that he is harder to play
than either Nadal or Federer. Today is the six-foot-five Czech’s first meeting
with six-foot-eight Kevin Anderson and his concussive hitting will surely prove
too much for the South African.
On paper, No.13 seed Alexandr
Dolgopolov should beat Aussie revelation Bernard Tomic, a shot-improvising
wonder. But Dolgopolov went five sets in both his matches so far and suffers
from Gilbert’s syndrome, a blood condition that can cause fatigue. Tomic’s
uncanny consistency from the baseline should wear down the flashy Ukrainian,
even if he has won their three previous matches.
Stanislas Wawrinka’s big win over
Marcos Baghdatis and a 3-1 record against Nicolas Almagro gives him good karma
going in against the Spaniard, and John Isner should be able to avenge a late
2011 season loss to Feliciano Lopez indoors in Paris.
No comments:
Post a Comment