Australian Open 2010: Full Coverage of Women's Draw for Melbourne

Serena Williams will defend her Australian Open crown against Urszula Radwanska in the opening round on Monday as she looks to win the event for an unprecedented fifth time.

You can also read my preview of the top 16 seeds, or check out my list of a dozen other players who you need to watch out for on the blue courts of Melbourne next week.

The draw for the first Grand Slam event of 2010 was made on Friday morning at Melbourne Park, and it is already shaping up to be a fantastic tournament with glamour girls Maria Sharapova and Maria Kirilenko meeting in round one and the possibility of Elena Dementieva playing Justine Henin in the round two. An all-Belgian clash between Kim Clijsters and Henin is a possibility in the quarterfinals, and while a finals showdown between Serena and sister Venus is off the cards, they could meet in the semis.

The main draw features at least 31 of the world’s top 32 ranked players, as well as eight wildcard entries and 12 players who had to fight through three rounds of qualifying earlier this week. While the qualifying tournament still has one more day of action, just the fact that world No. 15 Yanina Wickmayer could still enter as a qualifier makes things especially interesting.

All but one of this year's top 16 seeds have made it past the third round here before, and 11 of them have made it to the quarterfinals or later.

Should Serena Williams triumph in 2010, she will stand alone as having won the most Australian Open singles titles in the open era, passing Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf, and Monica Seles.

But don’t think though that being a seed guarantees a good run in the competition. Six seeded players, including No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska, went out in the first round last year, with six of the world’s top 16 on their way home before the end of the fourth round.

Who will be the surprise of this year’s event, which runs from Jan. 18 to Jan. 31? It was Carla Suarez Navarro 12 months ago, Marta Domachowska and Su-Wei Hsieh in 2008, Lucie Safarova in 2007, and Martina Hingis in 2006.

Here’s a look at each quarter of the women’s draw. 

No. 1. Serena Williams’ Quarter

As top seed and world No. 1, Williams is in the top quarter of the draw. The other seeded players are Victoria Azarenka (7), Vera Zvonareva (9), Sam Stosur (13), Ana Ivanovic (20), Sabine Lisicki (21), Elena Vesnina (28), and Carla Suarez Navarro (32)

Most anticipated/significant contest in:

Round One: Samantha Stosur vs. Qualifier

Regardless of who Stosur plays in the first round, it's likely to be a big deal. She will be entering as a seed for just the second time and she'll be carrying the hopes and dreams of Australia on her shoulders. She lost to No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva in 2009 but she will not have to face anyone in the world’s top eight until potentially the fourth round (Serena Williams). With the home crowd behind her, a run to the start of the second week is not impossible. I'll update head-to-head matchup information when we know exactly who she'll face in round one.

Round Two: Victoria Azarenka vs. Melinda Czink

Czink stormed into the world's top 50 in 2009 after a two-year absence from the game's top 100. She almost beat Justine Henin in Brisbane last week and she is a few good results away from breaking into the top 32. Azarenka has developed at a much quicker pace than the Hungarian did at a similar age, and she has won the last two head-to-head matchups in Pittsburgh and Indian Wells.

I don’t know whether Czink has the skills to dominate Azarenka, but don’t expect it to be just another stroll in the park for a serious title contender against another faceless, unseeded wannabe.

Round Three: Serena Williams vs. Carla Suarez Navarro

Suarez Navarro knocked out Venus Williams last year in the second round after saving match points against the American, and it is quite likely that she will have to be even better if she wants any hope of upsetting the defending champion.

There are so many differences between these women. Serena is 28 years old, 5’9”, serves bullets, and has won 35 singles titles. Suarez Navarro is 21, a stocky 5’4”, barely breaks 80 mph on her serve, and has yet to lift a trophy on tour.

Navarro is known for her solid baseline groundstrokes and ability to retrieve balls, but she will need to have more than just her single-handed backhand working if she wants to get by Williams.

Round Four: Vera Zvonarenka vs. Victoria Azarenka

No. 7 Azarenka has never taken a set off of No. 9 Zvonareva in her previous four attempts, so expect a battle between two top 10 players—one an up-and-comer and the other someone who has the head-to-head edge but is constantly battling ankle injuries.

While Azarenka has the higher seeding, the Russian boasts five more years of experience as well as a faultless record. Three of her victories (Indian Wells twice, and Luxembourg) have come on hard courts while the other came in the final on the clay at Prague.

If Zvonareva makes it is as far as the fourth round, expect her to meet Serena in the quarters.

Dark Horse Contender: Gisela Dulko

Dulko has been hovering inside the world’s top 100 for some time now, but she is yet to make a serious into the second week of a grand slam. She made it to the fourth round of the last Grand Slam of 2009 and she will face one, if not two, qualifiers in the first two rounds to find her footing.

She may have to battle Ana Ivanovic in round two, but that isn’t as bad as it could be considering she would have to face a seed at this stage. Ivanovic finished 2009 with a 24–14 match record, her worst since she turned pro, and with no titles, a strange new service motion, and an upper-respiratory infection.

Predicted Winner: Serena Williams

No. 2 Dinara Safina’s Quarter

Safina is the top seed in the bottom quarter of the draw, opposite No. 1 Serena Williams. She is joined by seeds Jelena Jankovic (8), Marion Bartoli (11), Maria Sharapova (14) Dominika Cibulkova (23), Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (24), Kateryna Bondarenko (30), and Alona Bondarenko (31).

Most anticipated/significant contest in:

Round One: Maria Sharapova vs. Maria Kirilenko

The most glamorous matchup of the first round will pit two Russian pin-up girls against each other.

It will be Sharapova, Maxim magazine’s hottest athlete in the world four years running, against good friend Kirilenko, the face of Stella McCartney’s Adidas range and Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition model.

Sharapova has won two of their three career meetings, although they have not met since 2006 when Kirilenko was a top-30 teen. Kirilenko made it to the fourth round two years ago, but she will have her work cut out if she doesn’t want to be a first round exit in 2010.

Round Two: Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez vs. Jie Zheng

I am looking forward to the prospect of Martinez Sanchez-Zheng in round two. Zheng was a top 15 player less than 12 months ago, but a wrist injury hampered her growth in 2009.

She is a solid hard court player and reached the fourth round here at Melbourne Park in 2009 as well as the third round at Flushing Meadows. She has never met Martinez Sanchez before, although the Spaniard is coming off her big breakthrough season too.

She finished ’09 inside the top 30 for singles and top 10 in doubles and she reached the third round in three of the four majors. This could be a good battle of two women in decent form.

Round Three: Maria Sharapova vs. Dinara Safina

Should Sanifa dispatch of Rybarikova and, likely, Kateryna Bondarenko, she will likely have to face Sharapova in the third round. They have split their three previous matches, although Sharapova is 2-0 on hard courts over the years.

It will be the first time Safina goes into a match with Sharapova as the higher seed, and the battle of the two former world No. 1s will go a long way to determining who makes it through in the bottom half of the draw.

Round Four: Dinara Safina vs. Jelena Jankovic

Should the top two seeds in the bottom quarter make it through to the fourth round, we could be in for a classic. It would pit another pair of very similarly-matched former No. 1s against each other.

There is just over a year’s age difference between the players, and Safina has won 12 titles to Jankovic’s 11. As you may expect, their head-to-head matchup is very close too.

While Safina is looking to go back to the final, Jankovic leads their career encounters 4-3, including two wins last year in Cincinnati 6-4, 6-2 and at the end-of-season tour championship.

Jankovic’s serve is one of the weaker links of her game, so if she can keep that in check, she could be headed to the quarterfinals for just the second time in her career.

Dark Horse Contender: Dominika Cibulkova

Cibulkova is the fifth-highest ranked woman in her quarter, so it certainly won’t be easy to make it into the quarters. She might have to go through Sharapova to get to the fourth round, but if Safina slips up anywhere, only a potential matchup with Marion Bartoli or Jelena Jankovic could stop her from making the second week of the tournament.

She has won two of the last three against Bartoli, although Jankovic did give her a good beating in Stuttgart last spring.

Predicted Winner: Jelena Jankovic

No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova’s Quarter

Kuznetsova is in quarter three of the draw—the top half of the bottom section, as it were. She is in the same quarter as seeds Elena Dementieva (5), Flavia Pennetta (12), Kim Clijsters (15), Virgine Razzano (18), Nadia Petrova (19), Aravane Rezai (26), and Alisa Kleybanova (27)

Most anticipated/significant contest in:

Round One: Anna Chakvetadze vs. Flavia Pennetta

There are so many interesting first round matches in Kuznetsova's quarter: an all-Russian clash between Elena Dementieva and Vera Dushevina, an-all Belgian matchup with Kirsten Flipkens meeting floater Justine Henin, and No. 27 Alisa Kleybanova against Jelena Dokic.

On paper, Pennetta should be able to cruise into the third round without too many difficulties. She was the runner-up in Auckland two weeks ago, but she has lost her last two matches pretty badly. Add to that the fact that Pannetta is the only top 16 seed never to make it past the third round at the Australian Open, and you could have the recipe for an upset.

Chakvetadze will need to keep her temper and play to a high level if she wants to advance to the second round. She has never beaten the Italian before, but this could be the best chance she gets. Remember, although she’s ranked No. 68, Chakvetadze spent three consecutive years inside the world’s top 20 from 2006 to 2008.

Round Two: Justine Henin vs. Elena Dementieva

By virtue of the fact that Henin was given a wild card into the event, there was always a strong chance that she would face a seed early on. Because of the fact that it will most likely be against Dementieva, this makes it the best second round match of the entire tournament.

Henin, who won’t have an official world ranking for at least two more weeks, holds a 9-2 advantage in the pair’s head-to-head, although all but one of their previous 11 meetings saw Henin ranked inside the top eight in the world.

They haven’t played in almost three years, and Dementieva has not beaten her since Indian Wells in 2006. Henin has already shown that she can compete against the best in the world by her run in Brisbane, and Dementieva has looked every bit as impressive in her canter to the finals in Sydney. Henin is one of the top two floaters in the draw and Dementieva could be her first big scalp of the year.

Round Three: Jelena Dokic vs. Elena Dementieva

I think Dementieva will see off Henin in straight sets, setting up a third round encounter with Jelena Dokic who needs a strong tournament to secure her ranking points for the year if she wants to hope to move back up the rankings.

Dokic may never play at the level she did when she was the world’s No. 4, but she shouldn’t be underestimated. If she is in the third round it will mean she has played at least four successful sets of tennis, so she will be comfortable on court and probably gaining the cheers of the Aussie faithful.

The pair has only played once since 2004, so don’t read much into Dokic’s 5-4 career advantage. Dementieva is considerably better than she was back in 2001 and 2002, while Dokic is most certainly just a shadow of her former self.

Round Four: Kim Clijsters vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova

Clijsters has looked pretty good since coming back from retirement, eh? Her victory at the US Open was the stuff that dreams are made of and the victory against Henin in Brisbane a fortnight ago was a perfect way to start the calendar year.

Should she see off someone like No. 19 Nadia Petrova in the third round, she could have to face Kuznetsova in the fourth. It will be her first big challenge after knocking the Williams sisters out at Flushing, but she definitely has the game to get it done.

Kuznetsova on the other hand is a pretty slow starter on the tour, preferring the European clay court season in the spring to the harder courts in Australia and on the US Open Series. She had a lot of troubles with her second serve last week in Sydney, so she’ll need to work out the kinks if she wants to make it to the quarters.

Dark Horse Contender: Sorana Cirstea

The Romanian teenager announced herself to the world with a run to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros last spring. While she won't be seeded in Australia, Cirstea is one of those players on the bubble of the world's top 32.

A member of the Romanian Fed Cup squad and Olympic team, Cirstea hits the ball well from both wings and has been described as being deceptively quick around the court.

She’s in a tough part of the draw, so she’ll need a lot of things to go her way every day, but if she performs to the best of her ability she may be able to upset a Dokic or Henin.

Predicted Winner: Kim Clijsters

No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki’s Quarter

Wozniacki is in the second quarter of the draw, meaning she is primed for a potential semifinal showdown with Serena Williams. The other seeds in the quarter are Venus Williams (6), Agnieszka Radwanska (10), Na Li (16), Francesca Schiavone (17), Daniela Hantuchova (22), Anabel Medina Garrigues (25), and Shahar Peer (29)

Most anticipated/signifcant contest in:

Round One: Venus Williams vs. Lucie Safarova

Lucie Safarova beat No. 24 seed Sybillie Bammer 6-3, 6-1 last year in the first round, so she is no stranger to upsets. Similarly, Venus was dumped out in the second round 12 months ago by unseeded Carla Suarez Navarro, so she knows the dangers of complacency too.

The American was the only top 10-ranked player to miss the Medibank Open in Sydney this week, so it remains to be seen how long it will take for her to find her stroke. She has never won this title, so if she tried to press too hard too early, it could result in more problems early on.

I’d like to think Venus is too strong and too experienced, but 2009 shows why the seeds aren’t always safe.

Round Two: Alicia Molik vs. Francesca Schiavone

Should wildcard Aussie and world No. 186 make it past Frenchwoman Julie Coin (ranked No. 76) she could face Schiavone in round two.

Molik has won each of their last three meetings at Filderstadt, Sydney, and Doha—all hard courts—so there’s nothing to think she will be a massive underdog. Elbow injuries, ear infections, knee problems, and a year-long retirement have seen her free fall down the rankings, but a big win in front of her home fans could be enough to make her comeback all worth while.

Round Three: Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Francesca Schiavone

I’m expecting Schiavone to beat Molik, but I don’t think she’s got the game to get by Radwanska. They’ve only met once since the Pole broke into the top 50 and that resulted in a defeat in the round of 32 at the Olympic Games in China 6-3, 7-6(6).

Radwanska has stepped up her game since then, finishing the year inside the top 10 for the second consecutive year and winning 11 of 14 matches last autumn in Tokyo, Beijing, and Linz.

If the Radwanska that competed in the 2008 Australian Open shows up, as opposed to the promising seed that crumbled under first-round pressure 12 months ago, Radwanska could set up an encounter with Venus in the fourth round.

Round Four: Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Venus Williams

Venus won all of her matches against Radwanska in 2009, and she boasts a commanding 4-1 lead in their career matches. Radwanska has always performed better against the older Williams sister than on any other surface, and when you consider that the most recent defeat was on the lush center court of Wimbledon, it’s easy to see why Venus is being picked to glide into the quarters.

But Radwanska beat Dementieva, Bartoli, and Azarenka within the last four months, so she is not afraid to go toe-to-toe with women who strike the ball hard and early. I’m not saying she’ll win the match, but just don’t expect a repeat from Wimbledon.

Dark Horse Contender: Shahar Peer

Peer has started off 2010 pretty well, making the quarterfinals in Auckland and blitzing through the field in Hobart to make the finals. She will probably have to meet Wozniacki in the third round, but if there are any upsets in her part of the draw then who’s to say she won’t cause a top seed problems in the fourth round or later. She is one of the form players entering the tournament, and momentum could carry her into the second week.

Predicted Winner: Caroline Wozniacki

Finalist: Kim Clijsters
Winner: Serena Williams

You can also read my preview of the top 16 seeds, or check out my list of a dozen other players who you need to watch out for on the blue courts of Melbourne next week.