Court Awareness Australian Open: Preview of Day One

An endless smorgasbord of scintillating shot-making and seismic serves awaits as the Australian Open Tennis Championships begin Monday. 

There are no losers yet, only an infinite array of potential winners capable of grabbing that final prize, the last piece of a Grand Slam pie offered up with Australian happy hospitality!

Already, tennis fans and pundits are eager to sample the most compelling matches.  

Prognosticators are making their picks. In the end, however, you have to win to move on and at this stage it is a 50-50 proposition regardless of the odds because in Australia weird and wonderful performances are the order of the day.

Day One—Day Sessions

Men’s Draw

We expect the high seeds to move on. Andy Roddick (7), Novak Djokovic (3), Juan Del Potro (8) and David Nalbandian (10) should defeat their opponents without too much tension on the first day of action. 

Del Potro and Nalbandian are fresh off tournament wins in Auckland and Sydney, where Del Potro defeated Sam Querry for the Heineken Open Championship 6-4, 6-4. Nalbandian defeated a resurgent Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3, 6-7, 6-2, to claim the Sydney Championship. 

Djokovic was knocked out of the Sydney tournament earlier in the week by Nieminen. This followed a preemptive ejection from Qatar in the first round but hopefully Novak will find his form here where he won his first major in 2008. Roddick has yet to be tested since being easily dismissed by Murray at the Qatar Open final. 

There are, however, some other intriguing matches the first day:

Marat Safin (26) vs. Ivan Navarro

It is difficult to imagine that former Australian Open Champion Safin could lose to this Spaniard, ranked No. 72 in the world. 

But Safin has suffered of late and has apparently lost his game with no clue where to find it. This could be a major upset in terms of seeding but not in terms of expectation.

Marcos Baghdatis vs. Julien Benneteau

Baghdatis cut his hair in an effort, we assume, to become more aerodynamic. He will need it to spur on his failing rankings and to get a win over the Frenchman who has defeated him twice. 

But Baghdatis comes alive in Australia where he made the finals in 2007, losing to eventual champion Roger Federer. 

Last year he and Lleyton Hewitt engaged in one of the most thrilling matches of the tournament. Marcos should make a big return to the stage where he belongs, as a contender down under.

Denis Gremelmayr vs. David Ferrer (11)

The hard-working Spaniard, Ferrer, has been in a bit of a slump of late, falling to a No. 12 ranking. Denis does well on hard courts and he reached the third round at the Australian in 2006.

Ferrer, formerly ranked world No. 4 is a fearless and tireless competitor. Gremelmayr is a respectable opponent, but Ferrer should prevail.

Also check out Robby Ginepri vs. Tomas Berdych (20); Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. Fabrice Santoro; Sam Querry vs. Phillipp Kohlschreiber (32); and John Isner vs. Dominik Hrbaty time permitting. All are potential scintillating match ups.

Women’s Draw

As with the men, the top-seed women should move on without much difficulty. Jelena Jankovic should defeat Yvonne Meusburger, Ana Ivanovic is practically assured a victory over Julia Goerges of Germany; and Dinara Safina should be victorious over countrywoman Alla Kudtyavtseva. 

There are some other interesting Day One matches on the women’s side to follow:

Carolina Wozniacki vs. Shahar Pe’er

Wozniacki is a hot new up and coming Danish player on tour who has recently risen to the No. 12 ranking. She is 18 years of age with much potential to improve her game and her ranking. 

She faces a top opponent in Shahar Pe’er, a counter puncher. Shahar is a solid baseliner with good skills. Wozniacki should win but it will not be an easy victory for the teenager.

Kimiko Date Krumm vs. Kaia Kanepi

In stark contrast, it will be interesting to see if the 38-year-old Date Krumm can produce a winner on the court against the No. 25-seeded Kanepi. 

Kanepi is primarily a clay court player. The surface might favor Date Krumm, but the odds must still remain in Kanepi’s favor.

Monica Niculescu vs. Katie O’Brien

The British player O’Brien is one of four Brits to make it into the main draw where she meets Niculescu. The two have met previously, with the nod going to Monica. 

The Brits are hot for O’Brien to make a break through this year. They are eager to enlarge their advantage with Murray being a favorite on the men’s side. But the nod should go Niculescu’s way again in this contest.

Also check out these matches, time permitting: Jelena Dokic vs. Tamira Paszek; Mariya Koryttseva vs. Alize Cornet; Nadia Petrova (10) vs. Yaroslava Shvedova and Melanie South vs. Marion Bartoli (16).  Some great matches will unfold on the women’s side.

Day One—Evening Session Matches

The climax of day one features two preeminent night matches scheduled at Rod Laver arena.  First up is a match between two women in the top half of the draw:

Daniela Hantuchova (19) vs. Casey Dellacqua

It is impossible to discount the home grown favorite Dellacqua in this contest, even though Hantuchova has the game to prevail. 

Recently Dellacqua was teamed with Lleyton Hewitt at the Hopman Cup, where she managed only to win one match. She was also ousted at the Medibank International in Sydney in the first round. 

She comes into the Australian Open with little success to bolster her confidence. The Aussies, however, can bring pressure to bear on the opposition. Hantuchova has exhibited a fragile hold on her game at times. She has been known to wilt when the going gets tough.

It will be interesting to see if Dellacqua can muster enough game to apply any pressure whatsoever. Regardless, Hantuchova should overcome Dellacqua in three sets even with her often delicate state of mind.

Roger Federer (2) vs. Andreas Seppi

Federer should win this contest going away. Most recently he faced Seppi at Doha and defeated him in straight sets on a hard court surface 6-3, 6-3.

Roger has also defeated Seppi twice on clay at Hamburg in 2008, 6-3, 6-1, and at Monte Carlo in 2007, 7-6, 7-6. Seppi is a competent professional but he should not ruffle Roger’s feathers on this opening night at Rod Laver. Roger should advance in straight sets.

More than the win, tennis fans will be eager to assess the state of the Federer game. He recently defeated his fellow country man Stanislav Wawrinka for the Kooyong Championship. His form seemed aggressive and his shots on target. 

With his last few losses to Andy Murray, speculation regarding the meeting of these two in the final has grown exponentially as the Australian Open seedings and draws were revealed. The time is at hand. In two weeks, we will have our answer.

At the end of the day, 64 singles matches will be concluded with 64 more scheduled to follow on Day Two. With so many tempting matchups, it is hard to select the best and most compelling to watch!

So sit down, pull up a chair, and join us as we describe this spectacular Aussie feast...