Court Awareness Australian Open: Preview Of Day 2

Australian open...the slam of the Asia Pacific!

The action has begun Down Under with all guns blazing, all stars ready with their artillery and arsenal. Day 1 saw and is seeing the first half of the 128 men and women battle it out in the typical Australian summer and day 2 promises to be equally good.

In the Men's draw, the top half will have a go at it while among the ladies it will be the bottom two quarters which will demonstrate their prowess.

DAY 2 : Morning Session:

The morning session starting at 11.00 am [AEST] has an interesting array of matches lined-up. Some of the most important and anticipated matches will be previewed in this article while some of the matches just mentioned are: (4) Elena Dementieva v/s Kristina Barrois; (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova v/s Anastasia Rodionova; Juan Monaco v/s (5) Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.

Preview Of Matches [Day session]:

1. Lleyton Hewitt v/s Fernando Gonzalez: The former World No. 1 Hewitt, after struggling from injuries most of last year returns to his native country slam focused and determined to win. After having made a positive start in the Hopman Cup this year along side Casey Dellacqua, Hewitt has issued a strong statement before the start of the slam.

However, the draw has placed him against an opponent who leads their head-to-head 3-2. Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, who was the runner-up behind Roger Federer in the 2007 Oz Open. This match should be a cracker to watch out for.

Since both Hewitt and Gonzalez are effective baseliners the match will not have a dry moment and the outcome is too difficult to predict. But the home crowd behind Hewitt and some of his lost sheen regaining, Hewitt appears to be the favourite. Also, on the other hand, since the Oz Open never ceases to surprise it will be no wonder if the match takes a different course all together.

2. Pablo Andujar v/s Gilles Simon: The swashbuckling Frenchman who stunned the former World No. 1 Federer will be up against the Spaniard. Simon who made an astonishing climb last season to enter the top 10 plus getting a berth at the year end masters in Shanghai due to Rafa's injury has vowed to try and get his first slam.

Especially because although he has managed to get this far, he has never got beyond the third round and this makes him dangerous as well.

As regards the match is concerned it ought to be a pretty one-sided affair with Simon finishing it off in three straight sets. It seems improbable at this point that it can go further than that.

3. Andy Murray v/s Andrei Pavel: Murray who is billed as the clear favourite among most of the bookies, thereby setting tongues wagging; should have no problem at all in cruising through this one.

Murray who defended his Doha Open title last week successful plus defeating Federer and current World No. 1 Rafa in an exhibition at Abu Dhabi is on a roll and has a completely different mindset from before. It appears highly unlikely that he will make an exit in the first round akin to last year.

Nothing to dissuade Pavel, but the least he can hope is to give Murray a valiant fight before going down. The Scot should prevail.

DAY 2: EVENING SESSION:

The Evening session starting at 19.30 pm[AEST] has two matches as per the draw. viz. Samantha Stosur v/s Klara Zakopalova and the more awaited Rafael Nadal v/s Christophe Rochus.

Since Samantha is the home crowd favourite; not dwelling on that the preview for the evening session is presented for the Nadal/ Rochus match.

Preview of the matches [evening session]:

1. Rafael Nadal v/s Christophe Rochus: The World No. 1 who took a long break due to tendenitis returns to the arena tomorrow against Belgium's Christophe Rochus. It is a well know fact that hard court takes Rafa miles away from his comfort zone and that the best result he has had so far here, is the SF.

This year he returns, not as the World No. 2 but as the top ranked player trying to win his maiden slam apart from clay and grass. The first round shouldn't bother Rafa much and he should book his place in the second round with ease.

But the more interesting part in his match will be the way he plays. Though he played just one ATP event in Doha the result wasn't something that he would boast about. He appears to be confident of winning the Oz Open and right now though its a long winding way from the final, his game will reveal what his fans would like to see ultimately.

The second day of this highly anticipated event will be upon us in a little over 12 hours so....till then keep watching tennis and keep reading B/R for the previews...