Women's Qualifying Begins in Australia; Capra, Tomljanovic and Domijan into Second Round in Plantation
We arrived in Miami this evening, and while the temperatures here have yet to return to the normal mid 70s from last week's Arctic blast, it sure was more comfortable being outside than in Kalamazoo, where temperatures were no warmer than the teens and 20s the past three weeks.
Austin gave a good account of the men's qualifying at the Australian Open, with emphasis on the American men and the former U.S. college players, in a comment on yesterday's post. To that I'll just add that Grigor Dimitrov's first round loss to Robert Kendrick was an indication that he's not ready for the stardom that many have predicted for him, although Kendrick is a tough draw.
Another disappointment was in the women's qualifying, which began several hours ago. Sixteen-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal, the No. 4 seed, lost in the first round to Ekaterina Dzehalevich of Belarus 6-3, 6-0. I haven't seen Larcher de Brito play in several years now, but that's not a scoreline I would expect from her against any opponent.
There are nine U.S. women in the qualifying field of 96 (I've never understood why women qualifying is 96 and men 128): Lindsay Lee-Waters, Shenay Perry, Carly Gullickson, Madison Brengle, Alexandra Stevenson, Julia Cohen, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Lauren Albanese and Lila Osterloh. Perry and Gullickson have already posted first round victories, as has ITF World Junior Champion Kristina Mladenovic of France. Mladenovic made it into qualifying based on her own ranking and she breezed through her first round match against countrywoman Mathilde Johansson, the 15th seed, 6-1, 6-3.
The qualifying wild cards went to:
Marija Mirkovic, Shannon Golds, Jessica Moore, Viktorija Rajicic, Ashling Sumner, Laura Robson, Sally Peers and Monika Wejnert. All but Robson are Australian.
For the complete draw, see the Australian Open website.
Today at the Plantation Pro Circuit events, Jack Sock and Evan King acquitted themselves well in the men's $10,000 Futures, but both lost; Sock to No. 1 seed Scoville Jenkins 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 and King to No. 2 seed Eric Prodon of France 6-4, 1-6, 6-0. It was a good day for qualifiers, as the only two who lost went down to another qualifier. Alex Domijan beat fellow qualifier Olivier Sajous, who, being from Haiti, probably had other things on his mind.
In the women's $25,000, seven of the eight seeds won their first round matches, including No. 7 Christina McHale, who thumped qualifier Jamie Hampton 6-1, 6-1. The only seed to lose was No. 8 Greta Arn of Hungary, who was beaten by qualifier Beatrice Capra 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic also advanced to the second round, defeating wild card Kyle McPhillips 6-3, 6-2.
For complete results, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.
4 comments:
Colette,
Allison Riske was the next player in qualifying. She was behind Alexandra Stevenson in the list and Stevenson squeaked in and yet again, retired in her match. It is a joke on the USTA circuit as the players and coaches have told me. This is horrible to see as I have supported Alex and have seen her play. When she is healthy, she can play! Im a recent fan of Allison's, since her runner up at Nationals in 2007 and this is just unacceptable. It was her 8th retirement since JUNE! From January till then she was fine. The ITF/WTA/ATP need to do something about this.
"All but Robson are Australian": Laura grew up in Britain, but she was born in Melbourne. I'd guess if she starts doing well the Aussie crowds will adopt her and cheer her on. It's a good move by the tournament organisers - she was going to be in town anyways (entered in the Junior draw) and had done so well in the recent Hopman Cup matches.
Donald Young one match away from qualifying. Last night he was down two breaks with Phau serving for the first set at 5-2, then DY3 rattled off five straight games to win 7-5. He was down a break at 2-3 in the second set before winning the final four games and the match. Thats a good win for him.
Alex Bogomolov had a really nice win. Good to see him playing well now that he's healthy again.
Ryan Sweeting beat Robert Kendrick 7-6,6-4. Kendo had a set point on Sweetings serve at 5-4 in the first. Was really surprised with the outcome of this match. Hopefully Kendrick can get things back on track.
Kevin Anderson(Illnois) had another routine win.
Prakash Amritraj(USC) look a close loss.
Kim, Yani and Witten are all playing today. Each is favored to win. Witten is actually playing another former college player in Connor Niland(Cal).
@J,
I agree, Stevenson is a laughingstock. Its sad, absolutely no heart. Weird how she can even afford to fly all the way down there only to retire in her first match. She had one good tournament last decade and a famous father, thats about it.
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