Qualifying Gets Underway In Sydney
by Priya Prasad
Qualifying day 1 at the adidas International in Sydney, and the haze
covering Sydney from recent bushfires spreading around the city left
the skies over Homebush Bay looking more like it was situated in the
middle of London in spring instead of Australia in summer. Players
coming from winter in the northern hemisphere and expecting a
blistering heat Down Under were a little thankful, especially those
who had battled extreme conditions on the covered court in the Gold
Coast. In fact, conditions had become so extreme that a match had to
be suspended for an hour and a half under the WTA's extreme-weather
condition policy.
Only the women were in action today, with first round singles
qualifying action, while the men will play both their first and
second qualifying round matches tomorrow. Elena Bovina of Russia was
up first on court two, playing against Marie-Gaiane Mikaelian of
Switzerland. Playing in her first singles match of the year, the
Russian had trouble taking control of the points against
Marie-Gaiane's huge hit-or-miss game. Nevertheless, she kept her
first set percentage up, and jumped on her opponent's second serves
to keep herself in contention. At the end of the day, it came down to
pure luck, with the Russian winning the important points (she managed
to save 11 out of 16 break points against her) and Elena just barely
make it through 6-3 4-6 7-6(6), helped by a whopping 15 double-faults
from her opponent. Not the best of ways to start the year, but she at
least has a good start with her win-loss record, and will have at
least one more match in preparation for the Aussie Open. Her next
opponent, Sandra Kleinova, had by then already won her match
6-0 7-6(7) against Eva Dyrberg, but is not likely to fare as well
against the strength of the Russian's game.
A couple of other interesting results were Katarina Srebotnik, who
didn't have to work too hard against the "Little Chilli" Evgenia
Koulikovskaya. She got through 6-3 6-3 to set up a potential meeting
with Ai Sugiyama, who was still in the Gold Coast playing doubles.
Tina Pisnik struggled with her quad injury in an absolutely appalling
match against Maja Palaversic-Coopersmith of Croatia, and anyone seeing either
player for the first time would have wondered how they ever managed
to get into the tournament without a wildcard. At the end of the day, the
Croat simply made too many silly errors, and had a long discussion
with her husband/coach as well as a couple of other Croatian coaches
who had been in attendance. That set her up against alternate
Nathalie Vierin, who will definitely take full advantage if the
Slovenian doesn't pick up her game for tomorrow.
Also moving easily into the second round were Daniela Hantuchova
(who hardly broke a sweat against Italian Maria Elena Camerin), Maria
Emilia Salerni (now coached by Patricia Tarabini), Anastasia Myskina,
Alexandra Stevenson, Anca Barna, Klara Koukalova and Marlene Weingartner.
Jelena Kostanic had a nightmare of a match against Kaia Kanepi, who
had replaced Tatiana Panova who was still playing in Auckland, but
eventually made it 6-4 6-7(5) 7-6(1).
Tomorrow will see the men hot in action, and tennis fans taking
advantage of the free admittance during qualifying will certainly
appreciate the full day of play ahead, with the men playing both
their first and second round matches, recuperating in between while
the women play their second round matches.
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https://tennis-ontheline.com/02syd01.htm © 2025
Last updated 26 September 2015
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