Feeling Sorry for Sorana

Dinara Safina doesn't seem to have let that heartbreaker of a loss to Dominika Cibulkova in Perth slow her down - if anything, it seems to have given her motivation to absolutely pound on her opponents, and poor Sorana Cirstea was today's victim. Dude, I would not have liked to be in Sorana's shoes. Dinara absolutely smashed her. If she keeps playing like this (Dinara, that is, not Sorana) she is a real shot for the Aussie Open... and I bet she was chuckling when Cibulkova went down softly to Wozniacki. I was a bit sad about that, actually - much as I'm on Team Dinara, I really like Cibulkova's pocket rocket style of play, and a rematch could have been interesting... especially if Dinara went in with the mindset she seemed to have gone in with against Cirstea!

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There were no upsets of note in either Sydney or Auckland for the blokes - though Igor Andreev was looking like he was in trouble for a while there against Frank Dancevic, who may not be very highly ranked but has proved to be a little dangerous on occasion. (I believe his power lies in his bandanna, if he still wears it - he wore it when I watched him play Nieminen at last year's Aussie Open, and it was up there with Stepanek's shirt for sheer stupidity) The only really iffy one was Juan Carlos Ferrero beating Kei Nishikori, but that was by retirement... I hope Kei is all right! I want him to go far, far, far! He's a Star!

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The women's side, by contrast, was a little more up-and-down. It seems to me like pretty much anyone who's anyone is playing in Sydney for the women this week - with the exception of the two Serbian girls. Who would pick players of the calibre of Nadia Petrova (seeded #7) and Alize Cornet (unseeded) meeting in the first round? Cornet is ranked #15 - you'd normally get a pretty decent seed based on that ranking. Petrova is #11 and Wozniacki is #8 - Cornet'd be next in line, I guess. But still, in how many tournaments are you going to see two top twenty players meeting in the first round? I bet both of them were pretty filthy with that draw... especially Petrova, coming off viral meningitis last week. You want a nice easy qualifier or something to warm up against... instead, you get Alize Cornet.

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This could have been a great match if it'd happened a little later in the week and Petrova had played her way into form a bit. As it was, Cornet pretty much snapped her in half. I am loving the look of Alize at the moment - probably not a finals run yet, but I could see her in the quarters of the Australian. And on that subject, no Sharapova! I am feeling the loss so tragically. Really. Feel my pain. I mean, sure, she's the defending champ and all, and it's sad that she can't defend her title, but we've coped just fine without her for a while now - I'm sure we'll manage somehow. (Meanwhile, does anyone else think that there must be a lot of dislike between Sharapova and Ivanovic - especially from Sharapova to Ivanovic? Ana has pretty much run off with the mantle of the glamour girl of tennis... have we moved beyond Maria?)

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And what is up with Casey Dellacqua? She went down ridiculously softly to Sara Errani, which I would not have expected. She wasn't looking that good in Perth either - is the pressure of backing up what she did last year getting to her?

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Today's Results

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Medibank International (Sydney)

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Men's Draw

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Igor Andreev def. Frank Dancevic, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3

Tommy Robredo def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-3 6-4

Jarkko Nieminen def. Feliciano Lopez, 6-2 7-6 (11-9)

Mario Ancic def. Xavier Malisse, 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-3

Michael Llodra def. Denis Gremelmayr, 6-0 6-2

Simone Bolelli def. Potito Starace, 7-6 (7-1) 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Dinara Safina def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-2 6-1

Elena Dementieva def. Ekaterina Makarova, 7-5 6-1

Alizé Cornet def. Nadia Petrova, 6-2 6-4

Caroline Wozniacki def. Dominika Cibulkova, 6-1 6-2

Daniela Hantuchova def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-3 6-0

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Anastasiya Yakimova, 6-1 3-6 6-3

Kaia Kanepi def. Angelique Kerber, 6-1 7-5

Ai Sugiyama def. Jill Craybas, 6-2 6-3

Alisa Kleybanova def. Maria Kirilenko, 6-2 6-2

Sara Errani def. Casey Dellacqua, 6-1 6-2

Vera Dushevina def. Emelyn Starr, 6-0 6-1

Melanie South def. Marion Bartoli, 1-1 retired

Jarmila Gajdosova def. Karin Knapp, 6-4 6-2

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Heineken Open (Auckland)

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Sam Querrey def. Daniel King-Turner, 6-4 7-5

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Kei Nishikori, 5-3 retired

Viktor Troicki def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-1 6-2

Robby Ginepri def. Jose Rubin Statham, 6-2 6-3

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Moorilla Hobart International (Hobart)

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Flavia Pennetta def. Shahar Peer, 6-2 7-6 (7-5)

Carla Suárez Navarro def. Anna Chakvetadze, 7-6 (7-5) 1-6 7-5

Zheng Jie def. Marina Erakovic, 6-1 4-6 6-1

Anne Keothavong def. Agnes Szavay, 6-3 7-5

Urszula Radwanska def. Aleksandra Wozniak, 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-5

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Olivia Rogowska, 6-3 6-1

Olga Govortsova def. Jessica Moore, 6-0 6-3

Gisela Dulko def. Stefanie Voegele, 6-2 6-3

Virginie Razzano def. Maria Elena Camerin, 6-1 6-2

Mara Santangelo def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-1 6-1

Melinda Czink def. Tathiana Garbin, 6-2 1-6 7-5