Fighter

It never rains but it pours. Eleven months of the year, I'm lucky if I see two seconds of tennis on the news. At the moment? All day tennis on two channels. It's amazing.

*

Let's start with the Brisbane International, where there were really some pretty cracking matches. Nieminen against Baghdatis was a bit of a heartbreaker - I really thought Marcos was going to come back and win the thing at the end there, but it was just not to be. His fitness is a bit of a worry, however - I hope he's better for the Open, because it is so special to see him playing there. But all credit to Jarkko, who hung in there beautifully after losing the first set - his consistency is excellent, and I also really, really like his backhand. It doesn't have the explosiveness of Safin's, but it's really a weapon.

*

Kudos to Bernard Tomic as well, who did lose in his ATP-level debut against Fernando Verdasco in Anando Night at Pat Rafter Arena, but who did himself credit. He started wonderfully (much better than Brydan Klein, whom I am currently watching getting smashed like a guitar by Tomas Berdych) and I think he's proved he can mix it - or at least, he's going to be able to mix it. He shouldn't hurry himself too much - not everyone is a Lleyton-like prodigy - but he's going to be good. And speaking of Anando Night, Ana herself was seriously pushed by Petra Kvitova, though the scoreline might not reflect it. Kvitova is one to watch out for, for sure.

*

But for me, the match of the day in Brisbane had to be Amelie Mauresmo against Jelena Dokic. Mauresmo took it in two breaker sets, but I really liked what I saw from Dokic. She struggled on big points (bad) but she was going toe to toe with Mauresmo, and it ain't just anyone can do that. She was ahead for most of the first set (had a set point at one point) and if she'd been able to close it out, I think the match might have had a whole different complexion. She's certainly intriguing to watch, Jelena Dokic - and if she keeps playing like this, she can get her ranking back up a bit for sure. Probably not to #4 in the world or whatever it was she used to be, but top fifty definitely. I really liked what I saw from her.

*

Now over to my baby, the Hopman Cup. Australia went down to Germany, but it was a really, really good tie. It was a shame that Dellacqua couldn't hang on against Sabine Lisicki, but I was so impressed with what I saw from her. I saw her play a set at the Open last year when she beat Dinara Safina, and she's really a talent. She never went away mentally (then or against Dellacqua) and that was what was really different. You always here about tennis players being 'fighters' and I often think that word gets overused, but applying it to Lisicki is not a stretch. It could have been so easy for her to go away after losing the first set against Dellacqua, the hometown girl, but no. She fought the crowd and she fought Dellacqua, but she never had to fight herself - she had great concentration just about the whole way. I would not be surprised to see a lot more of her in the future.

*

Speaking of fighters and people I was impressed by... I rarely say this, but even though I find his personality objectionable, I really like watching Lleyton Hewitt play. His match against Nicolas Kiefer was eminently entertaining. Lleyton may be annoying offcourt when he, like, talks and stuff, but I really admire the way he stays in a match mentally, especially after gruelling tiebreakers like the one in the first set, which he lost. Kiefer faded a bit mentally in the third set and Lleyton pounced. I like his counterpunching style of tennis - he always makes him opponent play just one more shot, and more often than not, that draws the error. It's the best I've seen him play in a number of years, and if he can hold this level, he might make a few rounds at the Open, which I'm sure he'd enjoy.

*

And how 'bout the Slovak Republic? I don't think anyone predicted that they'd take out the USA 3-0. I would have picked Cibulkova over Shaughnessy any day, but who would have picked Hrbaty over Blake? That opens this group wide. Group B will be a dogfight between Russia and France, but Group A, where you have the USA, the Slovak Republic, Germany and Australia, could go any which way. Who knows? Maybe Australia might make the final. I think Paul McNamee might go into paroxysms of delight if that happened!

*

*

Today's Results

*

Harry Hopman Cup (Perth)

*

Germany 2, Australia 1

*

Sabine Lisicki def. Casey Dellacqua, 4-6 6-2 7-5

Lleyton Hewitt def. Nicolas Kiefer, 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-2

Lisicki/Kiefer def. Dellacqua/Hewitt, 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 10-5 (match tiebreaker)

*

*

Slovak Republic 3, USA 0

*

Dominika Cibulkova def. Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-2 6-2

Dominik Hrbaty def. James Blake, 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-1)

Cibulkova/Hrbaty def. Shaughnessy/Blake, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

*

*

Brisbane International (Brisbane)

*

Men's Draw

*

Fernando Verdasco def. Bernard Tomic, 6-4 6-2

Jurgen Melzer def. Mardy Fish, 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-4)

Radek Stepanek def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-2 6-2

Jarkko Nieminen def. Marcos Baghdatis, 5-7 6-1 6-4

*

Women's Draw

*

Ana Ivanovic def. Petra Kvitova, 6-4 6-2

Sara Errani def. Daniela Hantuchova, 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-0

Amélie Mauresmo def. Jelena Dokic, 7-6 (11-9) 7-6 (7-5)

Olga Govortsova def. Francesca Schiavone, 7-5 6-2

Samantha Stosur def. Ai Sugiyama, 6-2 6-3

Tathiana Garbin def. Sofia Arvidsson, 6-2 6-3

Lucie Safarova def. Isabella Holland, 6-4 6-3

Roberta Vinci def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 0-6 6-3 6-1

Melinda Czink def. Alona Bondarenko, 7-6 (7-3) 6-1

Sesil Karatantcheva def. Iveta Benesova, 1-6 6-4 6-2

Julie Coin def. Yanina Wickmayer, 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-3)

*

*

Chennai Open (Chennai)

*

Marin Cilic def. Alberto Martin, 6-4 6-4

Rainer Schuettler def. Prakash Amritraj, 6-2 4-6 6-1

Marcel Granollers def. Hyung-taik Lee, 6-4 7-5

Bjorn Phau def. Santiago Ventura, 6-2 7-5

Simon Greul def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-3 6-4

Lukas Dlouhy def. Go Soeda, 3-6 6-2 6-4

Dudi Sela def. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-1

*

*

Qatar Exxonmobil Open (Doha)

*

Andy Roddick def. Ivan Navarro, 6-1 6-3

Gael Monfils def. Jan Hernych, 6-2 6-2

Nicolas Devilder def. Abdulla Hajji, 6-0 6-3

Victor Hanescu def. Viktor Troicki, 6-4 6-2

Sergiy Stakhovsky def. Christophe Rochus, 2-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3)

Andreas Seppi def. Denis Gremelmayr, 6-4 6-2

Philipp Petzschner def. Jeremy Chardy, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3

*

*

ASB Classic (Auckland)

*

Caroline Wozniacki def. Alberta Brianti, 6-1 6-0

Carla Suárez Navarro def. Nathalie Dechy, 6-4 6-0

Elena Vesnina def. Aiko Nakamura, 6-1 6-0