Thursday, February 5, 2009

To 2011 And Beyond!

Well, well, well, Australian women's tennis. Maybe you are not as hopeless as you have been made out to be in the past. After sweeping Korea on the first day on competition, the girls have just made another clean one of Thailand, with Dokic and Stosur winning the singles and then Dellacqua and Stubbs finishing it off in the doubles. How 'bout that, eh? How 'bout that?
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I mean, of course, Australia is in a really low group right now - the Asia/Oceania group - and we have to win the final to have a chance to get into World Group 2, the group below the World Group proper. The earliest we could compete for the actual Fed Cup is 2011, when one has to think Dokic and Stosur will be a leeeeeetle past their prime. But I suppose we do have players like Isabella Holland, Monica Wejnert and Olivia Rogowska coming up...
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It's just really nice to see the girls doing well. Jelena cruised in her match, winning it 6-1 6-2, but the day belonged to Stosur, who came back from a set and 5-2 down to beat Tamarine Tanasugarn (who is actually ranked higher than she is) to win the tie. She won eleven straight games. Now that's pretty sweet.
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And then, in other Australian tennis news, I think Jarmila Gajdosova is 100% definitely an Australian citizen now - she just got married to Sam Groth. The new Mrs. Groth (who is going by Groth now) really troubled Victoria Azarenka in Brisbane - and actually could be another good addition to the Fed Cup squad one day. And we all know how Scary Sam played Davis Cup for Oz last year against Chile... and I didn't even know they were dating. Guess you learn something new every day.
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Today's Results
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SA Tennis Open (Johannesburg)
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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Denis Istomin, 6-1 6-4
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-4 7-5
Jeremy Chardy def. Marco Chiudinelli. 6-4 6-4
Kristof Vliegen def. Ivo Minar, 6-4 6-1
Frederico Gil def. Rik de Voest, 4-6 7-5 6-4
Sebastien de Chaunac def. Izak Van Der Merwe, 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 7-6 (7-5)
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Movistar Open (Vina del Mar)
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Tommy Robredo def. Brian Dabul, 6-3 7-6 (7-5)
Sebastian Decoud def. Agustin Calleri, 7-6 (7-3) 7-5
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PBZ Zagreb Indoors (Zagreb)
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Sergiy Stakhovsky def. Ivo Karlovic, 6-4 3-6 6-3
Jan Hernych def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 6-2
Mario Ancic def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-1 6-1
Ivan Dodig def. Ernests Gulbis, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4
Mischa Zverev def. Victor Hanescu, 6-4 5-7 7-6 (9-7)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi there, Aussie tennis is in a bit of a ditch right now I suppose, but with the state of women's tennis, and the field being so shallow as it is, some of our girls, in particular Dokic, Gajdisova, and Stosur can be expected to not only win the regional tie, but to pull some upsets elsewhere. As for Casey D, Im not sure what to think about her, she seems a little out of shape to me, or maybe the pressure is just getting to her. Either way, she's gotta pull herself together and work on her fitness big time. Nice to see someone writing about Australian tennis. Cheers :D