Women's draw analysis: All eyes on Henin - 網球

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Women's draw analysis: All eyes on Henin

Friday 15 January 2010
By Tom Tebbutt

There was a wild rush of eyes for Justine Henin’s name after tournament
referee Wayne McKewen said, “IBM, the official technology partner, will now
randomly place the unseeded players in the women’s draw,” during the
Australian Open draw ceremony at Melbourne Park on Friday.

Henin, playing just her second tournament after a 20-month absence from
tennis, was arguably the greatest non-seeded floater in a Grand Slam
tournament draw in decades.

When the names almost instantly filled out the 96 unseeded positions, it took
a bit of searching before host Bruce McAvaney spied Henin’s name on line 68.

There had been a lot of speculation about whether Henin, needing a wildcard
to get into the event, might come out against a big name. Her first-round
opponent turned out to be fellow-Belgian Kirsten Flipkens, the world No. 80.
That match looks eminently winnable for Henin, but a potential second-round
meeting with No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva would be much more problematic.

Australian Open officials have to be thrilled with how matters eventually
played out because, after the top eight seeds were in place, Serena Williams
and her sister Venus were in the same half of the draw. With the tokens for
No. 14 seed Maria Sharapova and No. 15 seed Kim Clijsters yet to be picked
out of the Daphne Akhurst women’s singles trophy by Ana Ivanovic, the player
representative at the draw, there was the chance they could come out on the
same side as the Williams sisters. That would have resulted in a top half
loaded with pre-tournament favourites. Instead, Clijsters went in the same
third quarter with Henin and Dementieva, setting up a possible
Henin-Clijsters quarter-final re-match of their scintillating Brisbane
International final last week.

Along with Clijsters and Henin (both retired), Sharapova (shoulder) did not
play the Australian Open a year ago. The last time she did, in 2008, she
defeated Ivanovic in the final. This year she is in the bottom quarter of the
draw with second seed Dinara Safina and eighth seed Jelena Jankovic, both of
whom struggled late last year and did not play well in Sydney this week.

Sharapova has recent exhibition wins over Venus Williams (Thailand) and Zheng
Jie and Caroline Wozniacki (Hong Kong), so she is likely the pick to reach
the semi-finals in the bottom half against whoever survives between
Dementieva, Clijsters and Henin.

Notable first rounds include a meeting of Russian glamour girls Sharapova and
Maria Kirilenko, and the seventh match-up in the tongue-twisting rivalry of
the Wozniacki and Wozniak, with Dane Caroline holding a 6-1 edge over
Canadian Aleksandra.

Australia’s host-country contingent has been largely favourably treated by
the draw, except for Jelena Dokic, who had a Cinderella run to last year’s
quarter-finals. She faces the brutally powerful game of Alisa Kleybanova,
whom she overcame 7-5 5-7 8-6 in a round-of-16 thriller at Rod Laver Arena
last year. One round earlier, Kleybanova had upset the then fifth-seed
Ivanovic.

If there is still another shoe to drop, it would be where No. 16-ranked
Yanina Wickmayer, playing her second round of qualifying on Friday, falls in
the main draw if she makes it. Suspended at the time of direct main-draw
entry on December 7, Wickmayer could potentially face Ivanovic, or even more
dramatically, her fellow Belgian Clijsters. Both of them play qualifiers in
the opening round.

簡單來說就是依籤表預測的分析文
大家都等著看非種子的henin會擺在哪個位置
目前最大的可能就是在第二輪
會與近況似乎很好第五種子的神仙姐姐進行大對決

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澳網的炎熱天氣
往往會讓各大選手在第一週略顯掙扎
這個籤表暫時看來不是太輕鬆
但至少不是在前幾輪就抽到第一種子

澳網要開始了
往冠軍前進吧！

http://tinyurl.com/ykozsbg 現在放在澳網官網首頁

--
Every game, every match.
I know that I've been consistent
despite injuries and some tough times,
so I've got nothing to prove, except to myself.”

< Justine Henin >

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