Week 3 - Australian Open (women's)

steven · Tennis legend

Week 3 - Australian Open (women's)

paulisi · Tennis legend

Two in form players - winnable, but awkward.

Spectator · All-time great

Tough section, tough quarter. I feel for Ms Wozniacki! Think on balance, though, that a reasonable first round is better than a harder first round and softer section.

Jaffa · Challenger level

How funny is this draw by the way... Li Na's english is catching out the guy bless him.

No easy draws in grand slams at the end of the day. It could've been worse.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Heather won twice on grass and once on hard in the Fed Cup, Pironkova won twice on hard.

philwrig · Hall of fame

I suppose it all depends which Pironkova turns up, but going on what happened last year when she played even better in Sydney ( won it/ potentially more fatigued as a result ) she lost 0&2 to Stosur in R2 here, so quietly confident Hev can win that one. As for the next round neither Cibulkova or Flipkens are in form so it could be worse.

PaulM · Tennis legend

I agree Phil, this is a pretty decent draw. Pironkova is tough but winnable, so of course a softer round 1 would have been nice, but in terms of a high seed Cibulkova is a pretty good one to get and Flipkens has been a bit all over the place.

It really depends how much Hobart has taken out of Heather, I think there is a risk that she will have a bit of a let down in Melbourne. Fingers crossed for a Tuesday start, as that would help.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

PaulM wrote:
I agree Phil, this is a pretty decent draw. Pironkova is tough but winnable, so of course a softer round 1 would have been nice, but in terms of a high seed Cibulkova is a pretty good one to get and Flipkens has been a bit all over the place.

It really depends how much Hobart has taken out of Heather, I think there is a risk that she will have a bit of a let down in Melbourne. Fingers crossed for a Tuesday start, as that would help.

I was thinking the same thing. Quite often players who do really well in the previous event find it hard to perform well in the next one, and it's not something Hev has had to deal with before as when she won Osaka it was her last event of the year.

As for the draw, could have been better, but could have been a lot worse so I think Hev will settle for it. Pironkova is a player Hev comes across a lot - I doubt she has played anyone else as often.

LordBrownof · Futures level

I reckon this is a nightmare draw for Pronk. She did pretty well this week but that forehand is all over the place. She has absolutely no confidence in it, slicing it whenever she can. So if Heather scrambles around the court hitting as many balls to that side as she can, she's got a great chance.

Agree that of all the seeds, you'd pick Cibulkova. Let's hope the pressure of being the player with the most to lose at this tournament is too much for her!

-- Edited by LordBrownof on Friday 16th of January 2015 12:33:13 PM

wimdledont · Challenger level

At previous GSs, Heather has drawn Sharapova, Azarenka, Na Li, Halep in Round 1; Halep, Na Li, Kerber on grass, in Round 2. Twice into the third round, she's lost both times to Aggie Rad.

By her own shocking standards then, this is a very good draw.

Cibulkova should be very worried. She's down to 24 on the live rankings, and hasn't played well since April 2014. This week she got the wooden spoon in Sydney, losing to Aggie, who lost to... etc...

Cornet in R3 would be a tough ask; but of the 2 girls to beat Hev this year, better Cornet than Radwanska. At least it makes a change.

EDIT: Cornet 'twas, not Cibulkova, who collects the Sydney wooden spoon.

-- Edited by wimdledont on Friday 16th of January 2015 05:29:52 PM

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Yes, unless Domi makes 4R+ she's almost certain to finish the AO outside of the top 20.
If you extended her form from the second half of last year out, to make a full year based on those results, she'd be about WR65 - and that includes an easy soft points haul from those on offer in the Sofia tournament of Champions.
Still dangerous though, should we get that far.

philwrig · Hall of fame

I certainly agree the fatigue factor is the worry for Hev, it's tough to perform well at the major's if you put in a big effort the week before.

wimdledont · Challenger level

philwrig wrote:
I certainly agree the fatigue factor is the worry for Hev, it's tough to perform well at the major's if you put in a big effort the week before.

Yeah, but so far H has only played 8 sets of tennis this week. Pronkers has played 15.

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

wimdledont wrote:
philwrig wrote:
I certainly agree the fatigue factor is the worry for Hev, it's tough to perform well at the major's if you put in a big effort the week before.
Yeah, but so far H has only played 8 sets of tennis this week. Pronkers has played 15.

More including doubles, I count 13.

philwrig · Hall of fame

wimdledont wrote:
philwrig wrote:
I certainly agree the fatigue factor is the worry for Hev, it's tough to perform well at the major's if you put in a big effort the week before.
Yeah, but so far H has only played 8 sets of tennis this week. Pronkers has played 15.

There's also the emotional factor as well, with dealing with a final/ potentially winning a final. It's a huge match for Hev against Brengle, unilke say someone who is used to playing/winning finals week in week out. There's a risk she could be quite flat when she plays on Tuesday.