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Preview: Wozniacki And Kvitova Lead Impressive Field In Sydney
By James Waterson
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Photo Credit: Tony Ashby/AFP/Getty Images
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(January 8, 2012) We may be in only the second week of the tennis season, but we've already seen our fair share of surprises, great matches and injuries.
As the tour rolls forward this week, we're sure to see more of the same (with hopefully fewer injuries).
Similar to Brisbane last week, some of the ATP and WTA's best, including Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova and Juan Martin del Potro, will appear in a joint event in Sydney. Meanwhile, David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro will play in Auckland while Yanina Wickmayer leads the pack in Hobart.
Without further ado, let's have a look at what we can expect from the next week of tennis.
Apia International Sydney – Sydney, Australia
Wozniacki and Kvitova lead an impressive draw at the season's second WTA Premier event. In fact, the tournament boasts the top nine-ranked players with the exception of Maria Sharapova, who is out with injury.
The Danish World No. 1 certainly has a challenge on her hands this week. In the second round (she received a bye) she will face either 17th-ranked Peng Shuai or Dominika Cibulkova, the World No. 18.
Both women represent a significant challenge to Wozniacki despite having losing records against her. Cibulkova is 3-6 against the World No. 1, but she won their last match at last year's Wimbledon in three sets. Peng is 1-3 against the Dane, but she split sets with her last spring.
Kvitova's road to the later stages of the tournament doesn't appear as daunting. She faces the winner between lucky loser Alexandra Dulgheru and qualifier Sofia Arvidsson in the second round, and she could potentially run into US Open champion Samantha Stosur, Daniela Hantuchova or Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinal.
Stosur, the World No. 6, represents the toughest challenge for the Czech. But Kvitova has beaten her in all three of their previous matches, including a tight three-set triumph in the semifinal of the WTA Championships.
Compelling first-round match-ups abound for the lower seeds. Sixth-seeded Vera Zvonareva drew two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, former World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic will play Julia Goerges and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will take on Andrea Petkvoic.
Agnieszka Radwanska will also face her sister, Urszula, in the opening round.
The draw on the men's side isn't as deep. Del Potro's toughest competition in his half of the draw includes fourth-seeded Feliciano Lopez, fifth-seeded Viktor Troicki and seventh-seeded Marcel Granollers.
John Isner, the second seed, may have to deal with eighth-seeded Radek Stepanek in the quarterfinal and Richard Gasquet in the semifinal.
Although the draw isn't as deep as the women's, there are still some interesting opening-round matches to look forward to. Alex Bogomolov Jr. will face Robin Haase, Troicki will take on former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt and Dmitry Tursunov faces former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis.
Heineken Open – Auckland, New Zealand
David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro and Fernando Verdasco lead a field that includes a strong Spanish contingent. In fact, seven of the draw's 32 players are from Spain.
Ferrer's road to the final starts when he has to contend with the winner between Albert Ramos and Lukas Rosol. Moving forward, he could face seventh-seeded Donald Young, who is playing his first tournament of 2012, as well as Alejandro Falla, Albert Montanes or Potito Starace.
Almagro, the World No. 10, could face either eighth-seeded Philip Kohlschreiber, Sam Querrey or Ryan Harrison in the quarterfinal. Both Americans entered the tournament with wild cards.
Other players of note include Juan Ignacio Chela, Kevin Anderson and Tomaz Bellucci.
Moorilla Hobart International – Hobart, Australia
Wickmayer and Anabel Medina Garrigues, ranked No. 26 and 27, are the top seeds at the Hobart International.
None of the seeded players received byes, which means they will have no extra day of rest at the start of the tournament.
Wickmayer starts her campaign in Hobart against 61st-ranked Marina Erakovic of New Zealand. After that, she could face eighth-seeded Irina Camelia-Begu before the semifinal, where she is favored to play against Monica Niculescu, the third seed.
All in all, this should be a great week of tennis. Make sure to follow all of the action on our live scores page here, and check www.TennisNow.com for news from all of these tournaments and more.
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