Brisbane update: road to Quarter finals

Hi everyone,

Two rounds after the start, we know the quarterfinalists of Brisbane.

I got to see four matches, all late night meetings due to the time difference (Queensland is 9h faster).
- Stosur v Yakimova = 6-2, 6-3. Except for a tough seventh game on Stosur’s serve in the second set (battling 4 break points), Yakimova got quite overclassed.
- Petkovic v Zahlova Strycova = 7-6(2), it was a struggle in the first set against errors and lucky netball winners of Strycova. In the second set there was no more competition: 6-0. New Petko-Dance seems to be an airdunk, hopefully we'll get to see it some more! 

- Kim Clijsters v Ana Ivanovic = I had high hopes for this match but the first two sets were completely dominated by Kim. First set with winners, second with errors: 6-1, 1-6. It was a very fast match, getting a bit to eat meant missing a set and a half! The beginning of the third set continued with errors of Kim, and it weren’t millimeter faults out or in the net (it wasn't pretty!). With an early break in Ivanovic's favor, you noticed the alarm bells going off in Kim’s head. With 0-2 behind, she had two break points but Ivanovic fought them off. I thought getting back from 0-3, was impossible but she certainly did it in style with two aces! She was launched and upped her game dramatically. Beautiful Ana couldn’t keep up and lost the 6 following games: 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. Hell of a way to get me TOTALLY stressed out but nonetheless still proud you won, Kim. No one can stay mad at you!















- Serena Williams v Jovanovski = With a young Serb player on the other side, Serena triumphed the first set 6-2 by simply playing her usual powergame. There were too much mistakes from the youngster who had a very attacking game but lacked experience against the 13-time Grandslam winner Williams. The second set seemed to go the same way but a little dip in the Serena-game, meant Jovanovski battling back to 5-3. Funny moment when Serena hit a serve touching the net but the ball just bounced in, she thanked the lord, closely followed by an ace (God was definitely on her side then!) With a deuce in the following game, Serena twisted her ankle (and bad, I wished I hadn’t seen that replay!) involuntary giving Jovanovski a break point. It took a medical time out before the match could restart and the young Serb grabbed her chance to take the break. The next game had to be Serena’s or it would level to 5-5. Merely relying on her strong forehand, she gained a matchpoint followed with a mistake by Jovanovski to end the match. 6-2, 6-4.

Quarter final prediction = So, I was totally off but I’ll get enough chances this year to predict even worse! So Benesova, a lefty Czech, upset Stosur. It seems there’s a dark cloud above Brisbane for Stosur, who has never been able to reach the third round. But, Monty Python-style, always look on the bright side, I don’t think Benesova will kill two birds in this tournament, setting up a quarter final against Kim Clijsters. I’m just hoping Kim has recovered from her error littered match against Ivanovic.

Next surprise, is the win of Kaia Kanepi over Pavly. I predicted they would maybe get into a three setter that Pavly would eventually win. You see two wrongs don’t make for a right because it was a clean two setter: 6-0, 6-3 and went Kanepi’s way.

Last but not least, Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament after her match against Jovanovski resulted in some serious ankle twisting. It’s probably better for her to focus on the upcoming Australian Open and let Brisbane slip away. Hantuchova gets a free pass to the semifinals but will getting too much days off between her matches influence her game?

To sum up as conclusion: Benesova – Clijsters, Jankovic – Schiavone and Kanepi – Petkovic still to be played for spots in the semifinals.

I’ll keep you posted on the progress!