While it is currently snowing throughout Europe (10 cm where I live!), Australia is been having quite nice summer temperatures to play the first round of the Happy Slam.
On day 1 the top players didn't allow any major upsets. Cibulkova lost the first set to Australian teenager Barty, but battled back in style: 3-6, 6-0, 6-1. Radwanska faced Bobusic who was surprisingly serving for the first set. The real opponent for the number four was the wind and eventually she pulled through by winning eight consecutive games: 7-5, 6-0.
No troubles for Na Li, Kerber and Bartoli who all cruised through the first round. Sharapova even demonstrated a double bagel against Puchkova, definitely setting an example of her Grand Slam desire! Venus also left nothing standing of Voskoboeva: 6-1, 6-0.
The only real trouble was for Stosur in the first round. She faced numerous breaks down at the hands of Chang, but the Taiwanese never really could finish it off. The Aussie favorite calmed a bit down after winning the first set tiebreak to push through to the second round (the first win for Stosur on Aussie soil this year!): 7-6(3), 6-3.
Day two was more spectacular for the top half of the draw. Seventh seed Errani was sent home by Spanish Suarez Navarro: 4-6, 4-6. The Italian didn't achieve much victories on hardcourt, but she did reach last year's quarterfinal, so it will be quite a loss in points at the beginning of the year. Petrova is also out against Japanse (and oldest winner of a single's match at the Australian Open at 42 for the moment) Date-Krumm: 2-6, 0-6.
That photo just confuses me, is she wearing a bra ... at all?
As I predicted, both Kvitova and Wozniacki needed that bit more in their first match, being pushed to three sets. Kvitova overcame Schiavone: 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 while Wozniacki faced a real scare when facing a 0-3 deficit in the third set to eventually take the 6 following games because of Lisicki's unforced errors: 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Azarenka passed the first round test with flying colors against Niculesco: 6-1, 6-4. But the biggest news was Serena's! How can you do this (very bad ankle twist!):
And still win 6-0, 6-0! Hopefully that ankle is going to be fine, because I finally want to see that first Azarenka - Serena battle of 2013! Hey, she'll probably even beat her hopping on just one leg, right? ... It's Serena!
The second round has some great matches to look forward to: Stosur vs. Zheng (wo defeated the Aussia at Sydney!) and Kvitova vs. Robson, so be sure to keep posted!
Also to see stuff like this from the amazing Aussie crowd:
Day two was more spectacular for the top half of the draw. Seventh seed Errani was sent home by Spanish Suarez Navarro: 4-6, 4-6. The Italian didn't achieve much victories on hardcourt, but she did reach last year's quarterfinal, so it will be quite a loss in points at the beginning of the year. Petrova is also out against Japanse (and oldest winner of a single's match at the Australian Open at 42 for the moment) Date-Krumm: 2-6, 0-6.
That photo just confuses me, is she wearing a bra ... at all?
As I predicted, both Kvitova and Wozniacki needed that bit more in their first match, being pushed to three sets. Kvitova overcame Schiavone: 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 while Wozniacki faced a real scare when facing a 0-3 deficit in the third set to eventually take the 6 following games because of Lisicki's unforced errors: 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Azarenka passed the first round test with flying colors against Niculesco: 6-1, 6-4. But the biggest news was Serena's! How can you do this (very bad ankle twist!):
And still win 6-0, 6-0! Hopefully that ankle is going to be fine, because I finally want to see that first Azarenka - Serena battle of 2013! Hey, she'll probably even beat her hopping on just one leg, right? ... It's Serena!
The second round has some great matches to look forward to: Stosur vs. Zheng (wo defeated the Aussia at Sydney!) and Kvitova vs. Robson, so be sure to keep posted!
Also to see stuff like this from the amazing Aussie crowd:
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