The fourth round of the Australian Open feautred a rematch of last year's final and the outcome was the same – Kim Clijsters defeated Li Na. The score 4-6 7-6(6) 6-4 took the Belgian to the quarterfinals, but within those numbers hide four match points, a painful ankle injury at 3-3 in the first set and a gruelling fight of both players.
With her foot thickly wrapped and 2-6 in the second set tiebreak, Clijsters started her big comeback by winning six points in a row to take the match to the third set, which she opened with a 4-0 lead. Li then slowly recovered to 5-4 down, but it was Clijsters who closed out the match to her advantage.
After the victory, the Belgian winner of four Grand Slam titles said that it was one of her best comebacks, while the disappointed Li can live off the number of matches she won in January, a great improvement from her horrible second half of 2011. Read more »
Caroline Wozniacki’s love life is booming, at least its online representation suggests that, and her fashion designer Stella McCartney opted for the color of passion for the world No.1’s Australian Open. Wozniacki accessorized the red dress with a heart-shaped Danish flag pendant that her boyfriend Rory McIlroy gave her for Christmas.
Adidas Adizero used a shade of red for their predominantly peach dress worn by Ana Ivanovic, Daniela Hantuchova and Sorana Cirstea.
Serena Williams is wearing a blue Nike dress with wide tank straps and pleated bottom.
Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova didn't sweat much in their third round victories at the Australian Open.
Serena's opponent Greta Arn was the closest to challenging the American in the beginning of the first set, when she had a break point in the opening game, but that was all from the Hungarian who was quickly overpowered 6-1 6-1. Despite that, Serena claims that she's nowhere near her desired form and is just playing through the rust.
Sharapova was also quick, losing just three games to Angelique Kerber to reach the fourth round 6-1 6-2. The Russian has actually lost just five games so far at the tournament. Read more »
Following a 6-3 6-2 victory over Tamira Paszek and going 46-0 in Grand Slam openers, Serena Williams defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-0 6-4 in the second round of the Australian Open and won an impressive 500th match in her career. Even more so, it’s Serena’s 16th consecutive match win at the Australian Open, the tournament she has won five times.
Here’s what the 13-time Grand Slam champion, who now doesn’t even know what to pick for her next milestone, said about the achievement:
It's great. I haven't even thought about it. It's like the ultimate. It's really, really cool. The first thing I asked, of course, Is there anyone that achieved a thousand? I guess not. I never will get there either. But it's really cool. 500 is a lot of matches to play, let alone to win, so it's pretty cool.
Two points before the end of the match against Zahlavova Strycova, Serena twisted her right ankle, but luckily there was no pain and it was a different ankle from the one she injured this month in Brisbane. After the match, Serena assured the fans that both her ankles are doing good.
Additional info: Together with Andy Roddick Serena is playing the mixed doubles and they are facing top seeds Kveta Peschke and Mike Bryan in the first round. Serena already has to Grand Slam mixed doubles titles to her name, but she hasn’t played that type of competition at a major tournament since 1999.
The biggest Australian hope, US Open champion Samantha Stosur, crashed out of the Aussie Open already in the first round, and we didn't wait for long for another Grand Slam champion to bow out, as Francesca Schiavone lost to fellow Italian Romina Oprandi the very next day, in the second round, though.
The tenth-seeded Schiavone hit an astonishing number of nine double faults, while Oprandi made none. In addition, Schiavone made 35 unforced errors to her opponent's 16, and won only 28% on the second serve, while Oprandi was three times better in that department.
"I couldn't play like I supposed and I was playing to play," Schiavone said in a post-match conference.
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki stormed through the first set of her second round match at the Australian Open 6-1 in just 28 minutes, but Georgian Anna Tatishvili had much more hitting to offer. In the second set, which was almost three times longer, the world No.1 found herself trailing 1-4, and at 4-5 she was on the brink of losing the set when Tatishvili had a set point. Wozniacki then evened the score and closed the match quickly to 6-1 7-6(4).
First serve was working exceptionally well for Wozniacki, who hit nine aces in the match and afterwards joked that she felt a little bit like John Isner. Next for the Dane is Monica Niculescu who beat Pauline Parmentier 4-6 6-4 6-1 in the second round.
Kim Clijsters, Li Na, Agnieszka Radwanska and Victoria Azarenka were all express. Clijsters took just 48 minutes to defeat Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-0 6-1, Li needed 31 minutes per set to get past Olivia Rogowska 6-2 6-2, Radwanska beat Paula Ormaechea 6-3 6-1 in eight minutes over an hour, while Azarenka remained undefeated this season by rolling past Casey Dellacqua 6-1 6-0. (photo: sr_cranks)
Local favorite Samantha Stosur expressed her eagerness for competing on home soil when she thrilled her country with the US Open title in September, but the moment the time came for the Australian to shine in the January's sun down under, the nerves crept in and after losing in the second round of Brisbane and the first round of Sydney, Stosur put the icing on the cake of disappointment by crashing out in the first round of the Australian Open.
Spraying 33 unforced errors, the world No.6 Stosur fell to Sorana Cirstea 7-6(2) 6-3, the player to whom she hadn’t lost more than three games per set in their previous two encounters. This time the 59th-ranked Cirstea had nothing to lose and put out her aggressive side against the stiff Stosur who was falling under her own pressure. In the end Stosur did save three match points, but she was far too emotional to turn the situation to her advantage.
"It's hard to suppress those emotions when it means so much to you," said Stosur after becoming the first big casualty of the tournament.
Caroline Wozniacki experienced no problems with the wrist injury which troubled her in the quarterfinal loss to Agnieszka Radwanska in Sydney, even though she did enter her opening match at the Australian Open nervously, not sure of how the injury would behave.
Still, it was all good for the world No.1 and she brushed aside Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 6-2 6-1. Rodionova made 36 unforced errors, three times more than Wozniacki, and converted zero break opportunities. World No.83 Anna Tatishvili of Georgia will be Wozniacki's opponent in the second round.
Working the Tomato Adidas by Stella McCartney dress, Wozniacki is battling to retain her top ranking this fortnight. If she doesn't manage to reach the fourth round, and seed No.13 Jelena Jankovic is her biggest opponent on that way, Wozniacki will not be No.1 any more.
Additional info: Over the weekend we had two tournament finishes, with Victoria Azarenka and Mona Barthel emerging as titlists, and on Monday at the Australian Open both the players advanced. Sydney champion Azarenka breezed past Heather Watson, while Barthel, who surprised in Hobart by going all the way to the title from qualifying, won the first set against Anne Keothavong 6-0 but then Keothavong retired because of food poisoning. (photo via Adidas)
The weekend's Sydney finalistsVictoria Azarenka and Li Na are both safely through to the second round of the Australian Open.
Sydney titlist Azarenka felt Heather Watson's resistance only in the first two games of the encounter and advanced with a 6-1 6-0 victory. Next for the world No.3 will be Casey Dellacqua, who took out Bojana Jovanovski 6-3 6-2.
Last year’s Australian Open runner-up Li Na defeated Ksenia Pervak 6-3 6-1 in the first round. In both sets Pervak converted her sole break points, but her 100% in conversions was far from enough for Li who outweighed them with 14 break points of her own, six of which she managed to realize.
Defending Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters is also through, having ousted Maria Joao Koehler 7-5 6-1. The repeat of the last year’s final could happen early this year, as Clijsters and Li are in the same quarter of the draw. (photo: angelicalbite)
Hey everyone. The Australian Open is about to start and this year the field seems to be wide open without clear favorites. Also many of the top players are struggling with injuries and Andrea Petkovic already had to withdraw from the event because of a back injury. In this article I want to give you my view on who has the best chances to win the tournament.
I decided to pick out four players who I believe have the biggest chance to win this year’s Australian Open title.
1. PETRA KVITOVA
Petra Kvitova is currently in a close battle with Caroline Wozniacki for the world number 1 ranking. She had her breakthrough winning Wimbledon last year and I think she has very good chances to become the most successful player in 2012.
Her game is big, she played well in the warm up matches to the tournament, and she seems to have the confidence and belief now.
CHECK OUT HOW WELL KVITOVA IS PLAYING IN THIS VIDEO
2. KIM CLIJSTERS
Clijsters is the defending champion and in my opinion always a threat at any Grand Slam. She had a tough second half of the season in 2011, where she did not play much at all because of several injuries.
Having had such a long preparation could be an advantage for her because she is probably in great shape right now. At the warm-up tournament in Brisbane she seemed to be in strong form but had to pull out because of a hip injury. The latest reports are saying that she is practicing at 100% though and therefore I think she is one of the favourites to win the title.
3. SERENA WILLIAMS
As usual it is difficult to assess what kind of form Serena Williams is in for the Australian Open. She has not played much before the tournament but she obviously likes the tournament, having won it five times in the past.
In a recent interview I heard Brad Gilbert, famous coach and expert, talk about how hard Serena was preparing and how well she looked out on the practice courts. An ankle injury forced her to pull out of Brisbane but she has also been seen practicing hard on site in Melbourne. She has not played many tournament matches in a while so it will be crucial for her to get through the first couple of rounds.
If she gets through the first couple of rounds and stays healthy she will definitely be one of the top favourites for the title. Read more »
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Caroline Wozniacki experienced no problems with the wrist injury which troubled her in the quarterfinal 
Hey everyone. The Australian Open is about to start and this year the field seems to be wide open without clear favorites. Also many of the top players are struggling with injuries and 
