First round aside, its time for the top 15 players in the draw of the 2008 Australian Open to settle down to business.
Only one of the top women fell in the first round, No. 10 Marion Bartoli, who blew an opening set lead against Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson.
(1) Justine Henin – Quick, straightforward, and dominating are the words that come to mind after Henin’s 6-2, 6-2 drubbing of Aiko Nakamura.
(2) Svetlana Kuznetsova – If Kuznetsova continues to play this well, expect to see her (and her iPod) hang around until next Saturday.
(3) Jelena Jankovic – She proved that she is a fighter, but Jankovic’s back and shoddy serve might cost her a berth in the second week.
(4) Ana Ivanovic – Ivanovic advanced in two sets, although not without the customary lapse in concentration part way through.
(5) Maria Sharapova – Sharapova nailed 76% of her first serves in her opening match against Jelena Kostanic Tosic. Compare that to her 51% in last year’s Championship match.
(6) Anna Chakvetadze – It is hard to judge a player’s form when she only played for 180 seconds. At least she’ll have an extra day to prepare for a potential fourth round against Daniela Hantuchova
(7) Serena Williams – She’s looking dangerous. Very dangerous.
(8) Venus Williams – Melbourne has never been kind to Venus, and hopefully the new surface won’t aggravate her lengthy list of dormant injuries.
(9) Daniela Hantuchova – After winning two titles in 2007, Hantuchova is due for another big Grand Slam breakthrough.
(10) Marion Bartoli – Bartoli dominated in the first set tie break, but still lost to Arvidsson 6-4, 6-3.
(11) Elena Dementieva – Twenty-four winners and only three double-faults for Dementieva against Tzipora Obziler. She could give Sharapova or Davenport a scare in the fourth round.
(12) Nicole Vaidisova – Off-court, although she is dating Radek Stephanek, Vaidisova has not filed for a marriage license. Apparently, her relationship is not hurting her tennis as she cruised past Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-3, 6-0.
(13) Tatiana Golovin – After blowing the opening set 1-6, Golovin settled down and reached the second round. Her recipe for success: make your opponent give the match away with ten double faults in the deciding two sets.
(14) Nadia Petrova – The best player to never reach a Grand Slam final sent Nicole Pratt into tennis retirement.
(15) Patty Schnyder – You never know which Schnyder will turn up at a major. It is a little early to tell, but with her draw, a quarterfinal finish is not unlikely.
