Apia International Sydney 2014

[Hoergren]

As qualification starts within the next12 hours it might be in time to start this thread for the final AO preparations tournament. Press the following link and you'll get the order of play for the qualifiers:

Order of play for the qualifiers Friday

Then it's up to you to give comments, predictions etc. to the players on the player list:

Agnieszka Radwanska POL
Petra Kvitova CZE :nono
Sara Errani ITA :nono
Jelena Jankovic SRB
Angelique Kerber GER uzzled
Caroline Wozniacki DEN
Simona Halep ROU uzzled
Sloane Stephens USA uzzled
Roberta Vinci ITA :nono
Carla Suarez Navarro ESP uzzled
Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS uzzled
Sorana Cirstea ROU uzzled
Dominika Cibulkova SVK
Ekaterina Makarova RUS uzzled
Alize Cornet FRA uzzled
Jamie Hampton USA uzzled
Lucie Safarova CZE uzzled
Kaia Kanepi EST
Eugenie Bouchard CAN
Daniela Hantuchova SVK :nono

Signs: will do ok uzzled not sure how good :nono nay - more practise

 

[Hoergren]

While we wait I want you to join me in reading a nice fun article about Caroline, Rory and Hoegstedt brought in an Australian paper: The Australian - here is the link - but you have to have an abo to read the whole article - but read it in full below

Article in The Australian


Rory McIlroy carried her bags from Ken Rosewall Arena. Good man. Since popping the question on Sydney Harbour on New Year's Eve, McIlroy has clearly become aware of Bill Cosby's truth about the secret to wedded bliss: "The wife is in charge."

The real fascination with Wozniacki is the search for grunt in her tennis rather than the size of the rock on her finger. Two points of interest at Homebush. The first was the presence of Maria Sharapova's former coach, Thomas Hogstedt, the hired gun trying to inspire a maiden majors triumph for Wozniacki at the Australian Open. Even more telling, in readiness for her first tournament appearance since Hogstedt was signed in October, was the thick-framed Babolat racquet she used to club ball after ball after ball.

Wozniacki is a slip of a thing. Looks like Jane, plays like Jane. Serena Williams and Sharapova huff and puff and blow her off the court. She has better movement than Sharapova, and better court craft than both of them, but they hit poor little Bambi into oblivion.

Hogstedt and the Babolat are the cures. Sharapova's discarded mentor was doing with Wozniacki yesterday what he used to do with Sharapova, getting her to nail forehands, hitting them flat and hard, pausing and surging into them with the leg drive of a shot-putter.

Her old Yonex stick has been ditched. To ratchet up the power, she will compete with the most powerful racquet on the market, the thick-framed Aeropro Team range of Babolat favoured by the heaviest slugger in world tennis, Rafa Nadal. She appeared to be hitting a heavier ball yesterday but the real test will be whether she can do it under pressure when Sharapova and Williams are landing their bombs.

Wozniacki snuck in a few matches with a Babolat last year. Contracted to Yonex but dissatisfied with their equipment, she painted the frames of Babolat's black and finished the year by winning the final at Luxembourg. The Nadal-style, black-and-yellow frame was paraded for all to see yesterday. A contract has been signed, Yonex has been told to take a hike and the black paint has been left at home.

Wozniacki had two exhaustive sessions inside Homebush's concrete jungle. Her late-morning drills on Rosewall were followed by a burst on Court 2. McIlroy fetched stray balls. He sat in the umpire's chair. He hit a few shots: two-handed backhands, unconvincing. His departure was delayed by kids asking him for autographs and photographs. Wozniacki walked off alone. No one wanted her signature.

She has collected nearly $US16 million ($17.9m) in prizemoney, she once held the world No 1 ranking, she's part of the most famous sporting couple since Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf and she got to see Sydney's fireworks. Life's good. But she's never done what McIlroy has managed twice, the winning of a major title.

Running out of ideas, she's turned to Sharapova's coach and Nadal's flashing blade. They're not the worst ideas she's ever had.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Paul Annacone will be in Sydney and the AO coaching Sloane Stephens
I read a earlier article that Annacone wasnt coming to Australia and Sloane's hitting partner would be her coach.

 

[Hoergren]

Exciting week - again - is coming up in Sydney a little bit different setup than in Brisbane - I look forward to see Aga and Caro in action. Before that we have a qualifying tournament going on and the order of play for second round of this you can find following this link:

Qualifying second round

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Qualifying is almost done and scoreboard is on.

here is the picture of the day.

 

[Hoergren]

The draw is out - here is a link to it:

The 2014 singles draw

Revised DRAW with qualifiers and Luccky Losers

1 RADWANSKA, Agnieszka POL
2 BYE
3 BOUCHARD, Eugenie CAN
4 MATTEK-SANDS, Bethanie USA
5 HANTUCHOVA, Daniela SVK
6 TOMLJANOVIC, Ajla CRO 64 75
7 KEYS, Madison USA
8 HALEP, Simona ROU61 64

9 JANKOVIC, Jelena SRB
10 MAKAROVA, Ekaterina RUS
11 ORMAECHEA, Paula ARG
12 SUAREZ NAVARRO, Carla ESP
13 KANEPI, Kaia EST
14 DUVAL, Victoria USA
15 CIBULKOVA, Dominika SVK
16 KERBER, Angelique GER

17 LEPCHENKO, Varvara USA
18 KUZNETSOVA, Svetlana RUS
19 CIRSTEA, Sorana ROU
20 PIRONKOVA, Tsvetana BUL
21 GAJDOSOVA, Jarmila AUS
22 DAVIS, Lauren USA
23 VINCI
24 ERRANI, Sara ITA64 62

25 WOZNIACKI, Caroline DEN
26 GOERGES, Julia GER
27 SAFAROVA, Lucie CZE
28 SCHIAVONE, Francesca ITA
29 MCHALE, Christina USA
30 CORNET, Alize FRA
31 BYE
32 KVITOVA, Petra

 

[Front242]

That's quite a line up of players! Really with the heat of the sun over there right now I'm not so sure it's a great idea to play so close to the main the event. Sure you get practice and exposure to the conditions, but that heat will zap your energy. For many it's better to play just one event and rest up.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Go Aga, She is cleaning up perth with an unknown guy. She should take this one too.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Leif,
I want the name of the qualifiers, you better deliver!

 

[Hoergren]

Leif,
I want the name of the qualifiers, you better deliver!

Okay okay - here they are - NOT

Mattek-Sands in Q-final
Goerges in Q-final
Lepchenko in Q-final
Pironkova in Q-final
McHale in Q-final
Shvedova in Q-final

That were the winners of half of the FINAL ROUND in the qualifying. As you can see below Goerges and Mattek-Sands are going to meet! in the Q-final. There are 7 qualifiers to the main draw - funny number I think.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Goerges???

She deserves better than qualifying!

Tough event indeed....

 

[Hoergren]

Forgive me for bringing the qualifiers name YET as it was the results from the final ROUND and not the qualifying finals. It reveals in the order of play below - marked with Q and 1 (1st in main draw) so we're not having all Q-finals Sunday - I think uzzled

Sunday, January 05, 2014
Ken Rosewall Arena

11,00 Madison Keys (USA) V [7] Simona Halep (ROU) 61 64 !!!!! Keys through to round 2.
13:00 Roberta Vinci (ITA) V [3] Sara Errani (ITA) 46 26 1
15:00 Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) V Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO) 46 57 1
17:00 [4] Raquel Kops-Jones / Abigail Spears (USA / USA) V Svetlana Kuznetsova / Ekaterina Makarova (RUS / RUS) 62 75

Grandstand
11,00 [1] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) V [9] Julia Goerges (GER) 32 ret. Q

Court 6
12,30 Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) V S.Peer (ISR) 63 67 63 Q

Court 5
11,00 [2] Varvara Lepchenko (USA) V Victoria Duval (USA) 57 57 Q

Court 4
11,00 [5] Christina McHale (USA) V [12] Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 63 64 Q
13,00 Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) V [8] Lauren Davis (USA) 67 36 Q

Court 8
13,30 P. Ormaechea vs A. Schmiedlova 76 61 Q

What puzzles me because if you look in the main singles draw there are 7 qualifiers, so maybe there will be one of the losers getting in too. Help if anyone knows more - please uzzled

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

It's a 32 player field, top 2 seeds get first round bye
6 qualifiers will be decided. 1 lucky loser will be awarded. Looks like Jamie Hampton has the lucky loser spot wrapped up.

picture of the day.

 

[rubydo]

Will Hampton be ready for this event, after her injury in practice, she noted, "she should be ready for the AO" no mention of the Apia event.

 

[Hoergren]

Simona Halep is undergoing a MELTDOWN right now. Madison Keys won 1st set 61 and leads 40 in second and absolute NO sign of play. Stunning that she was one of the young guns last year. Very disappointing. With a little help from Keys she holds serve so now 51. Nerves is suddenly creeping in by Keys - will be a big win - so now Halep has won the last 3 games!! 54 now and it's only because of nerves from Keys. Halep has a horrible gameplay - as the reporter on BT sport says "What is going on". Keys takes second set 64 - phew.

 

[zalvar]

Damn, Madison can play really well. Definitely someone to watch. Can move well, nice pop on the ball and seems level headed.

 

[Hoergren]

Damn, Madison can play really well. Definitely someone to watch. Can move well, nice pop on the ball and seems level headed.

It was NOT that gameplay Keys showed - really quite ordinary but Halep - eeeek - really bad and only nerves made Halep get som points in the end. Great win for Keys.

 

[10isfan]

I do not understand why Halep would change coaches after the great year she had. Makes no sense. This bad move could stall her momentum.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Sloane Stephens has withdrawn citing a wrist injury

 

[RJD11]

Vicky Duval is doing quite well so far this season.


Can't believe Maddie took it to Simona after all

that Halep hype at the end of last season.