Things looked rough in Sydney today, with top seeds and high-ranked players crashing out, retiring, and having uncomfortably close calls. Caro, JJ, Bepa (still having problems with that ankle) and Nads all lost, while Vika got played a little too close for comfort by Sabine. And while Sam losing to Flavs is not, on its face, a terrible result, the quality of play she showed was... uh, not good. What up, Sammy?
The only seed that lost on the guy's side was Igor Andreev. I think his hair is getting him down.
And then there was this...
Auckland
Singles - First Round
[6] J Melzer (AUT) d F Fognini (ITA) 57 63 62
[WC] J Statham (NZL) d [WC] D King-Turner (NZL) 62 75
T Bellucci (BRA) d M Chiudinelli (SUI) 63 63
Hobart
Singles - First Round
(2) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. (WC) Olivia Rogowska (AUS) 63 62
(5) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 61 62
(7) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. Kaia Kanepi (EST) 46 63 76(4)
(8) Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. Melinda Czink (HUN) 64 62
Sara Errani (ITA) d. Melanie Oudin (USA) 36 63 75
Jelena Dokic (AUS) d. (Q) Elena Baltacha (GBR) 64 62
Tamira Paszek (AUT) d. Roberta Vinci (ITA) 64 63
(Q) Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 60 60
(Q) Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) d. (WC) Sophie Ferguson (AUS) 62 62
Sydney
Women's Singles - First Round
Li Na (CHN) d. (4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 26 63 62
(6) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Sabine Lisicki (GER) 36 62 75
(Q) Agnes Szavay (HUN) d. (7) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 57 61 75
Elena Vesnina (RUS) d. (8) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 33 ret. (right ankle injury)
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Jill Craybas (USA) 60 64
Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Samantha Stosur (AUS) 63 61
(Q) Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN) d. Nadia Petrova (RUS) 63 57 64
María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) d. (Q) Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 63 63
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) d. (LL) Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) 76(2) 61
Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. (Q) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) 67(3) 62 62
(Q) Vera Dushevina (RUS) d. (WC) Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 62 62
Men's Singles - First Round
[Q] L Mayer (ARG) d [7] I Andreev (RUS) 67(7) 63 76(4)
R Gasquet (FRA) d F Lopez (ESP) 61 64
M Baghdatis (CYP) d [WC] N Lindahl (AUS) 62 75
A Seppi (ITA) d [Q] M Matosevic (AUS) 64 64
P Cuevas (URU) d M Llodra (FRA) 62 76(1)
P Starace (ITA) d [Q] F Gil (POR) 61 64
