WTA Brisbane 2015: Count-down begins!

[Correspondent Kiu]

Yes folks, Brisbane's main draw is couple of days away! There is also the new Australian Open Series that starts with Brisbane.

BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
JAN 04 - JAN 10

TOURNAMENT INFO:

TIER: Premier
PRIZE MONEY: $1,000,000
SURFACE: Hard
DIRECTOR: Cameron Pearson

Defending Champion is Serena Williams, she also won in 2013. Not playing this year!

Top seeds for 2015 are as follows:
Maria Sharapova
Ana Ivanovic
Angelique Kerber
Dominika Cibulkova

Full list of players:
http://www.brisbaneinternational.com.au/players/womens-singles

Qualies start Friday.

 

[10isfan]

Good to see Vika in the draw. Let's see how she does after missing most of 2014. Where is Halep? I have high hopes for Ana. Am I correct that Pova could be ranked number one after this event?

 

[kskate2]

Good to see Vika in the draw. Let's see how she does after missing most of 2014. Where is Halep? I have high hopes for Ana. Am I correct that Pova could be ranked number one after this event?

Halep and Petra are playing Shenzhen. Don't think it's numerically possible for Maria to get #1 until after AO depending on how she does. She's currently a little over 1400 points behind, Brisbane is only worth 470 and Maria is defending SF points.

 

[colleen66]

I know Serena has decided not to defend her title and is playing Hopman Cup. Are there any ranking points for playing in that event?

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

WTA Brisbane 2015

No points playing in Hopman. Serena will lose 470 points.
After winning it for 2 years and not collecting the big one, I can't blame her for changing her schedule.

Vika is defending finalist points here, I like to see where she lands in the draw.
Talking about the draw, the qualifying draw is set to go, link can be accessed here:
http://www.brisbaneinternational.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/QS1.pdf

 

[rugged]

So happy to see Vika back in the mix. It would be great to have her win it all in Brisbane. She obviously isn't match tough; however, most of the women aren't match tough at this early stage of the season. Great that Vika has her experience to draw on.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Second round of qualifying is now completed, Kimiko did not make it.

Main draw starts Sunday, about 12 hours from now... Samantha, Petko and Jankovic are set to play, so is Spongebob!

Order of play:
http://www.brisbaneinternational.com.au/schedules/order-of-play

 

[10isfan]

Main draw is out. Vika has a tough path. I doubt she defends her points. Cheering for Lucic, Navarro, and Ana.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Yes, the main draw is out.

Here it is:

---

1 SHARAPOVA, Maria RUS
2 BYE
3 QUALIFIER
4 LISICKI, Sabine GER

---

5 LUCIC-BARONI, Mirjana CRO
6 MCHALE, Christina USA
7 PIRONKOVA, Tsvetana BUL
8 SUÁREZ NAVARRO, Carla ESP

---

9 KERBER, Angelique GER
10 GARCIA, Caroline FRA
11 QUALIFIER
12 RISKE, Alison USA

---

13 SVITOLINA, Elina UKR
14 RYBARIKOVA, Magdalena SVK
15 TOMLJANOVIC, Ajla CRO
16 JANKOVIC, Jelena SRB

---

---

17 MUGURUZA, Garbiñe ESP
18 MATTEK-SANDS, Bethanie USA
19 PLISKOVA, Karolina CZE
20 AZARENKA, Victoria BLR

---

21 STOSUR, Samantha AUS
22 LEPCHENKO, Varvara USA
23 KEYS, Madison USA
24 CIBULKOVA, Dominika SVK

---

25 PETKOVIC, Andrea GER
26 KANEPI, Kaia EST
27 QUALIFIER
28 QUALIFIER

---

29 GAJDOSOVA, Jarmila AUS
30 ZHANG, Shuai CHN
31 BYE
32 IVANOVIC, Ana SRB

---

Top 2 seeds get first round bye.

Few interesting first round matches.

 

[golds girl]

Happy New Year everyone! I keep forgetting Li Na retired
I think Sam will be next.
Re: Brisbane, hoping to see Vika do well. Won't be mad if Ana makes the final.

 

[Hoergren]

Nice upset in round one. Jankovic is out after losing to the new Australian local Tomljanovic (well maybe not quite an Australian YET but she lives in Brisbane) 67 06 - so a complete capitulation from Jankovic in second set.

Rybarikova also lost with a bagel to Svitolina who really looks good 06 26.

Two bagels in the first two matches I followed in 2015 - not bad eh?:clap

Another good match is going on right now Kanepi vs Petkovic with Kanepi in front.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

From Ben Rothenberg on Twitter,

After her R1 Brisbane loss,Jankovic reveals she had back issues for 2 months in off season that she feared could be career ending.

 

[Hoergren]

From Ben Rothenberg on Twitter,

After her R1 Brisbane loss,Jankovic reveals she had back issues for 2 months in off season that she feared could be career ending.

Sorry to hear that - we need a drama queen

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

SINGLES - QUALIFYING - FINAL ROUND
[1] Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) d Maryna Zanevska (UKR) | 7 - 5 | 6 - 4 |
Daria Gavrilova (RUS) d Elizaveta Kulichkova (RUS) | 7 - 6 (2) | 6 - 4 |
[3] Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) d [5] Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) | 6 - 4 | 7 - 6 (4) |
[4] Madison Brengle (USA) d [8] Irina Falconi (USA) | 6 - 2 | 6 - 0 |
Only 4 qualifiers!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

The Aussie Curse continues for Sam Stosur who lost her first rd match to Lepchenko 46 64 75

Sam was up 5-1 in the 3rd set as well.I rest my case.

 

[colleen66]

I don't know anything about an "Aussie Curse" for Stosur, she is just a head-case plain and simple. I am not a fan of her game. How many times has she been up in a match only to lose it for inexplicable reasons? She has the tools but but mentally ...........? For a woman who has been on the tour for so many years, it is still hard to believe that she only has a hand-ful of titles (yeah I know she has a slam) with all the tools that she possesses.

 

[colleen66]

Nice upset in round one. Jankovic is out after losing to the new Australian local Tomljanovic (well maybe not quite an Australian YET but she lives in Brisbane) 67 06 - so a complete capitulation from Jankovic in second set.

Rybarikova also lost with a bagel to Svitolina who really looks good 06 26.

Two bagels in the first two matches I followed in 2015 - not bad eh?:clap

Another good match is going on right now Kanepi vs Petkovic with Kanepi in front.

Petkovic lost her match. I really believed that she would have went further in this tournament based on how she ended and salvaged her year.

 

[colleen66]

Halep should be in this draw. Tired of seeing her in small tournaments when most of the top players are playing each other elsewhere. I wonder why she and Kvitova are not playing here.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I don't know anything about an "Aussie Curse" for Stosur, she is just a head-case plain and simple. I am not a fan of her game. How many times has she been up in a match only to lose it for inexplicable reasons? She has the tools but but mentally ...........? For a woman who has been on the tour for so many years, it is still hard to believe that she only has a hand-ful of titles (yeah I know she has a slam) with all the tools that she possesses.

Well one has to look at Stosur's poor results in Australia compared to her results overseas.Sam feels too much pressure I feel playing at home,the expectation weighs too heavy for her,especially after she won the USO,many people felt then she could go on and win the Australian Open.Most people in Australia feels she has a Aussie Curse...also from some media sections here.

 

[colleen66]

I don't know anything about an "Aussie Curse" for Stosur, she is just a head-case plain and simple. I am not a fan of her game. How many times has she been up in a match only to lose it for inexplicable reasons? She has the tools but but mentally ...........? For a woman who has been on the tour for so many years, it is still hard to believe that she only has a hand-ful of titles (yeah I know she has a slam) with all the tools that she possesses.

Well one has to look at Stosur's poor results in Australia compared to her results overseas.Sam feels too much pressure I feel playing at home,the expectation weighs too heavy for her,especially after she won the USO,many people felt then she could go on and win the Australian Open.Most people in Australia feels she has a Aussie Curse...also from some media sections here.

Fashionista, her results are not great anywhere she plays in terms of titles or finals. Yeah, she sucks in Australia, but with the exception of that USO championship and 1 or 2 FO finals she sucks everywhere else. I know that I sound harsh but her lack of results just annoy me, especially since she has been on the tour for quite a while and has an astounding athletic form.:nono