Apia International Sydney Tennis - Australian Open Series

World’s best women on show

medibankinternational.com.au Monday 11 January 2010 10 Comments »

World No. 1 Serena Williams will lead the charge on Ken Rosewall Arena on day three of the Medibank International Sydney.

Joining Williams will be Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Australian wildcards Carsten Ball and Peter Luczak.

VIDEO: Watch post-match press conferences from day two

First up on Ken Rosewall Arena, Safina will play Polish young gun Agnieszka Radwanska, who she beat in straight sets in their only previous encounter.

Eleven-time grand slam champion Williams follows Safina on Ken Rosewall Arena. She will play Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Creative left-hander Martinez Sanchez recently captured the Hopman Cup title in Perth, scoring big wins over Sam Stosur and Sorana Cirstea.

In the final women’s match, defending champion, Dementieva will aim to continue her good form against Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova. The pair have a long history against each other with Dementieva leading their head-to-head series 10-3.

In men’s action, Ball will play American Mardy Fish, while fellow Australian Luczak will close out the days’ play against Argentine Jose Acasuso.

A number of big names, including Caroline Wozniacki, Sam Stosur and Jelena Jankovic, were casualties in the second day of main draw action.

Number four seed Wozniacki went down to Li Na of China in three sets 2-6 6-3 6-2, while Australian No. 1 Stosur wasn’t at her best, going down to Italian Flavia Pennetta in straight sets 6-3 6-1.

In front of a packed court one crowd, former finalist Jankovic went down in a tough three set match to qualifier Agnes Szavay 5-7 6-1 7-5 while Aussie Casey Dellacqua also lost on court one, defeated by Russian Vera Dushevina.

In the one of the most interesting and inspiring results of the day, 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm, 1994 women’s singles winner, defeated Russia’s Nadia Petrova and will face Victoria Azarenka, herself a three set winner over German Sabine Lisicki.

Other first round winners today included Richard Gasquet, Marcos Baghdatis, Dominika Cibulkova and Radwanska.

Scores: day two

Draws and order of play

Tags: Carsten Ball, Daniela Hantuchova, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, Jose Acasuso, Mardy Fish, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Peter Luczak, Serena Williams

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