 |
| Francesca Schiavone, Italy |
A number of big names were in action in Sunday's first-round action, including Spain's Fernando Verdasco, who exacted a measure of revenge against Canda'sMIlos Raonic with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. Verdasco and Raonic have now split four matches this year, with Raonic winning twice on hard courts, Verdasco twice on clay.
With Djokovic conquering Nadal on Sunday in the Madrid final, the world's No. 1 player must start a new streak on clay, his previous 37-match streak broken.
Meanwhile, Djokovic will try to continue his remarakble win streak, now at 34 overall and 32 to start the season. Much like at Madrid, Nadal is the multiple-time defending champion, having won the event five times, including 2009 and 2010.
The luck of the draw doesn't appear to be much luck at all for Nadal. He faces a likely second-round matchup with Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci, the surprising semifinalist from Madrid.
Other potential upsets lurk in the form of fellow Spaniard David Ferrer and Croatia's Ivo Karlovic, who pushed Nadal to the limit at the Miami semifinals in March.
Roger Federer, who Nadal once again disposed of in the semifinals on Saturday, is again the No. 3 seed, and also won't have much of an easy route, facing either Marcos Baghdatis or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round.
The white-hot Djokovic has one of the easier routes, at least on paper. He doesn't see a real threat until the quarterfinals where either Verdasco, Robin Soderling or Nicolas Almagro will likely be waiting.
The final quarter might as well be called the "down on their luck" division seeing as how it contains Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, John Isner and Jurgen Melzer - none of whom are where they thought they would be when the season started - Murray still ranked fourth but without a title in 2011; Roddick out of the Top 10 and Isner out of the Top 25 and Melzer, finally in the Top 10, but unable to win a tournament or move up any further.
On the women's side, not surprisingly, world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki is the top seed as she seeks to win her first tournament since Charleston. She'll have a potential third-round matchup with Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, a surprising semifinalist here a year ago before running into Jelena Jankovic, a quarterfinalist here a year ago.
Last year's champion, unseeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, again comes into the field without much fanfare, but will be able to prove almost immediately if she's got the stuff for another run; she'll see Maria Sharapova in the second round.
On the other end of that bracket is Victoria Azarenka, the new No. 4 player in the world and the runner-up at Madrid.
With Kim Clijsters and Vera Zvonareva both sitting Rome out, Francesca Schiavone rises up to take the No. 2 seed, giving American teenager Christina McHale a chance for a massive upset in the second round.
 |
| Verdasco, Spain |
TennisNow.com
No comments:
Post a Comment