Monday Net Post

By TW Contributing Editor, Ed McGrogan

Last Week's Tournaments

Heineken Open (ATP - Outdoor Hard - Auckland, New Zealand)

- Singles Final: Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6, 7-5.
- Singles Semifinal: Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4.
- Singles Semifinal: Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Juan Monaco 6-2, 6-1.
- Singles Bracket

- Doubles Final: Luis Horna/Juan Monaco def. Xavier Malisse/Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 3-6, 10-7.
- Doubles Semifinal: Xavier Malisse/Jurgen Melzer def. Jeff Coetzee/Jaroslav Levinsky 6-3, 6-4.
- Doubles Semifinal: Luis Horna/Juan Monaco def. Nicolas Almagro/Sergio Roitman 6-2, 6-4.
- Doubles Bracket

Medibank International (ATP - Outdoor Hard - Sydney, Australia)

- Singles Final: Dmitry Tursunov def. Chris Guccione 7-6, 7-6.
- Singles Semifinal: Dmitry Tursunov def. 6-3, 7-6.
- Singles Semifinal: Chris Guccione def. Radek Stepanek 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.
- Singles Bracket

- Doubles Final: Richard Gasquet/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan 4-6, 6-4, 11-9.
- Doubles Semifinal: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan def. Alun Jones/Joseph Sirianni 6-3, 6-4.
- Doubles Semifinal: Richard Gasquet/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski 3-6, 6-4, 10-4.
- Doubles Bracket

Medibank International (WTA - Outdoor Hard - Sydney, Australia)

- Singles Final: Justine Henin def. Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
- Singles Semifinal: Justine Henin def. Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
- Singles Semifinal: Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Nicole Vaidisova 7-5, 7-6.

- Doubles Final: Zi Yan/Jie Zheng def. Tatiana Perebiynis/Tatiana Poutchek 6-4, 7-6.
- Doubles Semifinal: Zi Yan/Jie Zheng def. Nathalie Dechy/Dinara Safina 7-5, 6-1.
- Doubles Semifinal: Tatiana Perebiynis/Tatiana Poutchek def. Alicia Molik/Tiantian Sun 6-4, 2-6, 10-8.

• Singles & Doubles Brackets

Moorilla Hobart International (WTA - Outdoor Hard - Hobart, Australia)

- Singles Final: Eleni Daniilidou def. Vera Zvonareva (walkover).
- Singles Semifinal: Eleni Daniilidou def. Flavia Penneta 6-4, 6-3.
- Singles Semifinal: Vera Zvonareva def. Ashley Harkleroad 6-2, 6-1.

- Doubles Final: Anabel Medina Garrigues/Virginia Ruano Pascual def. Eleni Daniilidou/Jasmin Woehr 6-2, 6-4.
- Doubles Semifinal: Eleni Daniilidou/Jasmin Woehr def. Lourdes Dominguez Lino/Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2, 6-1.
- Doubles Semifinal: Anabel Medina Garrigues/Virginia Ruano Pascual def. Flavia Penneta/Ma. Emilia Salerni (walkover).

• Singles & Doubles Brackets

By the Letter

T...amarine Tanasugarn of Thailand terminated Jelena Dokic's hopes of competing in the Australian Open, after defeating the Serbian-turned-Aussie 6-2, 6-1 in the second round of qualifying.
E...leni Daniilidou won her fifth career title in Hobart, but did not strike a single ball in the final match.  Just hours before the final, her opponent, Vera Zvonareva, injured her ankle while practicing.  She could not recover in time to compete in the match, giving the title to Daniilidou via walkover.
N...ew Zealanders currently on the men's tour do not yet have an official ATP tournament win to their credit; the ignominious streak continued after Kiwis Daniel King-Turner, Jose (Rubin) Statham, and GD Jones all lost their first round matches in Auckland.
N...icole Vaidisova continued to build upon her solid 2007 season with impressive results in Sydney, defeating both No. 6 seed Daniela Hantuchova and No. 3 seed Jelena Jankovic before bowing out to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals.
I...ndian tennis star Sania Mirza was in the news this week not just for her quarterfinals appearance in Hobart, but also for an alleged controversy that she disrespected her country's flag.
S...ince winning the Madrid Masters in October 2003, Juan Carlos Ferrero has not won another title, and has gone 0 for 6 in finals appearances.  Philipp Kohlschreiber played the role of executioner this past week in Auckland, defeating the Spaniard in straight sets.  In these six losses, Ferrero has won only one of the fifteen sets played.
W...inning the pre-Australian Open exhibition in Kooyong has become a tradition for Andy Roddick, but it's one he'd gladly trade them all for a victory in Melbourne.  "Is there a three-for-one special deal -- 3 AAMIs for an Aussie Open?", said Roddick after winning the event for the third consecutive year.
O...nly one seeded player in Sydney (fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych) "made their seed" by reaching the quarterfinals of the Medibank International.  The tournament, laden with upsets, saw two-time defending champion James Blake crash out in the opening round to eventual semifinalist Fabrice Santoro.
R...iled to no end by the actions of the ATP Tour, Nikolay Davydenko has been vocal about his displeasure with how the match-fixing allegations have been handled.  "I can't understand what they want from me.  I have given them everything, all the information.  When will this end?  I do not have any trust in the ATP," said Davydenko.
L...indsay Davenport's play on the court after child birth inspired Serena Williams to call her "my ultimate role model", citing her recent resurgence as great motivation.
D...oubles draws were infiltrated by many highly-renowned singles players this week, most likely in an effort to get as much match play as possible before the Australian Open begins.  In Sydney, Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Tomas Berdych entered in the doubles competition (with the Frenchmen winning, in fact), while in Auckland, Juan Monaco, Xavier Malisse, Jurgen Melzer, and Nicolas Almagro were all spotted in partnerships.

McGrogan's Heroes

ATP - For years, two of the most noticeable players on the ATP Tour - Tommy Haas and Roger Federer - have been the face of men's tennis in their respective Central European nations.  In the minds of most casual sports fans, these two veterans "are" Germany and Switzerland, from a tennis point of view.  "Stanislas Wawrinka?  Never heard of him.  Is he a Swiss chocolatier?"  Of course, knowledgeable fans of the sport know that Wawrinka is no slouch.  Yet while Stan is a solid, top-30 player who has been improving in recent years, it's highly unlikely that he'll be passing Roger in the rankings any time soon.  Thus, expect Wawrinka's anonymity to continue.

In Germany, a similar correlation exists between Haas and countryman Philipp Kohlschreiber.  But there's one big difference.  The only way Federer would likely be unseated atop the rankings by Wawrinka is if a catastrophic injury befell the world's No. 1.  Haas' grip isn't quite as secure.  Currently ranked No. 11 in the world, Tommy's best days are likely behind him, and in recent years, he's almost never had an ailment-free season (he's not playing at the Australian Open, as an example).  As for Kohlschreiber, he reached his highest ever ranking of No. 27 this week, and is only improving, with the most recent sign of this coming at the Heineken Open.

Kohlschreiber has started 2008 on a fast note, reaching the quarterfinals in Doha, and winning his second career title in Auckland.  The German was efficient in victory, dropping only one set in five matches, which came against some impressive competition.  In the semifinals, Philipp flattened an extremely potent Juan Monaco in just over an hour, 6-2, 6-1.  The final was a longer, but the result was the same - a straight sets victory over another Juan (Carlos Ferrero; 7-6, 7-5).  Both of these wins were upsets, but if Kohlschreiber continues to improve his ranking, it could soon be Ferrero and Monaco (and Haas?) looking up at Philipp.

WTA - If you took a quick look at the Medibank International bracket, you might have suspected that this was a Tier I event due to the strength of the draw.  The lowest seeded player was world No. 11 Elena Dementieva, and the unranked players were a decorated lot that included Nadia Petrova, Nicole Vaidisova, Shahar Peer, and Tatiana Golovin.  On paper, Sydney was a Tier II event, but whoever emerged through this event unscathed should have been rewarded with Tier I prize money and ranking points.  To no surprise, the person who did just that had plenty of experience navigating through the toughest brackets at the biggest events.  Still undefeated since Wimbledon, Justine Henin is our WTA hero of the week.

Sure, Henin (along with the other top four seeds) was given a bye into the final 16 of this tournament - which is a very generous gesture for a 32 player draw, may I add.  And yeah, she got into the final eight because of a walkover (but at least her walkover wasn't in the final!).  But in spite of these free passes, Justine still played against the toughest competition this past week, in tough matches, and prevailed in the end.  In the semifinals, Justine faced Ana Ivanovic, against whom she held a 3-0 record.  The Belgian's clean record continued, as she won, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

In the final, Henin faced off against Svetlana Kuznetsova, whom she recently dominated in the U.S. Open final.  This time around, the match was much more competitive, as the Russian won the opening set, 6-4.  But Henin, as she has grown accustomed to doing, closed out Kuznetsova in the end, upping her head-to-head record between the two to a staggering 16-2.

Clearly, Henin has more ambitious goals in Australia coming up in Melbourne.  But Sydney served as effective preparation - even if it was only three matches - for the undisputed favorite in the women's draw.  It will take a tremendous effort from someone to deny Justine the Australian Open title she craves.

Tennis Theatre

Last year's Australian Open.

My old college roomate just got a ping pong table in his apartment, so we've been able to play matches for hours on end just like the good old days at The State University of New York College at Geneseo.  I can't say I can hit a forehand as cleanly as these guys do, but I make up for it in dexterity - I was told once that I had "Go Go Gadget Arms" after some of the shots I've hit.

Next Week's Tournament

Australian Open (ATP & WTA - Outdoor Hard - Melbourne, Australia)

• Men's Singles Bracket
• Women's Singles Bracket
• Men's Doubles Bracket
• Women's Doubles Bracket

• Website

• Television Schedule

Beyond The Bracket

It's Australian Open time, which means two things: late nights, and Lleyton Hewitt.  No matter how the former world No. 1 has performed during the prior year, Melbourne always seems to rekindle talk of the hyper-competitive Aussie's chances at bagging another Slam.  He's the Tim Henman of Australia, except that he doesn't have a hill named after him at Melbourne Park. But that's probably only because there is no hill at Melbourne Park.

When Hewitt was firmly entrenched in the top 5, the chatter was about him becoming the Aussie savior who would give the fans a homegrown men's champion for the first time since 1976 (Mark Edmondson).  But since Hewitt has tumbled out of tennis' elite, the talk surrounding his chances at the Australian Open has become more sentimental.  You know, a boisterous crowd behind him at the show court, hoping for a magical ride throughout the fortnight, bellowing "COME ON" chants late into the evening.  Hey - doesn't that sound like Henman at Wimbledon (except for the "come on's")?

Still, many fans aren't ready to give up on Hewitt just yet.  After all, he's still only 26, has won titles recently and, in pundits' minds, can still give the world's best a good match if he's up to the task.  I do agree with them in that regard.  But I also think there's another player who needs to be part of this "great Aussie hope" discussion, especially around the rest of the world, where he's not known as well.  That man is 22-year old Chris Guccione.

Last January, Guccione reached the finals of Adelaide, losing in the end to Novak Djokovic, who would use the victory to springboard into a furious 2007.   I vividly remember watching the match (it was the first of many "obscure" tournaments I got to enjoy, thanks to finally getting wired into Tennis Channel), and while I was very impressed with Djokovic, Guccione's play was attractive as well.

The 6' 6" southpaw was a consistent  threat from the service line, striking aces repeatedly thanks to great power and deception.  But he wasn't just a Philippoussis-like cannon; he rushed to net often, volleying with deft touch for a big man.  In this respect, he had the net skills of a much shorter countryman - Pat Cash.  As for his backhand, well, it's not even close to Hewitt's level of consistency - and it still needs work today - but Guccione showed a lot of promise and talent.

One year later, Guccione again found himself in the finals of an Australian tournament, this time in Sydney.  Again, he came up short, but his run to the championship match was encouraging, as he displayed improving skills. Also, the crowd was really getting behind Guccione as the match progressed.  And considering whom he had defeated to reach the finals, it's no wonder why: Tomas Berdych, Radek Stepanek, and even Lleyton Hewitt were taken out by the towering lefty.  I wouldn't call it a changing of the guard just yet, as Guccione needs to show this same moxie in a bigger tournament.  But the Australian Open would be the appropriate setting to do so, and today, Chris' journey will start against the pesky but effective Hyung-Taik Lee.

It will be interesting to see how Guccione handles the pressure.  The good news for him is that, with Hewitt still around, he can stay somewhat under the radar, which takes off some pressure. Moreover, many fans still don't know much about Guccione.  Maybe that's the best thing for him at this point, because I believe the attention will come, based on his appealing brand of tennis.

So Chris, while you're stil inLleyton's shadow, devoid of lofty expectations, go out and play the tournament of your life, and give Australia something to really talk about.  Or, if not here, try Wimbledon - that's where serve-and-volleyers do best and where a fellow Aussie made history back in 2002 (albeit from the baseline).

If...

You had to decide which tournament has the most appealing court - in terms of color scheme - which one gets your vote?

(I never thought that green and purple would work together, but I really liked the courts in Miami.  And for those of you who haven't seen some of the European indoor courts, you're in for a treat - picture links are appreciated in the comments.)