Mauresmo and Clijsters Look to Advance to Third Round
Mauresmo and Clijsters Look to Advance to Third Round
It seems strange that Amelie Mauresmo and Tathiana Garbin nor Kim Clijsters
and Shinobu Asagoe have played each other before as all four have been on
the tour a while.
Mauresmo became the first Frenchwoman ever to be ranked number one in the
world. She is such a gifted athlete and when she is in full flight, her
tennis is a joy to watch. She has every shot in the book but her backhand in
particular is quite spectacular. She would be expected to score a win over
Garbin but the Italian is no slouch on the court and a win over Justine
Henin-Hardenne last year proved that. She was the first Italian woman player
to ever beat a reigning world number one.
It is great for women's tennis to see Kim Clijsters starting to make her way
back in the sport. The first Belgian tennis player to hold a world number one
ranking, she has had her fair share of injuries. One of the most popular players
ever, Kim is a former winner of this title and while her lack of match play
will possibly be a stumbling block to another title this year, she is however
bound to gain plenty of support. She will play Japan's Shinobu Asagoe who was a
quarterfinalist at last year's US Open.
In 2005 she reached her third career final in Auckland and became the first
Japanese player for ten years to reach the semifinals in Tokyo.
The all-Russian match-up between Elena Bovina and Maria Kirilenko is also a
first-time meeting. Needless to say there will be a fair amount of national
pride on the line here as Bovina, who has been on the circuit a while now
faces yet another talent from Russia. Russian tennis is the story of women's
tennis now. Last year Bovina won her third but largest title in New Haven.
Kirilenko meanwhile, turned 18 in January and last month reached her fourth
career quarterfinal at Doha where she scored her first win over a player
ranked in the top 20, number 14 Patty Schnyder. This promises to be a
fascinating encounter.
Gisela Dulko came to some prominence last year when she made it to the
quarterfinals of the Pacific Life Open after qualifying. She was also a
quarterfinalist at Memphis, Bali and Beijing. But it was at the French Open
and again two weeks later at Wimbledon that the Argentine frustrated veteran
Martina Navratilova. Dulko will face her compatriot Mariana Diaz-Oliva for
the third time ... it's one win each - Dulko won here at Indian Wells in 2001
in the qualifying but this year at the Australian Open Diaz-Oliva scored a
straight set win in the second round.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 220.137.32.180
NED-BEL-LUX 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
