Australian Open: In the Land of No Favorites
Current world #1 Caroline Wozniacki seemed to be primed for her first Major win the twenty-year-old Dane capped off a banner 2010 by making the finals in Doha. But she suffered a severely one-sided loss to Vera Zvonareva at a Hong Kong exhibition last week and dropped her Sydney opener in straight sets.Meanwhile 2008 champion Maria Sharapova struggled through early rounds in Auckland before falling to the eventual champion ranked #88 at the time! And hometown favorite Sam Stosur, who arrives with her best ever seeding in Melbourne, hasn’t yet made the dent she might have been hoping for. Add to that disappointing losses by Venus and Francesca, Vera and Jelena and you have the makings of a very “upset”-ing draw.Sure the Belgian duo of Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin remain strong, and if her ab injury doesn’t persist, Ana Iv breast enlargement cream anovic was running a nice streak through Hopman Cup play. But I think recent results suggest some new Grand Slam stars may be ready to emerge Down Under.I’ve gone on record saying this could be Victoria Azarenka’s year. The top-ten Belarusian has lost twice in a row to the eventual champion, and she’s started both those matches against Serena! with a set lead. She comes into this year’s Aussie Open with better momentum than in the past, making the semis in Tokyo and taking the title in Moscow, and might just be getting her nerves under control she was down a set to Ekaterina Makarova in the Sydney first round before pulling it together for the win.Then there’s young Petra Kvitova, fresh off the heels of her win in Brisbane. She’s already proven she can hang in the big leagues, having reached the semis at Wimbledon last year.
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