Australian Open first week review.

Jennifer Capriati had the feeling she had played Marlene Weingartner before. And indeed they had played each other once before but also they had been practising together in Saddlebrook Florida where both players have their homes. Capriati with all her experience knows what kind of a player Weingartner is and she knows what to expect when playing a match against players like Weingartner. She could not foresee that the German player would produce clean winners. Weingartner used her backhand as a tool to get rid of Jennifer Capriati who looked like she was cruising for the second round in the first and second set.

Marlene Weingartner forced a tiebreaker in the second set and was on set point when Capriati came back and only needed two points to finish the match but Weingartner managed to win the big points and won the tiebreaker. In the third set Weingartner broke Capriati twice to end the match 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.

As reason for losing the second and third set Capriati said that she was a bit tired, mentally and physically she just wasn’t strong enough. Jennifer Capriati also had problems with her eyes. Recovery time from an eye treatment was also a little short, she said. Although her eyes didn’t bother her and she is not using the treatment as an excuse she might not even be in Australia if she wasn’t the defending champion. Her loss had everything to do with her preparation for the Grand Slam.

Unlike Capriati, who was a pro tennis player when she was 14 years old, Weingartner was still going to school when she was 18 years old. Marlene Weingartner is the late bloomer who had Jim Pierce, Mary’s father, as a coach for one month. She learned from him what its like to work hard and what fitness training is. Weingartner has never played in front of a packed centre court and had to get used to the atmosphere. In the second set she was accustomed to the arena and it motivated her to win the second and third set.

Monica Seles had an easy win against Kurhajcova in the first round although Monica said that she was happy she played aggressively enough to win the match in two easy sets. Kurhajcova hits the ball real hard and Seles didn’t know what to expect because anything can happen in a Grand Slam. Seles finished the match with 6-0, 6-1 and for the next round qualifier Koukalova was waiting for a meeting with the four times Australian Open Champion Seles.

Koukalova played very well; she had Seles running all over the court. Koukalova had Seles wrong-footed and she sprained her left ankle. The Australian Open court seem to be stickier than other courts specially when the sun is beating on the surface. Seles didn’t give up and tried to pull out a win but could not prevent a well-earned victory for Koukalova. 6-7, 7-5, 6-3.

The Czech Klara Koukalova, who celebrates her 21^st birthday next February 24, was very happy with her victory. She will be entering the top 100 for the first time in her career, an important milestone. 

Anna Kournikova was really happy with the way she played her first round match against Henrieta Nagyova from Slovakia. She was not thinking about the fact she didn’t win a first round Grand Slam match for years but she was concentrated on the match and she thought she played a near perfect match. After the match, which Anna Kournikova won 6-1, 6-2, she was asked what she thought about her next opponent the Belgian Justine Henin. Kournikova said she knew Justine was a fighter and a great mover who is real fast and who doesn’t give away free points.

When the match against Henin was over in the second round Kournikova hardly knew what hit her. The match was over just like that and the scoreboard showed a 6-0 6-1 score for Henin who said it was hard to concentrate in the second set. There were hardly any rallies due to a lot of unforced errors by Kournikova therefore Henin had a hard time to stay focussed. She also was saying that she had to tell herself to ‘go for the return’. ´Kournikova’s serve was so slow with many double faults that it was just amazing,’ Henin said. Only thing Kournikova could say about the match was: ’Well it was tough, sorry’  

After a fairly easy first round win Lindsay Davenport had to fight a tough match against Iroda Tulyaganova from Uzbekistan in the second round. Tulyaganova looked in great form against Davenport although she is up for injury treatment on her elbow and shoulder after the Australian Open finished. Tulyaganova produced 49 winners where Davenport got 39 direct points. After Davenport was leading 5-3 in the first set she squandered seven set points, Tulyaganova took the opportunity and won the tiebreak Davenport won the second set and was in trouble in the third again. The Uzbek player who turned 21 last week January 7^th, did break Davenport early in the third but could not hold her own serve which led to a 6-7 (9) 6-4, 7-5 victory for Lindsay Davenport in 2 hours and 17 minutes.

Serena Williams didn’t seem too happy with the way she played so far but she seems to be heading for her goal being the 4^th Grand Slam in a row. She was having some difficulties with French Emilie Loit who took the first set. Loit was using her slice as a weapon in trying to outplay Serena Williams. She also said that the surface, rebound ace, was helping her. The surface suits her game very well. Obviously the match against Serena Williams was the best game she ever played and she was fully enjoying it playing on centre court with a great audience. Finally Serena Williams came out as a winner in three sets on her way for the Serena Slam 3-6, 7-6, 7-5. Sister Venus Williams had pretty easy straight set winners to move into the second week of the first Grand Slam of the year.

Kim Clijsters is pretty much keeping her form from what we have seen last year since she won Filderstadt. In the first round she played 63 minutes to beat Samantha Reeves 6-2, 6-1, the second round match against Petra Mandula turned out to be a 33 minutes lasting double bagel.  Tatiana Poutchek was send home in 55 minutes in the third round 6-2 6-1. The Belgium Kim Clijsters, who is considering Australian citizenship, seems to be en route for her first Grand Slam where she is already adopted as an Australian Daughter.