Jan. 11, 2005
Last week:
Roger Federer
cruised through his first event of the season, in Doha, Qatar, without
dropping a set. He hasn't been broken once in five matches. He already
leads the 2005 ATP Race. What else is new?
His designated challengers for the upcoming season met different fates last week.
Marat Safin failed to win one match (out of three singles and three mixed-doubles) at the Hopman Cup, in Perth, Australia.
Lleyton Hewitt lost in straight sets to Taylor Dent in the quarterfinals in Adelaide, Australia.
And Andy Roddick was spotted at several Miami Heat games in South Florida.
Carlos Moya and Joachim Johansson were the opening week's two other winners, in Chennai, India, and Adelaide. Feel free to add Johansson to your list of potential winners of the Australian Open. The fact that he has been dating Jaslyn Hewitt, Lleyton's sister, for months might get him extra support Down Under.
Paradorn Srichaphan, who was playing in his fourth consecutive final in Chennai, lost to Moya for the second consecutive year. The last players to reach an event's final four years in a row were Roddick in Houston (2001-2004) and Yevgeny Kafelnikov in Moscow (1997-2001).
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| Daniela Hantuchova celebrates after winning the Hopman Cup with fellow Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty. (AP) |
Switzerland might be tied with Slovakia, which won the Hopman Cup. Dominik Hrbaty and Daniela Hantuchova defeated Argentina's Guillermo Coria and Gisela Dulko in the final.
Elena Dementieva defeated Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams to claim the unofficial Hong Kong Champions Challenge.
Anastasia Myskina and Alicia Molik, who were both playing at the Hopman Cup, are also undefeated this year.
Player of the week:
But this award goes to Katarina Srebotnik who captured both the singles and doubles titles
at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
Quote of the week:
"Everybody who plays me, plays me so hard
because they always want to beat me. I am going to get ready for each
match from the first round to the final. For me, I just have to watch
out for everybody."
Serena Williams
at a Hong Kong exhibition event.
Should we feel sorry for Serena or remind her that her situation is similar to all the other players on Tour?
This week:
One week before the Australian Open, the action
heats up Down Under, with events in Sydney, Hobart, Canberra, Australia,
and Auckland, New Zealand.
Lindsay Davenport will start her season at the WTA Medibank International in Sydney.
Four of the top five seeded players at the WTA Medibank International are from Russia: Myskina, Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva and Nadia Petrova.
On the men's side, Hewitt, Johansson and Moya will highlight the field in Sydney.
While in Melbourne, Federer, Roddick, Andre Agassi, Tim Henman, David Nalbandian, Gaston Gaudio, Nicolas Massu and Srichaphan will meet at the Kooyong Classic.
Agassi won this unofficial event three times in the past. He went on to win the Australian Open each of those years.
