On a tear
Petra Kvitova reeled off 12 consecutive games in her 6-2 6-0 demolition of luckless Russian Vera Dushevina.
Glam slammed
There was nothing glamorous about Gisela Dulko’s 6-0 6-1 loss to Maria Sharapova on Tuesday. Sharapova now leads their head-to-head record 3-1 and in the three matches Sharapova has won, Dulko has won a combined total of four games. Not pretty.
Curse of the Grand Slam?
Kim almost did it, Li Na came close, Petra did do it and now Sam’s done it too. In the past 12 months it hasn’t been easy being the reigning Grand Slam champ. After winning in Melbourne in January 2011, Clijsters followed up by losing in the second round of the French Open, which was won by Li Na who tumbled out of the next major, Wimbledon, also in the second round. The Championships were won by Petra Kvitova who promptly lost in the opening round of the US Open, which was won by Sam Stosur who then proceeded to make a first-round exit in Melbourne. All eyes will be on the winner of the Australian Open to see if they can break the cycle at Roland Garros.
What did you say?
“My game is not based on making balls. It's plain and simple. I made 40 unforced errors, made 35 winners, made seven aces. I'm even either way. I lost four and two with chances to still win the match. So doesn't matter what I'm going to do either way. Everybody is going to concentrate on the unforced errors … I got to 24 in the world for a reason. I didn't get there by making balls.” Jarmila Gajdosova on her playing style and 6-4 6-2 loss to Maria Kirilenko in the first round.
Stage fright
As if losing in the opening round on a blazing hot day wasn’t bad enough, world No.65 Rebecca Marino was then requested to provide a routine anti-doping sample. Unfortunately for the dehydrated Canuck, the sample took three hours to produce.
It’ll be a long drive home for …
Sam Stosur. The sixth seed came up short against Sorana Cirstea who was in all-out attack mode. Despite the disappointment, Stosur was philosophical about the loss: “That's sport. Unfortunately you can't pick and choose when it's all going to happen for you.”
Be there
Sam Querrey (USA) v Bernard Tomic (AUS)
Tomic silenced many of his critics, particularly those who wrote him off on Twitter at the end of the second set, with his comeback win over Fernando Verdasco in the opening round. Can he back it up?
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