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Monday, January 14, 2019

( The Australian Open Tennis Tournament 2019 ) January 14, 2019 The Patriot Conservative News Tea Party Network Reports The Australian Open Tennis Tournament 2019 © All Copyrights Reserved By Patcnews







Australian Open 2018 | Halep and Wozniacki battle for maiden Slam and World No. 1 spot


Ros Satar

By Ros Satar, in Melbourne


  • Saturday will see a maiden Slam winner crowned as Australian Open Women’s champion 2019
  • The World No. 1 spot is also at stake

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – The World Nos. 1 and 2 will do battle for not only a first major title, and the World No. 1 spot.
 

Simona Halep [1] v Caroline Wozniacki [2] | H2H: Wozniacki leads 4-2

For the first time since the 2015 final, the top two players in wotrld will not only fight for a first Slam title, but the fate of he top spot also rests on this match.

Simona Halep – Path to the final


  • R1: Destanee Aiava [WC] 7-6(5) 6-1
  • R2: Eugenie Bouchrd 6-2 6-2
  • R3: Lauren Davis 4-6 6-4 15-13
  • R4: Naomi Osaka 6-3 6-2
  • QF: Karolina Pliskova [6] 6-3 6-2
  • SF: Angelique Kerber [21] 6-3 4-6 9-7
Simona Halep has not shied away from the pressure that comes with the top spot. We have seen with the likes of Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber that the No. 1 ranking has proved to be more of a curse than a blessing. Yet Halep has always welcomed being in this spot – and now comes a new challenge.
In her first Slam final in 2014, she was very much the underdog against Maria Sharapova, and her flurry to level the match and scamper to the best of her ability impressed many, but no one expected her to lift the title on that occasion.
However 2017 was a very different affair – she was very much the favourite against the feisty and ultimately fearless Jelena Ostapenko – and from a position of supremacy, Halep froze, and ultimately Ostapenko went for it and reaped the reward.
Add to that a nasty ankle turn at the start of the tournament in her first match, and you get the sense that Halep had to do a lot of level setting – she played down the ankle injury but allowed for the fact that fater two first round exits in the last two years at the Australian Open, any wins were a bonus here.
Her epic battle against Lauren Davis was only surpassed (in quality, not volume) with her battle against 2016 champion Kerber. It was one of those matches you wish they could both win. But Halep is now in her first Australian Open final, her first on hard courts, and after weathering all the storms that Melbourne has thrown at her – it is one last push.


Caroline Wozniacki – Path to the final

  • R1: Mihaela Burzarnescu 6-2 6-3
  • R2: Jana Fett 3-6 6-2 7-5
  • R3: Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-3
  • R4: Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3 6-0
  • QF: Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0 6-7(3) 6-2
  • SF: Elise Mertens 6-3 7-6(2)
On the other side of the court will be Caroline Wozniacki – who has probably had to shoulder the burden of the pitiful name-alling of ‘Slamless No. 1’ that accompanied her achievements for consistency on the tour.
After being at the top of the game, injuries and a change in the power-balance of balance saw Wozniacki slip from the higher echelons of the rankings, and while always a dangerous player, she seems to lack the same kind of punch.
Any attenmpts to switch from her typical passage of play and switch coaches were always short lived, and it seemed like she would not really keep in contention with the rest of the tour.
However her push at the end of the year, which included snapping her losing streak against Venus Williams to scoop the WTA Finals title showed that perhaps there was still room for a player who can counterpunch with the best of them, but can add attack to her array of tools.

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The Match Up

On paper this is looking tough for Halep – Wozniacki has won the last three matches on three different surfaces, with their last encounter being at the WTA Finals in Singapore where Halep was at least assured of the World No. 1 spot but went out at the end of the Round Robin stages.
Wozniacki played some of her most aggressive tennis on that occasion, and has always been capable of that kind of play, but it seems to come more easily to Halep. In all but two of their six matches they have gone the distance, and you get a sense that Halep will have to find it in her to grind out one more epic to earn that elusive Slam.
Both have had to save match points en route to the final, in a match that sees a World No. 1 and 2 reach a final together without having won a Grand Slam. In Halep’s case she has saved multiple match point in multiple matches and still lived to tell the tale.
Halep is unbeaten so far in 2018, going 11-0 coming into the final, while Wozniacki is not doing too badly either, going 10-1.
Halep has spent more time on the court, and that ankle has been a concern for her since the first match, but coming through the epics with Davis and Kerber has given her strength. Moreover, her mental fortitude in the semi-final where she started to have doubts as Kerber fought back and then hung on has maybe given her the belief that this is her time.
It might not be the prettiest tennis we see out there on Saturday, but it will be a fascinating battle.
Prediction: Halep in three sets.

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Record-seeking Djokovic deflects Becker jab


 
 Novak Djokovic of Serbia poses for a photograph with cartoon characters during the Kids Day at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 14, 2019. AFP
MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic said he wasn’t planning to replace Boric Becker in his coaching team and deflected criticism from the German about his work-rate as he prepared to defend his Australian Open title on Saturday.
Djokovic, seeking a record seventh Australian Open crown after being ousted as world number one by Andy Murray, heads into the year’s first Grand Slam with long-time coach Marian Vajda and his newly appointed assistant Dusan Vemic.
“I’m not thinking of bringing anybody in. This is the coaching team that there is,” said Djokovic, who split with Becker after three trophy-filled seasons late last year.
Djokovic sidestepped a question about Becker’s remarks that the Serb’s training intensity had dropped during a sudden plunge in form in the second half of 2018.
“We’ve had amazing success. It’s all I can say. I don’t want to go back and comment on anything. I kept a very friendly relationship with Boris. We just went separate ways,” Djokovic said.
In Melbourne, Djokovic, seeded two, will be hoping to show he’s back to his best after a period of sustained dominance abruptly ended last year after the French Open.
The Serb bettered Murray in a thrilling final this month in Doha, a performance that suggested he may be regaining his edge — although he insisted he was never “invincible”.
“Nobody is invincible. I never thought of myself as a superior player on the court, even though of course at times I was very confident, I was winning a lot of matches,” he said.
“But (I know) how it feels on the court if you get overconfident, that’s why I don’t want to get into that kind of state of mind.
“I still want to put myself in a position where I’m quite even to other players, fight for this trophy as anybody else, even though I’m defending champion.”
‘Challenging and extreme’
Djokovic said getting back to world number one wasn’t his top priority. He starts the season with 12 Grand Slam titles, two shy of Rafael Nadal’s tally and five off Roger Federer’s 17.
“As a consequence of the results, if I become number one, that’s great. Of course, that’s what I want. But it’s not my main priority, let’s say,” he said.
He faces a difficult first opponent in the shape of Fernando Verdasco, the Spanish left-hander with a “complete” game who ousted Nadal in five sets in last year’s opening round.
“I still haven’t had any nightmares, so I can’t call it a nightmare draw. I just see it as a huge challenge. I hope I’ll be able to deliver,” Djokovic said.
Another challenge could be Australia’s summer-time weather, with temperatures forecast to soar towards 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) during the first week.
Djokovic has bitter memories of the Melbourne heat, after he was forced to retire with “heat illness” during his 2009 quarter-final against Andy Roddick.
“I don’t know still a player that enjoys playing in 40 plus or 35 plus (degrees). It’s same for everybody. It’s not easy,” he said.
“At the end of the day, that’s what you expect. You come to Australia during the summertime, and the conditions can get quite challenging and extreme.”
— Agence France-Presse
 
 




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