Australian Open Day Three Preview

Written by Mike McIntyre

Tuesday, 19 January 2010 16:06

Featured Match: Elena Dementieva vs Justine Henin

Without the luxury of a seeding here in Australia, Justine Henin knew full-well that she may get a difficult draw in her first Grand Slam since emerging from retirement. She probably didn't expect it would be this difficult however, as she must now face the5th seeded Dementieva.

Dementieva is one of the most talented players to never have won a Grand Slam tournament and is fresh off a victory in her first tournament of the year in Sydney a week ago where she defeated Serena Williams in the final.

Henin has also looked sharp since returning this year and fell to Kim Clijsters in her first tournament back in Brisbane two weeks ago. Along the way she defeated top players like Nadia Petrova and Ana Ivanovic, although neither of them have the consistency of Dementieva.

Henin has a 9-2 career head-to-head record again Dementieva which might help her mentally in approaching this match. Both players know they are in for a struggle that will likely last three sets.

Result: Henin is a special type of player and despite her year-and-a-half layoff I'm picking her to prevail in this one in three sets.

Upset of the Day: Andrey Golubev vs Ivan Ljubicic

I don't think we can call Henin over Dementieva an upset, so instead look to Andrey Golubev to defeat veteran and 24th seed, Ivan Ljubicic.

Golubev knocked off American Mardy Fish in the first round, while Ljubicic was fortunate to draw an Australian wildcard named Jason Kubler. Golubev has therefore already faced a tough opponent while Ljubicic has not.

Ljubicic is eight years older and has never performed well in the Slams. He started 2010 by appearing in the Kooyong Classic exhibition where he lost two of his three matches, only defeating Robin Soderling who had to retire from that match with injury.

Result: Golubev in four.

Canadian Content: Aleksandra Wozniak vs Caroline Wozniacki

Aleksandraw Wozniak is the only real Canadian threat in singles play on either the ATP or WTA tour's at the moment and at the age of 22 she has still yet to reach her potential. She has a losing record (1-5) against Wozniacki but has played well against her in their recent encounters.

Wozniacki has been mediocre since her run to the finals of the U.S. Open, so Wozniak has a shot here.

Result: Wozniacki in three.

One ticket to Ireland please: Louk Sorensen

Sorensen is the first tennis player from Ireland to win a main-draw match in the Open era on the ATP tour. The 25 year-old came through the qualifying draw before defeating Yen-Hsun Lu in the first round. It's a nice story, but Sorensen is going to get hammered by the power of John Isner tomorrow.

"I don't know what's going on right now," said Sorensen after his match against Lu, "I've suddenly got so many friend requests on Facebook."

Result: Isner in three.

Other Matches of Interest:

Unseeded James Blake takes on 4th seed Juan Martin Del Potro in a great second round match. Blake has won their only previous encounter but that was over two years ago and he'll find Del Potro a much better player than he was back then. Should be a fun one to watch.

Result: Del Potro in four.