TENNIS in DEPTH.

Sydney-raised Dokic will take her place in the main draw, beginning on Sunday 8 January, alongside nine of the world’s top 10 women, including Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Li Na and Sam Stosur. Dokic, the current world No.66, will be making her second consecutive appearance at the event and is looking forward to a warm reception from her hometown crowd at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.

“I am very thankful to be awarded a wildcard into the Apia International Sydney,” Dokic said. “I played there earlier this year after a long absence so I am really excited to be returning once more. “It’s a terrific event with a great history and tradition and the women’s field in Sydney is always unbelievable. “Last year I lost a tough match to (Svetlana) Kuznetsova in the first round but I am happy with how I am hitting the ball heading into the Australian summer and hopefully I can produce a few good matches in my old home city.” 

Tournament Director Craig Watson said that Australia’s no. 3 ranked female thoroughly deserved a wildcard into the event after a consistent 2011 season. “We are delighted that Jelena will be returning to the Apia International Sydney again in 2012,” Watson said. “Jelena grew up playing tennis just a few suburbs away from Sydney Olympic Park so she will have the crowd right behind her throughout the event. “On her day she really can match it with the world’s best and I wouldn’t be surprised if she caused an upset or two when the Apia International Sydney gets underway in just a couple of weeks time.”

Dokic,28, has won six WTA Tour career titles, including Kuala Lumpur in February this year where she defeated Grand Slam champion Francesca Schiavone in the first round. Dokic also reached the final in s-Hertogenbosch in June and made a quarter final appearance in Paris in February.

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Italian qualifier Romina Oprandi, continued to make the most of her Clijsters-beating run. After grabbing the first set in a tie-break, the Switzerland-based world No.82 beat Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in straight sets, 76(3) 64. Oprandi’s semifinal opponent will be Jelena Dokic, after the former world No.4 edged Johanna Larsson in two tight sets, 76(2) 64. The fourth quarterfinal saw No.2 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova take on No.5 seed Dominika Cibulkova, but the match was interrupted by rain with the score poised at 4-4 in the first set. Vinci awaits the winner.

The semifinal line-up took shape at the $220,000 Unicef Open on Thursday, minus No.3 seed Yanina Wickmayer, who was surprised by a player better known for her exploits on clay: seventh-seeded Roberta Vinci. Having applied her one-handed slice to great effect to get a set and a break ahead, Vinci issued her seventh ace of the match to set up three match points against her young Belgian opponent. Wickmayer held off two of them but the Italian went through on the third, 64 64. Three of 28-year-old Vinci’s four titles have been won on red clay – the most recent coming at Barcelona this year – and should she win her next match she’ll be through to the first grass court final of her career.

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Dokic easily accounted for Romania’s Simona Halep 6-2 6-1 to move into the second round where she is supposed to play the winner of the first round match between third seed Ana Ivanovic and Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic.

In other action, fourth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia defeated Rebecca Marino of Canada 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to reach the second round. Petrova, twice a semi-finalist at the French Open, has struggled on clay so far this season and lost first round-matches both in Madrid and Rome. Petrova next plays either Alize Cornet or Sania Mirza.

Maria Kirilenko of Russia and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, the No.5 and No.6 seeded players respectively, also advanced. Kirilenko easily beat last year’s finalist Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-2 6-3 and will take on Laura Pous-Tio of Spain. Hantuchova took advantage of Johanna Larsson’s weak serve and broke her four times in a 6-3 6-4 win. Seventh-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues and Mathilde Johansson of France also advanced. Garrigues made light work of American Melanie Oudin 6-3 6-1 to start her quest for a fourth title in Strasbourg while Pous-Tio beat German Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-2. Johansson converted five of 11 break points to beat Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, 6-1 6-1 in just 61 minutes.

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Samantha Stosur will miss the tie, which will be held at Glen Iris Valley Recreation Club, Mount Waverley, to better prepare for the clay-court season. Samantha Stosur said it has been a really tough decision to not play with the girls next week. “I love representing Australia and it has been difficult to prioritise my immediate schedule. But it is extremely important to me to focus on the clay-court season and get the best possible preparation for the French Open.” “I am confident though that we will still field a very strong team for this tie given the depth of talent we are developing in women’s tennis in Australia.”

Jarmila Groth (No.29), Jelena Dokic (No.64), Anastasia Rodionova (No.74) and Sophie Ferguson (No.124) will represent Australia in the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Play-off tie against Ukraine on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 April 2011.

“We are obviously disappointed that our No.1 player, Sam, will not be coming home for this tie but we respect her decision and I have faith in the other girls to get us back to the elite eight,” Taylor said. “Jarmila, Jelena and Anastasia are all in the top 100 players and Sophie also has the potential to also break into the top 100 women with a few strong performances. “Jelena has made a remarkable start to 2011 with a WTA title win in Kuala Lumpur, her first since 2002 and a quarterfinal appearance in Paris where she lost to Kim Clijsters. “She is also a proven Fed Cup performer, with a 13-3 win-loss record; and Jarmila and Anastasia have had amazing Fed Cup debuts beating much higher ranked players – Jarmila over Italian Francesca Schiavone last February in Hobart and Anastasia over Alona Bondarenko this time last year in Ukraine.

“Sophie, who will be representing the Fed Cup team for the first time since 2005, recorded a career high of No.109 in July last year and her favourite surface is clay. She made her best ever Grand Slam result at the French Open when she qualified and made the second round last year . “We have a lot of depth in the women’s team and with all four girls capable of strong performances Nicole [Bradtke] and I have some hard decisions to make leading into the tie. “With Sam absent is it a real opportunity for someone to step-up and lead the team. She has helped us get to this point but now there is the opportunity for someone else to fill this space.

“The Ukraine team are never an easy opponent and I expect them to come out fighting but the Australian girls have worked really hard to get into the World Group and I know they are keen to prove they belong there. It should be a great tie.”

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Jelena Dokic, the No.1 seed in the qualies, rallied from 63 30 down to beat American Christina McHale, 36 76(3) 62. Dokic is coming off her first WTA title in almost nine years, winning Kuala Lumpur a few weeks ago. The Australian’s best results here were quarterfinal showings in 2001 (losing to Venus Williams) and 2003 (losing to Kim Clijsters). In the most interesting match of today, Dokic will be tested against Dinara Safina who entered this tournament as a wildcard.

Melanie Oudin, beat Germany’s Julia Goerges, 75 63. Oudin let a 5-2 lead slip away early in the match but wound up closing the first set out anyway, 7-5, then held off the German to put it away in straight sets on Grandstand court, 75 63. ”Julia was missing a lot of balls at the beginning and I was just getting balls back; she started playing better and I got a little tight,” Oudin said of the first set. “It was up and down a lot. She’d make errors then hit winners. I was pretty steady most of the match – I think we both could have played better.” Oudin will next take on No.29 seed Daniela Hantuchova, against whom she is 0-2 lifetime (although she won the first set in both of those meetings).

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This is the first professional tennis tournament to be held in The Bahamas. Plans are now underway to expand the tournament, to include a men’s draw in the future.

Already entered are Aussie’s Jarmila Groth and Jelena Dokic, fresh off of her first WTA victory in 9 years in last week’s WTA event in Malaysia. There are 25 players in the main draw so far. Of the 25 players, three are wildcard entries. These wildcard players  Sabine Lisicki and Alexandra Stevenson. Lisicki and Stevenson are from Germany and the United States of America respectively.

Jamila Groth of Australia. Groth is ranked number 31 in the world and is expected to be the top seed. Following closely behind, in the world rankings list, is Tsvetana Pironkova of Belgium. She is expected to play as the  tournament’s number two seed while Anastasija Sevastova and Ekaterina Makarova are expected to be number three and four respectively.

Olander said: “We have a very strong field. To have so many top players in the world want to come to The Bahamas to play in the tournament, this is unprecedented.

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Australia’s Jelena Dokic ended a nine-year WTA title drought as she came from behind to beat Lucie Safarova in a tough BMW Malaysian Open final in Kuala Lumpur. Having seen off Michaela Krajicek to reach a first final on the main tour since 2003, the 27-year-old battled from a set down to lift the trophy on Sunday. Safarova was rarely troubled in the first set, dropping only six points on her own serve as she took it 6-2. The players traded breaks in a tight second set which saw Dokic cling on in the match by taking a tie-break 11/9. She trailed by a break in the third but responded in game five and levelled at 3-3. She broke again to lead 5-4 and a hard-fought service hold saw her complete a 2-6 7-6 (11/9) 6-4 victory in two hours 40 minutes.

It was Dokic’s sixth WTA title, her first five being Rome, Tokyo and Moscow in 2001 and Sarasota and Birmingham in 2002; she is now 6-7 in career finals. “Thanks to everyone who made this event possible, it was a pleasure to play here,” the 27-year-old Dokic said to the crowd. “I have to especially thank the two people who were here with me, my boyfriend and my brother. I love you guys. Without you I wouldn’t have been able to do this. I hope to come back next year and try to play well again here. Now I have to try and make my flight!” Dokic is projected to return to the Top 60 with her results this week.

Safarova, who fell to 4-5 in career finals, was very complimentary towards Dokic: “First of all, congratulations to Jelena. She played very well today and deserved to win,” the 24-year-old said on court. “It was my first time in Malaysia and I enjoyed it. It was a very nice experience. I hope to come back next year.”

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Jelena Dokic reached her first WTA final since 2003 following a straight-sets victory over Michaella Krajicek at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. The Australian broke her Dutch opponent twice in both sets to complete a comfortable 6-2 6-3 semi-final victory in just over an hour. Dokic will now face Lucie Safarova in Sunday’s final after the Czech number five seed came through in three sets against Jarmila Groth.

Safarova took the first set 6-2 but Australian Groth broke early in the second to go 3-0 up before closing it out 6-3. The two players then traded breaks in the third before Safarova landed the decisive blow in the eighth game to lead 5-3 before serving out a 6-2 3-6 6-3 triumph.

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