Australian Open Men's Draw- Quarter 3

J. Del Potro (6)
qualifier

A. Bedene
B. Becker

J. Chardy
qualifier

G. Zemlja
M. Granollers (30)

A. Seppi (21)
H. Zeballos

I. Sijsling
D. Istomin

G. Garcia-Lopez
qualifier

M. Matosevic
M. Cilic (12)

G. Simon (14)
F. Volandri

T. Robredo
J. Levine

Y. Lu
R. Hidalgo

G. Monfils
A. Dolgopolov (18)

F. Mayer (25)
R. Williams

qualifier
S. Stakhovsky

J. Sousa
J. Smith

R. Haase
A. Murray (3)

Australian Open Men's Draw- Quarter 2

D. Ferrer (4)
O. Rochus

I. Karlovic
qualifier

J. Millman
T. Ito

A. Ramos
M. Baghdatis (28)

M. Youzhny (23)
M. Ebden

E. Donskoy
A. Ungur

qualifier
C. Berlocq

V. Hanescu
K. Nishikori (16)

N. Almagro (10)
qualifier

D. Gimeno-Traver
L. Kubot

B. Phau
S. Devvarman

S. Bolelli
J. Janowicz (24)

J. Benneteau (32)
G. Dimitrov

E. Roger-Vasselin
qualifier

L. Lacko
G. Muller

L. Hewitt
J. Tipsarevic (8)

Australian Open Men's Draw- Quarter 1

N. Djokovic (1)
P. Mathieu

R. Harrison
S. Giraldo

qualifier
F. Lopez

V. Troicki
R. Stepanek (31)

S. Querrey (20)
qualifier

qualifier
B. Baker

T. Kamke
F. Cipolla

qualifier
S. Wawrinka (15)

J. Monaco (11)
A. Kuznetsov

K. Anderson
P. Lorenzi

X. Malisse
P. Andujar

D. Goffin
F. Verdasco (22)

J. Melzer (26)
M. Kukushkin

F. Fognini
R. Bautista-Agut

qualifier
G. Rufin

M. Russell
T. Berdych (5)

Australian Open Seeding

The seeding for this years Australian Open has been completed and both the men's and the women's defending champions have been seeded first. Novak Djokovic leads the men, while Victoria Azarenka is top of the women's seeding. Roger Federer comes in as second seed looking to add to his grand slam collection with another title here in Melbourne. Andy Murray takes advantage of Nadal's absence to be seeded three while David Ferrer is seeded four. The seeding from 5-8 is as strong as it's been in years for a grand slam. Tomas Berdych, Juan Martin Del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Janko Tipsarevic are all capable of upsetting the top four making the quarter finals a difficult prospect for everyone. Richard Gasquet is seeded ninth and could be one to watch after an impressive win in Doha last week. Nicolas Almagro is the tenth seed and after pushing Djokovic in Abu Dhabi he might be confident of a good run. Other notable seeds are the big serving North Americans, John Isner (12) and Milos Raonic (14), German veteran Tommy Haas (20), big hitting Jerzy Janowicz (25) and 2012 Newcomer of the Year Martin Klizan (28) which means the impressive Niklay Davydenko goes unseeded meaning he could turn up early for anybody.
          Victoria Azarenka will be fit to defend her title after an infection forced her to pull out of her semi final match in Brisbane last week. She is seeded ahead of favourite Serena Williams who is seeded third. Maria Sharapova is the second seed but there are doubts about her fitness after she pulled out of Brisbane last week. Agnieszka Radwanska made her first Grand Slam final appearance last year at Wimbledon and comes in here seeded fourth. Dangerous German Angelique Kerber is seeded five as she aims for her first major. Na Li and Sara Errani could be dark horses during the fortnight and they are seeded six and seven. Big hitting Petra Kvitova is eighth,while home favourite Sam Stosur is ninth. The top ten is concluded with Dane Caroline Wozniacki who continues her quest to finally win a grand slam. Ana Ivanovic looks to be returning to the form that saw her lift the French Open and she could be dangerous as the 13th seed. Other notable seeds are Maria Kirilenko (14), Dominika Cibulkova (15), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (24), Venus Williams (25) and Sloane Stephens (29).

ATP Auckland & WTA Hobart

In the women's event in Hobart this week we are lacking some big names but that does allow some smaller names to make a name for themselves. Mona Barthel is very capable of winning this week but again I think she is just too inconsistent to get it done. I did fancy Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova this week but she pulled out after reaching the final in Brisbane. Young American Sloane Stephens is a contender after some great performances last week and a convincing win over Laura Robson. Francesca Schiavone is a possible contender but I think her game isn't suited and she will be beaten. My tip for this event is Klara Zakopalova. There isn't odds for this event with the main bookmakers but if you can find somewhere to back it then I think she is the woman to go for.
          In Auckland, David Ferrer is the odds on favourite and with good reason. He was good last week but suffered at the hands of Davydenko. Ferrer is a top player and will contend every event he enters this year. He is virtually certain to reach the semi finals and there he could meet Tommy Haas. Haas is a top player but I think he will need a few matches to find his rhythm. For that reason, I think Ferrer will find himself in the final. Phillip Kohlschreiber is too inconsistent to win this week and Sam Querrey might also need some time to find his game this season. Fifth seed Jerzy Janowicz is a player I think everyone is looking forward to seeing this week. He exploded on to the scene last year and it will be fascinating to see how he manages his game this week. He could fire his way to the final this week and if he is on form then nobody in his half of the draw will be able to compete with him. He goes off at 10/1 this week which is tempting, as is the 8/1 offered on Tommy Haas but your money this week has to be on David Ferrer. He may be 4/5 but he is almost certain to lift the title this week. Querrey is 11/2 and Kohlschreiber is 7/1 but the man who is soon to become Spanish number one is my tip for the week.

ATP & WTA Sydney

This week, Sydney plays host to two events as both the women and men have a tournament here this week. There are a number of high quality players in both fields and I'm going to have a quick look at who the contenders for the titles are. With just a week to go to the first Grand Slam of the year players will be looking to fine tune their games to try and get themselves into form.
       Starting with the men's draw and the top seed for the event is John Isner who makes his debut on the tour this season. He faces some tricky matches and if he is to make a run here he will need to be on his game. Isner can often disappoint and I really think he has to show us what he is made of this year in the big events or else he could find himself slipping away from the top of the game. I like his chances this week and I expect him to be in the semi finals at least where he could face an interesting match with Fernando Verdasco.  We should see a great match between Gilles Simon and Bernard Tomic early on. I reckon Tomic will have a good run in Australia but I don't think he will lift any titles. Andreas Seppi is a consistent player who is improving all the time and I think he will be tough to beat this week. I think the man to watch this week could be Grigor Dimitrov. I tipped him to have a good season a few weeks back and he started well last week and I think he will continue his form this week with another good run. I think John Isner will lift the crown this week and it could be Dimitrov that he defeats in the final. Isner is 5/1 for the title and that is as good a bet you will get all season. Dimitrov is 13/2 which could also be a very rewarding bets. Verdasco was on form last week in the Hopman Cup and if he carries that momentum over then the 12/1 price on him now could be worth a bet. My money is on the big serving American though.
          In the women's event Agnieszka Radwanska is the top seed and after winning last week will be full of confidence. She has the sort of draw that will suit her and I fancy her to at least make the semi finals. The dangers in her section could be Jelena Jankovic and Nadia Petrova but I think she'll get past both. Youngster Christina McHale has been drawn against Na Li in round one and that is a potential upset. With Madison Keys and Sam Stosur also in that section, I don't see Na Li contending the crown this week despite her win last week. That being said if she hits top form she will be hard to beat. Sara Errani is a possible dark horse here as she looks to build on an impressive 2012 season. She's got a match with Maria Kirilenko to deal with early on and she might struggle with that. In the bottom section of this draw we have a very interesting match between Caroline Wozniacki and Angelique Kerber to look forward to. If both make the third round then they will meet and I think the winner of the event might just be in that match. Wozniacki is as big as 8/1 to win and that price could drop significantly once she starts winning her matches. I think she's in for a great year but I think she will fall just short this week. Kerber is 4/1 and that is very tempting despite her early loss last week. If you fancy Stosur you can get 13/2 and Na Li goes at 5/1. The likely winner for me is the top seed Radwanska. I could only see Kerber beating her unless Stosur shows us something different. Radwanska is as high as 2/1 and that's where my money lies this week.

ATP & WTA Tour- Week 1 Review

The opening few weeks of the season are the toughest to predict with many players needing time to settle into their rhythm. My picks last week suffered badly from underperformances from players. I thought Milos Raonic might upset Andy Murray in Brisbane but he lost in the opening round to Grigor Dimitrov who lost to Murray in the final. David Ferrer was in good form in Doha but he ran into the resurgent Nikolay Davydenko who upset him in the semi finals. I picked Tomas Berdych in Chennai but he was very disappointing when losing to Roberto Bautista-Agut early on. In the women's events I was slightly more successful. Agnieszka Radwanska managed to win her event in Auckland and Na Li did win her event in Shenzhen. The only event I got wrong was in Brisbane where my pick, Victoria Azarenka, had to pull out before her semi final match with Serena Williams and Williams went on to win the title. So it was an average start to the year but let's see if we can't improve on those numbers in the coming weeks. 

          Getting back to last week thought and the performance of the week on the men's side had to be Nikolay Davydenko. He rolled back the years and looked in fantastic form throughout the week. He was taking the ball very early and dictating the points. He destroyed David Ferrer in the semis and looked certain to lift the title but for an inspired Richard Gasquet to steal the limelight. Gasquet himself had a very good week. He came from a break down in the final set against Zemlja and again against Davydenko when he was  a set down. He was determined last week and had a consistency about his game that we don't normally see. The credit for that must go to his coach Riccardo Piatti who has worked wonders with the Frenchman since joining his camp. Grigor Dimitrov had a fantastic week too which ended in him reaching his first ATP final. Andy Murray was just too good for him on the day but we can expect a lot more appearances from the Bulgarian in the latter stages of tournaments in the future. Murray wasn't at his best this week but he always had enough to get the job done and will be looking forward to the Aussie Open. Janko Tipsarevic got his hands on the Chennai title, just twelve months after losing in a thrilling final. He was in good form throughout the week and done well to win.

           Young Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova showed why many are tipping her to have a great future as she reached the final in Brisbane last week. She defeated Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber on her way to the final but the imperious Serena Williams was simply too powerful in the final. Victoria Azarenka was in great form but an infection halted her progress. Radwanska was also in great form as she cruised to the title in Auckland. Young Jamie Hampton was playing very well in Auckland and did manage to push Radwanksa to two tie breaks but she lacked the experience on the big points. Li Na made hard work of some matches on her run in Shenzhen but she will be happy with the title she picked up and will be hopeful of another Grand Slam when she makes the trip to Melbourne. 

          At the Hopman Cup, Bernard Tomic scored a massive win over Novak Djokovic but it wasn't enough to guide Australia to the final. Ana Ivanovic was in brilliant form as she won all but one of her singles matches. Unfortunately for her the one she lost was in the final and that allowed the surprise package of Fernando Verdasco and Anabel Medina-Garrigues to lift the title for Spain. Finally, Thanasi Kokkanakis made his debut for the USA when John Isner pulled out and the 16 year acquitted himself well as he pushed Verdasco hard in two sets.