Australian Open 3rd round PREVIEW

Tonight, the 3rd round of the Australian Open will begin under the shiny sun and the high temperatures. It was quite impressive the way that both Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka dropped 2 games in their two first rounds while Caroline Wozniacki and Serena Williams did not drop a single set in their road to the 3rd round. Let's take a look at the 3rd round draw.

THE 3RD ROUND MAIN DRAW 

WOZNIACKI Caroline (DEN/1) vs NICULESCU Monica (ROU/31)

MCHALE Christina (USA) vs JANKOVIC Jelena (SRB/13)

CLIJSTERS Kim (BEL/11) vs HANTUCHOVA Daniela (SVK/20)

MEDINA GARIGUES Anabel (ESP/26) vs LI Na (CHN/5)

AZARENKA Victoria (BLR/3) vs BARTHEL Mona (GER)

BRATCHIKOVA Nina (RUS) vs BENESOVA Iveta (CZE)

OPRANDI Romina (ITA) vs GOERGES Julia (GER/22)

VOSKOBOEVA Galina (KAZ) vs RADWANSKA Agnieszka (POL/8)

ZVONAREVA Vera (RUS/7) vs MAKAROVA Ekaterina (RUS)

ARN Greta (HUN) vs WILLIAMS Serena (USA/12)

LISICKI Sabine (GER/14) vs KUZNETSOVA Svetlana (RUS/18)

KERBER Angelique (GER/30) vs SHARAPOVA Maria (RUS/4)

CIRSTEA Sorana (ROU) vs ERRANI Sara (ITA)

ZHENG Jie (CHN) vs BARTOLI Marion (FRA/9)

KING Vania (USA) vs IVANOVIC Ana (SRB/21)

KIRILENKO Maria (RUS/27) vs KVITOVA Petra (CZE/2)

Interesting 3rd rounds match-up : 

MCHALE Christina (USA) vs JANKOVIC Jelena (SRB/13)

Jelena Jankovic's backhand, her biggest weapon (Melbourne, Australia)

An interesting match in the 3rd round that will be a real test for the serbian player who will face one of the uprising youngsters in the person of Christina McHale, the american got what it takes to make Jelena Jankovic run for her money and do a lot of efforts all over the court. She could lose a set to the american but I can't see McHale beating Jelena because of her lack of consistency. I'm really looking forward to seeing this match tonight.

Daniela Hantuchova's smooth forehand, a beautiful shot (Melbourne, Australia)

CLIJSTERS Kim (BEL/11) vs HANTUCHOVA Daniela (SVK/20)

I love taking risk and I'm a Daniela Hantuchova dear fan and I really want to believe that she could make an upset. Indeed, Kim has beaten Stephanie Foretz Gacon in high fashion style yesterday but it is mainly because the frenchwoman played so poorly. Daniela will have to rise up her level from what we saw yesterday against Lesia Tsurenko. I expect a tough match and a great battle. We could see all Kim's rust if somehow Daniela shows up. Upset in the making.

Victoria Azarenka's fighting spirit and will in that posture (Melbourne, Australia)

A tough match in the making for Victoria Azarenka who after having the easiest road ever will have to face the young German who won Hobart last week by beating Yanina Wickmayer in the final comprehensively : Mona Barthel. She could also give Azarenka a run for her money and make her hit a lot of balls. By the way, she could really make an upset here if Azarenka shows up lazy. Mona will come out there strong and without any stress and will definitely go for her shots.

Galina Voskoboeva's clean backhand (Hobart, Australia)

VOSKOBOEVA Galina (KAZ) vs RADWANSKA Agnieszka (POL/8)

 A just feel that upset so badly because of the poor game she displayed against Bethanie Mattek-Sands while Galina Voskoboeva played a quite solid tennis in order to reach the 3rd round. We all know that Galina is able to display great tennis as she's beaten both Marion Bartoli and Maria Sharapova last year in Toronto. Agnieszka in this tournament just seemed, sometimes, to go back to what she used to do, too much pushing not enough attacking...

Vera Zvonareva warming up seriously (Melbourne, Australia)

 ZVONAREVA Vera (RUS/7) vs MAKAROVA Ekaterina (RUS)

An all-russian match in this third round, not like we are not used to see those in last years. Vera Zvonareva, after struggling against Alexandra Dulgheru in the first round, showed signs of improvment in the 2nd round against Lucie Hradecka. In this third round, she'll face Ekaterina Makarova who, from a match to another, can go from up to down, and even in the same match. So I really don't know how she'll show up and I totally favor Vera's consistency and regularity and she should prevail in two sets.

Sabine Lisicki's beautiful smile after a tough win in the 1st round (Melbourne, Australia)

LISICKI Sabine (GER/14) vs KUZNETSOVA Svetlana (RUS/18)

One of the most interesting match since the beginning of the tournament so far. These are two talented players who are going to face each other. While Sabine Lisicki began really average againt Stefanie Voegle and then leveled it up against Shahar Peer yesterday, Svetlana Kuznetsova did the job but did not impress during her two first rounds. Both players are the kind of players than can show up great one day and abysmal the other day. It will really depend on which level both players will play at but nowadays, Sabine seems to be a wiser and safer choice especially that since the beginning of the year, her forehand is just being teremendous.

When Maria Sharapova's forehand is on, it's a massive weapon on the court (Melbourne, Australia)

KERBER Angelique (GER/30) vs SHARAPOVA Maria (RUS/4)

 A first quite big test for the Siberian Siren. Maria Sharapova displayed a quite impressive tennis in her two first rounds, dropping 2 games in those two matches. Even though she sometimes seemed a bit erratic on groundies, her serve seems to be fixed up a little by little while Angelique Kerber, who reached the semi-final last year at the US Open, did the job but was not that impressive. I can see her challenging a little bit Maria but not winning this and not winning even a set. Maria will have t

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ZHENG Jie (CHN) vs BARTOLI Marion (FRA/9)

Marion's been the player who hitted the most aces in 2011 (Melbourne, Australia)

A tough third round for Marion Bartoli who never managed to find the clue against Jie Zheng. Actually, the fact is simple : Marion's game fits perfectly Jie's retireving skills and even though Marion plays perfectly, she just got physically overwhelmed. But it's been quite a while they did not meet and Marion's fitness has amazingly improved and from what I saw against Jelena Dokic, Marion has what it takes to beat Jie even thoug it won't be easy as the chinese player loves to play in Australia as the surface suits her game so well and is coming back on the tour with a quite strong level.

Petra's forehand, a terrific weapon on hardcourts (Melbourne, Australia)

 KIRILENKO Maria (RUS/27) vs KVITOVA Petra (CZE/2)

This is going to be an interesting match up for Petra Kvitova who showed some signs of nervosity against Carla Suarez Navarro in the 2nd round and this time against Maria Kirilenko, the match will be even harder because of Kirilenko's powerful game but also really smart. The czech will have to stay focused and calm in order to win but the thing is Maria will make her run for her money as she displayed a great tennis in the 1st round against Jarmila Gajdosova.

e a tough set and another way easier set to get through this match.