Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun received some tough news yesterday as the Australian Open singles draw was announced — he faces second seed and former world No. 1 Roger Federer in the tournament’s first round next week.
With his best result at Melbourne Park being a third-round appearance in 2009 and 2012, world No. 46 Lu faces a tough battle getting past the four-time champion, who has won each of their three encounters previously and won the Brisbane International last week.
Lu will be hoping fate will be kinder when the doubles draw is announced next week, following a recent run of success which saw him claim the Chennai Open title in India earlier this month with partner Jonathan Marray.
In the women’s draw, Chang Kai-chen fared a little better than her compatriot, drawing the unseeded, though experienced Zheng Jie of China, ranked 99, for her first-round match.
Chang earned her place in the draw with a wild card after defeating Tamarine Tanasugarn in the Asia-Pacific Wildcard Playoff in Shenzhen in November last year, in a final where “she looked every inch the top 100 player,” a WTA Web site report said. Chang is currently ranked 402.
After a year which featured eight Grand Slam singles champions, there has been plenty of talk ahead of next week’s tournament about the new guard versus the old guard in both men’s and women’s tennis.
Stan Wawrinka claimed his first career major last year in Australia.
Then Rafael Nadal won the French Open, his ninth at Roland Garros, and Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon for his seventh major.
The next generation struck back when Marin Cilic won the US Open.
Four women shared the Grand Slams, too — the now-retired Li Na at Melbourne last year, Maria Sharapova at Roland Garros, Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon and Serena Williams at the US Open.
So what can we expect this year?
At the Australian Open, at least, the top-ranked players — who also have nine Australian titles between them — are reliable options.
That would be Djokovic with four titles in Melbourne and Williams with five.
Federer, 33, will be aiming to add to his 17 Grand Slam titles after notching his 1,000th career match win to capture the Brisbane International.
“Clearly I do believe I have a shot in Melbourne, otherwise I would go home,” Federer said in Brisbane.
Rafael Nadal’s appendix surgery in November last year has left him uncertain of his match fitness ahead of Monday’s start of the tournament. He will have a tough first-round match against former top 10-player Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.
Then there is Andy Murray, who seems to have recovered from back surgery late last year and a minor left-shoulder complaint at the start of this one.
A three-time Australian Open finalist, Murray drew a qualifier in the first round and could play Federer in the quarter-finals.
Add Wawrinka, along with the so-called “young guns” — among them US Open finalist Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic and Australian Nick Kyrgios, who beat Nadal at Wimbledon last year, to the potential trophy winners.
Djokovic and Raonic, who both open against qualifiers, are in the same quarter of the draw.
Serena Williams has not been back to the Australian Open final since her last title in 2010, but can never be ruled of contention — even with the kind of indifferent preparation she has had.
No. 2 Sharapova warmed up with a win at the Brisbane International last weekend, beating Ana Ivanovic in the final.
Sharapova drew a qualifier in the first round and could meet 20-year-old Eugenie Bouchard, who reached the Wimbledon final and the semis in Australia and France last year, in the quarter-finals.
Until last year, there had been very few surprises in men’s majors for nine years as three players ruled: Federer, Nadal and Djokovic combined for 34 of the 39 major titles in that span.
The five exceptions are Juan Martin del Potro at the 2009 US Open, Murray’s wins at the 2012 US Open and Wimbledon in 2013, Wawrinka’s victory in Australia and Cilic’s win in New York. Cilic is not playing in Melbourne due to a right-shoulder injury.
Del Potro has drawn one of the toughest first-round assignments this year, taking on 24-year-old Jerzy Janowicz, who won last week’s Hopman Cup with Poland teammate Agnieszka Radwanska.
As he reviewed results of tournaments at the start of the year, Federer paid the new breed of players such as Janowicz and Dimitrov a compliment, but then appeared to take it away.
“I do believe there is a group of guys right there that can make a break again and can do special things,” Federer said in Brisbane. “I just think it’s too early to say in the season just because Novak and Rafa lost in Doha that there is something on the horizon.”
“I don’t read into any of those results. I think [Djokovic and Nadal] are going to be tough to beat, and favorites for the Australian Open,” he said.
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