A new champion will emerge at Melbourne Park and it is still difficult to pick a probable winner at this stage. No.1 seed Caroline Wozniacki and No.2 seed Vera Zvonareva have both progressed to the fourth round without too many wobbles and No.3 seed and arguable pre-competition favourite Kim Clijsters is yet to drop a set. Venus Williams and Justine Henin were the only major casualties of the first week of competition.
High drama: TO some fans, women's tennis might be running at a bit of a low ebb but the crowds at Melbourne Park have already been treated to more than a fair share of dramatic matches, none more so than Venus Williams's second-round encounter with Sandra Zahlavova from Czech Republic.
Zahlavova won the first set in the tiebreak but there looked to be some doubt as to whether Venus would be able to continue, after she sustained a groin injury when reaching for an overhead in the last point of the first set.
After a lengthy injury time-out, Venus re-emerged and despite moving tentatively, the seven-time Grand Slam champion drew on her experience to take the second set 6-0. Zahlavova fought hard but her focus and intensity continued to drop as Venus showed the fighting spirit more readily associated with her younger sister. In a most improbable match, Venus eventually prevailed 6-7 6-0 6-4.
French Open champion Francesca Schiavone had a tough opening match against Arantxa Parra Santonja and the Italian was forced to come back from the brink against Canadian No.1 Rebecca Marino in the second round. Schiavone was two points from defeat at 7-6 in the third set but the gutsy Italian rallied back to win 9-7 in the decider on the Margaret Court Arena.
Ekaterina Makarova has been the queen of the long-haul this week as the Eastbourne champion battled into the second-week of a Grand Slam for the first time. The Russian upset Ana Ivanovic in the first round, winning 3-6 6-4 10-8 before defeating last year's quarter-finalist Nadia Petrova 8-6 in the third round.
Two out of two for team GB: ELENA BALTACHA and Anne Keothavong both played to form by reaching the second round. On paper, Baltacha looked to have a fairly reasonable draw but the Scotswoman was put to the test by Jamie Hampton from the USA. Baltacha, who reached the third round last year, came from a set down to progress 3-6 6-4 7-5 but the British No.1 was no match for Justine Henin, who was the comfortable winner in their second-round contest.
A succession of injuries and poor form caused Keothavong to slide away from the top-100 but the British No.2 scored her first main-draw win in more than two years as she took a 6-4 7-5 victory over Grand Slam débutante Arina Rodionova from Russia to seal her return back to the top-100.
As well as claiming her first victory at this level of competition since 2008, Keothavong must have gained an extra slice of satisfaction as the former British No.1 lost a tense match to Arina's older sister Anastasia at Wimbledon last year
There's no love lost between Keothavong and the Rodionova clan. After the match, Keothavong was in a rather candid mood as she commented: 'Well, they're both, you know they are what they are and everyone kind of knows that. How can I say this diplomatically?'
Keothavong took a set from her friend Andrea Petkovic in the second round but the seeded German won 6-0 in the third set.
Bagels to go: LESS than two years ago, Tathiana Garbin defeated Marion Bartoli on home-soil at the French Open but the Italian veteran, who announced her retirement from singles at the end of last year, bowed out from the singles draw without registering a single game against the Frenchwoman in the first round.
Likewise, Rennae Stubbs also called time on her illustrious career but the Aussie favourite failed to make an impact on her farewell appearance. Much was expected of her partnership with French Open champion Francesca Schiavone but the newly formed team were bundled out by Michaella Krajicek and Petra Kvitova. The Dutch-Czech pairing, who weren't even born when Stubbs made her Melbourne Park debut in 1989, prevailed 6-0 7-5.
Stubbs might continue to play in Fed Cup competitions but if not, the 39-year-old retires with 60 WTA titles to her name including four Grand Slam titles.
Call the trainer: INJURIES are all part of the parcel of being a tennis player but it seems as though the medical set-up at Melbourne Park have been in even higher demand this year.
The most noticeable casualty was Venus Williams, who sustained a groin injury in the first-set tiebreak of her second round clash with Sandra Zahlavova and while Venus fought back to progress in three sets, she was unable to recover sufficiently for her third round match. A teary Venus was forced to retire for the first time in a Grand Slam.
Justine Henin is back on the tour but the clay-court specialist from Belgium is still struggling with the elbow injury which forced her to miss the US Open last year. Henin, who still spends two hours of day on rehabilitation exercises to strength her elbow, admits she's not free of pain yet but at the same time, the former champion didn't use it as an excuse for her third-round loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova from Russia.
Former quarter-finalist Marion Bartoli was tipped for a strong showing but the 26-year-old suffered a calf muscle strain in her second round loss to Vesna Manasieva from Russia and the former Wimbledon finalist will be sidelined for at least six weeks.
French Open champion Francesca Schiavone has been struggling with a groin injury in the build-up to Melbourne Park and the 30-year-old Italian might not be at her most healthy either as she was sick after a marathon second round encounter with Rebecca Marino from Canada.
Yanina Wickmayer and Patty Schnyder also put their early exits down to illness.
US tennis in decline: WITH reigning champion Serena Williams absent and Venus Williams forced to retire with injury, this year's Australian Open provided something of preview to the years ahead when the Williams sisters hang up their rackets. Much was expected of Bethanie Mattek-Sands but the in-form American No.3 fell to Arantxa Rus in the first round while much-hyped Melanie Oudin is nowhere near the form which took her to the last-eight at the US Open in 2009. For the first time in the open era at Melbourne Park, there will be no US interest in the second week of competition.
Aussie hopes disappear: SAMANTHA STOSUR and Jarmila Groth were highly touted in the build-up to the Australian Open but neither were firing on all cylinders. Stosur played an unusually tentative match in the third round, where she fell to Petra Kvitova and Groth, who won the warm-up event in Hobart, went down in three sets to Yanina Wickmayer in the first round.
Aussie hopes disappear: SAMANTHA STOSUR and Jarmila Groth were highly touted in the build-up to the Australian Open but neither were firing on all cylinders. Stosur played an unusually tentative match in the third round, where she fell to Petra Kvitova and Groth, who won the warm-up event in Hobart, went down in three sets to Yanina Wickmayer in the first round.
Alicia Molik has been struggling for wins at ITF level so she did well to defeat Roberta Vinci in the first round but the former top-ten player lost to Nadia Petrova in a one-sided affair. Likewise, Jelena Dokic scored a first round win over Zuzana Ondraskova but failed to back this up in the second round.
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