IT’S WEEK two at Australian Open 2010 and that means the stars start playing each other, headlined by Roger Federer vs Lleyton Hewitt, tonight.
Monday is shaping up as a massive day with ten top ten players in action including Federer, Serena Williams, Nikolay Davydenko, pictured ->, Caroline Wozniacki and Novak Djokovic, as well as Australia’s two leading players Hewitt and Samantha Stosur.
Day eight of the Australian Open gets underway with seven-time Grand-Slam champion Venus Williams taking on 17th seed Francesca Schiavone on Rod Laver Arena.
The Italian will be seeking her first victory over the American, having lost all five of their previous meetings dating back to 2002.
Following that match will be a clash between two of the in-form players in the world’s top ten, Russia’s Davydenko and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco.
Sixth seed Davydenko will be aiming for his fourth Australian Open quarterfinal appearance since 2005, while Verdasco will hope to emulate his semifinal showing from last year.
Closing out the day session on Rod Laver Arena will be defending champion Serena Williams against Australian world No. 13 Stosur.
The American had the edge over the Queenslander in their first two meetings, Olympics 2008 and Medibank International Sydney 2009, but Stosur won their most recent encounter 6-2 3-6 6-2 in Stanford last year.
Opening up the night session on Rod Laver Arena will be the anticipated clash between long-time rivals Federer and Hewitt, who have played 23 times since 1999.
The Australian No.1 will have to play the match of his life to defeat the Swiss world No.1 and reach the quarterfinals, with Federer winning their last 14 matches.
Another top ten clash, this time the women, will close out the night session. World No.7 Victoria Azarenka faces last year’s semifinalist, ninth seed Vera Zvonareva.
On Hisense Arena, fourth seed Wozniacki will play China’s Na Li for a quarterfinal spot, while 2008 Australian Open champion and finalist Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be up against Lukasz Kubot and Nicolas Almagro respectively.
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