Top Aussie trio in action in Dubai
Australia's top three ranked women, Sam Stosur, Casey Dellacqua and Jarmila Gajdosova, will all fly the flag this week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Melbourne VIC, Australia, 16 February 2015 | tennis.com.au
Australia’s top three ranked women, Sam Stosur, Casey Dellacqua and Jarmila Gajdosova, will all fly the flag this week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
And they have already tasted success; Stosur and Dellacqua recorded first-round victories on Sunday, while Gajdosova joined them in the main draw after winning two matches in qualifying.
READ MORE: Stosur, Dellacqua win Dubai openers
Stosur faces a tough test in the second round in the form of No.3 seed Caroline Wozniacki, while Dellacqua faces the winner of the match between 11th seed Lucie Safarova and Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig.
Gajdosova has drawn hard-hitting Spaniard Garbine Muguruza as her first-round opponent.
> view the WTA Dubai main draw
In the WTA event in Rio De Janeiro, Victorian Olivia Rogowska has drawn second seed Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.
> view the WTA Rio De Janeiro main draw
Meanwhile, another Aussie trio – Bernard Tomic, Sam Groth and Marinko Matosevic – will contest this week’s ATP event in Delray Beach, Florida.
The tournament is a happy hunting ground for Matosevic, who enjoyed a breakout ATP performance when he stormed to the final as a qualifier in 2012.
He’s been dealt a brutal opening round assignment in the 2015 edition of the tournament; he’ll take on No.2 seed John Isner.
Tomic is in the same section of the draw as Matosevic, with a first-round battle set against Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri. The winner of that match faces a projected second-round meeting with eighth seed Viktor Troicki.
In the top half of the draw, Groth takes on Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu in round one, with the winner moving through to a match against top seed Kevin Anderson.
Anderson accounted for Groth in straight sets last week in Memphis.
> view the ATP Delray Beach main draw
The Aussie contingent in Delray Beach could swell to five should Thanasi Kokkinakis and John-Patrick Smith come through qualifying; the pair have each won two matches and stand one win away from the main draw.