Tennis:Andy Murray will have to do it the hard way if he is to land his first grand slam crown at the Australian Open. On first glance, Murray was today handed a good draw but closer inspection reveals plenty of hazards as he bids to make a breakthrough in a major.
An opening-round match against Slovakian Karol Beck is unlikely to test the Scot with Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo or Illya Marchenko lying in wait for the winner. Beck, ranked 104th in the world, returned to the sport in 2007 after serving a two-year drugs ban following a positive test for clenbuterol in the 2005 Davis Cup, having risen into the world top 40 earlier in his career.
A third-round clash with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, seeded number 32, should hold no fear for Murray, likewise a potential fourth-round meeting with talented but erratic 11th seed Jurgen Melzer.
However, from the last-eight stage things could get tricky with Murray scheduled to meet Robin Soderling, the Swede who replaced him this week as world number four. Murray holds a 3-2 edge in the head-to-head record but Soderling has improved considerably over the last couple of years and will present a formidable challenge for last year’s beaten finalist at Melbourne Park.
Should he prevail, the 23-year-old would then face Rafael Nadal. Murray was the only man to beat the left-handed Spaniard in a major last year after ousting an ailing Nadal here in the quarter-finals before watching on as the world number one then swept to glory at the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
Roger Federer — the winner of a record 16 grand slam crowns and the defending champion — is his potential opponent in the final.
Nadal is likely to make untroubled progress to the last four as he attempts to become the first man to hold all four major titles since Australia’s Rod Laver in 1969. His opening-round opponent is Marcos Daniel of Brazil while Marin Cilic and Mikhail Youzhny are both on the radar before a potential last-eight meeting with countryman David Ferrer.
There have been questions asked about Nadal’s fitness after he fell ill in Doha last week before losing to Nikolay Davydenko in the semi-finals of the Qatar Open. But the Mallorcan was calm when asked about it today, insisting it was not the first time he had gone into a major less than 100 per cent fit.
Federer starts his campaign against Lukas Lacko of Slovakia with Andy Roddick his scheduled last-eight opponent and Novak Djokovic lying in wait in the semis.
The most eye-catching match-up to emerge from the draw, which was made by Ivan Lendl, pits local hero Lleyton Hewitt against Argentinian 27th seed David Nalbandian in what is a repeat of the 2002 Wimbledon final which was won by the Australian.
In the women’s draw, world number five Venus Williams is determined to capitalise on the absence of her sister Serena and claim her first title in Melbourne. Williams’ best showing here came in 2003 when she reached the final before losing to her younger sibling, who is missing the event as she continues to battle back after surgery on a foot injury sustained after she claimed the Wimbledon crown last year.
But having reached the last eight or better on seven of her 11 visits to the opening major of the season, Williams is hoping this could be her year.
Williams opens her campaign against Italy’s Sara Errani and should progress smoothly through to a potential fourth-round meeting with Maria Sharapova while the emerging Victoria Azarenka is her scheduled opponent in the semi-finals.
While much of the focus will be on Williams, no-one is under greater pressure to perform than Caroline Wozniacki. Much has been made of her rise to the top of the rankings without winning a major — her best result at a grand slam being a run to the final of the 2009 US Open — and without Serena Williams in the draw, she is unlikely to have a better chance of breaking her duck.
The draw could certainly have been kinder, though. A first-round clash with Gisela Dulko is unlikely to present too many headaches but a fourth-round meeting with either Yanina Wickmayer or Marion Bartoli will test her before a likely quarter-final against seven-time major winner Justine Henin.
Belgian Henin starts with a qualifier before a likely meeting with Britain’s Elena Baltacha. Baltacha’s build-up has been affected by a bug which laid her low over Christmas before forcing her out of an event in Auckland. She returned in Hobart but suffered a second-round defeat to Roberta Vinci in a match which took two days to complete due to the weather. She also faces a qualifier first up.
Second seed Vera Zvonareva, who has reached the last two grand slam finals, opens against Sybille Bammer of Austria while number three Clijsters faces a much tougher prospect in the shape of former world number one Dinara Safina.
Safina, now down at 65 in the rankings, has suffered a spectacular fall from grace with injury and poor form seeing her slide down the ladder after a miserable 2010. The new year continued in the same vein as she suffered a 6-0 6-1 thrashing by Bartoli in Hobart but it might be the possibility of an upset on what is sure to be a show court could see her recapture her best form.