Record landing

26 Russian tennis players are playing at the Australian Open

The Australian Open started yesterday in Melbourne. At the first Grand Slam competition this season, Maria Sharapova is at the very top of the tournament bracket. Due to the refusal of the top Belgian in the world ranking, Justine Henin-Hardenne, to compete on the Green Continent (for family reasons), the Russian woman was “seeded” number one. In total, an unprecedented number of our compatriots began the fight for the trophy - 26 (18 girls and eight men), and Teimuraz Gabashvili and Alla Kudryavtseva had to overcome the qualification barrier.

Of the leading, titled players in Melbourne, besides Henin-Hardenne, only the American Venus Williams (wrist injury) and our Anastasia Myskina (at the end of last season she was bothered by an injury to her left big toe) are absent. For men, three dozen of the strongest players according to the individual ATP classification are among the “seeded” participants in the Australian Open. It is quite a rare case when absolutely all elite tennis players are in the ranks.

In the first week of the competition, matches begin at 11 a.m. local time, that is, three in the morning Moscow time. On Monday, the first Russian to take the court was the debutant of this tournament, Olga Puchkova, who confidently defeated Poland's Marta Domakhovskaya - 6:2, 6:4. Olga arrived in Melbourne ranked 39th in the world. Although before that she had only played once in the Grand Slam - at the US Open last year. Thus, Puchkova has already set her personal record, and tomorrow she will face a very difficult exam - a meeting with the second seed, Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo.

The victorious initiative of the Melbourne debutante was supported by several of our much more experienced girls. All concerns about her health were dispelled by Nadezhda Petrova, who did not finish a match at a recent tournament in Sydney due to stomach pain. Having made exactly ten aces in the duel with Tamaryn Tanasugarn, the Russian woman with a large margin of safety prevailed over the representative of Thailand - 6:3, 6:2 and is now waiting for the duel against Gisela Dulko (Argentina). Elena Dementieva defeated the Frenchwoman Stefanie Forez - 6:1, 6:2. The Muscovite's next opponent will be the German Martina Müller. With a successful combination of circumstances, it is possible that in the third round, that is, in the 1/16 finals, Elena will play with her namesake Vesnina, who has already upset Anabel Medina Garrigues - 6:7 (7:9), 6:1, 6: 1. Vesnina made a big splash here last season as she went straight into the fourth round in her first Grand Slam tournament. Now, in order to continue the path towards Dementieva, Vesnina still needs to defeat the Italian Maria Elena Kamerin. Svetlana Kuznetsova had no problems in her opening match, defeating court owner Jessica Moore 6:2, 6:0.

Already yesterday the first Russian derby of the current Australian Open could have emerged, but Elena Likhovtseva, who was in the bracket next to Maria Kirilenko, lost to the Ukrainian Yulia Vakulenko - 0:6, 6:4, 3:6. Kirilenko, who also played all three games, completed her match with Croatian Carolina Sperm successfully - 3:6, 6:3, 6:1. Another of our losses in the women's competition was Galina Voskoboeva, who failed to cope with the Czech Iveta Beneshova - 7:6 (7:3), 1:6, 4:6. We'll have to focus only on our doubles performance and Vera Dushevina. She suffered a fiasco in the match with Marion Bartoli (France) - 0:6, 3:6.

In the morning gaming block at the main Rod Laver Arena, two last year's finalists played their matches - the first racket of the world Roger Federer and Marcos Baghdatis. The Swiss warmed up against Bjorn Fau from Germany - the Cypriot defeated another German, Rainer Schuttler - 6:4, 2:6, 6:3, 6:2. The main sensation of the opening day of the tournament was the defeat of the fourth racket of the Australian Open, Croatian Ivan Ljubicic. His offender was the American Mardy Fish, who was missing stars from the sky - 4:6, 7:6 (7:2), 6:4, 6:4. Only in the opening set of the match with our Mikhail Youzhny was the Czech Jan Hernykh able to play on equal terms, and later the meeting was held with a clear advantage of the Russian - 7:6 (8:6), 6:2, 6:0. Failure befell Igor Andreev, who allowed American Vincent Spady to enter the second round - 2:6, 6:7 (3:7), 1:6. But Marat Safin will continue to fight, who with great difficulty, but still broke the resistance of the German Benjamin Becker - 5:7, 7:6 (7:2),3:6, 6:3, 6:4.

Ilya TRISVIATSKY