Saturday, January 16, 2010

Wickmayer into the Belgian quarter

Yanina Wickmayer, who should have been seeded 16th, has qualified for the main draw of the Australian Open. As a final flourish, she won her third qualifying round 6-0, 6-0. However she has been put into a quarter that already contains Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, and--for good measure--Kirsten Flipkens.

Here is how the "Belgian quarter" breaks down:

Flipkens plays Henin in the first round. Assuming Henin wins, the wild card Belgian will then most likely have to play Sydney champion Elena Dementieva, who gets Vera Dushevina in the first round.

Wickmayer, if she gets past the first round, will most likely have to face Flavia Pennetta. Clijsters appears to have a less stressful early-round job, but--lurking in her section of the quarter are Nadia Petrova, Aravane Rezai and Svetlana Kuznetsova.

At any rate, only one Belgian--if any--will emerge from that quarter.

1 comment:

bill said...

The Belgian Quarter...doesn't have quite the same ring as the French Quarter but catchy nonetheless.