Brisbane International Tennis - Australian Open Series

Day 6 preview: Blockbuster Friday

Day 6 preview: Blockbuster Friday

Darren Saligari/Image: SMP Images Friday 8 January 2010 9 Comments »

The names don’t get much bigger than this: Andy Roddick, Ana Ivanovic, Richard Gasquet, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters. All are former top 10 players, four have made it to the top spot and all are in action at Pat Rafter Arena today.

The women’s semifinals get off to a flyer at 11:00 am with two former world No.1s in Ana Ivanovic and Justine Henin meeting for a spot in the final. They have played each other four times, with Henin taking the honours every time.

Second match on Pat Rafter Arena sees Tomas ‘Big Bird’ Berdych and Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci face off for a place in the semis. Berdych taught Marcos Baghdatis a tennis lesson in the second round, while eighth-seeded Bellucci has weathered two three-set storms on his way to the quarters.

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The final match of the day session brings Kim Clijsters and Andrea Petkovic together. Petkovic upset fourth seed Daniela Hantuchova in the quarters and has been a revelation this week.

Meanwhile, the Kim Clijsters comeback roadshow continues in Brisbane where she has played to packed houses leaving no one disappointed, except her opponents.

As the Pat Rafter Arena lights begin to attract the local moths, Andy Roddick will step out of the shadows and on to centre stage where master technician Richard Gasquet will be waiting.

The pair have met three times, with boom server Roddick holding a 2-1 advantage, not that Gasquet will even consider this when the lights come up and play begins at Pat Rafter Arena.

The semifinals beckon and history means nothing.

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  • lynn123456

    Go Andy Go !!!!!!

  • thefanchild

    Picks: Roddick in 2, Clijsters in 3, Bellucci in 3 Henin in 2 (already over)…

  • Tom Gold Coast

    Go Richard!!!!! You can do it. You are the best.

  • tomfletcher

    With the expensive night tickets, we seem to only see one match out of 4. It could have been easily organised such that there were two in the day session & two in the (better attended) night session. Next year?

  • SS

    We purchased night tickets with the information provided on Ticketek site that we would see a women's semi-final?? Doesn't seem to have happened and a bit disappointed with the organisation of the event.

  • barney

    Agreed tomfletcher. I feel ripped off that we'll only get to see one singles match tonight. Bad job by the organisers.

  • JW

    Isn't it interesting they don't mention the doubles match tonight in the article? The scheduling is a very bad job on the part of the organisers, especially given that the night session is the most expensive yet. And yet the organisers won't explain themselves or acknowledge the rip off. This wouldn't happen in Melbourne!

  • Thu Van

    Organizers please explain why the day session has two semi's and one quarter but
    the night session has only one quarter .I bought ticket months ago to watch woman semi according to Ticketek's schedule Day and Night session is the same and it is not mention about double match.I AM VERY DISAPPOINT AND FEEL RIPPED OFF
    ( Don't tell me you have to please channel 7 )

  • Paulez2

    Then you should have bought a day and night session ticket or waited until closer to the date and checked the schedule of matches.

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