Brisbane International Tennis - Australian Open Series

Preview: Sunday 3 January

Jaime San Martin Saturday 2 January 2010 Comments

Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters and James Blake will all feature on Pat Rafter Arena this Sunday.

American Davis Cup teammates Andy Roddick and James Blake will pair up against Jaroslav Levinsky and Travis Parrott in the men’s doubles in the final match of the day at Pat Rafter Arena.

Clijsters will face experienced Italian Tathiana Garbin in the second Pat Rafter Arena match.

Coming into Brisbane as the 18th-ranked player in the world, the top-seeded Belgian will look to build on her strong end to the 2009 season and to acclimatise to the conditions of the hot Australian summer.

Clijsters is one of three former female number ones who are beginning their 2010 season in Brisbane, the others being Ana Ivanovic from Serbia and fellow Belgian Justin Henin.

Whoever comes out on top in the Clijsters versus Garbin match will have a hard task facing either Ekaterina Makarova of Russia or Australian wildcard Alicia Molik, which will be the third match at Pat Rafter Arena.

The men’s singles main draw gets underway as well later on Sunday with the first-round match between Jeremy Chardy of France and Colombian Alejandro Falla on Court 1.

Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina faces Brazilian Tomaz Bellucci in an all-South American clash on Court 2, while Marc Gicquel of France plays against Philipp Petzschner of Germany on Court 3.

Rouding out the day are some remaining qualifying matches, with the likes of Xavier Malisse, Samuel Groth, Brydan Klein and Joseph Sirianni all fighting for a spot in the men’s main draw.

Tags: Andy Roddick, James Blake, Kim Clijsters

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