A lot separates Olivia Rogowska and Kimiko Date-Krumm. At age 22, the young Australian is almost half the age of the 43-year-old Japanese star and there’s further contrast in the 100 places that separate the world No.174 local and the enduring No.74.
Yet there is much they share in common too: most notably, the determination of both to kick off the new tennis season with a first-round win at Brisbane International 2014. They’ll get their chance when they face off in the first match at Pat Rafter Arena on Sunday.
The Melbourne-born Rogowska will no doubt be relying on some strong local support as she faces a sentimental favourite in Date-Krumm, who peaked at world No.4 in 1995 before her retirement from the women’s game in 1996.
A dozen years later, the Japanese woman made a comeback to the WTA and was quickly rewarded with success; claiming her eighth career title at Seoul in 2009, the 38-year-old was the second oldest woman (behind Billie Jean King, who won at Birmingham in 1983 at age 39) to win a professional title.
There will be another intense encounter when Sabine Lisicki takes on Magdalena Rybarikova next up at Pat Rafter Arena. While the seventh-seeded Lisicki is arguably coming off her best season after upsetting defending champion Serena Williams en route to finishing runner-up at Wimbledon, there is undoubtedly some frustration too – despite reaching three finals in 2013, the big-serving German failed to add to her title count.
Lisicki, ranked world No.15, has a 3-1 head-to-head record over the 37th-ranked Rybarikova, the most recent of those wins occurring on the hard courts of Memphis in 2013.
The final singles match at Pat Rafter Arena will showcase two of the biggest characters of the women’s game, with Andrea Petkovic to meet Bethanie Mattek-Sands. The talented and expressive Petkovic became a fan favourite in Brisbane when she was runner-up to Petra Kvitova in 2011, while Mattek-Sands (winner of the 2013 Brisbane doubles title with Sania Mirza) shows her personality through her unique outfits and spirited play.
It’s bound to be an encounter that’s both fascinating and close – the world No.43 Petkovic is ranked slightly higher than No.48 Mattek-Sands but the 28-year-old American leads their head-to-heads 2-1, winning their past two matches (on clay in 2011 and hard court in 2013).
With both Petkovic and Mattek-Sands having suffered some injury frustrations in 2013, there’ll be a much-needed confidence boost and another big encounter at stake – the winner of their first round match faces defending Brisbane champion and prolific world No.1 Serena Williams in the second round.
Play will close at Pat Rafter Arena with a first-round men’s doubles match-up between Australia’s Marinko Matosevic and Dmitry Tursonov versus Kei Nishikori (who celebrates his 24th birthday today) and Sam Querrey.
Also of note as Brisbane International 2014 begins are second round men’s qualifying matches and the completion of the women’s qualifying event, which will feature three Australians – Ash Barty, Jarmila Gajdosova and Anastasia Rodionova.
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