Aussie Around the Globe – Stosur, Dokic and is the end near for Hewitt?

Written by: Resendiz on 2nd October 2011

Aussie Around the Globe – Stosur, Dokic and is the end near for Hewitt?

Samantha Stosur of Australia returns the ball against and Maria Kirilenko of Russia during their match in the Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis tournament in Tokyo Japan, 27 September, 2011. EPA/TOMOYUKI KAYA |

Australia’s newly crowned US Open Champion Sam Stosur has been honoured by Australia Post who has produced a souvenir stamp sheet to celebrate the Queenslander’s Grand Slam win.

Most of Australia’s best players will compete this week at the Cliffs Esperance Tennis International at the Esperance Tennis Club. This tournament is a part of the Australian Pro Circuit.

French Open mixed Champion Casey Dellacqua will continue her comeback to the sport at the Esperance tournament this week. The Western Australian will be joined be Olivia Rogowska, Daniella Dominikovic and Monique Adaamczak in the women’s draw.

In the men’s draw you will find last year’s junior Wimbledon finalist Ben Mitchell. There will also be a few international players attending the event. Alicia Molik said, “Last year I was lucky enough to play the Cliffs Esperance Tennis International. It was my first tournament back for a while and it really reinvigorated my passion for the sport I love so much. The town itself is amazing. I’ve never seen such pure white sand and clear water anywhere.”

Most tennis lovers raised an eyebrow last week when former Australian top player Jelena Dokic released a statement saying she had reconciled with her father and former coach Damir Dokic.

Jelena claims to be in a great state of mind so she travelled to her father’s home to “put an end to our disagreement.” She also thanked the Australian public and Tennis Australia for their ongoing support. Dokic will continue to work with her Australian coach Louise Pleming. Her next tournament will be in Linz in Austria.

Greg Jones of NSW qualified for the main draw at the PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok this week. Jones lost to Germany’s Matthias Bachinger in the first round 7-5 6-4. Queenslander Paul Hanley also went to Bangkok but he participated in the doubles event. The former Top 10 doubles player teamed up with Dick Norman of Belgium again and this week the pair have done a little better than last week. Hanley and Norman were seeded number four. They defeated American James Cerretani and German Philipp Marx in the first round. In the second round they took out Dutch duo Robin Haase and Rogier Wassen in straight sets. The week came to an end in the semi-final when they lost to the German team of Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske.

Ashley Fisher was also representing Australia in the doubles draw together with Frank Moser of Germany. The Aussie/German team fell at the first hurdle to Kohlmann and Waske.

Australia’s number one male player Bernard Tomic had a bad first round loss to Italian World No. 96 Flavio Cipolla at the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur. The Italian crushed the Aussie 6-2 6-2.

Western Australian Matthew Ebden was awarded a wildcard into the main draw in Kuala Lumpur. Ebden drew fellow wildcard player Belgian David Goffin. Ebden suffered a loss to Goffin 6-4 7-6 (4) in the opening round.

Qualifying expert Marinko Matosevic qualified and lost to respectable player Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in straight sets.

Ebden and Tomic teamed up for the doubles and won a round against Lukasz Kubot and Dmitry Tursunov. The Aussies lost in the second round to the number four seeds American Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram 6-2 6-3.

Australia was represented by Nima Roshan at a $50k Challenger on clay in Mexico called Aguascalientes Open 2011. Roshan qualified and earned a spot in the main draw but lost in the first round. Roshan together with American Adam El Mhdawy won a round in the doubles in Mexico before losing to top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Colin Ebelthite visited a Challenger in Madrid, Spain. He was seeded number two with partner Jaroslav Pospisil of the Czech Republic. The pair lost in the opening round to Daniel Gimeno-Traver and Morgan Phillips.

Adam Feeney’s story is the same as Ebelthite but Feeney travelled to Napoli, Italy to play doubles in a Challenger with Gero Kretschmer of Germany. The Aussie/German team suffered a setback in the first round of the doubles event.

So former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt has committed to play at the Sydney International and he has also taken on a role as an ambassador for the event. The big question is – Will the former Wimbledon and US Open Champion retire at this year’s Aussie Open?