Aussies Around the Place – Rodionova, Groth, Stosur, Ebden and Gooch

Written by: Global Chick on 7th August 2011

Anastasia Rodionova versus Serena Williams

Aussies Around the Place – Rodionova, Groth, Stosur, Ebden and Gooch

Anastasia Rodionova of Australia hits a return against Serena Williams of the United States during the Bank of the West tennis at Stanford University in Stanford, California, USA 26 July 2011. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

Three Australian women were competing in the main draw at the Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad, CA and only one made it past the first round.

Anastasia Rodionova fought hard to take out Olga Govortsova of Belarus 7-6 (4) 2-6 6-3 in the first round. Rodionova’s singles week ended in the second round when she lost to the number four seed Chuai Peng of China 6-1 6-3. She partnered Olga Savchuk of the Ukraine in the doubles. The Aussie/Ukrainian team won their first round easily against the Kiwi/Aussie combination of Marina Erakovic and Jarmila Gajdosova but lost in the second round to Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy 7-5 6-4.

Talented Jelena Dokic didn’t have much luck in the first round. She was taken out by Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-1 4-6 7-5.

Jarmila Gajdosova was crushed by Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3 6-2. Gajodosova formerly married to fellow Aussie and tennis player Sam Groth has not been very successful since the break down of their marriage.

Sam Groth has put his tennis rackets away for the unforseen future to try his luck at Aussie Rules Football. “After everything that happened I needed a bit of a change. I’m still pretty bitter honestly about everything’s that’s happened,” Groth said about his marriage. We wish Sam Groth good luck with his Aussie Rules Footy career.

The highest ranked Australian Sam Stosur will compete at the Rogers Cup in Toronto starting on August 8. Stosur will face Japan’s Ayumi Morita in the first round. Sammy is ranked number ten on the WTA Rankings and her seeding at the Rogers Cup is ten.

The Australian men had a good week at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington last week. Matthew Ebden, Marinko Matosevic and Chris Guccione all qualified for the main draw.

Matthew Ebden was the number one seed in the qualifying. He had a tough battle against Mitchell Frank in the first round winning 6-3 3-6 6-3. American Phillip Simmonds was up next in the second round but didn’t really follow through after forcing Ebden to a tiebreak in the first set. Ebden qualified for the main draw after winning 7-6 (4) 6-3.

Ebden played fellow qualifier Rajeev Ram in the first round of main draw. The Aussie was 6-1 3-2 up when Ram had to retire. Next up in the second round was former world number three Nikolay Davydenko of Russia who proved too strong for the Western Australian. The number nine seed Davydenko won 6-3 7-5.

Marinko Matosevic didn’t lose one set in his two qualifying rounds. His good form continued when he took out world number 114 Richard Berankis of Lithuania 7-6 (3) 3-6 6-1. Fernando Verdasco of Spain stopped Matosevic’s run in Washington beating him in two straight sets 6-4 6-4.

Chris Guccione won his first round in the main draw against Alejandro Falla of Colombia 7-6 (3) 6-3. The big serving Aussie ran out of steam in the second round against South African Kevin Anderson, who won 3-6 6-2 7-6 (0).

Australia was represented by one player only in the main draw doubles of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic. Former top ten doubles player Paul Hanley teamed up with Kevin Anderson of South Africa. The Aussie/South African team drew the number three seeds Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic in the first round. It was a tight match but Llodra and Zimonjic won 6-7 (5) 7-5 10-8.

Aussie battler Peter Luczak went to the Bet-At-Home Cup in Kitzbuhel last week where he played in the qualifying. “Looch” had a tough first round but won in three against Andrej Martin. In the second round it was the battle of the Aussies when Luczak took on Colin Ebelthite. The more experienced Luczak won in three sets 6-4 5-7 6-2. Unfortunately, Pete lost in the last round to qualifying against German Daniel Brands in two sets.

Four Australians visited Vancover for the Odlum Brown Vanopen. The tournament is an ATP Tour $100 000 Challenger played on plexipave. Carsten Ball and Greg Jones were the only two players who managed to get through to the second round. Ball lost to Roman Bovanov 6-4 6-4 in the second round and Greg Jones to experienced Robby Ginepri 6-2 6-2.

Mark Verryth lost in the first round to number five seed James Ward 6-4 6-0. The fourth Aussie also lost in the second round to American Bobby Reynolds 6-0 6-1.

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