Sam Stosur will kick off her Brisbane International campaign against a qualifier on Monday knowing a first-round win will be enough to land a coveted top-four seeding for the Australian Open.
The news wasn’t so good for Australian Marinko Matosevic, who was drawn to meet second seed and defending champion Andy Roddick first up in the men’s draw while Bernard Tomic fared better, drawn to play seventh seed Florian Mayer.
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Men’s fourth seed Mardy Fish and women’s fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova assisted with the singles draws on Saturday, leaving what tournament director Steve Ayles deemed a “blockbuster Monday line-up”.
“If we look at Sam Stosur, [she] could be up against the next-best ranked Australian Jarmila Groth in a second-round match,” Ayles said.
“Jelena Dokic is in the same quarter there so there could be some unbelievable match-ups.
“Marinko Matosovic, one of the wildcard Australians, has drawn Andy Roddick, which is a pretty tough opening round, and I know Mardy won’t look past his first match (against a qualifier) but he could be looking at playing Radek Stepanek in the second round.”
Men’s top seed Robin Soderling – yet to arrive in Brisbane after pushing Roger Federer to three sets in an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi overnight – will relish a late start having drawn a qualifier first up with Fish lurking as a potential semifinal opponent.
“He’s a professional, he’s been No.4 in the world, so I’m sure he’s doing something right,” Fish said of Soderling.
“He’s got some pretty serious credentials in the last couple of years but [the semifinals are] a long way away.”
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World No.16 Fish will look to continue a solid second half to last year in which he secured tournament wins in Atlanta and Newport in the US, before taking out both Andy Murray and Roddick on his way to the Cincinnati Masters final.
“I’ve never won back-to-back tournaments in my career,” he said.
“Most of my matches I won last year were in the summer in the US from July on so I don’t have much to defend from now until then.
“I have a great opportunity to put myself in a position that I’ve never done before as far as ranking is concerned and this is the start of it.”
In other men’s first-round matches, fifth-seed Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis will take on Frenchman Florent Serra ahead of a potential quarterfinal match-up with Roddick while third-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco will start against German Benjamin Becker.
There will be high hopes for Brisbane’s John Millman who drew a qualifier in his first-round match.
In the women’s draw, fourth-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli opens against a qualifier with Stosur a potential semifinal roadblock.
Dokic will also start against a qualifier but there were mixed prospects for Australia’s other wildcard recipients with Sally Peers to face big-hitting Russian seventh-seed Alisa Kleybanova and Sophie Ferguson to take it to second-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer.
Fellow Aussie Anastasia Rodionova though has avoided the seeds and will meet Serbian teen Bojana Jovanovski with Pavlyuchenkova a likely second-round opponent.
“We actually had a meeting in Malaysia and it was a tough battle there,” Pavlyuchenkova said of the potential match against her former countrywoman.
“She’s a great fighter, a good player and I know her very well too, so it’s all about mental [strategy]. I need to play my first match and get focused on that one first though.”
Should the second-round match-up eventuate, Rodionova would have to be on her game with Pavlyuchenkova sounding an ominous warning.
“Honestly, my goal here is to win this tournament. I want to do well here,” she said.
After falling to comeback queen Justine Henin in last year’s first round, third seed Nadia Petrova will open against Wimbledon semifinalist Czech Petra Kvitova while popular Slovak Daniela Hantuchova will start favourite against Russian Anna Chakvetdaze in a battle of former top-five players.
Fed Cup selectors will have an eye on the all-Italian match-up of Flavia Penetta and Roberta Vinci, with both likely inclusions in Italy’s team to face Australia in Hobart.
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