Previewing the First Week of the Tennis Season: the Women

So, I decided to take a look at the first week of the tennis season on the men and women's sides, and make some predictions and do a little bit of draw analysis.

Let's start with the Women's Side.

Brisbane

Brisbane is sure to be an interesting tournament, with the Belgians as the top stars. There's Clijsters, who already made her debut with a thrashing of Tathiana Garbin. 3 games...ouch. Clijsters looks to be in top form after winning the U.S. Open, and she'll be quite dangerous Down Under at Australia.

Meanwhile, I just want to say that Nadia Petrova could be the unluckiest player in the history of women's tennis. First, she was injured or sick throughout the first half of 2009, thenhad to play an unseeded Sharapova at the French in the 2nd Rd, then she was a casualty in Oudin's magical 2009 U.S. Open run. And now, Petrova is drawn to be who else but Justine Henin's first opponent in her comeback tour. Good luck Petrova, I guarantee Henin won't take long to get back in the groove of the game.

Other interesting matches include Aussie star Jelena Dokic, who made a good run at the Aussie Open last year, and is always an unpredictable threat, versus the lost starlet Ana Ivanovic. Can Ivanovic get her career back on track. 2010 will be an interesting year for Ana to prove herself.

But expect Kim and Justine to meet in the final, assuming that Justine is hungry and ready to reach the final of her first tournament back. My guess for the workaholic is that yes, she will be.

Prediction: Kim will sweep through the draw, breaking a small sweat against Justine, but prevailing in two tight sets.

Auckland

Top seed Flavia Pennetta will continue her streak of playing in small tournaments where she is hardly challenged with the Auckland tournament. I don't understand why Pennetta continues to play these minor league tournaments, when she has enough talent to play with the Top 10, a spot she briefly held last year. If anyone has an answer, let me know.

Anywho, the rest of the draw is filled with other Top 20 names, Li, Wickmayer, Schiavone, Razzano. It'll be interesting to see how Wickmayer responds after almost being suspended by the Tennis Federation for failing to report for drug testing, along with fellow Belgian player Xavier Malisse. Wickmayer was cleared from all charges after her appeal, but she needs to shake it off and continue her strong showing at the 2009 U.S. Open, where she reached the semifinals before losing to Wozniacki.

Prediction: While the rest of the top 20 presents formidable opponents for Pennetta, I can't see anyone taking this title away from her. Pennetta will win a three set battle with an eager to prove herself Wickmayer in the final.