BUSTED BRACKET

Much like Agnieszka Radwanka's racket, my Australian Open bracket has exploded.  Granted, filling out a bracket for me is pure entertainment, since I place no actual wagers on the event.  It is merely an exercise to test my powers of prediction, and to some extent my knowledge of the long roster of players in the game.  In tennis bracketology, the Australian Open poses the greatest challenge of the major events.  Following the tennis off-season (roughly a month), a handful of warmup tournements give us our only concrete handicapping information.  Which players trained hard?  Which vacationed hard?  Coaching change?  Weight gain?  Returning from injury?  Whatever the case may be, the questions you ask before filling out a bracket get answered on the court.  Tennis is truth.

In the first round of the men's bracket, I was 23-9 in both halves of the draw for a total of 46-18.  An average percentage.  My only big loss was Florian Mayer beating Nikolay Davydenko, who I foresaw in in the quarterfinals.  Ernests Gulbis of Latvia continued to disappoint me with yet another first round loss in a Slam.  It was also sad to see early exits for Americans, Ryan Harrison and Sam Querrey.

In the second round, I was 11-5 in both halves of the draw for a 22-10 record.  Pretty good.  Mardy Fish going down stung a bit.  Nalbandian submitting against Richard Berankis of Lithuania was a punch in the gut.  But Davydenko remained the only knockout through two rounds.

I got roughed up in the third round by a couple of young punks.  22-year-old Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine took out Jo-Willy Tsonga, grinding him down to grab the fourth and fifth sets with relative ease.  I had Tsonga winning this match and the next one over Soderling to reach the quarters.  20-year-old Milos Roanic of Canada impressively dismissed Russian tough guy Mikhail Youzhny.  I had Youzhny in the quarters.  Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland may have been the lower-seeded player in his matchup with Gael Monfils, but he was clearly the better player, ousting the Frenchman.  I had Monfils winning that match and the next.  The match between Marin Cilic and John Isner was fantastic entertainment, and felt for a few moments like a mini version of Isner-Mahut.  Watching him go down hurt both the bracket and the heart.  All in all for the third round, I was 4-4 in the top half of the draw, 5-3 in the bottom half, 9-7 total.

In the first round of the women's bracket, I was 25-7 in the top half and a woeful 20-12 on the bottom for a total of 45-19.  Ana Ivanovic was my only loss of consequence, as I had her advancing all the way to the round of 16.  Her fall from tennis grace frustrates and saddens me.  I truly hope she finds a way to recapture the same game and mojo that took her all the way to number one.  I also hated to see Melanie Oudin sent packing so quickly.

In the second round, I was 9-7 on top, 10-6 on bottom, for a weak 19-13 mark.  Jelena Jankovic's prolonged slump continued, as she was beaten by Shuai Peng of China.  JJ and Yanina Wickmayer were the only two picks I lost in the round who I had making it to the round of 16.

As it did on the men's side, the third round kicked my bracket's butt on the women's side.  Though I went 8-8 for the round (5-3 on top, 3-5 on the bottom), the numbers don't tell the full story.  Svetlana Kuznetsova won a war over Justin Henin.  I had Henin winning that one and beating Schivone in the following round to reach the quarters.  I picked Shahar Peer, the Israeli, to beat Flavia Pennetta, the Italian, but Pennetta took that battle.  Venus Williams gamely tried to go against young German, Andrea Petkovic, but her groin injury was too severe, forcing her to retire from the match after a single game.  I had Venus winning this round and beating Sharapova in the next one to get to the quarterfinals.  But the match that singlehandely busted up my bracket was 20-year-old Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Samantha Stosur of Australia.  In my estimation, Stosur was one of the favorites to win the tournament.  She has steadily improved her singles game to reach number 6 in the world.  With Serena out, Stosur was seeded fifth in the tournament and possessed perhaps the biggest serve in the game.  And Stosur would be riding the wave of the home crowd all the way to the finals, where in my bracket she would face off against the number one seed, Caroline Wozniacki.  But by taking out Sam Stosur in straight sets in a night match in Rod Laver Arena, Petra Kvitova broke the hearts of the Aussies and broke my bracket.