I had this match for quite some time now but wasn’t able to upload it because of the copyright brouhaha. Dulko’s forehand is nothing short of amazing, actually matching Ana’s at every point. I was quite torn and confused over who to root for when I saw this live because Dulko and Ivanovic are some of my favorites. I think it was a fantastic match and I hope you find it that way too. Enjoy! No copyright infringement intended.

I had this match for quite some time now but wasn’t able to upload it because of the copyright brouhaha. Dulko’s forehand is nothing short of amazing, actually matching Ana’s at every point. I was quite torn and confused over who to root for when I saw this live because Dulko and Ivanovic are some of my favorites. I think it was a fantastic match and I hope you find it that way too. Enjoy! No copyright infringement intended. (more)

AO 2nd Round

Gisela Dulko reconoció que la altitud por poco le hace perder el partido

Gisela Dulko ratificó hoy su favoritismo al título en la Copa Colsanitas, aunque reconoció que la altitud de 2.640 metros sobre el nivel del mar de Bogotá por poco mina su desempeño frente a Edina Gallovits.

Dulko se adjudicó el primer set por 6-2, pero luego padeció los rigores de la altitud y del elevado calor en la capital colombiana hasta el punto de sufrir para imponerse por 7-5.

“Creo que fue un partido difícil, el primer set lo jugué muy bien, sin muchos errores y haciendo la mayoría de las cosas bien. Se fue dando fácil con un 6-2 para mí pero después con la altura, uno se desconcentra cinco minutos y se te van tres ‘games’ seguidos. Eso fue lo que me pasó en el segundo set”, comentó Dulko.

“Cometí varios errores al principio y eso me costó un 1-4 abajo, pero, bueno, tuve que remontar y concentrarme mucho en el partido. No fue fácil y más aquí, con la altura. Pero al final lo pude sacar sin irme al ‘tie break’”, agregó.

Dulko recordó con agrado su victoria frente a la serbia Ana Ivanovic en el pasado Abierto de Australia y dijo estar preparada para enfrentar a la checa Sandra Zahlavova (6), quien hoy venció por doble 6-2 a su compatriota Petra Cetkovska.

“Jugar con Ana Ivanovic fue muy lindo para mí, nunca le había ganado a ella, y fue muy lindo jugar en uno de los estadios de Australia. Creo que es una rival muy dura, pero yo hice un partido bárbaro, así que me fui muy contenta”, comentó Dulko.

En otros compromisos de octavos de final la española Arantxa Parra logró remontar un 5-7 con el que comenzó jugando ante la austríaca Patricia Mayr, para lograr su paso a los cuartos de final tras registrar un 7-6(5) y 6-4 en los dos siguientes sets.

Sara Errani y Angelique Kerber también aseguraron su paso a la siguiente ronda de la Copa, que entrega premios por 220.000 dólares.

Errani con un juego seguro y contundente superó a la española Silvia Soler con parciales de 6-3 y 6-1, mientras que Kerber derrotó a la paraguaya Rossana de los Ríos por 7-6(2) y 6-4.

WTA Copa Colsanitas Bogota Preview

The Latin American swing kicks off this week with the XVIII Copa BBVA Colsanitas, and headlining the draw is the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s No.1 South American player, Gisela Dulko.

Dulko, currently ranked No.35 in the world, has enjoyed a solid start to 2010, most notably upsetting Ana Ivanovic en route to the third round of the Australian Open. She has also done nicely at this tournament in the past, her 7-3 record including a run to the finals here last year (where she was a runner-up to María José Martínez Sánchez). The No.1 seed this year, she will take on France’s Mathilde Johansson in her first round match.

The only other South American currently in the Top 100 is No.99 Rossana de los Ríos of Paraguay (who is also here but unseeded).

Spanish rising star Carla Suárez Navarro is the No.2 seed. Suárez Navarro, who in her green career has already been to two major quarterfinals – the 2008 French Open and the 2009 Australian Open – opens against a qualifier.

Check out the draws from Dubai, Memphis and Bogotá right now!

Rounding out the seeds are Sara Errani, Polona Hercog, Angelique Kerber, Sandra Zahlavova, Klara Zakopalova and Arantxa Parra Santonja.

Article from WTA

same video with photos.

Gisela Dulko y Carla Suarez Navarro son cabezas de serie de la Copa Colsanitas

La argentina Gisela Dulko y la española Carla Suárez Navarro aparecen como primeras cabezas de serie de la XVIII Copa Colsánitas de tenis que se inicia el próximo fin de semana en Bogotá

Dulko quien alcanzó este año la tercera ronda del Abierto de Australia en el que derrotó a la serbia Ana Ivanovic, es la actual subcampeón del torneo colombiano.

Entre tanto, la tenista española Carla Suárez viene de alcanzar este año los cuartos de final del WTA Tour de Hobart y la tercera ronda del Abierto de Australia, lo que le permitió ascender a la casilla 42 de la clasificación mundial reciente de la WTA.

Por su parte, la organización del certamen informó hoy que la rumana Edina Gallovits, 104 del mundo, y la francesa Pauline Parmentier, 108, han sido las últimas tenistas en confirmar su participación en la Copa.

Gallovits, semifinalista el año pasado en el certamen colombiano y Parmentier, se unen a la lista de figuras que ya han ratificado su presencia en Bogotá.

Además de Dulko y Suárez estarán también la española Arantxa Parra, la eslovaca Klara Zakopalova, la paraguaya Rossana De Los Ríos y a la eslovaca Polona Hercog, entre otras.

Por Colombia la principal representante será Mariana Duque.

La Copa Colsánitas repartirá una bolsa de premios de 220.000 dólares.

Australian Open: Gisela Dulko Photos Second Round

Check out some tennis photos of Gisela Dulko during her second round win over Ana Ivanovic at the 2010 Australian Open… Dulko played a great much, she had some ups and downs, the same for Ivanovic, was was able to prevailed in 3 sets….

Photos from Yahoo/Getty Images/AP

Australian Open: Gisela Dulko upsets Ana Ivanovic in Melbourne

Just when Ana Ivanovic insisted it is time for tennis to be fun and rewarding for her again, the former world No 1 suffered the most agonizing of set-backs as she was pitched out of the Australian Open in only the second round.

Optimism was supposedly the order of the day for the photogenic Serb who looked a world beater just 18 months ago by winning the French Open. Not only has she recently found love with Australian golfer Adam Scott but she maintains her repeated injury problems are a thing of the past, and with renewed fitness she stressed a determination to return to women’s tennis elite.

However Gisela Dulko, Argentine and equally suited to monopolizing the photographers’ attention, has developed a reputation for ruining the comebacks of those tennis stars who are perfectly at home on the front page of a glossy magazine. Last year at Wimbledon she sent Maria Sharapova home in the second round and the story was the same for Ivanovic as the 2008 Australian Open finalist suffered her earliest exit at the tournament in six attempts.

Dulko required six match points to finish the job as tension pervaded after the unseeded player from Buenos Aires had allowed a double break of serve in the concluding set before finally rounding out her victory 6-7, 7-5, 6-4.

Ivanovic looked capable of playing her way back into contention as she served to level the score at five-all but she double-faulted twice to allow her 36th-ranked opponent through after two hours and 42 minutes of error-strewn tennis.

Dulko is hardly a hugely successful player at the year’s opening grand slam. In six previous campaigns at Melbourne Park she had never previously gone beyond the second round and ninth seeded Vera Zvonareva now lies in wait to ensure that record does not improve this year.

Things had been going well: Ivanovic insisted she had enjoyed a good break from her sport after taking five weeks off, maintained her preparation had been rewarding and sufficient to stoke the optimism, and lead-up results had been favourable with a semi-final finish in Brisbane.

However, the basis of Ivanovic’s problems still seemed her serve, and most of all the most inconsistent and unpredictable of ball tosses. In all, 11 double faults came off the Serbian racket and she was successful on just 38 per cent of her second serves.

“It was one of the problems, for sure,” she said. “There are things I’m working on. The serve is a big part of that progress. I feel it’s been going well at times, but it’s just not consistent like I would like it to be. It just might take some time, and I have to accept that, although it’s hard.”

However there were no tears that marked Ivanovic’s enforced retirement from Wimbledon because of injury or her first round demise at the US Open. As she headed back to the practice courts, she valiantly tried to take some positives from another disappointing grand slam showing. “I do feel better on the court. I’m playing much better. I feel like my old self,” she said.

“There are still some areas that are not there for me to rely on when … I need them the most. Some matches it’s there, some not. I just have to sort of keep my head up and try to improve.”

Ivanovic’s compatriot Novak Djokovic survived an early scare in his attempt to replicate his 2008 title triumph at this event. The men’s third seed looked out of sorts as he alarmingly dropped the first set to unheralded Swiss Marco Chiudinelli. But after Djokovic loudly berated himself, things changed and he charged through 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 before admitting: “I was frustrated, especially at start of the match, because he was really giving it to me.

“Things didn’t stay that bad but there are some things that I obviously have to improve in order play better. But, you know, the opening rounds, especially at the Australian Open, are where a lot of surprises happen.”

In-form Nikolay Davydenko maintained the impressive run that had seen him win last December’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals title and the year-opening tournament in Doha with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 victory over Ukrainian qualifier Illya Marchenko. #

There were no other big shocks in the women’s singles as fourth seeded Caroline Wozniacki scored a comfortable 6-3 6-1 victory over Germany’s Julia Georges while seventh seeded Victoria Azarenka accelerated into total control against Swiss Stefanie Voegele, winning 6-4 6-0.

Australian Open 2010 Day 4 Results Thursday, January 21, 2010

AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Melbourne-AUS
January 18-31, 2010
A$24,094,000/Grand Slam
Hard/Outdoors

LIVE SCORES | ORDER OF PLAY | DRAWS

LATEST PHOTO | LATEST VIDEO

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Singles – Second Round
(1) Serena Williams (USA) d. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 62 61
(4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 63 61
(6) Venus Williams (USA) d. Sybille Bammer (AUT) 62 75
(7) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 64 60
(9) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Iveta Benesova (CZE) 60 63
(10) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 60 62
(13) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Kristina Barrois (GER) 75 63
(16) Li Na (CHN) d. Agnes Szavay (HUN) 36 75 62
(17) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Julie Coin (FRA) 63 64
Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. (20) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 67(6) 75 64
Alberta Brianti (ITA) d. (21) Sabine Lisicki (GER) 26 64 64
(22) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. (Q) Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 64 61
(29) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 61 64
(32) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. Andrea Petkovic (GER) 61 64
Tathiana Garbin (ITA) d. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 67(5) 62 60

Doubles – First Round
Dushevina/Rodionova (RUS/AUS) d. (5) Petrova/Stosur (RUS/AUS) 36 64 61
(9) Vesnina/Zheng (RUS/CHN) d. Cornet/Fichman (FRA/CAN) 75 63
(10) Mirza/Ruano Pascual (IND/ESP) d. (WC) Basuki/Date Krumm (INA/JPN) 64 62
(12) Chuang/Peschke (TPE/CZE) d. Senoglu/Shvedova (TUR/KAZ) 60 75
(13) Dulko/Pennetta (ARG/ITA) d. Bondarenko/Bondarenko (UKR/UKR) 64 26 63
(14) Groenefeld/King (GER/USA) d. (WC) Golds/Mirkovic (AUS/AUS) 60 61
(15) Kirilenko/A.Radwanska (RUS/POL) d. Cirstea/Pavlyuchenkova (ROU/RUS) 60 67(4) 62
(16) Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE/CZE) d. Errani/Suárez Navarro (ITA/ESP) 62 61
Azarenka/Kuznetsova (BLR/RUS) d. Kanepi/Woehr (EST/GER) 76(5) 64
Olaru/Savchuk (ROU/UKR) d. Amanmuradova/Tanasugarn (UZB/THA) 46 61 62
Peer/Voskoboeva (ISR/KAZ) d. Rybarikova/Voracova (SVK/CZE) 62 75
Szavay/Vinci (HUN/ITA) d. Govortsova/Poutchek (BLR/BLR) 75 64
Jankovic/Perry (SRB/USA) d. Cibulkova/Krajicek (SVK/NED) 61 64
Czink/Grandin (HUN/RSA) d. Lisicki/Rezai (GER/FRA) 63 62
Razzano/Wickmayer (FRA/BEL) d. Kondratieva/Sevastova (RUS/LAT) 75 36 62
Gullickson/Uhlirova (USA/CZE) d. Dulgheru/Gallovits (ROU/ROU) 63 36 63
Borwell/Kops-Jones (GBR/USA) d. Hercog/Martic (SLO/CRO) 64 76(3)
Baltacha/Dekmeijere (GBR/LAT) d. Safarova/Wozniak (CZE/CAN) 75 62
(WC) Peers/Robson (AUS/GBR) d. Craybas/Spears (USA/USA) 63 75