Wozniacki, Clijsters, 7 of Top 10 in Sydney; Hobart; WTA Previews

Medibank International Sydney
Sydney, Australia
Surface: hard

Seeds: Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Kim Clijsters, Sam Stosur, Francesca Schiavone, Jelena Jankovic, Victoria Azarenka, Na Li
ADHEREL
Floaters: Maria Kirilenko, Dominika Cibulkova, Daniela Hantuchova, Alisa Kleybanova, Nadia Petrova, Shahar Peer, Svetlana Kuznetsova, (WC) Jelena Dokic, Yanina Wickmayer, Aravane Rezai, Flavia Pennetta

Notes: The list of floaters almost as impressive as the seed list; tough openers include Kirilenko vs. Cibulkova (winner to face (1) Wozniacki), (5) Schiavone vs. Kleybanova (winner to likely face Hantuchova), possible (3) Clijsters vs. Petrova 2nd rd., former world No. 2 Kuznetova vs. (WC) Dokic, winner to face (4) Stosur vs. Wickmayer winner, (6) Jankovic vs. Rezai, and (2) Zvonareva vs. winner of Pennetta vs. qualifier; 7 of the Top 10 players present in Sydney; Elena Dementieva (now retired) beat Serena Williams (now injured) in the 2010 final…Clijsters (2007, ’03) is the lone returning champ in the field, in addition to the 2008-05 runner-ups Kuznetsova (2008), Jankovic (2007), Schiavone (2006), and Stosur (2005); 11 former No. 1 players have won the Sydney title.
 

Moorilla Hobart International
Hobart, Australia
Surface: hard

Seeds: Marion Bartoli, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Tsvetana Pironkova, Roberta Vinci, Klara Zakopalova, Jarmila Groth, Sara Errani, Angelique Kerber

Floaters: Dinara Safina, Elena Vesnina, Melanie Oudin, Anna Chakvetadze, (WC) Alicia Molik, Shuai Peng, Kimiko Date-Krumm, Bethanie Mattek-Sands

Notes: Openers of interest are (1) Bartoli vs. the former No. 1 Safina, (5) Zakapalova (still suffering shoulder injury?) vs. Oudin, (7) Errani vs. Chakvetadze, (3) Pironkova vs. Peng, (8) Kerber vs. the ageless Date-Krumm, and (2) Pavlyuchenkova vs. the red-hot Mattek-Sands; in last year’s final Alona Bondarenko (currently suffering a knee injury) defeated Shahar Peer (this week playing in Sydney); former champs in the field are Chakvetadze (2007) and Molik (2003).