Projected seeds for the Australian Open:

(1) Serena Williams (USA #1)
(2) Simona Halep (ROU #2)
(3) Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #3)
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #4)
(5) Maria Sharapova (RUS #5)
(6) Petra Kvitova (CZE #6)
(7) Angelique Kerber (GER #7)
(8) Venus Williams (USA #10)
(9) Karolina Pliskova (CZE #11)
(10) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP #12)
(11) Timea Bacsinszky (SUI #13)
(12) Belinda Bencic (SUI #14)
(13) Roberta Vinci (ITA #15)
(14) Victoria Azarenka (BLR #16)
(15) Madison Keys (USA #17)
(16) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN #18)

(17) Sara Errani (ITA #19)
(18) Elina Svitolina (UKR #20)
(19) Jelena Jankovic (SRB #21)
(20) Ana Ivanovic (SRB #22)
(21) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS #23)
(22) Andrea Petkovic (GER #24)
(23) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS #25)
(24) Sloane Stephens (USA #26)
(25) Samantha Stosur (AUS #27)
(26) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS #28)
(27) Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK #29)
(28) Kristina Mladenovic (FRA #30)
(29) Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU #31)
(30) Sabine Lisicki (GER #32)
(31) Lesia Tsurenko (UKR #33)
(32) Caroline Garcia (FRA #34)

** Flavia Pennetta (ITA #8) and Lucie Safarova (CZE #9) would have been seeded but are not competing at the Australian Open due to retirement (Pennetta) and bacterial infection (Safarova).

Daniela's got 23rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round which is a tough match. The winner plays either Ajla Tomljanovic or Kateryna Bondarenko with the third round being 12th seed Bencic, Riske, Watson or Babos. Daniela really could have done with avoiding a seed in the first round and Kuznetsova has won most of their matches so this is going to be difficult for her. Hopefully, she's able to rise to the occasion and play good tennis.

Daniela playing in Melbourne is a bit bittersweet for me every year. Remembering the '08 semi never stops being painful. But her '06 win over Serena, as I have related before, started me on the road to ending up a Daniela Maniac. Drawing Sveta makes it look like this year will be more bitter than sweet. After the past week at least there's reason to be hopeful.

Horrid draw but I guess could have been even worse.

Hopefully Daniela is on a big show court and that the weather is hot as she plays better then.

First set will be extremely important. I think she can do it.

Daniela's third on Court 3 on Monday after a women's and a men's match. Play starts at 11am.

Daniela & Wolfe play Jurik & Melcher in the first round which is a winnable match. The second round opponents are either third seeds Garcia & Mladenovic or Irigoyen & Torro-Flor

Dani is 4-10 lifetime against Svetlana and has not won in over 8 years (2007 Madrid). Worse, all the fiercely contested matches in this series have gone to Svetlana, with Daniela gaining all 4 of her wins in straight sets. (The stats are tough enough to swallow, so I won't even get into how almost all of their clashes came when Dani was in much better form. You're welcome.)

That said....Let's go.

0-1 Daniela broken to 15, first DF.
0-2 Svetlana holds at love, finishing with an ace.
0-3 Daniela broken after 2 dueces, DF'S 2 & 3, did save 2 BP'S.
0-4 Svetlana holds at love, with 3 aces and a service winner.
(This comes from the IBM SO site, so I'm not seeing this. I have to wonder if Daniela is injured.)
0-5 Daniela broken at love.
(That does nothing to make me stop thinking that.)
0-6 Svetlana holds at love, ace #5.
(Svetlana 12 winners to none, 1 unforced error to Dani's 9. 13 straight points for Svetlana, no points lost on serve. Set took 18 minutes. Daniela hasn't even had a game point yet.)

0-1 Daniela broken after one deuce. She did have a game point! DF #4.
0-2 Svetlana holds to 30, aces #5 & 6.
0-3 Daniela broken to 30.
0-4 Svetlana holds to love, aces # 7 & 8.
1-4 YES! Daniela holds in a marathon game, saving 3 BPS and hitting 4 winners.
(And so for the 934th time, Daniela is not double bageled. Way to fight to the end, Dani.)
1-5 Svetlana holds to 30, ace #9.
2-5 Daniela holds after 2 dueces, saving a match point. She lost a 40-15 lead with 2 straight DF's (up to 8). She had 2 first serves of 168 & 161 km (104 & 100 mph).
2-6 Svetlana holds to 15, and of course, wins the match with ace #10.

You guys can check the stats if you like. Yeah, some nice fight towards the end. But overall, I'm sick.