January 14, 2008

Frank Dancevic

Down and Out Down Under

Canada’s hopes of advancing in singles action were dashed early at the 2008 Australian Open as both Stephanie Dubois (Laval, Quebec) and Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, Ontario) were eliminated in the first round.

Both players took to the court at 11 a.m. local time to play their first matches and both players left wishing they had done more. Dubois was up against No.76 Edina Gallovits of Romania in her first grand slam main draw appearance. She had a set point in the first-set tiebreak, but eventually succumbed 7-6(7) to go down one set. Dubois went on to lose the second set 3-6 but not without a fight as she fended off five match points along the way.

Dancevic also proved to be a tough opponent for No.24 seed Jarkko Nieminen. After being eliminated by Nieminen at last week’s tournament in Adelaide, Dancevic was determined to give his Finnish foe a challenge. However, he started off on the wrong foot going down two sets by a score of 6-3, 6-1.

“My forehand was breaking down a bit at the beginning of the match,” Dancevic said post-match. “It was pretty embarrassing, actually, in the first two sets. I just felt like getting off the court. It was the worst I've ever hit my forehand in my life."

But, with most thinking that it was over, Dancevic came roaring back to force a fifth set after winning the third and fourth sets 7-5, 6-2. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much left and Nieminen won the deciding set easily at 6-1.

"I kind of found a new light in the third set. He was a little bit shell-shocked by my missing a little less, and hitting a little bit harder," Dancevic said. "The momentum was on my side but my legs were a little bit tired going into the fifth set”.

However, all is not yet lost at the 2008 Australian Open as No.2 seeds Daniel Nestor (Toronto) and Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) are set to play their first round match in the coming days. This will be the pair’s first grand slam together since partnering up at the end of 2007. They will face Australian favourites Alun Jones and Greg Jones in their first test. Nestor previously won the Australian Open doubles championship in 2002 with Mark Knowles and the mixed doubles championship in 2007 with Elena Likhovtseva. He is playing mixed doubles again this year with China’s Jie Zheng.