U.S Open 2013 Draw - WTA

With the withdrawal of Maria Sharapova, Sara Errani got the 4th seed, the highest she has ever been seeded at a grand slam.

Serena Williams, the top seed and the defending champion has a tough opener in Franchesca Schiavone. However, once through the opener, she should have smooth sailing till the fourth round where she may get a chance to avenge her Australian Open Quater-final loss at the hands of Sloane Stephens. Sister Venus Williams is also in this quarter and may face Serena Williams in the quarter-finals if both make it that far.

Radwanska heads the second quarter, with Li Na being the second seed in the quarter. Li is set for a potential re-match of last year's 3rd round encounter with Laura Robson, where Robson stunned Li in 3 sets.

The 3rd quarter of the draw is the most open of all and many will be willing to take advantage of the draw. Caroline Wozniacki, former world no. 1 and U.S Open finalist finds herself as the second highest seed of the quarter.

Victoria Azarenka, the second seed has Petra Kvitova as the highest seed in her quarter. Ana Ivanovic and 2011 U.S Open winner Samantha Stosur are also lurking in this quarter of the draw.

Potential Quarter-finals are as follows:

Serena - Kerber

Radwanska - Li

Errani - Wozniacki

Azarenka - Kvitova

Two time grand slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova is seeded 27th and has a potential 3rd round encounter with Sara Errani. Kuznetsova has not been playing well lately but she has been stepping it up in grand slams this year, falling to eventual champion Azarenka in the quarter-finals of Australian Open, and eventual champion Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of Roland Garros.

I will be doing an analysis of the draw. Stay tuned :)

Quotable Quotes Australian Open Day 6

Jamie Hampton

When asked about Agnieszka Radwanska's game

" She's a really good tennis player.  I think she's a lot of fun to watch.  She plays good tennis.  She understands you don't have to obviously smack a thousand winners to win a match.

You know, you can let somebody beat themself."

when asked about her injury:

" I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I have two herniated disks in my lower back."

Victoria Azarenka

she is not ready to give Hampton the credit for the way Hampton played:

Q.  You didn't play that loose and free.  Was that because she was so unpredictable and then she got the injury and you didn't really know what was happening with her?

VA:  No, I mean, she played really well, you know.  I felt like I started really well, then lost my concentration and lost my aggressivity a little bit and let her play.

There's always two ways.  Your opponent plays good and you can also make your opponent look good. 

There was two cases today, I think.

Serena Williams

Serena was spot on with her response:

Q.  So far, especially in this tournament, you turned your ankle, hit yourself in the head with the racquet.  What's next?

SW:  Nothing.  That's it.  I'm done.  I'm done.  That was it.  Just wanted to do two things.  Now I got it out of the way. 

Andy Murray

Q.  Was Del Potro's defeat today a bit of a surprise to you?

ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, I would say it was a surprise.  He was the favorite for the match.  But, you know, often there's surprises in Australia, at this event.  It's the first tournament he's played this year.

Sloane Stephens

on playing against Robson on show court 2

" When I saw the court, I was like, Wow, really, we're on this court?  I mean, it is what it is.  I don't think we'll play that court ever again.  We're turning into the Fed/Nadal rivalry."

I loved the response to this question from Sloane.

Q.  Do you mind when the crowd was pretty much for her?

SS:  There were some stragglers out there for me.  Let's not make it sound like she was the only person they were cheering for.

Laura Robson

on being asked about her feelings on playing on court 2, she was exact opposite to what Sloane said (though Sloane joked)

 "No.  I think Show Court 2 is still relatively large.  Yeah, I was happy with the court choice.  There's nothing wrong with it.  I'm unseeded.  I think Sloane is seeded, what, 32 or something.  So, yeah, we're not both top 10.  So any court is a good court."

Milos Raonic

He was asked about did he saw Federer/Tomic match. I loved his response

 Did you get a chance to watch any of what's going on out there now?

MR:  I watched the tiebreaker.

Q.  Pretty impressive?

MR:  It's Roger.

"But I think against Roger, one thing that has sort of worked well for me, I try as much as I can not to play on Roger's terms, to play on my own terms."

Bernard Tomic

on his loss to Federer

"Look, I thought it was a really good match.  The first two sets we played really good tennis.  It came down to one point, I think."

"Just surprised how he came out from 5 2.  We had a lot of long rallies at that 5 2 period.  He played some good tennis just to get back."

"He beat me.  I'm satisfied with the result here in Melbourne, especially the last few weeks.  Just need to see what he does this tournament.  I'm barracking him to win.  I'm sure he has a good chance of winning.

And, yeah, it's always a good feeling if you can lose to the champion (smiling)."

Roger Federer

on did some of his own shots surprise him:

"No.  I've seen and felt myself playing before so many times that I feel I didn't come up with a shot that I never hit before in my life.  But we had some great ones and I had to be able to bring the whole repertoire, I guess, to the court today, defense and offense, which I enjoy.  Then when you do win those kind of matches, it's a good feeling afterwards."

when asked about his next match against Raonic:

 "I've had some tough matches with him in the past.  All of them went the distance.  Some of them I should have lost, maybe one or two."