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Serena seeded to face Wozniacki in Open quarters
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 17 - 01 - 2015

MELBOURNE — Top-seeded Serena Williams will play Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium in the first round of the Australian Open as she begins her attempt to win a 19th Grand Slam singles title.
Williams could meet former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the semifinals following Friday's draw.
The season-opening major begins Monday at Melbourne Park. In the other half, second-seeded Maria Sharapova, who plays a qualifier in the first round, could meet Eugenie Bouchard in the quarterfinals and Ana Ivanovic, whom she beat in the Brisbane International final last weekend, in the semis.
Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka, unseeded after an injury-hit 2014, will take on American Sloane Stephens in the first round in a rematch of their acrimonious semifinal two years ago when Azarenka left the court for a medical time out and Stephens questioned her reasons for doing so.
Stephens had beaten Williams in the quarterfinals the same year. In the men's draw, No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 3 Rafael Nadal were drawn into the same half.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic and defending champion Stan Wawrinka are in the other half of the draw.
Djokovic drew a qualifier in the first round and Federer, who recently won his 1,000th career match when he beat Milos Raonic in the Brisbane International final, will play Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan.
Djokovic and Raonic, who also will open against a qualifier, are in the same quarter of the draw.
Federer could meet sixth-seeded Andy Murray of Britain, who plays a qualifier in the first round, in the quarterfinals.
The 17-time Grand Slam winner also has “Baby Fed,” No. 10-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, in his quarter.
Nadal, still recovering from appendix surgery he underwent in November, has a tough first-round match against former top 10-player Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.
Wawrinka will begin his title defense against Marsel Ilhan of Turkey.
US Open finalist Kei Nishikori of Japan also will play a former top 10 player, Nicolas Almagro of Spain, in the opening round.
Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion on the comeback from a left wrist injury, will open against Jerzy Janowic, who helped Poland win the Hopman Cup last week.
Former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt, contesting his 19th consecutive Australian Open, will meet Chinese wild-card entry Zhang Ze.
Li, who called it quits after four knee operations, said her plans are to open a tennis academy in China and to start a family. — AP


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