Preview: First day at Ariake Colosseum featuring two Japanese

(6) Agnieszka Radwanska vs (WC) Aiko Nakamura

Sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska from Poland will begin her campaign on her 1st visit to the most prestigious tennis event in the land of rising sun. In the 1st round, she will face Japanese wild card Aiko Nakamura on center court. If you haven't heard of her you haven't been paying attention, because she beat Maria Sharapova at the 2007 US Open, and she's also beaten Venus Williams, Martina Hingis, Daniela Hantuchova, Marion Bartoli, Nadia Petrova and Elena Dementieva. Then she defeated world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Australian Open 2008 on her way to the quarter-finals. She won the Wimbledon junior title in 2005 and the French Open juniors in 2006. In the other three grand slams this season, Radwanska finished fourth round at Roland Garros, quarter-final at Wimbledon and another fourth round at US Open. She has collected three titles so far in Pattaya, Istanbul and Eastbourne. On August 4th, this Krakow resident had her highest ranking ever at WTA 9.

In contrast, Aiko Nakamura who is known to use two-hands on both sides, she has been struggling in creating more wins this year. Osaka born Nakamura reached her best world ranking at WTA 47 in August 2007 and since then it has been plummeted to currently WTA 146. Tomorrow's match is going to be her first meeting against Radwanska.

Long rallies is certainly to be seen by the fans as both girls like to hit long shots into the baseline. I think Radwanska is ready to mix the pace in hitting the ball and it will require Nakamura to be patient as well as to keep the ball in play. Once in a while during the match, I will not be surprised to see few dropshots from Radwanska's racket. Radwanska plays a smart game. She doesn’t hit as hard as other girls on the tour and doesn’t have a big serve. She plays great defense, and moves well. I will bet on the younger Pole and she will win in two sets.

Agnes Szavay vs (WC) Ayumi Morita

Agnes Szavay of Hungary is 19 years old and is currently at WTA 19. In 2007 Szavay started to be noticed as a new young gun by improving her ranking from WTA 189 in early of the season and reached WTA 35 in July after she claimed her maiden title at Palermo. As qualifier, this Monte Carlo resident was quite impressive at New Haven and only lost to Kuznetsova in the final. She tasted her first experience of reaching grand slam's quarter-final at US Open where she lost again to Kuznetsova. Szavay got even better when she grabbed her 2nd title in Beijing after edging past world number 3 Jelena Jankovic in three sets. As result, she ended the season at WTA 20.

This year Szavay's best outcome was in Paris Indoor when she became runner-up after losing to Anna Chakvetadze. En route to final, she defeated Daniela Hantuchova and Elena Dementieva. She also had more victories over Dinara Safina and Marion Bartoli then. Her highest ranking was at WTA 13 last April.

Ayumi Morita, 18 years old who plays exactly like her compatriot Aiko Nakamura with both hands on both sides, is no stranger to Szavay. In their first meeting at Roland Garros this year, Szavay won over Morita in three sets. Morita has been the talks of Japanese fans as the strong candidate to follow Ai Sugiyama's success. Last April Morita reached her best rank at WTA 97 but now she is at WTA 162. Like her senior, Nakamura, this season she has been struggling indeed. Her best results thus far are reaching 2nd round in Doha and Amelia Island. Last year Morita had better results and it was highlighted when she was a qualifier, she created surprise win over her mentor, Ai Sugiyama in three sets at Birmingham before she lost to Elena Likhovtseva in third round. Again as qualifier, she cruised into quarter-final at Bali where she bowed out to the eventual runner-up, Daniela Hantuchova.

Szavay and Morita are both fighters and fans are guaranteed to witness groundstroke contest for sure. Szavay will rely on her fast serve and powerful two-handed backhand. In particular, the Hungarian phenom will seize any opportunity to shoot her backhand down-the-line. Speaking of Morita, she is a typical Japanese baseliner and is simply retrieving the ball from one side to another with her powerful two-fisted groundstrokes. But Morita can be vulnerable to Szavay's big shots. So, my pick is Szavay the winner in two sets.