Sharapova, Clijsters are the Biggest Losers

With the third round almost complete save for the completion of the Caroline Wozniacki - Shahar Peer match, it's time to look back and check the biggest winners and losers in the 2010 Australian Open women's singles draw. The biggest winners are undoubtedly two Belgians - former #1 Justine Henin and world #16 Yanina Wickmayer. The biggest losers are two pre-tournament favorites - #14 Maria Sharapova and #15 Kim Clijsters.

Clijsters played the worst match of her comeback - a 60 61 loss to a player she hasn't previously lost to. The drubbing she got from #19 Nadia Petrova was probably as bizarre as when she won the US Open last year. Her loss prevented a highly anticipated quarterfinal with Henin, which would have been their first grand slam match-up since their 2006 Wimbledon semifinal.

Sharapova lost to her friend Maria Kirilenko in the first round. A winner here in 2008, Sharapova's failure at the grand slams in the past two years is now becoming more of a frequent occurence rather than an exception. In the past six grand slams she has played, she has only reached one quarterfinal, the 2009 French Open. She has lost twice in the second round (2008 and 2009 Wimbledon), once in the third round (2009 US Open), and once in the fourth round (2008 French Open). She missed the 2008 US Open and 2009 Australian Open due to shoulder injury.

Henin has lived up to the hype of her comeback so far. She beat #5 Elena Dementieva in straight sets in the second round. She did lose a set to #27 Alisa Kleybanova but showed her mental toughness in coming from behind for a 36 64 62 victory. She'll be facing formidable opponents in her next matches though - before she can even reach the semifinals. Wickmayer is her fourth round opponent, and looming in the quarterfinals is the winner of the Petrova and #3 Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Wickmayer is the hottest player in the WTA tour right now. She hasn't lost in the eleven matches she has played this year. She also has proven very worthy of her world ranking, and it is poetic justice just how far she has come. Despite her high ranking, Australian Open tennis organizers denied her request for a wildcard and she was forced to go through qualifying. She's the only remaining qualifier in the women's draw. She's also outperformed all other wildcard entries except for Henin. They will be meeting in the fourth round and it will not be surprising if Wickmayer becomes Belgium's quarterfinal representative.

Here are the rest of the top 16 seeds. Those not living to their seeds are in bold letters.

1. Serena Williams vs. Samantha Stosur [13] RND 4
2. Dinara Safina vs. Maria Kirilenko RND 4
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Nadia Petrova [19] RND 4
4. Caroline Wozniacki vs. Shahar Peer [29] RND 3
5. Elena Dementieva lost to Justine Henin RND 2
6. Venus Williams vs. Francesca Schiavone [17] RND 4
7. Victoria Azarenka vs. Vera Zvonareva [9] RND 4
8. Jelena Jankovic lost to Alona Bondarenko [31] RND 3
9. Vera Zvonareva vs. Victoria Azarenka [7] RND 4
10. Agnieszka Radwanska lost to Francesca Schiavone [17] RND 3
11. Marion Bartoli lost to Jie Zheng RND 3
12. Flavia Pennetta lost to Yanina Wickmayer RND 2
13. Samantha Stosur vs. Serena Williams [1] RND 4
14. Maria Sharapova lost to Maria Kirilenko RND 1
15. Kim Clijsters lost to Nadia Petrova [19] RND 3
16. Na Li vs. Winner of Wozniacki-Peer third round match