MELBOURNE - Cal women's tennis alumnae Bojana Bobusic and Raquel Kops-Jones competed in the Australian Open this past week at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia.

 

≈, an Australian from Perth who starred at Cal from 2005-2008, entered the tournament ranked 307th in the world and earned a wildcard bid for the Open by winning the wildcard playoff tournament last December. She was subsequently awarded with a first-round matchup in the Women's Singles Draw against Agnieszka Radwanska, the fourth-ranked player in the world who hails from Poland.

 

Bobusic began the match strong, trading games with Radwanska during a close first set. Bobusic had a chance to seize control of the match early on, serving for the first set at 5-4, but could not close it out. Radwanska would go on to win the next three games to win the first set, 7-5. From there Radwanska found her stride and closed out the match, dominating the second set for a 7-5, 6-0, first-round win.

 

This was not the end of Bobusic's tournament though, as she could also be found in the women's doubles and mixed doubles draws. In women's doubles, Bobusic paired with fellow Australian Jessica Moore, who also hails from Perth. The Australian duo found itself matched up against the fifth-seeded pair of Nadia Petrova (Russia) and Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) in the first round. Bobusic and Moore played a close first set against Petrova and Srebotnik but only converted on one of four break points and lost the set, 6-4. In the second set Petrova and Srebotnik found their rhythm and closed out the Aussies for a 6-4, 6-2, victory.

 

In mixed doubles Bobusic paired up with another Aussie, Chris Guccione, to take on Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) and Bruno Soares (Brazil) in the opening round. After dropping a close first 6-4, Bubosic and Guccione battled back to take the second set in a close tie breaker 7-6 (9-7). With the new format for doubles in the Grand Slams, the third set was decided by a super-tiebreaker. Bobusic and Guccione could not carry over their momentum from the second set, losing the deciding tiebreaker, 10-3. 

 

In other action, former Bear and current doubles specialist Raquel Kops-Jones entered the Aussie Open with bids into the women's doubles and mixed doubles draw. After a career best year in 2012, Kops-Jones looked to start 2013 on a fast start with partner and fellow American Abigail Spears, a former player at UCLA. After their personal record-setting year in 2012, Kops-Jones and Spears earned themselves the eighth seed entering play.

 

Kops-Jones and Spears started the tournament fast with a 6-1, 6-2, win over Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) and Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia). However, Kops-Jones and Pears' tournament came to an abrupt end when they were upset in the second round by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) and Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 6-4, 6-2. In the mixed doubles draw, Kops-Jones - partnering with the Philippines' Treat Conrad Huey - ironically was slated against a familiar face, her doubles partner Spears, who was playing with American Scott Lipsky. In a very even opening-round match, the teams split sets, with Spears and Lipsky taking the first set, 6-3, and Kops-Jones and Huey taking the second set, 6-3. Ultimately, Kops-Jones and Huey could not capitalize on the momentum from winning the second set, and Spears and Lipsky prevailed taking the match, 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.

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