Hello again from Hobart. Akiko lost her opening match against Gagliardi 4-6 6-7. I actually thought it was a good match from Akiko being her first match of the year. Had leads in both sets but giving Gagiardi credit, she competed very hard and played a very good match. Akiko took postives from the match with her movement and served pretty well.

We are playing in the doubles with Vladimira Uhlirova from Czech Republic. She is a very nice girl and a good doubles player as well. They will play against Eva Birnerova of Czech Republic and Anastasiya Yakimova of Bulgaria. The schedule has not come out yet, but I believe they will play the 1st round tomorrow. Hopefully it goes well and is a good opportunity to get some matches in before the Australian Open.

The last few days the weather has been very bad here in Hobart with non stop rain. Very different from the first 5 or 6 days we were here, where the weather was perfect. The tournament is trying to catch up, they had not completed most 1st round qualifying matches and today was scheduled for 1st round main draw to begin. They were using all courts today so its been tough to get some practice time in. Hopefully the weather will be fine for the rest of the week.

Since the weather has not been good, I have been working out in the gym. Today I am very sore but maybe Kotani son will be nice to give me a light massage...even the coach needs a massage right?? :). Aki wants a rematch from the set we played the other day, so I have to be ready. She wants revenge!!

I will update you later on how the doubles went. Wish us good luck again. Bye for now...