Women Tennis Update – Carlsbad, Bastad, Baku

Written by: on 22nd July 2012
Swedish Open tennis tournament in Bastad
Women Tennis Update - Carlsbad, Bastad, Baku

epa03314530 Mathilde Johansson of France returns the ball during her Sony Swedish Open tennis tournament final against Polona Hercog of Slovenia in Bastad, Sweden, 22 July 2012. EPA/BJORN LARSSON ROSVALL  |

Carlsbad

Singles – Semifinal: (1) Marion Bartoli def. (Q) Chan Yung-Jan 1-6 6-3 6-3

All Marion Bartoli’s matches here have been tough — but she keeps managing to survive. If she can do it again, and win the final, she will rise to #9. Chan Yung-Jan came in at #161; she will more than fifty places.

Singles – Semifinal: (2) Dominika Cibulkova def. (4) Nadia Petrova 7-6(10-8) 6-1

Nadia Petrova really crashed and burned at the end of the first set of this — she called for the trainer, and it really did look like the heat was getting to her. For the moment, she has put herself in the Top Twenty, but she’ll lose all those points next week when Washington comes off. Dominika Cibulkova is still at #14; she will rise to #13 if she can win the final.

Doubles – Semifinal: (3) Kops-Jones/Spears def. (1) Huber/Raymond 7-5 4-6 14-12 (Match TB)

Not the greatest Olympic omen for the world’s top team — but, of course, the Olympics will be on grass….

Doubles – Semifinal: (2) King/Petrova def. Chang/Lertcheewakarn 6-2 7-5

Bastad

Singles – Semifinal: Polona Hercog def. (7) Mona Barthel 6-1 6-3

This means that our last seed is out. Mona Barthel hits the Top Forty, just barely — but she had the chance here to get close to the Top Thirty, and that won’t happen.

Singles – Semifinal: Mathilde Johansson def. Johanna Larsson 6-4 6-4

And so the Swedes are finally out. Still, Johanna Larsson lasted long enough to return to the Top Hundred. And to bring out the crowds for most of the week…. And Mathilde Johansson may be French, but her name sounds Swedish….

It’s an interesting final: Johansson is #83, Hercog #86. Hercog has more late-round experience, but, until this week, she had been in an awful funk.

Doubles – Semifinal: Hrdinova/Jugic-Salkic def. Arvidsson/Larsson 5-7 6-1 10-7 (Match TB)

It will truly be a Swede-less final Sunday.

****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******

Women’s Look Forward: Baku

The WTA definitely knows how to prepare for the Olympics: It lets the top players have a week off and give the rest a chance to earn some really cheap points. There is only one event this week, Baku, and it’s an international event and a singularly weak one. Last year, this tournament at least had Vera Zvonareva. This year, the top player in the field is… Ksenia Pervak. In other words, there are no Top Fifty players in the draw. Pervak is, in fact, the only player ranked above #75 based on last week’s rankings. The #2 seed is Alexandra Panova, Mandy Minella is #3, Andrea Hlavackova #4, Bojana Jovanovski #5. The #6 seed is Nina Bratchikova, who is also the last Top Hundred player. #7 seed Akgul Amanmuradova, #8 Eva Birnerova, and all the unseeded players are ranked below #100. Many $75K Challengers are stronger than this WTA event.

The Rankings

Given the field at Baku, the main interest this week lies not in what is coming on but what is going off. In 2011, this was the week of Stanford and Washington, D.C. Serena Williams won Stanford, with Marion Bartoli the finalist and Dominika Cibulkova and Sabine Lisicki semifinalists. Nadia Petrova won Washington, over Shahar Peer, with Tamira Paszek ad Irina Falconi semifinalists. Not one of those players is in action this week (unless Falconi decides to play a Challenger). It won’t affect Serena; she will stay #4. Indeed, there will be no changes in the Top Eight. But if Marion Bartoli makes it to #9 at Carlsbad, she will lose the ranking next week. That will be the only change in the Top Ten. In the Top Twenty, Nadia Petrova will likely slip a little. Sabine Lisicki is likely to lose a spot. That’s about it.

Shahar Peer will lose her Top Fifty spot. Irina Falconi will fall below #90.

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