Women Tennis Update – Baku and Olympics

Written by: Staff on 29th July 2012

Women Tennis Update - Baku and Olympics

epa03321595 Kim Clijsters of Belgium returns to Roberta Vinci of Italy during their first round olympic tennis match for the London 2012 Olympic Games Tennis competition in Wimbledon, Greater London, Britain, 28 July 2012. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Baku

Singles – Final: (5) Bojana Jovanovski def. Julia Cohen 6-3 6-1

Experience was not exactly the order of the day here. Bojana Jovanovski had one previous semifinal, at Sydney 2011; Julia Cohen had never even won back-to-back WTA matches! But Jovanovski has a lot more wins over tough players — Jankovic, Kanepi, Pennetta, Pavlyuchenkova. She is probably the better player, and certainly the one with more practical experience. Little surprise about the outcome! It is Jovanovski’s first title, of course, and after what had until now been a very disappointing year, it should take her to around #68.

Doubles – Final: (4) Buryachok/Solovieva def. (3) Birnerova/Brianti 6-3 6-2

New winners all over the place here! The best title we can find for Buryachok was a $25K Challenger (and she certainly had a lot of help there from veteran Renata Voracova); Solovieva’s best result was the $50K at Dothan last year (with Wienerova). Incredibly weak as this doubles draw was (and it was), those trophies will surely be something to treasure for a long time. And the money is just as good as any other International event, even if the field was a Challenger field….

Olympics

Singles – First Round: (4) Serena Williams def. Jelena Jankovic 6-3 6-1

Eight straight grass wins for Serena Williams. Of course, right now, beating Jelena Jankovic on grass doesn’t exactly qualify as a big accomplishment….

Singles – First Round: Carla Suarez Navarro def. (5) Samantha Stosur 3-6 7-5 10-8

Samantha Stosur is, to say the least, no fan of grass. But to lose to Carla Suarez Navarro on the stuff…. Suarez Navarro’s shots work well on grass. But you’d think Stosur could get by just on that serve.

Singles – First Round: (6) Petra Kvitova def. Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4 5-7 6-4

Petra Kvitova clearly was nervous in her first Olympics. Even so, that’s a pretty disturbing score.

Singles – First Round: (8) Caroline Wozniacki def. Anne Keothavong 4-6 6-3 6-2

This was perhaps closer than the score; Anne Keothavong was taking it to Caroline Wozniacki. But she was also making a lot more errors….

Singles – First Round: Daniela Hantuchova def. (10) Li Na 6-2 3-6 6-3

Evidently Daniela Hantuchova is more fully recovered from her injury than Li Na is from her funk. This ends Li’s Top Ten hopes.

Singles – First Round: (11) Ana Ivanovic def. Christina McHale 6-4 7-5

Ana Ivanovic pulled out of the 2008 Olympics, where she was expected to be the top seed, at the last moment. It was a long wait for another chance, but obviously she was ready….

Singles – First Round: Tsvetana Pironkova def. (12) Dominika Cibulkova 7-6(7-4) 6-2

This would have been a tough draw for Dominika Cibulkova in the best of circumstances — Tsvetana Pironkova loves grass, and it has never done anything for Cibulkova. Throw in a relative lack of adjustment time (since Cibulkova played and won Stanford) and you get this. Cibulkova ought to stay Top Fifteen, but she won’t be climbing.

Singles – First Round: (13) Vera Zvonareva def. Sofia Arvidsson 7-6(7-3) 6-4

Given all Vera Zvonareva’s struggles this year, this is good to see. She still has a lot to defend, but maybe there is some hope.

Singles – First Round: Flavia Pennetta def. Sorana Cirstea 6-2 4-6 6-2

Flavia Pennetta hasn’t clinched her Top Twenty ranking, but this certainly helps.

Singles – First Round: Francesca Schiavone def. Klara Zakopalova 6-3 3-6 6-4

Based on current form, this is frankly rather surprising. We’d guess this will cost Klara Zakopalova her Top Thirty spot.

Singles – First Round: Kim Clijsters def. Roberta Vinci 6-1 6-4

Kim Clijsters doesn’t like grass much, and this is her first Olympics. Plus she is perpetually rusty these days. A very nice result, given what she was struggling against.

Singles – First Round: Peng Shuai def. Hsieh Su-Wei 6-3 6-7(3-7) 7-5

Much closer than the rankings would have indicated. That cross-strait rivalry can be pretty intense….

Singles – First Round: Yanina Wickmayer def. Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2 4-6 7-5

There isn’t much rankings gap between these two, but you’d think the surface would help Yanina Wickmayer. But then, she has that shoulder problem that affects her serve.

Singles – First Round: Urszula Radwanska def. Mona Barthel 6-4 6-3

Urszula Radwanska is the lower-ranked of these two, but she *really* likes grass. At least, she does this year!

Singles – First Round: Alize Cornet def. Tamira Paszek 7-6(7-4) 6-4

Given Tamira Paszek’s grass results this year, this is pretty shocking.

Singles – First Round: Elena Baltacha def. Agnes Szavay 6-3 6-3

Agnes Szavay’s last WTA match was at Roland Garros 2011. She did play Stuttgart qualifying, but still, she clearly wasn’t in shape for this match. Not that the British are complaining.

Doubles – First Round: (2) Errani/Vinci def. Cetkovska/Safarova 6-2 6-3

Errani/Vinci would probably have won against almost any unseeded team — after all, they have been the strongest team on the WTA this year — but it does make you wonder at the rules that caused the Czechs to offer a team of Cetkovska/Safarova.

Doubles – First Round: (3) Kirilenko/Petrova def. Jans-Ignacik/Rosolska 6-7(5-7) 6-3 6-2

The Russians really ought to be able to pick up a doubles medal, given the strength of their teams. It’s surprising that this was so tough.

Doubles – First Round: (6) Makarova/Vesnina def. Gajdosova/Rodionova 6-1 6-4

Two genuine Russians against two non-native Australians. Does that make a difference?

Doubles – First Round: (8) Llagostera Vives/Martinez Sanchez def. Dellacqua/Stosur 6-1 6-1

Doubles – First Round: Shvedova/Voskoboeva def. Dubois/Wozniak 6-2 6-0

In this case, the team of adoptees did just fine under the banner of their adopted country….

Doubles – First Round: Peng/Zheng def. Cornet/Mladenovic 6-1 6-7(3-7) 6-3

The French just keep striking out….

Doubles – First Round: Chuang/Hsieh def. Chakarvarthi/Mirza 6-1 3-6 6-1

India pays the almost inevitable price for having only one touring player….

Topics: Baku tennis news, Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, Sports, Tennis News, Women Tennis, women tennis news