Women Tennis Update – Olympics, Washington, and Rankings

Written by: Staff on 1st August 2012

Women Tennis Update - Olympics, Washington, and Rankings

epa03332540 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus serves to Nadia Petrova of Russia in their third round match during the London 2012 Olympic Games Tennis competition in Wimbledon, Greater London, Britain, 01 August 2012. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Olympics

Singles – Third Round: (1) Victoria Azarenka def. (16) Nadia Petrova 7-6(8-6) 6-4

We still aren’t making much progress in figuring out who will be #1, but we know that Nadia Petrova won’t be Top Twenty.

Singles – Third Round: (3) Maria Sharapova def. (15) Sabine Lisicki 6-7(8-10) 6-4 6-3

A lot tougher for Maria Sharapova than Victoria Azarenka, but she keeps her #1 hopes alive. Sabine Lisicki will probably end up at #19.

Singles – Third Round: (4) Serena Williams def. (13) Vera Zvonareva 6-1 6-0

This time, the rust and the troubled shoulder caught up with Vera Zvonareva. The good news is, she managed to survive three matches. But she was defending a pile of points, and will fall from #13 to no better than #14. Hard to believe that she was contending for #1 a couple of years ago.

Singles – Third Round: (6) Petra Kvitova def. Flavia Pennetta 6-3 6-0

Finally Petra Kvitova looks like an actual former Wimbledon winner. Flavia Pennetta will likely gain a spot or two, but she loses her shot at the Top Fifteen.

Singles – Third Round: (7) Angelique Kerber def. Venus Williams 7-6(7-5) 7-6(7-5)

Only fair, in a way — Venus has her Olympic medal. But, obviously, it leaves American hopes resting entirely on Serena. In terms of nationalities, it’s a pretty good mix of quarterfinalists — seven nations represented, the Russians being the only nation with two quarterfinalists.

Singles – Third Round: (8) Caroline Wozniacki def. Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 6-2

It really does seem as if Caroline Wozniacki has come back to life, at least briefly. She won’t move above #8 this week, but she drops Daniela Hantuchova to no better than #35.

Singles – Third Round: Kim Clijsters def. (11) Ana Ivanovic 6-3 6-4

This will be the last grass tournament ever for Kim Clijsters. At this rate, it may also be the best. She puts herself in the Top Thirty; she also ends Ana Ivanovic’s Top Ten hopes.

Singles – Third Round: (14) Maria Kirilenko def. Julia Goerges 7-6(7-5) 6-3

Julia Goerges won the tough ones, then stumbled in what should have been a relatively easy match. Which means she will remain below the Top Twenty — probably #24. Maria Kirilenko still hasn’t moved, but one more win would take her to #14.

Doubles – Second Round: Chuang/Hsieh def. (7) Pennetta/Schiavone 6-7(3-7) 7-5 6-4

Being suspended on Tuesday definitely changed the complexion of this match! Odd, given that it gave Pennetta/Schiavone a chance for rest that they wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Doubles – Quarterfinal: (1) Huber/Raymond def. (6) Makarova/Vesnina 6-3 6-3

Once again Elena Vesnina comes up short at an event with a big emotional payoff….

Mixed Doubles – First Round: (1) Azarenka/Mirnyi def. Kerber/Petzschner 6-2 6-2

Mixed Doubles – First Round: Stosur/Hewitt def. (4) A Radwanska/Matkowski 6-3 6-3

Memo to the organizers: Seeding mixed doubles, or even ordinary doubles, based on singles rankings is silly, even if it worked in the case of Azarenka/Mirnyi.

Mixed Doubles – First Round: (3) Raymond/M. Bryan def. Errani/Seppi 7-5 6-3

Mixed Doubles – First Round: Dulko/del Potro def. Vesnina/Youzhny 6-3 7-5

That pretty clearly justifies putting Juan Martin del Potro on the Argentine mixed squad! It does raise the interesting question of why Russia has so many good female doubles players but can’t seem to scrape up a good man.

Mixed Doubles – First Round: Vinci/Bracciali def. Arvidsson/Lindstedt 6-3 4-6 10-8 (Match TB)

We can’t help but point out that the Italian team that was entered based on doubles rankings (Vinci/Bracciali) won, while the team which got in for singles (Errani/Seppi) lost.

Washington

Later

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Estimated WTA Rankings As of August 1, 2012

Rank &
Prior
Rank …Name …………. Points
1..(1) AZARENKA ………..8800*
2..(3) SHARAPOVA ……… 8425*
3..(2) ARADWANSKA ………8260
4..(4) SWILLIAMS ……… 7535*
5..(5) STOSUR ………….6195
6..(6) KVITOVA ……….. 5275*
7..(7) KERBER ………….5225*
8..(8) WOZNIACKI ……… 4206*
9..(9) ERRANI ………….3620
10.(10) Bartoli ……….. 3400
11.(11) LI ……………..3245
12.(12) IVANOVIC ………..3085
13.(14) CIBULKOVA ……… 2945
14.(13) ZVONAREVA ……… 2800
15.(15) KIRILENKO ……… 2750*
16.(16) Kanepi ………….2514
17.(19) PENNETTA ………..2270
18.(18) Jankovic ………..2220
19.(20) LISICKI ……….. 2142
20.(17) Petkovic ………..2060
21.(21) SCHIAVONE ……… 2050
22.(23) PETROVA ……….. 2050
23.(22) SAFAROVA ………..2040
24.(24) GOERGES ……….. 1970
25.(25) ZHENG …………. 1870
26.(26) MCHALE ………….1870
27.(27) VINCI …………. 1865
28.(28) PAVLYUCHENKOVA …..1800*
29.(36) CLIJSTERS ……… 1766*
30.(31) WICKMAYER ……… 1705

Players in UPPER CASE active this week. Players marked * are still playing. Scores are as they would be if the player plays and loses her next match.