Women Tennis News Update – US Open Singles, Doubles, Mix

Written by: Staff on 2nd September 2012

Women Tennis News Update - US Open Singles, Doubles, Mix

epa03381137 Samantha Stosur of Australia hits a return to Laura Robson of Great Britain during their match on the seventh day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 02 September 2012. The US Open runs through Sunday 09 September 2012. EPA/JASON SZENES |

U. S. Open

Singles – Fourth Round: (3) Maria Sharapova def. (19) Nadia Petrova 6-1 4-6 6-4
Talk about tough luck for Nadia Petrova! After being blown away in the first set, she had clawed her way into the second, and gone up 2-0 in the third. She was running Maria Sharapova all over the court. And then it started to rain. It wasn’t a long rain, but it was long enough to cost Petrova her momentum. Sharapova came back and won four of the next five games and just kept on cruising. Petrova will have to settle for the #18 ranking.

Singles – Fourth Round: (1) Victoria Azarenka def. Anna Tatishvili 6-2 6-2
On a day when every other woman in action struggled, this was a blitzkreig. No, Victoria Azarenka hasn’t clinched the #1 ranking yet, but it really looks like the way to bet. Anna Tatishvili falls just short of the Top Fifty.

Singles – Fourth Round: (11) Marion Bartoli def. (5) Petra Kvitova 1-6 6-2 6-0
Oh, great, we’re back to never knowing what to expect from Petra Kvitova. Her winning streak ends at seven, and while she still has a shot at rising to #4, she leaves the door open for Serena Williams to keep that ranking. Marion Bartoli is still only #10, but she’s a much stronger-looking #10.

Singles – Fourth Round: (7) Samantha Stosur def. Laura Robson 6-4 6-4
If Samantha Stosur wants to defend her title here, she really needs to learn how to finish off a match. We didn’t keep track of the match points Laura Robson saved, but there were a lot of them, even breaking as Stosur served for the match. It appears Robson will be reaching a career high around #75. We still don’t know where Stosur will be, except that it ought to be between #6 and #10 — probably between #7 and #10.

Doubles – Third Round: (16) Hsieh/Medina Garrigues def. (1) Huber/Raymond 6-4 2-6 6-4
And so the day of reckoning has come. To keep the #1 ranking, Huber and Raymond had to last longer than Errani/Vinci. This opened the door for the Italians, who were already on the court (and about to win the first set) when this result came through. So, suddenly, Errani and Vinci were playing for the top spots in their match:

Doubles – Third Round: (2) Errani/Vinci def. (13) Mattek-Sands/Mirza 6-4 6-7(7-9) 6-3
Whoever stuck this match out on Court 11 clearly didn’t realize what importance it would have by the time the second set rolled around. On the other hand, maybe the Italians didn’t need any more pressure. They were broken as they served for the match in the tenth game of the second set. They finally earned the decisive break in the eighth game of the third set. And that means — they take the top rankings. Errani will be #1, with Vinci tied with her in points but losing the tiebreak. Huber and Raymond fall to #3. And Errani/Vinci were already #1 in the Race this year. This takes them a significant step closer to earning the year-end #1 ranking. Here is how we currently show the Top Ten:

1..(3) ERRANI ………….8120*
2..(4) VINCI …………. 8120*
3..(1) HUBER …………. 7955
3..(1) RAYMOND ……….. 7955
5..(5) HRADECKA ………..6270*
6..(6) HLAVACKOVA ………6190*
7..(9) SREBOTNIK ……… 5270
8..(7) PETROVA ……….. 5135*
9.(12) VESNINA ……….. 5050*
10.(11) KIRILENKO ……… 4815*

Doubles – Third Round: (3) Hlavackova/Hradecka def. (14) Grandin/Uhlirova 6-3 6-3
This could easily be forgotten in the drama of the preceding two matches, especially since Hlavackova/Hradecka cannot rise in the rankings this week. But they have a strong grip on #5 and #6, and the better they do here, the better their odds of going higher by year’s end. Our rough cut on the individual race (that is, total points each player has in her best 11 so far) gives us this:
Errani — 6970
Vinci — 6970
Huber — 5640
Raymond — 5640
Hlavackova — 5360
Hradecka — 5295
Thus if Hlavackova/Hradecka can make the semifinal, they will pass Huber/Raymond in the individual race.
That loss by Huber/Raymond is looking very big indeed….

Doubles – Third Round: Chuang/Zhang def. Kerber/Paszek 6-7(7-9) 7-5 6-0
Not much to say about this except to hope that it doesn’t bother Angelique Kerber too much in the singles.

Mixed Doubles – Second Round: (1) Huber/Mirnyi def. Stephens/R Ram walkover
Sloane Stephens had played a very long, very late singles match the night before. This was tough scheduling to say the least….

Mixed Doubles – Second Round: (3) Vesnina/Paes def. Spears/Lipsky 4-6 6-4 10-5 (Match TB)
Considering that they’re the best Mixed team in the world, Vesnina/Paes seem to be having a very hard time here. But they won on a day when walkovers were happening right and left….

Mixed Doubles – Second Round: Llagostera Vives/Marrero def. (6) Hlavackova/Bhupathi walkover
What a day for walkovers! We assumed this was about Mahesh Bhupathi, since Andrea Hlavackova played and won in doubles, but it turns out that Hlavackova has a bad hip flexor.

Mixed Doubles – Second Round: (7) Hradecka/Cermak def. Lepchenko/Young 2-6 6-4 10-7 (Match TB)
Quite a feast-or-famine day: Walkovers or match tiebreaks. At least the Vesnina/Paes had an excuse for their tough win, since they faced two pretty strong opponents. It’s hard to figure out what was Hradecka/Cermak’s problem; they didn’t face much.

Mixed Doubles – Second Round: Rodionova/Rojer def. (8) Jans-Ignacik/Fyrstenberg 7-6(6) 6-4
No big surprise here; mixed ranks would have left Jans-Ignacik/Fyrstenberg unseeded.

Mixed Doubles – Second Round: Mirza/Fleming def. Oudin/Sock 6-4 7-6(9-7)
There go our defending champions. Too bad for Oudin/Sock that they don’t use mixed rankings; under mixed, they would have been seeded, and so would have Mirza/Fleming, so this match couldn’t have happened until the quarterfinal.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

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