Women Tennis Update – US Open Singles, Doubles, Mix

Written by: Staff on 6th September 2012

Women Tennis Update - US Open Singles, Doubles, Mix

epa03375408 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia hits a return to Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden during their match on the fourth day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 30 August 2012. The US Open runs through Sunday 09 September 2012. EPA/PETER FOLEY |

U. S. Open

Doubles – Semifinal: (2) Errani/Vinci def. (8) Llagostera Vives/Martinez Sanchez 6-3 6-2
The WTA has officially announced that Errani/Vinci have qualified for the year-end championships. But we knew they would. The real question is, when will they clinch the year-end top spots? The answer to that is, Not quite yet. But it’s coming. They’re a thousand points up on Huber/Raymond in the rankings, and their lead in the Race is even bigger. Llagostera Vives and Martinez Sanchez both fall just short of big numbers: Llagostera Vives won’t quite make the Top Ten; Martinez Sanchez won’t quite make the Top Fifteen.

Doubles – Semifinal: (3) Hlavackova/Hradecka def. (16) Hsieh/Medina Garrigues 7-6(7-2) 6-4
It was a tough day for Spaniards, with Lopez/Granollers hurt in men’s doubles and three Spaniards eliminated in women’s, but on the whole this is fitting: Errani/Vinci have certainly been the best doubles team of the year, and Hlavackova/Hradecka probably the next-best; they are a suitable lineup for the U. S. Open final. A title wouldn’t quite take Hradecka and Hlavackova past Huber and Raymond into the #3 and #4 spots, but it would take them very close, with a real chance to end the year there. We currently estimate the Top Ten as follows:

1..(3) ERRANI ………….9020*
2..(4) VINCI …………. 9020*
3..(1) HUBER …………. 7955
3..(1) RAYMOND ……….. 7955
5..(5) HRADECKA ………..7170*
6..(6) HLAVACKOVA ………7090*
7..(7) PETROVA ……….. 5355
8..(9) SREBOTNIK ……… 5270
9.(12) VESNINA ……….. 5050
10.(11) KIRILENKO ……… 5035

Mixed Doubles – Final: Makarova/Soares def. (4) Peschke/Matkowski 6-7(8-10) 6-1 12-10 (Match TB)
The U. S. Open web site’s description of this match mentioned Ekaterina Makarova’s relative inexperience in high-level doubles, but that is often the way of it in mixed: Fresh faces come forth and shine. (And it is definitely a fresh team — they are said to have signed up just one minute before the entry deadline. Soares had been planning to play with Jarmila Gajdosova, but they wouldn’t have made the cut, so at the last moment his coach found Makarova and they agreed to play.) Makarova was playing with arguably the weakest of the four players on the court, but she just kept getting balls back, and it was enough — barely; Makarova/Soares faced a match point before winning the last three points.
After the match, Makarova had this great big stupid grin on her face. You’d never know, from the way she was smiling, that it was “only” mixed. Now if she could only convey that sense of determination to her regular doubles partner Elena Vesnina….
It’s the first Slam of any kind for either winner.
In terms of mixed doubles rankings, Vesnina remains the top woman, but Makarova rises to #7. Soares is now the #4 man, with Leander Paes remaining #1. The Top Ten list for woman is:

1….Vesnina……….2950
2….Srebotnik……..2067
3….Huber…………1900
4….Mirza…………1867
5….Raymond……….1717
6….Mattek-Sands…..1600
7….Makarova………1400
8….Peschke……….1333
9….Benesova………1133
10….BlackC………..1000

For the men, we have:

1….Paes………….3567
2….Bhupathi………2233
3….Zimonjic………1700
4….Soares………..1583
5….Hanley………..1433
6….Nestor………..1367
7….BryanM………..1250
7….Matkowski……..1250
9….Bracciali……..1200
10….Tecau…………1150

Topics: Ana Ivanovic, Errani, Makarova/Soares, Sports, Tennis News, Vinci, women tennis news