Today’s Women’s News (09/13) – Tashkent & Quebec City

Written by: Staff on 13th September 2012

Today's Women's News (09/13) - Tashkent & Quebec City

epa03372704 Urszula Radwanska of Poland hits a return to Roberta Vinci of Italy during their match on the second day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 28 August 2012. The US Open runs through Sunday 09 September 2012. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

Tashkent (Thursday)

Singles – Quarterfinal: (2) Urszula Radwanska def. (7) Alexandra Panova 5-7 6-2 7-6(7-3)

Urszula Radwanska defends her points, and stays right around #40. And she is the only seed left in the draw.

Singles – Quarterfinal: Eva Birnerova def. (5) Alexandra Cadantu 6-3 4-6 6-2

Eva Birnerova really loves this place — a final last year, and now she’s back in the semifinal.

Singles – Quarterfinal: (Q) Donna Vekic def. (6) Bojana Jovanovski 6-4 6-4

Quite a breakthrough for Donna Vekic. She was already climbing — from #206 to #183 last week. And, with this, she will rise from #183 to around #145.

Singles – Quarterfinal: Irina-Camelia Begu def. (8) Galina Voskoboeva 3-6 7-6(7-1) 7-5

Irina-Camelia Begu rises from #87 to around #75. And she is probably the second-best player in the draw. Too bad she is in the same half as Radwanska.

Doubles – Semifinal: Chakvetadze/Dolonc def. (1) Begu/Niculescu 6-1 6-0

So maybe we were right about Anna Chakvetadze being a contender for a title after all….

Doubles – Semifinal: Kania/Pekhova def. Amanmuradova/Diatchenko 6-4 4-6 10-4 (Match TB)

As we noted in yesterday’s feature, this place is good at producing surprise winners. It looks like it will be happening in doubles at least….

Quebec City (Full Wednesday results)

Singles – First Round: Kirsten Flipkens def. (1/WC) Dominika Cibulkova 2-6 6-3 7-5

It’s an interesting phenomenon. Two, and only two, Top Thirty players in the field here. Both wildcards. And both out without reaching the quarterfinal (see the next match).

Dominika Cibulkova at least showed fight. After going down a break in the third set, she clawed her way back to 5-5 before collapsing again. But she’s out. Of course, she didn’t have any chance of climbing here — she needed a semifinal to earn any points at all, and couldn’t budge her ranking even with a title. She really didn’t have much reason to show up. But enough about that….

Singles – Second Round: (Q) Lauren Davis def. (2/WC) Yanina Wickmayer 6-1 6-1

There isn’t much we can say about this except that Belgium’s new #1 Yanina Wickmayer (the new #1 because, of course, Kim Clijsters is retired) is very hard to figure out these days. She loses her shot at a return to the Top 25.

Singles – Second Round: (3) Mona Barthel def. Petra Rampre 6-2 6-1

Nothing that counts yet for Mona Barthel, but if she wins her next match, she will rise to probably #33.

Singles – Second Round: (6) Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Tatjana Malek 6-3 6-3

Seven straight wins here for Barbora Zahlavova Strycova — but that means that she still needs three more to defend her points….

Singles – Second Round: (Q) Kristina Mladenovic def. Annika Beck 4-6 6-4 6-3

At this rate, Kristina Mladenovic could be Top Hundred pretty soon. She is now about fifty points away.

Doubles – First Round: (1) Rosolska/Watson def. (WC) Dubois/El Tabakh 6-2 6-2

Doubles – First Round: Dabrowski/Riske def. (2) Dekmeijere/Martic 2-6 6-3 10-4 (Match TB)

Doubles – First Round: Pegula/Sanchez def. (4) Lee-Waters/Moulton-Levy 7-5 4-6 10-4 (Match TB)

A tough day for seeds — perhaps not surprising in such a weak field.

Doubles – Quarterfinal: Dabrowski/Riske def. (WC) Min/Zhao 6-3 6-4

No idea why Dabrowski/Riske had to play two matches in one day, but they obviously made it work

Quebec City (Partial Thursday results)

Singles – Second Round: Anna Tatishvili def. (7) Petra Martic 6-2 6-3

This is one of those non-upset upsets; Anna Tatishvili is the higher-ranked of these two based on this week’s rankings. Indeed, one more win would put her in the Top Fifty. And she will face a tired, unseeded opponent next.

Singles – Second Round: Kirsten Flipkens def. Mirjana Lucic 6-7(2-7) 6-2 6-4

An impressive result by Kirsten Flipkens; having won an evening match against Dominika Cibulkova the night before she turned around to win a long day match against Mirjana Lucic. Let’s hope she has something left for her contest with Tatishvili.

Doubles – Quarterfinal: (3) Malek/Mladenovic def. Mueller/Muhammed 6-2 6-1

Just pronouncing the team names in this match must have been a tongue twister for the chair umpire, but fortunately the match went quickly….

Doubles – Quarterfinal: Coin/Pelletier def. Pegula/Sanchez 6-1 1-6 10-5 (Match TB)