Today’s Women’s News (10/05) – Beijing

Written by: Staff on 5th October 2012

Today's Women's News (10/05) - Beijing

epa03422281 Na Li of China returns the ball to Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland during their quarter final match of the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, China, 05 October 2012. Na Li won 6-4 and 6-2. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG |

Beijing

Singles – Quarterfinal: (1) Victoria Azarenka def. Romina Oprandi 6-2 6-0

Still no signs of Victoria Azarenka’s illness problems of the last few weeks. She moves a little bit closer to the year-end #1.

Singles – Quarterfinal: (2) Maria Sharapova def. (5) Angelique Kerber 6-0 3-0 retired (Right Foot Injury)

Truly a sad outcome for Angelique Kerber in the week that she qualified for her first year-end Championships. At least she has two weeks to recover. But this is a blow to her hopes of ending the year in the Top Five.

Maria Sharapova is keeping pace with Victoria Azarenka in the contest for the year-end #1. That actually means that her chances of ending the year at #1 are getting smaller, because she has to gain on Azarenka and now has less chance to do so — but Sharapova is at least increasing her lead on Serena Williams, making it almost certain that she will not fall below #2 this year.

Singles – Quarterfinal: (7) Li Na def. (3) Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 6-2

For practical purposes, it’s now over. Li Na will be the eighth player in Istanbul. Agnieszka Radwanska, who failed to defend either of her titles in Asia, will fall to #4 — and a rather weak #4. It’s going to be hard for her to catch Serena Williams this year, assuming Serena plays Istanbul.

Singles – Quarterfinal: (9) Marion Bartoli def. Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0 2-6 6-4

This should have taken the Race from “effectively settled” to “settled.” Marion Bartoli trailed by a break in the third set. But she won six of the last seven games to stay alive. Carla Suarez Navarro will have to settle for #35 or so. Marion Bartoli remains #10 in the rankings, and needs a title to go above that — but she still has that faint, extremely theoretical chance of taking the #8 Istanbul spot… if she wins here and takes one of the other remaining titles and Li Na doesn’t add any more. In practice, as we said, it’s over. The Istanbul qualifiers will surely be Azarenka, Sharapova, Serena, Agnieszka Radwanska, Kerber, Kvitova, Errani (all of whom have been officially qualified) and Li.

Doubles – Semifinal: (3) Makarova/Vesnina def. (2) Kirilenko/Petrova 6-4 7-5

It’s really too bad Makarova/Vesnina didn’t hook up earlier. They would surely be going to Istanbul if they had. As it is, they keep the Race interesting. Kirilenko/Petrova have a significant lead over Kops-Jones/Spears, but because the Kirilenko/Petrova lost here, the American pair still has a chance to earn the #4 spot in Istanbul.

Doubles – Semifinal: (5) Llagostera Vives/Mirza def. (6) Srebotnik/Zheng 7-5 6-1

A fascinating result considering the surface.