Paris
If you look at the qualifying results here, there is a very noteworthy name missing. Francesca Schiavone, the #1 qualifying seed, went out early. Whatever is wrong with her seems to be very, very wrong. Unlike Monica Niculescu, who continues to slowly rebuild. Niculescu, the #2 seed, made the main draw with a 6-3 6-4 win over Vesna Dolonc.
Maybe that will encourage long-struggling Virginie Razzano a little. Razzano produced the one upset of the qualifying final, beating #4 seed Kiki Bertens 2-6 6-2 6-1. Our other qualifiers are #5 seed Magdalena Rybarikova and Stefanie Voegele.
Singles – First Round: (8) Klara Zakopalova def. Anabel Medina Garrigues 2-6 7-5 6-0
No points yet for Klara Zakopalova, but two more wins might put her in the Top Twenty.
Singles – First Round: Christina McHale def. Pauline Parmentier 6-4 6-1
Christina McHale has really been slumping lately, but this brings her back close to a return to the Top Forty.
Singles – First Round: Mona Barthel def. Urszula Radwanska 7-6(7-1) 6-0
It appears Urszula Radwanska will remain stuck below #40.
Doubles – First Round: (1) Errani/Vinci def. Cornet/Mladenovic 6-1 6-2
This is fairly impressive when you consider that Errani/Vinci had just flown in after winning the Australian Open final.
Doubles – First Round: Pavlyuchenkova/Safarova def. Jurak/Marosi 6-4 4-6 10-5
Doubles – First Round: Dekmeijere/Foretz Gacon def. Grandin/Uhlirova 6-4 7-6(7-2)
Pattaya City
Officially, there was an upset in the qualifying here. It’s hard to see it as a surprise, though: #6 qualifying seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands beat #2 Ying-Ying Duan 6-2 6-2. Otherwise, things pretty much went as expected: #3 Anastasia Rodionova beat Zarina Diyas 4-6 6-3 6-2, #7 Anastasia Sevastova beat Alison Risek 4-6 7-5 7-6(8-6), and Akgul Amanmuradova beat Wang Qiang 6-3 6-0.
Singles – First Round: Marina Erakovic def. (3) Su-Wei Hsieh 6-2 6-2
The first seed up becomes the first seed down. To be fair, Hsieh Su-Wei had one of the tougher opening matches. But she loses any chance to rise above #25.
Singles – First Round: Alexandra Panova def. Irina-Camelia Begu 7-6(8-6) 3-2, retired
Irina-Camelia Begu will not be rising above her current #46; she may fall a spot or two.
Singles – First Round: Varatchaya Wongteanchai (WC) def. Annika Beck 6-3 6-3
Even taking into account home court advantage, this is pretty shocking. It’s starting to look as if Annika Beck doesn’t like playing in Asia. She will remain around #70.
Singles – First Round: Mathilde Johansson def. Kai-Chen Chang 6-4 6-3
Odd that Mathilde Johansson came here rather than trying to play in Paris, but so far, it seems to be working out….
Doubles – First Round: Wongteanchai/Wongteanchai def. (3) Chan/Chan 6-4 3-6 10-7
This is probably mostly about injury; Chan Yung-Jan had problems in singles qualifying.
Doubles – First Round: Date-Krumm/Dellacqua def. Cirstea/Hantuchova 4-6 6-2 12-10
This, on the other hand, may be mostly about Daniela Hantuchova, who seems to be an absolute wreck this year.
Doubles – First Round: Bratchikova/Klepac def. Han/Miyamura 6-4 3-6 10-5
Doubles – First Round: Babos/Daniilidou def. Malek/Scheepers 6-4 7-5
©Daily tennis news wire
Topics: Francesca Schiavone, Monica Niculescu, Paris, Pattaya City, Sports, Tennis News, Vesna Dolonc, women tennis update