Women Tennis Update – Dubai,Memphis, and Bogota Thursday, February 21, 2013

Written by: Staff on 20th February 2013

Women Tennis Update - Dubai,Memphis, and Bogota Thursday, February 21, 2013

epa03588885 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus returns the ball to Serena Williams of the USA during their final match of the WTA Qatar Ladies Open tennis tournament at the International Khalifa Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar, 17 February 2013. EPA/STRINGER |

Dubai

Big Results Before Wednesday:

Victoria Azarenka is out of Dubai with a foot injury. It is the second straight year she has withdrawn from Dubai after winning Doha. It settles the #1 ranking at least through Indian Wells and probably through Miami; Azarenka will not be catching Serena Williams.

TUESDAY: (5) Sara Errani def. Julia Goerges 6-3 4-6 6-4

Julia Goerges was last year’s finalist, so she will fall to not much above #25.

TUESDAY: Nadia Petrova def. Dominika Cibulkova 5-7 6-3 6-2

Perhaps not too surprising, given that Dominika Cibulkova has been hurt. She will be #14 or #15.

TUESDAY: Roberta Vinci def. (Q) Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-2

Svetlana Kuznetsova remains below #45.

TUESDAY: Black/Rodionova def. (3) Kops-Jones/Spears 6-2 6-4

At the rate Cara Black is moving back up the rankings, we frankly rather expect her to be seeded at Wimbledon.

WEDNESDAY:

Singles – Second Round: Marion Bartoli def. (2) Serena Williams walkover

Chances are that you have already read about this in our other sections or elsewhere, so we won’t tell you about Serena’s very last minute withdrawal. We’ll just note that Serena will stay #1, and that Marion Bartoli still has a shot at the Top Ten, although it’s pretty faint.

Singles – Second Round: (3) Agnieszka Radwanska def. Yulia Putintseva 7-5 6-3

Agnieszka Radwanska gets off to a good start in her title defense, but she isn’t going anywhere in the rankings this week.

Singles – Second Round: Roberta Vinci def. (4) Angelique Kerber 7-5 6-1

Angelique Kerber will keep the #6 ranking for now, but it won’t last much longer if she can’t figure out where her game when. Roberta Vinci has now clinched the #16 ranking.

Singles – Second Round: (5) Sara Errani def. Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-4

Sorana Cirstea will stay right around #30.

Singles – Second Round: (6) Petra Kvitova def. Ana Ivanovic 7-5 7-6(7-1)

There will be no movement for Petra Kvitova this week, but she ends any hopes Ana Ivanovic had of rising above #13.

Singles – Second Round: (7) Samantha Stosur def. Su-Wei Hsieh 6-4 6-0

Samantha Stosur is slowly coming around. She leaves Hsieh Su-Wei probably #22.

Singles – Second Round: (8) Caroline Wozniacki def. Jie Zheng 6-0 6-1

Had Zheng Jie won this, she would have returned to the Top Forty. As it is, she will fall just short.

Singles – Second Round: Nadia Petrova def. (LL) Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-0

Carla Suarez Navarro got Victoria Azarenka’s draw spot, but obviously wasn’t ready to do anything with it! She remain below #25.

Doubles – First Round: (2) Petrova/Srebotnik def. Groenefeld/Peschke 3-0, retired

Interesting as a contest of ex-partners, but not much interest as a match. Groenefeld/Peschke need to find better doctors. Or something.

Doubles – First Round: Mattek-Sands/Mirza def. (5) Hsieh/Huber 6-4 6-4

Mattek-Sands/Mirza are one of those teams everyone wishes would hurry up and start getting seeded…. The other news here is that Hsieh/Huber were the #5 seeds. They replaced #1 Makarova/Vesnina when Vesnina had to pull out.

Doubles – First Round: Pavlyuchenkova/Safarova def. Al Nabhani/Rosolska 6-0 6-4

Memphis

The Story So Far:

MONDAY: (1) Kirsten Flipkens def. Shahar Peer 6-2 6-2

Shahar Peer had already fallen out of the Top Hundred — and will stay there.

MONDAY: Dabrowski/Kudryavtseva def. (1) Hlavackova/Hradecka 4-6 6-4 10-4

Hlavackova/Hradecka just fell from #3 and #4 to #4 and #5 behind Nadia Petrova — but this is still unreal.

WEDNESDAY

Singles – Second Round: (1) Kirsten Flipkens def. Lesia Tsurenko 7-5 3-6 6-3

It’s possible that this will put Kirsten Flipkens in the Top Thirty. One more win would probably clinch.

Singles – Second Round: Marina Erakovic def. (2) Sofia Arvidsson 6-1 3-6 6-3

Sofia Arvidsson was last year’s champion. This will drop her to around #50.

Singles – Second Round: (3) Sabine Lisicki def. Melinda Czink 7-6 4-6 6-2

Sabine Lisicki needs one more win to defend her points and have any hope of staying Top Forty.

Singles – Second Round: (4) Heather Watson def. Andrea Hlavackova 2-6 6-0 6-3

Heather Watson will be hitting the Top Forty — and she is the only seed left in the bottom half.

Singles – Second Round: (8) Kristina Mladenovic def. Victoria Duval 6-1 3-6 6-3

Just making the second round should take Victoria Duval, #451 coming in, above #400.

Singles – Second Round: Stefanie Voegele def. Claire Feuerstein 3-6 7-6(7-2) 6-1

Stefanie Voegele is now just below #80.

Bogota

Big Results Before Wednesday:

TUESDAY: (5) Flavia Pennetta def. Alexandra Panova 4-6 6-3 6-3

Alexandra Panova is back out of the Top Hundred, and she will stay there. But the big news is surely that Flavia Pennetta is back. Unfortunately, she is defending points, so she still needs one more win just to stay in place.

WEDNESDAY

Singles – First Round: (1) Jelena Jankovic def. Julia Cohen 6-4 5-7 6-2

Jelena Jankovic has 200 points to defend this week. She needs at least one, and probably two, more wins to stay Top thirty. Not a good way to start….

Singles – First Round: Mariana Duque-Marino def. Estrella Cabeza Candela 6-3 3-6 6-4

This place has a history of being magic for Mariana Duque-Marino. Magic enough to earn her her first WTA win since Bastad last July!

Singles – Second Round: (Q) Teliana Pereira def. (2) Alize Cornet 7-5 6 6-7(2-7) 6-2

No, there is nothing in Teliana Pereira’s history to indicate that this was coming. This is her first WTA tournament; her only previous result of any significance was a quarterfinal at last week’s Cali $125K event. Maybe she just has good stamina; this lasted more than three hours.

Singles – Second Round: Mandy Minella def. (8) Timea Babos 6-1 6-4

Last year, Timea Babos made the semifinal here. Those points are already off, but this means she won’t regain the ground.

Singles – Second Round: Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor def. Mathilde Johansson 7-6(7-3) 6-3

Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor played her first WTA event almost four years ago, at Marbella 2009. She finally picks up her first WTA win after nine losses.

Doubles – Quarterfinal: (1) Birnerova/Panova def. Beltrame/Thorpe .1-6 7-6(7-3) 10-6

Topics: Bogota, Dubai, Julia Goerges, Memphis, Serena Williams, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Victoria Azarenka