Women Tennis News – Charleston and Monterrey (04-07-13)

Written by: Staff on 7th April 2013

Sony Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Florida

Women Tennis News - Charleston and Monterrey (04-07-13)

epa03644082 Serena Williams of the USA returns the ball against Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland during their semifinals match at the Sony Open tennis tournament in Miami, Florida, USA, 28 March 2013. Williams won in straight sets and will meet Maria Sharapova in the finals. EPA/RHONA WISE |

Charleston

Singles – Final: (1) Serena Williams def. (9) Jelena Jankovic 3-6 6-0 6-2
Poor Jelena Jankovic. Things seemed to be going so well — and then Serena Williams turned into Serena, and it was lights out. Jankovic is on a very good run, with a semifinal at Miami and now this — but the loss means she won’t rise this week; she stays stuck at #18.
Serena is stuck too, of course, since she can’t rise higher than #1! And she merely defended her points. But she is 23-2 this year (plus a withdrawal), meaning that she has won 92% of her matches. She has three titles, Brisbane, Miami, and Charleston. She now has an 11 match winning streak. It will be almost impossible for anyone to overtake her before Wimbledon.

Doubles – Final: Mladenovic/Safarova def. (1) Hlavackova/Huber 6-3 7-6(8-6)
This was quite an impressive win for Mladenovic/Safarova; they beat both #3 seeds King/Raymond and #1 Hlavackova/Huber. Admittedly there isn’t a lot of love of clay in that list, but this was a strong draw, and Mladenovic and Safarova won it. It’s the fourth doubles title in the last year for Kristina Mladenovic; she won the Canadian Open with Jans-Ignacik, Quebec City with Malek, and Memphis with Voskoboeva. Quite a year! It’s clear that she is maturing into a top doubles player.
Lucie Safarova seems to be maturing into a top Charleston doubles player. It’s her second straight title here; she has never won any other WTA titles. Still, she is 14-7 in 2013 (mostly with Pavlyuchenkova, but two of those wins were with Hlavackova and of course four with Mladenovic). It will be interesting to see if she can keep this up.

Monterrey

Saturday (Complete Results)

Singles – Semifinal: (1) Angelique Kerber def. (3) Maria Kirilenko 6-4 2-6 6-2
Maria Kirilenko loses her chance to rise above #12.

Singles – Semifinal: (5) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Monica Niculescu 3-6 6-2 6-4
Monica Niculescu trailed in the third, and almost managed to level things, but not quite. She will have to settle for rising from #51 to #46. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will go from #26 to #23 — and will be Top Twenty if she wins the title.

Doubles – Semifinal: (1) Babos/Date-Krumm def. Muhammed/Will .7-5 6-4

Sunday

Singles – Final: (5) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. (1) Angelique Kerber 4-6 6-2 6-4
It may be early April, but it was so hot in Mexico that they had a heat break after the third set. Understandably; it was obvious that Angelique Kerber wilted — although she staged a big comeback to get two breaks back in the third set.
It was perhaps pretty close to inevitable. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova now has four career titles — and three of them have been here, in 2010, 2011, and now 2013. Her only other title was at Istanbul 2010. She has obviously been waiting quite a while to get back into the winner’s circle. Her reward is that she will climb from #26 to probably #20.
She is having a very strange year. She has eight events. She had a final at Brisbane, a semifinal at Kuala Lumpur, and now this. The other five events ended in first round losses. It will be interesting to see whether the Jekyll or Hyde act continues.
Angelique Kerber was going to be #6 no matter what. But she has been struggling this year; that ranking is certain to come under threat during the clay season. A win would definitely have helped.

Doubles – Final: (1) Babos/Date-Krumm def. (3) Birnerova/Tanasugarn 6-1 6-4
Timea Babos must really like this place. Last year, she won the singles, her only WTA singles title. This year, she adds a doubles title. Although that’s not quite as special, since she has two other doubles titles in the last twelve months, at Birmingham and Bogota. Which is fairly impressive for a young player — three titles, and on three different surfaces. She is 15-5 this year. Hard to believe she is only #60 in doubles. But that’s changing.
Kimiko Date-Krumm win her second doubles title of the year, following Pattaya City. Interesting to see a veteran and a newcomer teaming up so well.

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Topics: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Angelique Kerber, HLAVACKOVA, Huber, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Kirilenko, Mladenovic, Monica Niculescu, Safarova, Serena Williams