Women Tennis Updates – Budapest, Palermo, and Canada vs Serbia Fed Cup

Written by: Staff on 10th July 2013

Women Tennis Updates - Budapest, Palermo, and Canada vs Serbia Fed Cup

epa03755250 Rumanian Simona Halep reacts after defeating Belgian Kirsten Flipkens during the final of the ATP-tennistournament Topshelf Open in Rosmalen, Netherlands, 22 June 2013. EPA/KOEN VAN WEEL |

Budapest

Singles – Second Round: (3) Simona Halep def. (WC) Agnes Bukta 6-1 6-1
Simona Halep remains one of the hottest players on the WTA right now. We show her rising to probably #26.

Singles – Second Round: (4) Annika Beck def. Lucie Hradecka 6-3 6-3
This event had no qualifying draw, so when Lucie Hradecka’s first round opponent pulled out, there was no one to replace her. Hradecka ended up with a first round bye — and so she earned no points for playing here. For Annika Beck, this will likely be enough to put her in the Top Fifty.

Singles – Second Round: Yvonne Meusburger def. (5) Johanna Larsson 3-6 6-4 6-4
Given how incredibly weak this draw is, you’d think the seeds would do better. But Larsson was the third seed to go down. Yvonne Meusburger is getting close to a return to the Top Hundred.

Singles – Second Round: Timea Babos def. (7) Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor 1-6 6-4 7-6(7-4)
What a place for upsets…. To be sure, there was a time when Timea Babos looked like a promising young player. Then she fizzled completely. Maybe being at home in Hungary is bringing out her best.

Doubles – First Round: (1) Hlavackova/Hradecka def. (WC) Barzo/Galfi 6-3 6-1
Hlavackova/Hradecka have been struggling lately, but an event like this — where the opposition is almost trivial — might be just what they need to get back on track. It certainly should be an easy event to win — instead of the usual 16-team draw, there are only eight teams, and only two seeded pairs (Babos/Rosolska being the other). So this was a “quarterfinal” match — but also a first round match.

Doubles – First Round: Grandin/Martic def. Olaru/Solovyeva 6-4 6-2

Palermo

Results – Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Singles – Second Round

(1/WC) Sara Errani (ITA) d. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 63 62

(7) Sílvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) d. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) 62 10 ret. (GI illness)

Dinah Pfizenmaier (GER) d. Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 61 61

Renata Voracova (CZE) d (WC) Corinna Dentoni (ITA) 75 61

Singles – First Round

(3) Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) d. (Q) Maria Joao Koehler (POR) 61 76(5)

Doubles – Quarterfinals

(1) Mladenovic/Piter (FRA/POL) d. Domínguez Lino/Parra Santonja (ESP/ESP) 63 61

Doubles – First Round

Pliskova/Pliskova (CZE/CZE) d. (2) Husarova/Soler-Espinosa (SVK/ESP) 67(5) 62 108 (Match TB)

Garcia/Zanevska (FRA/UKR) d. Clerico/Sadikovic (ITA/SUI) 63 61

Duque-Mariño/Pereira (COL/BRA) d. Barrois/Rottmann (GER/AUT) 61 64

Order Of Play – Thursday, July 11, 2013

Centre (from 16.00hrs)

1. Lourdes Domínguez Lino vs. Nastassja Burnett

2. Klara Zakopalova vs. Karin Knapp (NB 18.30hrs)

3. Polona Hercog vs. Roberta Vinci (NB 20.30hrs)

4. Knapp/Pennetta vs. Garcia/Zanevska

Court 2 (from 17.00hrs)

1. Estrella Cabeza Candela vs. Kristina Mladenovic

2. Birnerova/Buryachok vs. Voracova/Zahlavova Strycova

3. Duque-Mariño/Pereira vs. Pliskova/Pliskova

Singles – First Round: (1) Sara Errani def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-3 6-2
Sara Errani just keeps winning here — although, as defending champion, she can’t move in the rankings no matter what she does.
This was a rematch of last year’s final, so Barbora Zahlavova Strycova — who is trying to rebuild her ranking after a suspension — will suffer badly. Having just put herself back in the Top Hundred (#96), she will fall to probably slightly below #130.

Singles – First Round: (3) Kristina Mladenovic def. Maria Joao Koehler 6-1 7-6(7-5)
No real movement for Kristina Mladenovic yet, but she could easily rise to #35 or higher this week.

Singles – Second Round: (7) Silvia Soler-Espinosa def. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-2 1-0, retired
Mirjana Lucic is back out of the Top Hundred again, and this obviously isn’t going to help.

Singles – Second Round: Dinah Pfizenmaier def. Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1 6-1
A year or two ago, Dinah Pfizenmaier seemed like a moderately promising clay player. Then — nothing. (Yes, we know, we just said that about Timea Babos, too. There seem to be a lot of players like that….) This looks rather promising, though — Anabel Medina Garrigues is slowing down, but she likes clay and knows this event very well. Pfizenmaier is getting close to the Top Hundred.

Singles – Second Round: Renata Voracova def. (WC) Corinna Dentoni 7-5 6-1
Renata Voracova was never much of a singles player, but she was doing very well in doubles for a while. Then she got hurt, and it seems as if she has been attempting constant comebacks ever since. This has to be very good news for her — she can really use the money.

Doubles – First Round: Garcia/Zanevska def. Clerico/Sadikovic 6-3 6-1

Doubles – First Round: Duque Marino/Pereira def. Barrois/Rottmann 6-1 6-4

Doubles – Quarterfinal: (1) Mladenovic/Piter def. Dominguez Lino/Parra Santonja 6-3 6-1

Doubles – Quarterfinal: Pliskova/Pliskova def. (2) Husarova/Soler-Espinosa 6-7(5-7) 6-2 10-8

This Week’s Movers — Women

Each week, Daily Tennis will look at the biggest movers of the week, looking at how they did what they did.

Biggest Upward Mover — Most Places Moved (Top 100)

Leader: Flavia Pennetta — Moved 66 places, from #166 to #100.
Helped by Victoria Azarenka’s withdrawal, Pennetta made the Wimbledon fourth round.

Runner-Up: Michelle Larcher de Brito — Moved 33 places, from #131 to #98
Larcher de Brito qualified for Wimbledon, and she won both the screeching contest and the tennis match with Maria Sharapova in the second round.

Biggest Percentage Mover — Cut Ranking By Highest Percent (Top 100)

Leader: Marion Bartoli — Moved 8 places, 53%, from #15 to #7
Bartoli of course won her first Slam.

Runner-Up: Kaia Kanepi — Moved 22 places, 48%, from #46 to #24
Kanepi made the Wimbledon quarterfinal to get her ranking close to where it belongs.

Biggest Loser — Most Places Lost (Top 100)

Loser: Tamira Paszek — Dropped 57 places, from #57 to #114
Last year, Paszek won Eastbourne then made the Wimbledon quarterfinal. This year, she did nothing at either. Not only did her ranking double after Wimbledon; it quadrupled in the three weeks from Eastbourne to now.

Biggest Percentage Loser — Worst Percentage Increase in Ranking (Top 100)

Loser: Paszek, ranking increased 100%.

Ranking Notes

What a week! Twelve players improved their rankings by at least 20%: Bartoli (52%), Kanepi (48%), Pennetta (40%), Sharapova (33%, to #2, less because of what she did than because of what Azarenka failed to do), Karin Knapp (31%, to #72), Laura Robson (29%, to #27), Larcher de Brito (25%, to #98), Sabine Lisicki (25%, to #18), Kirsten Flipkens (25%, to #15), Monica Puig (25%, to #49), Kimiko Date-Krumm (23%, to #65), and Tsvetana Pironkova (21%, to #57).

On the down side, Paszek is down an amazing 100%. Victoria Azarenka lost 50%, to #3. Ana Ivanovic is down 42%, to #17. Other substantial losers are Francesca Schiavone (down 33%, to #60), Peng Shuai (down 31%, to #34, but she won the doubles, so she probably isn’t too unhappy), Camila Giorgi (down 30%, to #121), Anna Tatishvili (down 29%, to #101 — pretty funny that she is seeded at Budapest), and Angelique Kerber (down 29%, to #9).

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CANADA TO FACE SERBIA IN FED CUP
World Group II first round tie to take place in Canada on February 8 & 9, 2014

Montreal, July 10, 2013 – The International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced Wednesday that Canada will play Serbia in a Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group II first round tie from February 8-9, 2014. The tie will be played in Canada. Choice of surface, venue, and team nominations will be decided at a later date.

“We are very excited to be back in World Group and look forward to facing Serbia again this time on our home court in front of our fans,” said Sylvain Bruneau, captain of the Miele Canadian Fed Cup team. “We have a young team who gained a lot of experience this year. This will be a big challenge, but I know that the girls will be ready for it.”

Canada was promoted to World Group II for the first time since 2011 after defeating Ukraine 3-2 in a World Group playoff in Kiev this spring. Bruneau’s team consisted of Eugenie Bouchard (Westmount, QC), Gabriela Dabrowski (Ottawa, ON), Stéphanie Dubois (Laval, QC), and Sharon Fichman (Toronto, ON).

The Canadian squad will have the chance to avenge the 3-2 road loss they suffered against Serbia in 2011. The tie was played indoors on hard court in Novi Sad. The two countries had met just once previously in 1980 when Serbia, known at that time as Yugoslavia, posted a 2-1 victory.

In 2013, Serbia lost both of its ties in World Group. In April, they were defeated 3-2 by Slovakia in their World Group playoff and were therefore relegated to World Group II for 2014. Bojana Jovanovski and Vesna Dolonc, ranked no. 37 and no. 84 respectively on the world rankings, represented their country in Fed Cup in 2013.
Canada currently sits at no. 16 on the Fed Cup rankings while Serbia is ranked no. 4.

WORLD GROUP II FIRST ROUND TIES

February 8-9, 2014

Canada vs. SERBIA
SWEDEN vs. Poland
France vs. SWITZERLAND
Argentina vs. JAPAN

Home nations listed first, seeded nations in capitals

The four winning nations will qualify for a World Group playoff tie in April 2014, while the four losing nations will try to keep their spot in World Group II for 2015 against a winning nation from the various Group I zonal competitions.

This year for the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank in Toronto, the Grandstand Court will be named , Canadian Champions Grandstand Court in recognition the Miele Canadian Fed Cup team returning to World Group II.

Topics: Annika Beck, Budapest tennis news, Canadian tennis news, Palermo tennis news, Sara Errani, Serbian tennis news, Simona Halep, Sports, Timea Babos, Wta, Yvonne Meusburger