Baku
London-based Croatian teenager Donna Vekic fulfilled her second-seed status in one of the farthest flung events on the WTA calendar as she won her opening round in central Asia over local Azerbaijan wild card entry Nazrin Jafarova with a comfortable 6-1, 6-0 result in 49 minutes. Fourth seed Alexandra Cadantu of Romanian advanced over Michaella Krajicek 2-6, 6-0, 6-3.
There were also wins for Slovenia’s Tadeja Majeric, who beat Czech fifth seed Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-4, and Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, a winner over Russian Daria Gavrilova 6-4, 6-0. Serbian Bojana Jovanovski is defending her 2012 title as top seed ahead of Vekic, 17, the youngest player in the WTA top 100. The Croatian is coached by David Felgate, former mentor to Tim Henman.
Stanford
Two Americans reached the second round as the tournament struggles to recover from injury pullouts which have included Maria Sharapova, Wimbledon winner Marion Bartoli and finalist Sabine Lisicki. But the woman touted last week by the event as their Next Big Thing, former Stanford player Mallory Burdette, was quickly eliminated in her opening match, going down quickly to former French Open winner Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-3.
Otherwise, there were first-round victories for youngsters Madison Keys, who beat eighth seed Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-2 and Nicole Gibbs, a winner over Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens 6-4, 6-1. Olga Govortsova of Belarus beat Germany’s Julia Goerges 7-6(2), 6-2, while fifth seed Sorana Cirstea passed up Japan’s Ayumi Morita 6-2, 6-2 and Swiss Stefanie Voegele defeated Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-0.
RANKINGS
Estimated WTA Rankings As of July 22, 2013
Rank &
Prior
Rank….Name…………..Points
1 (1) SWilliams 11705
2 (2) Sharapova 9235
3 (3) Azarenka 8825
4 (4) ARADWANSKA 5965*
5 (5) Li 5555
6 (6) Errani 5100
7 (7) Kvitova 4435
8 (8) Bartoli 4365
9 (9) Kerber 3970
10 (10) Wozniacki 3660
11 (11) Vinci 3220
12 (12) Kirilenko 2976
13 (13) STOSUR 2965*
14 (14) Flipkens 2886
15 (15) Stephens 2870
16 (16) Jankovic 2865
17 (17) Ivanovic 2740
18 (18) Lisicki 2650
19 (19) Suarez Navarro 2430
20 (20) Petrova 2306
21 (21) Vesnina 1889
22 (22) Halep 1885
23 (23) Pavlyuchenkova 1795
24 (24) Kanepi 1781
25 (25) CIBULKOVA 1776*
26 (26) Makarova 1742
27 (27) Kuznetsova 1657
28 (28) Safarova 1655
29 (29) HAMPTON 1627*
30 (30) Cornet 1580
DRAWS
Stanford — Week of July 22
1 A Radwanska
–bye
Burdette
Schiavone
Qualifier
Paszek
Qualifier
6 Lepchenko
4 Hampton
–bye
Bertens
Gibbs (WC)
Qualifier
Erakovic
Keys
8 Rybarikova
7 U Radwanska
McHale
Wickmayer
Hantuchova
Voegele
Tomljanovic (WC)
–bye
3 Cibulkova
5 Cirstea
Morita
Qualifier
Niculescu
Goerges
Govortsova
–bye
2 Stosur
Baku — Week of July 22
1 Jovanovski
Abduraimova
Jabeur (WC)
Gavrilova
Qualifier
Cohen
Kr. Pliskova
8 Dolonc
3 Scheepers
Hlavackova
Peer
Kremen
Qualifier
Qualifier
Majeric
5 Ka. Pliskova
6 Hercog
Voskoboeva
Daniilidou
Qualifier
Farhad (WC)
Minella
Krajicek
4 Cadantu
7 Svitolina
Krunic
Burnett
Tatishvili
Qualifier
Qualifier
Jafarova (WC)
2 Vekic
MONDAY
Baku
Singles – First Round
(2) Donna Vekic (CRO) d. (WC) Nazrin Jafarova (AZE) 61 60
(4) Alexandra Cadantu (ROU) d. Michaella Krajicek (NED) 26 60 63
Tadeja Majeric (SLO) d. (5) Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 75 64
(WC) Ons Jabeur (TUN) d. Daria Gavrilova (RUS) 64 60
Singles Qualifying – Final Round
(2) Magda Linette (POL) d. Irina Buryachok (UKR) 62 75
(3) Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) d. (12) Marina Melnikova (RUS) 63 64
(7) Tetyana Arefyeva (UKR) d. (4) Alberta Brianti (ITA) 16 64 61
(6) Veronika Kapshay (UKR) d. (9) Yuliya Kalabina (RUS) 61 63
(11) Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO) d. (WC) Oleksandra Korashvili (UKR) 62 61
Tereza Martincova (CZE) d. (13) Ysaline Bonaventure (BEL) 62 75
Stanford
Singles – First Round
(5) Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. Ayumi Morita (JPN) 62 62
Madison Keys (USA) d. (8) Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 62 62
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) d. (WC) Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO) 64 60
Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Mallory Burdette (USA) 75 63
Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 76(2) 62
(WC) Nicole Gibbs (USA) d. Kiki Bertens (NED) 64 61
Singles Qualifying – Final Round
(5) Vera Dushevina (RUS) d. (1) Olga Puchkova (RUS) 64 64
(2) Michelle Larcher de Brito (POR) d. Natalie Grandin (RSA) 63 62
Coco Vandeweghe (USA) d. (3) Sharon Fichman (CAN) 64 63
(4) Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) d. (6) Sacha Jones (AUS) 62 75