Cincinnati
American Sloane Stephens snatched her second major scalp of the season as she sent former champion Maria Sharapova out in the second round 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3. Sharapova was making her return to tennis seven weeks after her last match, a second-round Wimbledon loss which was followed by hip problems. In addition, she hired Jimmy Connors as a coach.
The four-time grand slam champion was devilled by more than 60 unforced errors, with a nervous Stephens, who beat Serena Williams at the Australian Open, double-faulting on two match points before finally claiming the victory.
“I started the match off pretty well, but when you put yourself in a really good position you can’t let it go. That’s what I did tonight,” said Sharapova. “I didn’t continue what I was doing well for the first set and a half, and that hurt me. I stopped being patient, I started making a lot more errors, especially off the first ball. Just errors that I shouldn’t make.”
Second seed Victoria Azarenka advanced to the third round as she returned to the hard courts after skipping last week’s Toronto date with injury. Her 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) defeat of Vania King was a study in contrasting momentum. “The beginning of the second set wasn’t very good for me. There were quite a few unforced errors and just really fast mistakes, which didn’t happen in the first set,” said the No. 2.
In the first round, Germans Mona Barthel and Andrea Petkovic both won, with Barthel defeating Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-4 and Petkovic stopping Daniela Hantuchova 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. But two other Germans tumbled out as Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova, the Washington champion, beat Julia Goerges 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, and Russian Ekaterina Makarova defeated Annika Beck 6-3, 6-2.
Former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, the tenth seed, crushed China’s Peng Shuai 6-1, 6-1 while Russian Elena Vesnina eliminated 13th seed Kirsten Flipkens 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, while American Varvara Lepchenko and Jamie Hampton won opening matches.
RANKINGS
Estimated WTA Rankings As of August 13, 2013
Rank &
Prior
Rank….Name…………..Points
1 (1) SWILLIAMS 11920*
2 (2) AZARENKA 8805*
3 (3) SHARAPOVA 8765
4 (4) ARADWANSKA 6230*
5 (6) ERRANI 5125*
6 (5) LI 4555*
7 (7) BARTOLI 4365*
8 (10) WOZNIACKI 3465*
9 (9) KVITOVA 3435*
10 (8) KERBER 3365*
11 (11) STOSUR 3210*
12 (12) VINCI 3120*
13 (13) FLIPKENS 2961
14 (14) IVANOVIC 2940
14 (15) JANKOVIC 2940*
16 (16) KIRILENKO 2870*
17 (17) STEPHENS 2865*
18 (18) LISICKI 2556
19 (19) CIBULKOVA 2400
20 (20) SUAREZ NAVARRO 2375
21 (21) CIRSTEA 2260*
22 (22) Petrova 2212
23 (23) VESNINA 1958*
24 (25) HALEP 1885*
25 (26) HAMPTON 1881*
26 (24) MAKAROVA 1816*
27 (27) Kanepi 1781
28 (28) CORNET 1730*
29 (29) KUZNETSOVA 1679
30 (31) Robson 1561
DRAWS
Cincinnati — Week of August 12
1 S. Williams
–bye
Puig (Q)
Bouchard (Q)
Barthel
Safarova
Tatishvili (Q)
16 Kirilenko
11 Stosur
Kuznetsova
Pavlyuchenkova
Hampton
Halep
Hsieh
–bye
7 Bartoli
4 A Radwanska
–bye
Pennetta
Lepchenko
Cepelova (Q)
V. Williams
Vesnina
13 Flipkens
9 Kerber
Knapp (Q)
Arvidsson (Q)
Kleybanova
Davis (WC)
Zakopalova
–bye
5 Li
6 Errani
–bye
Cibulkova
Hercog (Q)
Hantuchova (WC)
Petkovic (Q)
Mattek-Sands (WC)
12 Vinci
14 Jankovic
Lisicki
Beck (Q)
Makarova
Stephens
Martic (Q)
–bye
3 Sharapova
7 Kvitova
–bye
Erakovic (Q)
Suarez Navarro
Wickmayer
Cirstea
Peng
10 Wozniacki
15 Ivanovic
Cornet
Rybarikova
Goerges
King (Q)
Mladenovic
–bye
2 Azarenka
TUESDAY
Cincinnati
Singles – Second Round
(2) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (Q) Vania King (USA) 61 76(6)
Sloane Stephens (USA) d. (3) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 26 76(5) 63
Singles – First Round
(10) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Peng Shuai (CHN) 61 61
Elena Vesnina (RUS) d. (13) Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 36 61 63
(14) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Sabine Lisicki (GER) 76(5) 57 62
Alizé Cornet (FRA) d. (15) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 26 76(8) 64 (saved 5mp)
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. (Q) Annika Beck (GER) 63 62
Jamie Hampton (USA) d. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 75 46 63
Mona Barthel (GER) d. Lucie Safarova (CZE) 63 64
Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 62 46 64
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d. Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 62 26 62
(Q) Andrea Petkovic (GER) d. (WC) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 26 64 61
(Q) Polona Hercog (SLO) d. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 62 64
(LL) Monica Niculescu (ROU) d. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 61 62
Doubles – First Round
(6) Groenefeld/Peschke (GER/CZE) d. Husarova/Niculescu (SVK/ROU) 62 63
(7) Chan/Srebotnik (TPE/SLO) d. Aoyama/Scheepers (JPN/RSA) 63 62
Huber/Llagostera Vives (USA/ESP) d. Mladenovic/Voskoboeva (FRA/KAZ) 76(3) 63
Pavlyuchenkova/Safarova (RUS/CZE) d. Lepchenko/Zheng (USA/CHN) 64 63
(WC) Kerber/Petkovic (GER/GER) d. Black/Erakovic (ZIM/NZL) 76(5) 76(6)
(WC) King/Kleybanova (USA/RUS) d. Grandin/Jurak (RSA/CRO) 64 75