EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
* Last year’s Quebec City finalist Hradecka loses opener
* #8 seed Garcia upset by McHale
* Bouchard wins but is hurt
* Carnage continues among Tashkent seeds; Jovanovski only seed still standing
TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS
Quebec City (Wednesday)
Singles – First Round: (5) Eugenie Bouchard def. Sofia Arvidsson 6-1 2-6 7-6(7-0)
Sofia Arvidsson’s best surface is indoors, so it was a shock when this proved such a blowout for a set and a half. Eugenie Bouchard was up 6-1 2-0, with chances for 3-0, and lost her grip for the rest of the set (she is said to have suffered a thigh injury — she pulled out of her doubles match at the last moment). Then they struggled through the third. It looks as if this will leave Arvidsson a little below the Top Hundred. Bouchard defends her points; if she can reach the semifinal, she will be Top Fifty. But, of course, she is hurting.
Singles – First Round: Petra Martic def. Lucie Hradecka 6-4 7-6(7-1)
There may have been some fatigue involved here, since Lucie Hradecka had just flown in from winning the U. S. Open doubles. But it’s a dreadful loss for Hradecka, who was defending finalist points. She had fallen from #82 to #104 after the U. S. Open, and with this, she will fall below #130.
First Round: Andrea Hlavackova def. Anastasia Rodionova 7-6(7-3) 5-7 6-1
It was a tough day to be a U. S. Open doubles champion! Andrea Hlavackova won, but it took her two and a quarter hours. Still, she should rise back above #140.
Second Round: (6) Marina Erakovic def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2 6-1
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova was defending quarterfinalist points; she will fall to around #115.
Second Round: Christina McHale def. (8) Caroline Garcia 2-6 7-6(9-7) 6-3
Christina McHale really does seem to have finally come back to life. She rose thirty places last week (to #84), and this quarterfinal should gain her about half a dozen more.
Second Round: Polona Hercog def. Julie Coin 6-0 6-2
Polona Hercog is in a bad spot to move, but this should take her to around #80.
Doubles – First Round: Abanda/Zhao def. Dekmeijere/Pluskota 6-3 2-6 10-5
Doubles – First Round: Muhammad/Will def. (Alt) Hsu/Melichar 3-6 6-2 11-9
Doubles – Quarterfinal: Barrois/Daniilidou def. Sanchez/Slater 6-4 7-5
Tashkent (Thursday)
Singles – Quarterfinal: (1/Q) Bojana Jovanovski def. (7) Galina Voskoboeva 1-6 6-4 7-6(7-5)
It’s perhaps fitting that the only contest between seeds here was incredibly tough. Too bad these two had to meet so soon. This takes Bojana Jovanovski above #55.
Singles – Quarterfinal: Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor def. (3) Yvonne Meusburger 6-3 6-0
Yvonne Meusburger will probably be a little above #65.
Singles – Quarterfinal: Olga Govortsova def. (5) Alexandra Cadantu 6-3 6-2
Alexandra Cadantu was defending quarterfinalist points, so she stays stuck right where she came in. Olga Govortsova puts herself back in the Top Hundred.
Singles – Quarterfinal: Mandy Minella def. Nastassja Burnett 7-6(7-4) 7-5
Mandy Minella rises to about #110 — right where she was before the U. S. Open. That will help her significantly in getting into tournaments.
Doubles – Quarterfinal: (2) Govortsova/Minella def. Kichenok/Kichenok 6-1 6-3
Doubles – Quarterfinal: Savinykh/Torro-Flor def. Begu/Cadantu 2-6 6-3 13-11
Player News
The only news report we’ve seen of this was in Russian, so we aren’t going to try to give details, but word is that former Top Five player Anna Chakvetadze has officially retired.
TODAY’S FEATURE
Expecting the Unexpected
We have noted in the past that Tashkent has a history of surprise tournament champions. Just for fun, we thought we’d follow up on that. We decided to look at the careers of all Tashkent winners starting in 2001. The list:
2001: Bianka Lamade
2002: Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian
2003: Virgina Ruano Pascual
2004: Nicole Vaidisova
2005: Michaella Krajicek
2006: Sun Tiantian
2007: Pauline Parmentier
2008: Sorana Cirstea
2009: Shahar Peer
2010: Alla Kudryavtseva
2011: Ksenia Pervak
2012: Irina-Camelia Begu
Tashkent was a breakthrough for Lamade, but it didn’t lead to much. She had only nine more WTA wins in her career, and played her last match at Memphis 2003.
Mikaelian had a very solid year after Tashkent 2002. She made the Quebec City final later in 2002, then made the final of Gold Coast at the beginning of 2003. Sadly, she had only 19 more WTA wins after that. She was still playing WTA events as late as 2005 (her last WTA win was at the 2005 Pan Pacific, and she still played qualifying and Challengers in 2006), but had only one more career quarterfinal (Stanford 2003).
Tashkent 2003 was the last of Ruano Pascual’s three career singles titles, but of course she has had a terrific doubles career, with the seven of her ten women’s doubles Slams being earned after Tashkent.
Tashkent 2004 was the second title of Vaidisova’s career; she earned four after that. She, however, burned out completely and utterly.
Tashkent 2005 was the first WTA title for Michaella Krajicek; she would go on to win Hobart and ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2006. Since then, she has struggled. She showed some life in the last two years, but remains a non-factor.
For Sun Tiantian, Tashkent 2006 has been her only career title, and she had only four singles wins afterward. She remained significant in doubles for some time, but now is gone.
Tashkent 2007 was the first title for Pauline Parmentier, but she has since won Bad Gastein 2008. She has been very up-and-down, but remains an active player and may win additional titles.
Tashkent 2008 remains the only title of Sorana Cirstea’s career. Still, she has matured into a regular Top Fifty player who has spent some time in the Top Thirty.
Shahar Peer has five career titles — and the other four came before she won Tashkent 2009. Still, she has been Top Twenty for much of the time since. There isn’t much doubt that she is the most consistent player to have won Tashkent. But she is now in a horrid slump.
Tashkent 2010 remains Alla Kudryavtseva’s only career title, although she is another who is still active and with a chance for more. But she will have to do a lot better than she is doing right now.
Ksenia Pervak, the 2011 winner, is still active, and still young, and might eventually achieve more. But she has been in a two year funk since.
Irina-Camelia Begu is also still fairly new, and has been more consistent than Pervak — but still no titles since Tashkent. And she lost early at Tashkent this year.
On the whole, it isn’t a very inspiring list. Vaidisova was good but burned out. Cirstea can beat most players on a good day but rarely puts together long winning streaks. Peer was solid but has struggled. Pervak and Begu remain a question marks. The rest are mostly not even that. One can only say that a title at Tashkent doesn’t predict much for the future.
THIS WEEK IN TENNIS
THIS WEEK ON THE WTA:
Quebec City (International/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Kirsten Flipkens
Tashkent (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Irina-Camelia Begu
NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:
Seoul (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Caroline Wozniacki
Guangzhou (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Hsieh Su-Wei
STATS AND FACTS
RANKINGS
Estimated WTA Rankings As of September 12, 2013
Rank &
Prior
Rank….Name…………..Points
1..(1) SWilliams ………12260
2..(2) Azarenka ………..9505
3..(3) Sharapova ……… 7866
4..(4) ARadwanska ………6335
5..(5) Li ……………..5565
6..(6) Errani ………….4325
7..(7) Bartoli ……….. 3746
8..(8) Wozniacki ……… 3645
9..(9) Kerber ………….3420
10.(10) Jankovic ………..3245
11.(11) Kvitova ……….. 3170
12.(12) Vinci …………. 3065
13.(13) Stephens ………..3045
14.(15) Suarez Navarro …..2775
15.(16) Lisicki ……….. 2770
16.(17) Ivanovic ………..2720
17.(18) Stosur ………….2715
18.(19) Halep …………. 2630
19.(20) Kirilenko ……… 2620
20.(14) FLIPKENS ………..2556
21.(21) Makarova ………..2275
22.(22) Cirstea ……….. 2250
23.(23) Cibulkova ……… 2126
24.(24) Vesnina ……….. 2125
25.(25) Hampton ……….. 2036
26.(26) Kanepi ………….1941
27.(27) Petrova ……….. 1937
28.(28) Kuznetsova ………1839
29.(29) Cornet ………….1790
30.(30) Hantuchova ………1680
DRAWS
Quebec City — Week of September 8
……………….QF
1 Flipkens………Hercog
8 Garcia………..McHale
4 Mattek-Sands
6 Erakovic………(6)Erakovic
7 Davis
3 Safarova (WC)
5 Bouchard
2 Mladenovic
Status of Seeds:
1 Flipkens……..lost 1R (Hercog)
2 Mladenovic
3 Safarova (WC)
4 Mattek-Sands
5 Bouchard
6 Erakovic
7 Davis
8 Garcia……….lost 2R (McHale)
Tashkent — Week of September 8
………………QF…………….SF
1 Jovanovski (Q)..(1)Jovanovski(Q)..Jovanovski
7 Voskoboeva……(7)Voskoboeva
3 Meusburger……(3)Meusburger
6 Begu…………Torro-Flor……..Torro-Flor
5 Cadantu………(5)Cadantu
4 Vekic………..Govortsova……..Govortsova
8 Shvedova……..Minella………..Minella
2 Tsurenko……..Burnett
Status of seeds:
1 Jovanovski (Q)
2 Tsurenko………lost 1R (Burnett)
3 Meusburger…….lost QF (Torro-Flor)
4 Vekic…………lost 2R (Govortsova)
5 Cadantu……….lost QF (Govortsova)
6 Begu………….lost 2R (Torro-Flor)
7 Voskoboeva…….lost QF (Jovanovski)
8 Shvedova………lost 1R (Dolonc)
SCORES
WEDNESDAY
Quebec City
Singles – First Round
Petra Martic def. Lucie Hradecka 6-4 7-6(7-1)
(5) Eugenie Bouchard def. Sofia Arvidsson 6-1 2-6 7-6.(7-0)
Andrea Hlavackova def. Anastasia Rodionova 7-6(7-3) 5-7 6-1
Singles – Second Round
(6) Marina Erakovic def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2 6-1
Christina McHale def. (8) Caroline Garcia 2-6 7-6(9-7) 6-3
Polona Hercog def. Julie Coin 6-0 6-2
Doubles – First Round
Muhammad/Will def. (Alt) Hsu/Melichar 3-6 6-2 11-9
Abanda/Zhao def. Dekmeijere/Pluskota 6-3 2-6 10-5
Doubles – Quarterfinal
Barrois/Daniilidou def. Sanchez/Slater 6-4 7-5
THURSDAY
Tashkent
Singles – Quarterfinal
(1/Q) Bojana Jovanovski def. (7) Galina Voskoboeva 1-6 6-4 7-6(7-5)
Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor def. (3) Yvonne Meusburger 6-3 6-0
Olga Govortsova def. (5) Alexandra Cadantu 6-3 6-2
Mandy Minella def. Nastassja Burnett 7-6(7-4) 7-5
Doubles – Quarterfinal
(2) Govortsova/Minella def. Kichenok/Kichenok 6-1 6-3
Savinykh/Torro-Flor def. Begu/Cadantu 2-6 6-3 13-11
Topics: 10sballs, Eugenie Bouchard, Sofia Arvidsson, Sports, Tashkent Open, Tennis