****** EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ******
* Sharapova withdraws from Istanbul; Errani, Jankovic clinch as a result
* With Istanbul spot safe, top seed Jankovic pulls ouf from Osaka
* Defending champion Watson loses opener, will fall to around #130
* Schiavone starts strong in Linz
* Svitolina just below Top Forty after upset of Barthel
* Voegele outlasts down-seeded Zakopalova, who loses Top Thirty chance
* Wildcard Moser, bumped in Linz singles, gets bounced in doubles
****** TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS ******
Linz
Controversy erupted after WTA year-end final contender Angelique Kerber made a late entry and was inserted into the draw on the bottom instead of the top after Austrian No. 337 LisaMarie Moser made a convenient withdrawal due to “personal reasons” after the draw was made. Moser then made a reappearance in doubles to complicate things even further. Kerber happens to stand ninth in the race to the year-end event in Istanbul and with Maria Sharapova not playing due to injury could still earn a spot in the finals field.
Kerber heads American Sloane Stephens and Ana Ivanovic, a two-time champion who stands 16-3 at the tournament but who has not won a title for two years. On court on opening day Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine put out German Mona Barthel 6-2, 7-5
Osaka
Heather Watson’s defense of the only WTA title she has ever won collapsed in a 6-4, 6-4 heap at the hands of eighth seed Monica Puig, with the Briton now set to tumble out of the top 130 after breaching the top 40 a year ago when she won the trophy in a major surprise. Watson has been bothered by glandular fever and a recent chance of coaches which have not done her game any favors. She became the first Briton in 24 years to win a WTA trophy when she triumphed a year ago.
It’s been the opposite for 2012 former junior Wimbledon winner Eugenie Bouchard, with the Canadian teenager moving from strength to strength. She started her week as a new typhoon threat began moving towards Japan by crushing Varvara Lepchenko 6-3 6-0. Last year’s semi-finalist Misaki Doi got a home win, putting out Spain’s Silvia Soler Espinosa 6-1, 6-2. Australian third seed Samantha Stosur began a rescue effort to save a top 20 ranking, with the former US Open winner beating Swede Johanna Larsson 6-4, 6-2. Kurumi Nara (Japan) beat Caroline Garcia (France) 6-3 6-2
Watson is back to defend her title this year, with 2009 winner Samantha Stosur the only other former champ in this year’s draw. The Australian is often in good form here, having also been a runner-up in 2011 and semifinalist in 2012 en route to compiling a 14-3 record in Osaka. The event lost its top seed when weekend Beijing finalist Jelena Jankovic withdrew with lowe back pain after losing to Serena Williams in China.
******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********
THIS WEEK ON THE WTA:
Linz (International/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Victoria Azarenka
Osaka (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Heather Watson
NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:
Moscow (Premier/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Caroline Wozniacki
Luxembourg (International/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Venus Williams
************ STATS AND FACTS ************
**RANKINGS
Estimated WTA Rankings As of October 7, 2013
Rank &
Prior
Rank….Name…………..Points
1 (1) SWilliams 13260
2 (2) Azarenka 8206
3 (3) Sharapova 6941
4 (4) ARadwanska 6195
5 (5) Li 5365
6 (6) Errani 4435
7 (7) Kvitova 4315
8 (8) Jankovic 3860
9 (9) Wozniacki 3845
10 (10) KERBER 3645*
11 (11) Vinci 3195
12 (12) STEPHENS 3185*
13 (13) Bartoli 3172
14 (14) LISICKI 2830*
15 (15) Kirilenko 2755
16 (17) Halep 2685
17 (16) IVANOVIC 2675*
18 (18) SUAREZ NAVARRO 2665*
19 (19) FLIPKENS 2455*
20 (20) STOSUR 2440*
21 (21) CIRSTEA 2170*
22 (22) Kuznetsova 2142
23 (23) CIBULKOVA 2126*
24 (24) Makarova 2066
25 (25) Vesnina 1960
26 (27) Cornet 1790
27 (26) Hampton 1781
28 (28) Safarova 1775
29 (29) Kanepi 1751
30 (30) Pavlyuchenkova 1750
**DRAWS
Linz — Week of October 7
1 Stephens
Rybarikova
Petkovic
Meusburger
Moser (WC)
Voegele
Knapp
7 Hantuchova
4 Flipkens
Wickmayer
Ka. Pliskova
Schiavone
Begu
Qualifier
Beck
6 Cibulkova
8 Zakopalova
Vekic
Goerges
Qualifier
Svitolina
Barthel
Qualifier
3 Suarez Navarro
5 Cirstea
Mayr-Achleitner (WC)
Qualifier
Qualifier
Cadantu
Klaffner (WC)
Niculescu
2 Ivanovic
Osaka — Week of October 7
1 Jankovic (WC)
Wozniak
Fichman
Zheng
Zhang
Medina Garrigues
Qualifier
6 Keys
3 Stosur
Larsson
Davis
Qualifier
Doi
Soler-Espinosa
Date-Krumm
7 Robson (WC)
5 Bouchard
Lepchenko
Mladenovic
Morita
Hsieh
Qualifier
Qualifier
4 Pennetta
8 Puig
Watson
Nara (WC)
Garcia
Hercog
Cetkovska
Scheepers
2 Lisicki
******** SCORES ********
MONDAY
Linz
Singles – First Round
Elina Svitolina (UKR) d. Mona Barthel (GER) 62 75
Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 75 62
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) d. Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 57 75 60
Doubles – First Round
(1) Dabrowski/Rosolska (CAN/POL) d. (WC) Moser/Rottmann (AUT/AUT) 64 62
(2) Goerges/Petkovic (GER/GER) d. Solovyeva/Svitolina (RUS/UKR) 61 36 106 (Match TB)
(4) Barthel/Begu (GER/ROU) d. Vogt/Wickmayer (LIE/BEL) 64 46 107 (Match TB)
Singles Qualifying – Final Round
(3) Camila Giorgi (ITA) d. Renata Voracova (CZE) 64 60
Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) d. Maryna Zanevska (UKR) 60 61
Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) d. Michaela Honcova (SVK) 62 63
Katarzyna Piter (POL) d. Sesil Karatantcheva (KAZ) 62 63
Osaka
Singles – First Round
(3) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Johanna Larsson (SWE) 64 62
(5) Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) d. Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 63 60
(8) Monica Puig (PUR) d. Heather Watson (GBR) 64 64
Misaki Doi (JPN) d. Sílvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) 61 62
(WC) Kurumi Nara (JPN) d. Caroline Garcia (FRA) 63 62
Doubles – First Round
(1) Kops-Jones/Spears (USA/USA) d. Date-Krumm/Scheepers (JPN/RSA) 63 64
(2) Mladenovic/Pennetta (FRA/ITA) d. Cetkovska/Zheng (CZE/CHN) 64 62
Hsieh/Hsieh (TPE/TPE) d. Aoyama/Chang (JPNTPE) 62 63
Singles Qualifying – Final Round
(1) Anna Schmiedlova (SVK) d. Eri Hozumi (JPN) 62 61
(5) Luksika Kumkhum (THA) d. (2) Vania King (USA) 63 75
(3) Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) d. Zarina Diyas (KAZ) 63 62
Belinda Bencic (SUI) d. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 57 62 50 ret. (heat illness)
****** EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ******
* Weather forces roof closure in Shanghai; only four singles matches finished
* Isner survives Giraldo scare, but may need more to stay Top Fifteen
* Haas leaves Querrey still below #30
* Granollers drops Tipsarevic to #25 or lower
* Monfils also advances
* Federer wins doubles with Chinese wildcard
****** TODAY’S MEN’S NEWS ******
Shanghai
The event bowed to the power of a Pacific typhoon, with six of ten singles matches cancelled and the remainder played under the closed lotus-shaped roof of the Qi Zhong stadium. The rain cam as a result of Typhoon Fitow, which hit China’s east coast and promises more days of the same.
American 14th seed John Isner managed a comeback to beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a match where the winner was warned for a time violation, due in fact to a slow-moving ballgirl. Spain’s Marcel Granollers began the day under the lotus, shaped leaves of the closed roof by putting out Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4, who was treated on court for a left ankle injury. Frenchman Gael Monfils made up for last week’s first-round exit in Tokyo against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, hammering Tatsuma Ito of Japan 6-3, 6-2.
Isner added 29 aces to his ATP-leading total of 870 as he works on a long-shot chance from the provisional 13th position to reach the eight-man season finals in London in November. Against Giraldo, Isner needed seven set points to level the score at a set search against the number 63. He then squeezed out the victory to reach the second round despite 32 unforced errors. “I’m very happy to get through that, I could have easily lost,” said Isner. “After the first set I told myself the only thing I could do was keep fighting.”
Some of the last four spots in the year-end World Tour Finals are likely to be decided this week with four places in the eight man field remaining – possibly five if Andy Murray does not play as he recovers from back surgery.
******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********
THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Shanghai (1000/Hard). Defending Champion: Novak Djokovic
NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Moscow (250/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Andreas Seppi
Stockholm (250/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Tomas Berdych
Vienna (250/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Juan Martin del Potro
******** STATS AND FACTS ********
RANKINGS
Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings
As of October 7, 2013
Rank &
Prior…Player………..Points
1..(1) Nadal………….11170
2..(2) Djokovic……….10130
3..(4) Ferrer………….6720
4..(3) Murray………….6295
5..(5) Del Potro……….4935
6..(6) Berdych…………4260
7..(7) Federer…………4165
8..(8) Wawrinka………..3070
9.(10) Gasquet…………3060
10..(9) Tsonga………….2945
11.(11) Raonic………….2780
12.(12) Haas……………2220
13.(13) Isner…………..2070
14.(14) Simon…………..2060
15.(15) Janowicz………..2060
16.(16) Almagro…………2030
17.(17) Fognini…………1885
18.(18) Nishikori……….1805
19.(19) Robredo…………1795
20.(20) Anderson………..1740
21.(21) Youzhny…………1735
22.(22) Seppi…………..1520
23.(25) Melzer………….1425
24.(23) Kohlschreiber……1410
25.(24) Tipsarevic………1355
26.(26) Paire…………..1345
27.(28) Gulbis………….1341
28.(27) Dimitrov………..1340
29.(29) Dodig…………..1300
30.(30) Lopez…………..1240
**DRAWS
Shanghai — Week of October 7
1 Djokovic
–bye
Granollers
Tipsarevic
Lorenzi (Q)
Fognini
Montanes
16 Robredo
9 Gasquet
Pospisil
Ito (Q)
Monfils
Hewitt (WC)
Seppi
–bye
5 Federer
3 Ferrer
–bye
Benneteau
Rosol
Wu (WC)
F Mayer
Paire
13 Simon
12 Nishikori
Dimitrov
Melzer
Dodig
Youzhny
Andujar
–bye
7 Tsonga
6 del Potro
–bye
Kohlschreiber
Gong (WC)
Falla (Q)
Brands
Querrey
11 Haas
15 Almagro
Soeda (Q)
Chardy
Tomic
Lopez
Nieminen
–bye
4 Berdych
8 Wawrinka
–bye
Hanescu
Anderson
Zhang (WC)
Verdasco
Przysiezny (Q)
10 Raonic
14 Isner
Giraldo (Q)
Tursunov
Berlocq
Dolgopolov
Russell (Q)
–bye
2 Nadal
******** SCORES ********
MONDAY
Shanghai
Singles – First Round
[11] T Haas (GER) d S Querrey (USA) 64 64
[14] J Isner (USA) d [Q] S Giraldo (COL) 46 75 75
M Granollers (ESP) d J Tipsarevic (SRB) 64 64
G Monfils (FRA) d [Q] T Ito (JPN) 63 62
Doubles – First Round
[WC] R Federer (SUI) / Z Zhang (CHN) d K Anderson (RSA) / D Tursunov (RUS) 62 61
R Lindstedt (SWE) / V Pospisil (CAN) d P Kohlschreiber (GER) / F Mayer (GER) 76(3) 62
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