Istanbul Wrap

Written by: Staff on 26th October 2013

Istanbul Wrap

epa03925584 Serena Williams of the US returns the ball to Jelena Jankovic of the Serbia during their match of the WTA Championships tennis tournament in Istanbul, Turkey, 26 October 2013. EPA/SEDAT SUNA |

Singles – Semifinal: (4) Li Na def. (5) Petra Kvitova 6-4 6-2

What can we say except, “Another bad day at the office for Petra Kvitova”? These were the matches she was winning two years ago…. Instead, she ends another disappointing year stuck at #6. Li Na, however, jumps all the way to #3 in the rankings. That will be a career high. She is now about 2000 points behind Victoria Azarenka in the contest for #2. Win the title, and the gap will be about 1500 points. And Azarenka has the Australian Open to defend at the start of next year. Admittedly Li was the finalist. Still, if Li can keep up this pace, the #2 spot is a real possibility.

Singles – Semifinal: (1) Serena Williams def. (7) Jelena Jankovic 6-4 2-6 6-4

Serena Williams seemed to be having some movement problems here, as if her legs were hurting. She appeared to be weeping on changeovers. She said that she had hit a wall, energy-wise, the night before. She seemed to do it in the third set, too, going up 5-1 and then slipping to 5-4 and a point from 5-5. But, well, she’s Serena; she managed enough winners to finally finish things off. She now has a lead of more than 4500 points on #2 Victoria Azarenka; win the final and the lead will be more than 5000 points. And Serena is undefeated so far. To be sure, so is her opponent Li Na.

For Jelena Jankovic, this means she ends the year still at #8. She had chances to go higher here. Still — she made it back for the first time in three years….

Doubles – Semifinal: (2) Hsieh/Peng def. Petrova/Srebotnik 7-6(7-5) 6-2

Nadia Petrova was just barely back from a long, long layoff, so this is no surprise — but it is a sad ending to a distinguished career. Petrova, who just fell from #3 to #7 in doubles, will apparently end her career at #8.

Petrova, who is thirty, retires with 13 career singles titles, including Tier I/high Premier titles at Charleston 2006, Berlin 2006, Stuttgart 2006, and the 2012 Pan Pacific; she also won last year’s Sofia “other” Championships. She spent several years in the Top Ten, and peaked at #3.

Her doubles career was even more distinguished; she won two dozen titles, including three this year, and peaked at #3 in the rankings. She was clearly capable of winning Slams — but somehow never did; her nerves seemed to get in her way. But she won, among others, Miami 2004, Berlin 2004, Rome 2004, and the 2004 year-end Championships with Shaughnessy; the 2006 Canadian Open with Navratilova (the last title of Navratilova’s career); the 2008 Pan Pacific with King; Miami 2012 and Istanbul 2012 with Kirilenko; and Miami 2013 with Srebotnik. It was, in a way, a career both distinguished and disappointing. She will be missed.

Doubles – Semifinal: Makarova/Vesnina def. (1) Errani/Vinci 4-6 7-5 10-3

This could have been the last match of the Fed Cup final. But it won’t be. Ekaterina Makarova, who is just back from injury, thinks her wrist isn’t strong enough for the contest, and Elena Vesnina will be in Sofia. So Fed Cup will feature Errani and Vinci against no one in particular. Assuming Errani, who had so much trouble in singles here, is up for Fed Cup, anyway. The way the Italians collapsed at the end was disturbing.

And worrisome for their top rankings. They get big points just for showing up here — and it’s lucky for them that they do! If they didn’t, their top rankings would be history. Right now, we show the Top Ten as follows:

1..(1) ERRANI ………….8080

1..(1) VINCI …………. 8080

3..(4) HSIEH …………. 7365*

4..(5) PENG ……………7365*

5..(6) VESNINA ……….. 7220*

6..(3) SREBOTNIK ……… 7145

7..(8) MAKAROVA ………..7021*

8..(7) PETROVA ……….. 6565

9..(9) Mirza …………. 5565

10.(10) Dellacqua ……… 5356

If Errani and Vinci hadn’t gotten the 690 points for appearing, they would have lost the #1 ranking to either Hsieh or Vesnina. As it is, the winners of the tournament here, whether Hsieh/Peng or Makarova/Vesnina, will be #3 and #4 — and will be in a very strong position to take #1 at the Australian Open, where Errani/Vinci are the defending champions.

Topics: 10sballs, Australian Open, Elena Vesnina, Istanbul, Jelena Jankovic, Li Na, Nadia Petrova, Petra Kvitova, Roberta Vinci, Sara Errani, Serena Williams, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Victoria Azarenka, Wta