Women’s Tennis Tour Results

Written by: on 1st November 2013
Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in Moscow
Women's Tennis Tour Results

epa03913622 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in action against Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic during their second round match at the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in Moscow, Russia, 17 October 2013. EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV  |

****** EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ******

 

* Pavlyuchenkova cruises into Sofia semifinal

* Vesnina beats Ivanovic but is eliminated when Stosur beats Pironkova

****** TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS ******

 

Sofia

 

Singles – Round Robin: (5) Elena Vesnina def. (2) Ana Ivanovic 6-4 3-6 7-6(7-1)

When Elena Vesnina lost the second set of this, we couldn’t help but think, “Well, that’s that.” But this is the new model Vesnina. She came back to win — and leave her record at 2-1, the same as Ivanovic’s. Which meant that everything came down to the other match, Stosur versus Pironkova. If Pironkova won that, then Vesnina and Ivanovic would both qualify. Otherwise, Stosur, Vesnina, and Ivanovic would all be at 2-1 and it would be a matter of tiebreaks.

Singles – Round Robin: (6) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. (7) Alize Cornet 6-2 6-2

The winner of this was guaranteed to make the semifinal, and the loser was guaranteed not to, but somehow it didn’t manage much excitement…. Alize Cornet ends the year at #27; Pavlyuchenkova is still at #26, but if she wins her semifinal, she’ll hit the Top 25.

Singles – Round Robin: (4) Samantha Stosur def. (8) Tsvetana Pironkova 6-1 6-4

And so Elena Vesnina’s heroics were in vain. Tsvetana Pironkova ends up 0-3, and obviously out (and still below #100), and Ivanovic, Vesnina, and Stosur all end up 2-1 — and Ivanovic and Stosur won the tiebreaks. Vesnina is out, and will lose her Top 25 spot if Stosur loses to Pavlyuchenkova in the semifinal.

We ended up with a most unusual semifinal draw: The semifinals pit #1 Halep against #2 Ivanovic and #4 Stosur versus #6 Pavlyuchenkova. We obviously won’t see #1 against #2 in a semifinal again at least until Singapore 2014….

Nanjing $125K

 

There were no quarterfinal surprises; three of the top four seeds — #2 Yanina Wickmayer, #3 Zhang Shuai, and #4 Ayumi Morita — made the semifinal, along with Jarmila Gajdosova. Wickmayer is up to about #58; Zhang looks set to hit the Top Sixty.

****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******

 

Women’s Look Forward: Fed Cup Final

 

We have a feeling the Fed Cup finger-pointing will last a lot longer than the final tie. Russia, which has probably been the strongest tennis nation in the world over the last decade, is on the verge of being trounced.

Some of that is not their fault. Players like Elena Dementieva and Anastasia Myskina are long retired. Maria Sharapova and Vera Zvonareva are hurt. And those are their best. But they don’t have Maria Kirilenko (who, to be sure, ended up hurting herself in Sofia) or Elena Vesnina or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova either. Those three are all playing Sofia, which offers points (and, according to some reports, a lot more money than Fed Cup). No Svetlana Kuznetsova, either, nor Nadia Petrova (who, to be sure, didn’t even try to come back in singles this year). The Russians are left with no Top Hundred players at all, and effectively no experience.

Reportedly Ekaterina Makarova, who has been trying to come back from a wrist injury, was not given the option of playing doubles only for Russia — and she wasn’t prepared for singles duty. That leaves us with a Russian team of Alexandra Panova (experienced but going nowhere, and she has never played Fed Cup), Alisa Kleybanova (still making a comeback from cancer), Irina Khromacheva (mildly promising but inexperienced), and Margarita Gasparyan (inexperienced).

Whereas Italy can call on Sara Errani, Roberta Vinci (who skipped Sofia to play Fed Cup), Flavia Pennetta, and Karin Knapp, who has quietly been having a very solid year. They don’t have their most experienced player, Francesca Schiavone, but she has fallen far down the rankings; they really don’t have a spot for her. Frankly, we’d expect Italy to give each of their four players one singles match, and expect them to win them all — and if somehow they don’t, they still have the world’s top doubles team of Errani/Vinci to finish things off. The Russians decided to have Panova and Khromacheva to play singles. Panova will open against Vinci, with Khromacheva following against Errani. (The teams are listed as playing Kleybanova/Gasparyan against Pennetta/Knapp in the doubles, but of course that will change if the doubles matters.)

Sara Errani did admit that she was having a hard time finding anyone who knows how Khromacheva plays. It doesn’t seem likely that it will matter. Most observers think this will be a 5-0 sweep — assuming they even bother to play all five matches. At least they ITF has decided to move the final for next year, so perhaps more players will turn out….

KEYWORDS: Fed Cup Preview

******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********

 

THIS WEEK ON THE WTA:

Sofia (International Championships/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Nadia Petrova

Fed Cup Final

NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:

Challengers Only

************ STATS AND FACTS ************

 

**RANKINGS

 

Estimated WTA Rankings As of November 1, 2013

 

Rank &

Prior

Rank….Name…………..Points

1..(1) SWilliams ……… 13260

2..(2) Azarenka ………..8046

3..(3) Li ……………..6045

4..(4) Sharapova ……… 5891

5..(5) ARadwanska ………5875

6..(6) Kvitova ……….. 4775

7..(7) Errani ………….4435

8..(8) Jankovic ………..4170

9..(9) Kerber ………….3965

10.(10) Wozniacki ……… 3520

11.(11) Stephens ………..3185

12.(12) Bartoli ……….. 3172

13.(13) Vinci …………. 3170

14.(14) HALEP …………. 3140*

15.(15) Lisicki ……….. 2920

16.(16) IVANOVIC ………..2850*

17.(17) Suarez Navarro …..2735

18.(18) KIRILENKO ……… 2640

19.(19) STOSUR ………….2600*

20.(20) Flipkens ………..2495

21.(21) Kuznetsova ………2341

22.(22) Cirstea ……….. 2170

23.(23) Cibulkova ……… 2076

24.(24) Makarova ………..2066

25.(25) VESNINA ……….. 2005

26.(26) PAVLYUCHENKOVA …..1965*

27.(27) CORNET ………….1840

28.(28) Hampton ……….. 1781

29.(29) Safarova ………..1775

30.(30) Kanepi ………….1752

**DRAWS

 

Sofia — Week of October 28

 

GROUP SERDIKA……HALEP….KIRIL….PAVLY….CORNE….SVITO….W/L….Sets

1 Halep…………XXXXX….XXXXX….HALEP….HALEP….HALEP….3/0….6/0

5 Pavlyuchenkova…HALEP….XXXXX….XXXXX….PAVLY….PAVLY….2/1….4/2

7 Cornet………..HALEP….CORNE….PAVLY….XXXXX….XXXXX….1/2….2/4

3 Kirilenko……..+++++….XXXXX….+++++….CORNE….XXXXX….0/1….0/2

9 Svitolina……..HALEP….XXXXX….PAVLY….XXXXX….XXXXX….0/2….0/4

 

GROUP SREDETS……IVANO….STOSU….VESNI….PIRON….W/L….Sets

2 Ivanovic………XXXXX….IVANO….VESNI….IVANO….2/1….5/3

4 Stosur………..IVANO….XXXXX….STOSU….STOSU….2/1….5/2

5 Vesnina……….VESNI….STOSU….XXXXX….VESNI….2/1….4/4

8 Pironkova……..IVANO….STOSU….VESNI….XXXXX….0/3….1/6

 

SEMIFINAL

1 Halep

2 Ivanovic

 

4 Stosur

6 Pavlyuchenkova

******** SCORES ********

 

FRIDAY

Sofia

Singles – Round Robin

(5) Elena Vesnina def. (2) Ana Ivanovic 6-4 3-6 7-6(7-1)

(6) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. (7) Alize Cornet 6-2 6-2

(4) Samantha Stosur def. (8) Tsvetana Pironkova 6-1 6-4

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