****** EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ******
* Wozniacki out of Brisbane
* Loss to Soler-Espinosa means big hit to Tsurenko
* Zvonareva returns to action (in doubles) — but loses
****** TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS ******
Brisbane
The injuries actually started before the season began, when Elena Vesnina pulled out of Auckland. But mark down Sunday as the day of our first in-season injury to a Top Ten player. #6 seed Caroline Wozniacki is out of Brisbane due to a right shoulder problem. She still hopes to play Sydney and the Australian Open. She should stay #10 despite the withdrawal. Dominika Cibulkova is our new #9 seed — and in a much better position than before, because she was supposed to open against Wozniacki!
The qualifying did a good job of eliminating seeds as well. Not one seeded player won in the qualifying final. Alexandra Panova beat #3 Hsieh Su-Wei and Ashleigh Barty upset #4 Kiki Bertens (although Hsieh will get a main draw spot due to Wozniacki’s withdrawal). The other qualifying matches both involved unseeded players; Alla Kudryavtseva (who had the curious distinction of beating two Rodionovas in qualifying) and Heather Watson are our other qualifiers.
Singles – First Round: (7) Sabine Lisicki def. Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3 6-4
That probably means no Australian Open seed for Magdalena Rybarikova; she was #34 in safe points when this match ended, and will likely be a spot or two lower at week’s end.
Singles – First Round: Andrea Petkovic def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 7-5
Even under the new WTA points table, this may be enough to put Andrea Petkovic in the Top Forty, although we’d guess she’ll need one more win. But it leaves Bethanie Mattek-Sands still not much above #50.
Singles – First Round: Kimiko Date-Krumm def. Olivia Rogowska 6-3 7-5
Australia still isn’t making much progress in finding wildcards, it would seem.
Singles – First Round: Elina Svitolina def. Varvara Lepchenko 6-3 6-3
Varvara Lepchenko will remain stuck below #50.
Singles – First Round: Stefanie Voegele def. Madison Keys 6-4 6-3
Stefanie Voegele, on the other hand, appears to have clinched her Top Fifty spot. She knocks Madison Keys out of the Australian Open seed race; the American will likely be just above #40.
Doubles – First Round: Mladenovic/Voskoboeva def. Schiavone/Suarez Navarro 6-2 7-5
Shenzhen
The Shenzhen qualifying wasn’t quite as bad for seeds as that in Brisbane, but it certainly wasn’t great. #5 Anna-Lena Friedsam made the main draw — but that was because she beat #1 Luksika Kumkhum. #2 Tsvetana Pironkova lost to unseeded Viktorija Golubic, and #4 Estrella Cabeza Candela went out to Risa Ozaki. Our fourth qualifier is Lyudmyla Kichenok — making it one of the first times that we can remember both Kichenok sisters being in a WTA main draw.
Singles – First Round: (5) Shuai Peng def. Fangzhou Liu 6-1 6-3
An efficient start for Peng Shuai, but she still has a lot to defend and will likely need one more win to stay Top Fifty.
Singles – First Round: Silvia Soler-Espinosa def. Lesia Tsurenko 6-4 7-6(7-4)
Lesia Tsurenko was defending 200 points, so this is a big, big blow. She will fall from #68 to around (probably a little below) #95.
Doubles – First Round: (1) Zhang/S Zheng def. Beck/Vekic 7-6(8-6) 6-2
Strange to see Zheng Saisai seeded above Zheng Jie, but she picked the stronger partner. And this is a very weak doubles draw.
Doubles – First Round: (2) Babos/Martic def. Kumkhum/Wang 2-6 6-4 10-6
Doubles – First Round: (3) Buryachok/Kalashnikova def. Yang/Ye 6-4 6-7(3-7) 10-6
Doubles – First Round: 4) Y Chan/Husarova def. Golubic/Krunic 6-1 6-3
Doubles – First Round: Wang/J Zheng def. Z Sun/Xu 6-4 7-6(12-10)
No, that’s not Sun Tiantian, who is long gone, nor Sun Shengnan. It’s Sun Ziyue, and we’ve never heard of her either.
Doubles – First Round: Konta/Mayr-Achleitner def. Govortsova/Zvonareva 6-1 2-6 10-8
Nice to see Vera Zvonareva back, but that’s a very discouraging start — playing with a fairly strong partner, she lost to two weak doubles players.
Hopman Cup
You almost wonder why Spain bothered to show up. When Tommy Robredo pulled out, it made it a practical certainty that the Spanish weren’t going anywhere in Hopman Cup. Not with Daniel Munoz-de la Nava being the replacement man, and worn-out Anabel Medina Garrigues his teammate. Medina Garrigues is still a modest force in doubles, but her singles career seems to be effectively over. As she showed by losing 6-1 6-0 to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic. Radek Stepanek clinched the tie by beating Munoz-de la Nava 6-2 6-2, and the Czechs also won the doubles.
After that, it was time for the Poles and Canada to play their second ties (even though the United States and France had yet to play their first!).
Hopman Cup’s format could almost be designed to drive Poland’s fans nuts, because Agnieszka Radwanska is the highest-ranked woman in the field, so she generally starts the tie and gives Poland a point — and then they have to expect to give the rest away.
But, somehow, it isn’t working that way. Radwanska of course has done her part (on Sunday, she edged Eugenie Bouchard 6-3 6-7 6-2) — but Grzegorz Panfil is winning too. You could attribute his win over Andreas Seppi to a sick opponent — but Milos Raonic was healthy as far as anyone knows. And Panfil beat him 7-6 6-3. He called it the best match of his career.
The Canadians won the Mixed in a match tiebreak, but that’s small consolation.
Poland is now 2-0, Canada 1-1, and Australia and Italy 0-1 in Group A, with Poland still to face Australia, Canada to face Italy, and Australia and Italy to face each other. If Poland beats Australia, it of course reaches the final. If Australia wins, then there are a few ways Poland could lose the tiebreaker. But they are now the clear favorites for the final. Of course, it probably won’t matter unless Panfil has a final miracle left in him.
****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******
KEYWORDS: No Feature Today
******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********
THIS WEEK ON THE WTA:
Brisbane (Premier 700/Hard). Defending Champion: Serena Williams
Shenzhen (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Li Na
Auckland (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Agnieszka Radwanska
NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:
Sydney (Premier 700/Hard). Defending Champion: Agnieszka Radwanska
Hobart (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Elena Vesnina
************ STATS AND FACTS ************
Rankings
Estimated WTA Rankings As of December 29, 2013
Rank &
Prior
Rank …Name …………. Points
1..(1) SWILLIAMS ……… 13070*
2..(2) AZARENKA ………..7847*
3..(4) SHARAPOVA ……… 5892*
4..(3) LI ……………..5890*
5..(5) ARadwanska ………5820
6..(6) Kvitova ……….. 4775
7..(7) ERRANI ………….4435*
8..(8) JANKOVIC ………..4170*
9..(9) KERBER ………….3965*
10.(10) Wozniacki ……… 3520
11.(11) Halep …………. 3335
12.(14) VINCI …………. 3170*
13.(12) Stephens ………..3135
14.(13) Bartoli ……….. 3103
15.(15) LISICKI ……….. 2920*
16.(16) IVANOVIC ………..2850*
17.(17) SUAREZ NAVARRO …..2735*
18.(18) Stosur ………….2675
19.(19) Kirilenko ……… 2640
20.(20) FLIPKENS ………..2455*
21.(21) Kuznetsova ………2341
22.(22) CIRSTEA ……….. 2170*
23.(23) CIBULKOVA ……… 2076*
24.(24) Makarova ………..2066
25.(25) Vesnina ……….. 1995
26.(27) Cornet ………….1840
27.(29) SAFAROVA ………..1775*
28.(30) KANEPI ………….1769*
29.(31) Pennetta ………..1735
30.(26) PAVLYUCHENKOVA …..1715*
Draws
Brisbane (Premier)
1 S Williams
–bye
Petkovic
Mattek-Sands
Date-Krumm
Rogowska (WC)
Watson (Q)
9 Cibulkova [replaces Wozniacki]
3 Sharapova
Garcia
Barty (Q)
Hantuchova
A Panova (Q)
Kanepi
Hsieh (LL)
8 Suarez Navarro
5 Kerber
Mladenovic
Kudryavtseva (Q)
Pavlyuchenkova
Lepchenko
Svitolina
Schiavone
4 Jankovic
7 Lisicki
Rybarikova
Voegele
Keys
Voskoboeva
Dellacqua (WC)
–bye
2 Azarenka
Shenzhen (International)
1 Li
Zvonareva (WC)
Babos
N Kichenok
Niculescu
Schmiedlova
Y Chan
6 Zhang
3 Zakopalova
Vekic
Mayr-Achleitner
Qualifier
Qualifier
Wozniak
Tomljanovic
8 Beck
5 Peng
F Liu (WC)
Soler-Espinosa
Tsurenko
Qualifier
Cepelova
Qualifier
4 Jovanovski
7 J Zheng
Peer
Govortsova
Zahlavova Strycova
Martic
King
S Zheng
2 Errani
Auckland (International)
1 Vinci
Konjuh (WC)
Davis
Erakovic
Qualifier
Wickmayer
Paszek (WC)
5 Hampton
4 Cirstea
Qualifier
McHale
Muguruza
Hlavackova (WC)
V Williams
Meusburger
7 Barthel
8 Knapp
Goerges
Qualifier
Qualifier
Ka. Pliskova
Ormaechea
Puig
3 Flipkens
6 Safarova
Morita
Cadantu
Nara
Larsson
Dominguez Lino
Riske
2 Ivanovic
******** SCORES ********
SUNDAY
Brisbane
Singles – Qualifying – Final Round
Alexandra Panova def. (3) Su-Wei Hsieh 4-6 6-2 6-1
Ashleigh Barty def. (4) Kiki Bertens 2-6 6-3 7-5
Alla Kudryavtseva def. Anastasia Rodionova 6-4 6-3
Heather Watson def. Jarmila Gajdosova 6-4 6-4
Singles – First Round
(7) Sabine Lisicki def. Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3 6-4
Andrea Petkovic def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 7-5
Kimiko Date-Krumm def. Olivia Rogowska 6-3 7-5
Elina Svitolina def. Varvara Lepchenko 6-3 6-3
Stefanie Voegele def. Madison Keys 6-4 6-3
Doubles – First Round
Mladenovic/Voskoboeva def. Schiavone/Suarez Navarro 6-2 7-5
Shenzhen
(5) Anna-Lena Friedsam def. (1) Luksika Kumkhum 6-1 6-3
Viktorija Golubic def. (2) Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4 6-3
Risa Ozaki def. (4) Estrella Cabeza Candela 6-1 3-6 6-3
Lyudmyla Kichenok def. Shilin Xu 6-0 6-3
Singles – First Round
(5) Shuai Peng def. Fangzhou Liu 6-1 6-3
Silvia Soler-Espinosa def. Lesia Tsurenko 6-4 7-6(7-4)
Doubles – First Round
(1) Zhang/S Zheng def. Beck/Vekic 7-6(8-6) 6-2
(2) Babos/Martic def. Kumkhum/Wang 2-6 6-4 10-6
(3) Buryachok/Kalashnikova def. Yang/Ye 6-4 6-7(3-7) 10-6
(4) Y Chan/Husarova def. Golubic/Krunic .6-1 6-3
Wang/J Zheng def. Sun/Xu 6-4 7-6(12-10)
Konta/Mayr-Achleitner def. Govortsova/Zvonareva 6-1 2-6 10-8
Topics: 10sballs, Agniezka Radwanska, Ashleigh Barty, Brisbane, Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Vesnina, Eugenie Bouchard, Heather Watson, Hopman Cup, Hsieh Su-Wei, Kiki Bertens, Madison Keys, Magdalena Rybarikova, Petra Kvitova, Sabine Lisicki, Shenzhen, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Wta