***SUMMARY ******
* Upsets continue: Seven seeds out in first round
* Azarenka, Sharapova, Jankovic cruise; Radwanska struggles past Putintseva
* Muguruza continues hot streak with win over Kanepi but needs one more win to stay Top Forty
* Cirstea falls to Erakovic but still has faint Top Twenty chance
* Svitolina cruises past Kuznetsova, who will fall out of Top 25
* Hercog quits after one game against Cornet; Isner, others call for changes to prevent unfit players from playing
* Peng gets sick on court, loses to Nara, may lose Top Fifty spot
* Halep bounces back from last week’s loss, moves closer to Top Ten
* Heat bigger problem for Cibulkova than opponent Schiavone; Italian will stay around #40
****** TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS ******
Australian Open
It was a patchy performance for three-time champion Victoria Azarenka as she began the quest for another Melbourne title. The tournament number two, led seeds to winning starts as she beat Swede Johanna Larsson 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 in the sweltering summer temperatures. “It felt pretty hot, like you’re dancing in a frying pan or something like that,” said Azarenka, winner of the last three editions.
Polish fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska beat Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 while eighth seed Jelena Jankovic started with a defat of Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-1, 6-2. Romanian 11th seed Simona Halep hammered Pole Katarzyna Piter 6-0, 6-1 while compatriot Simona Halep (11th) dispatched Katarzyna Piter with the loss of just one game
2013 semi-finalist Sloane Stephens, seeded 13th, beat Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6(1), 6-3 and No. 16 Carla Suarez Navarro advanced past Vania King 6-3, 6-2.
There we also wins for Dominika Cibulkova, who knocked out former Roland Garrso winner Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4; France’s Alize Cornet needed only minimal effort, 1-0, retired over Polona Hercog. There were also wins for American Christina McHale, former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, Varvara Lepchenko of the US, Swiss Stefanie Voegele and New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic.
************ STATS AND FACTS ************
Rankings
Estimated WTA Rankings As of January 14, 2014
Rank &
Prior
Rank …Name …………. Points
1 (1) SWILLIAMS 12830*
2 (2) AZARENKA 6221*
3 (3) SHARAPOVA 5246*
4 (5) ARADWANSKA 5040*
5 (6) KVITOVA 4745
6 (4) LI 4640*
7 (7) ERRANI 4440
8 (8) JANKOVIC 4140*
9 (9) KERBER 3860*
10 (11) HALEP 3400*
11 (10) WOZNIACKI 3310*
12 (12) VINCI 3020
13 (15) LISICKI 2980*
14 (14) IVANOVIC 2800*
15 (16) SUAREZ NAVARRO 2685*
16 (17) STOSUR 2645*
17 (18) Kirilenko 2325
18 (19) FLIPKENS 2255*
19 (13) STEPHENS 2245*
20 (21) CIRSTEA 2020
21 (23) KANEPI 1932
22 (24) CIBULKOVA 1826*
23 (25) CORNET 1810*
24 (29) PENNETTA 1805*
25 (30) PAVLYUCHENKOVA 1780*
26 (26) SAFAROVA 1745*
27 (20) KUZNETSOVA 1712
28 (31) BOUCHARD 1659*
29 (22) MAKAROVA 1631*
30 (27) Hampton 1601
Draws
Australian Open (Slam — Weeks of January 13-26)
1 S Williams
Barty (WC)
Dolonc
Arruabarrena
Parmentier (WC)
Ka. Pliskova
Watson (Q)
31 Hantuchova
17 Stosur
Zakopalova
Pironkova
Soler-Espinosa
Beck
Martic
Bertens
14 Ivanovic
12 Vinci
Zheng
Mayr-Achleitner
Keys
Dellacqua (WC)
Zvonareva
Robson
18 Flipkens
30 Bouchard
Tang (WC)
Van Uytvanck
Razzano
Vickery (WC)
Davis
Goerges
7 Errani
4 Li
Konjuh (Q)
Bencic (Q)
Date-Krumm
Vekic
Hradecka (Q)
Glushko
26 Safarova
22 Makarova
V Williams
Medina Garrigues
Falconi (LL)
Peer
Niculescu
Lucic-Baroni
15 Lisicki
9 Kerber
Gajdosova (WC)
Garcia
Kudryavtseva (Q)
Pfizenmaier
Wickmayer
Riske
23 Vesnina
28 Pennetta
Cadantu
Puig
Tatishvili (Q)
Zhang
Barthel
Kumkhum
6 Kvitova
8 Jankovic
Doi
N Kichenok
Morita
Nara
Peng
Petkovic
32 Rybarikova
21 Cirstea
Erakovic
Diyas (Q)
Siniakova (Q)
Tsurenko
Lepchenko
Piter (Q)
11 Halep
16 Suarez Navarro
King
Voskoboeva
Begu (Q)
Mladenovic
Voegele
Schiavone
20 Cibulkova
25 Cornet
Hercog
Giorgi
Sanders (WC)
Ormaechea
Knapp
Mattek-Sands
3 Sharapova
5 A Radwanska
Putintseva
Govortsova
Duan (Q)
Witthoeft (Q)
Minella
Pereira
29 Pavlyuchenkova
24 Kanepi
Muguruza
Babos
Schmiedlova
McHale
Y Chan
Dominguez Lino
10 Wozniacki
13 Stephens
Shvedova
Majeric
Tomljanovic
Rogowska (WC)
Duque-Marino
Svitolina
19 Kuznetsova
33 Jovanovski
Cepelova
Scheepers
Meusburger
Hsieh
Zahlavova Strycova
Larsson
2 Azarenka
******** SCORES ********
TUESDAY
Australian Open
Singles – First Round
(2) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Johanna Larsson (SWE) 76(2) 62
(3) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 63 64
(5) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 60 57 62
(8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Misaki Doi (JPN) 61 62
(10) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Lourdes Domínguez Lino (ESP) 60 62
(11) Simona Halep (ROU) d. (Q) Katarzyna Piter (POL) 60 61
(13) Sloane Stephens (USA) d. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 76(1) 63
(16) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. Vania King (USA) 63 62
Elina Svitolina (UKR) d. (19) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 63 63
(20) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) d. Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 63 64
Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) d. (24) Kaia Kanepi (EST) 62 26 62
(25) Alizé Cornet (FRA) d. Polona Hercog (SLO) 10 ret. (right rib injury)
(29) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Teliana Pereira (BRA) 76(7) 64
(32) Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) d. Andrea Petkovic (GER) 62 63
(33) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) d. Jana Cepelova (SVK) 67(7) 61 63
Karin Knapp (ITA) d. Paula Ormaechea (ARG) 64 62
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) d. Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 75 75
Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) d. Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 76(3) 64
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 26 63 64
Ayumi Morita (JPN) d. Nadiya Kichenok (UKR) 62 76(5)
Christina McHale (USA) d. Chan Yung-Jan (TPE) 75 64
Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO) d. Tadeja Majeric (SLO) 36 76(1) 64
Kurumi Nara (JPN) d. Peng Shuai (CHN) 75 46 63
Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) d. (Q) Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) 75 46 75
Anna Schmiedlova (SVK) d. Timea Babos (HUN) 46 64 75
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) d. Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) 61 46 61
Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. (Q) Duan Ying-Ying (CHN) 60 76(6)
Camila Giorgi (ITA) d. (WC) Storm Sanders (AUS) 46 61 64
Mandy Minella (LUX) d. (Q) Carina Witthoeft (GER) 61 64
(Q) Zarina Diyas (KAZ) d. (Q) Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 62 64
(WC) Olivia Rogowska (AUS) d. Mariana Duque-Mariño (COL) 63 63
Topics: 10sballs, Agnieszka Radwanska, Australian Open, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, Melbourne, Simona Halep, Sloane Stephens, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Victoria Azarenka, Wta