Sharapova Beats Hantuchova In Paris & WOMEN Updates

Written by: Staff on 29th January 2014

Sharapova Beats Hantuchova In Paris & WOMEN Updates

epa04046713 Maria Sharapova of Russia reacts after winning her round of sixteen match against Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia for the GDF Suez Tennis Open tournament in Paris, France, 29 January 2014. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

Wozniaki fires Hogsted. Serena and Sloane both out of Fed a Cup.

* Defending champion Barthel out of Paris; will fall below #60

* Vinci loses another Top Ten chance; Halep loses but clinches

* Suarez Navarro upset by Pavlyuchenkova

* Hantuchova still can’t trouble Sharapova

* Zvonareva wins only two games against Makarova in Pattaya City

****** TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS ******

Paris

Singles – First Round: (WC) Kristina Mladenovic def. (5) Simona Halep 7-6(7-1) 6-4

Is this really the same Simona Halep who won six titles last year? Hard to believe. She should stay #10, but she probably won’t be climbing any time soon. Unfortunately for Kristina Mladenovic, she is defending semifinal points, so she still needs a lot more just to stay in place.

Singles – First Round: Elina Svitolina def. (6) Roberta Vinci 6-3 0-6 7-5

Roberta Vinci seems revitalized in doubles this year, but she’s really struggling in singles. She won’t rise above her current #14. Elina Svitolina is defending 110 points, so she still needs more to stay Top Forty, but her next match should be much easier.

Singles – First Round: (8) Kirsten Flipkens def. Mona Barthel 6-3 4-6 6-2

Mona Barthel was last year’s champion, and that represented just about a third of her points. She will fall from #36 to substantially below #60.

Singles – First Round: (Q) Galina Voskoboeva def. Stefanie Voegele 5-7 7-5 7-6(7-3)

This was one of those no-lead-was-safe matches; Galina Voskoboeva had a match point before they went to the final tiebreak, and blew it, but managed to bounce back. She drops Stefanie Voegele, who was defending 80 points, below #45.

Singles – Second Round: (1) Maria Sharapova def. Daniela Hantuchova 6-0 6-1

Daniela Hantuchova beat Maria Sharapova in their first meeting. Never since. She might still make the Top Thirty, but just barely.

Singles – Second Round: (4) Angelique Kerber def. Klara Zakopalova 6-2 7-5

Angelique Kerber needs one more win for the points to start counting, and she needs a title to have any chance of moving in the rankings. The main effect of this is to make sure that Klara Zakopalova will not rise above her current #34.

Singles – First Round: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. (7) Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 3-6 6-3

Not really a surprise on this surface, but Carla Suarez Navarro was defending quarterfinalist points; she will fall from #16 to probably #17.

Doubles – First Round: (3) Groenefeld/Peschke def. Hradecka/Krajicek 4-6 6-1 11-9

It’s all reunions for Kveta Peschke this year — first she was back with Katarina Srebotnik, now with Anna-Lena Groenefeld. It has worked for her, for the most part — but she may be lucky that Lucie Hradecka and Michaella Krajicek don’t seem to be doing too well.

Doubles – First Round: Husarova/Rosolska def. Voracova/Zahlavova Strycova 0-6 6-2 10-8

Doubles – Quarterfinal: (1) Errani/Vinci def. (WC) Cornet/Garcia 3-6 6-4 10-5

Roberta Vinci really seems to be struggling, but still, this makes it eight straight doubles wins for Errani/Vinci.

Pattaya City

As you may have read yesterday, both #1 seed Sabine Lisicki and #2 Svetlana Kuznetsova have withdrawn from this event. It won’t make much difference to Kuznetsova, who wasn’t defending anything; she will stay around #29. Lisicki, a finalist last year, loses a lot of points, but will stay #15; the only player who could pass her was Carla Suarez Navarro, and of course she is now out.

Singles – Second Round: (3) Sorana Cirstea def. Alison Riske 6-3 6-4

Alison Riske has been rising fast, but this means she will remain #45 or lower. Sorana Cirstea is still at #23, and needs a final to go higher — but she is now the highest seed in the draw.

Singles – Second Round: (4) Ekaterina Makarova def. (WC) Vera Zvonareva 6-0 6-2

Both these players are trying to come back from injury, but Vera Zvonareva was out for much longer. This is turning into a very tough comeback for her; she will remain around (probably a dozen or so spots below) #700.

Singles – Second Round: Karolina Pliskova def. (Q) Alla Kudryavtseva 4-6 6-3 6-4

So far, Karolina Pliskova hasn’t moved much, but one more win might take her above #60.

Doubles – First Round: (3) Kudryavtseva/Rodionova def. Kania/Solovyeva 7-5 6-4

Doubles – First Round: (4) Peng/Zhang def. Aoyama/Dulgheru 6-3 6-3

Interesting that Peng Shuai isn’t playing with Hsieh Su-Wei here. Hsieh played with her sister (we assume it’s her sister, anyway) Shu-Ying, and they lost their opener. So Peng could break her tie with Hsieh in the rankings. Which means that, come Doha, Peng could become sole #1 in doubles.

Doubles – First Round: Chuang/Kumkhum def. (WC) Wongteanchai/Wongteanchai 6-1 6-3

Doubles – First Round: Daniilidou/Krunic def. Lertpitaksinchai/Plipuech 4-6 6-2 11-9

Doubles – First Round: Savchuk/Tanasugarn def. C Chan/Xu 7-6(7-5) 7-5

****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******

This Week’s Movers — Women

Each week, Daily Tennis will look at the biggest movers of the week, looking at how they did what they did.

Biggest Upward Mover — Most Places Moved (Top 100)

Leader: Casey Dellacqua — Moved 40 places, from #120 to #80.

Dellacqua made the Australian Open fourth round.

Runner-Up: Mandy Minella — Moved 16 places, from #107 to #91.

Minella reached the Australian Open second round.

Biggest Percentage Mover — Cut Ranking By Highest Percent (Top 100)

Leader: Dominika Cibulkova — Moved 11 places, 46%, from #24 to #13

Cibulkova reached her first Slam final.

Runner-Up: Eugenie Bouchard — Moved 12 places, 39%, from #31 to #19

Bouchard made her first Slam semifinal.

Biggest Loser — Most Places Lost (Top 100)

Loser: Lesia Tsurenko — Dropped 36 places, from #96 to #132

Last year, Tsurenko was on the best run of her career and made the Australian Open third round as a qualifier. This year, after three events, Tsurenko has yet to win a main draw match.

Biggest Percentage Loser — Worst Percentage Increase in Ranking (Top 100)

Loser: Maria Sharapova, ranking increased 2 places, 67%, from #3 to #5.

Sharapova, a Melbourne semifinalist last year, this year lost to Cibulkova in the fourth round.

Ranking Notes

It was, naturally, a week of big movers. Cibulkova, up 46%. Bouchard, 39%. Dellacqua, 33%. Li Na, up 25%, to #3. Flavia Pennetta, up 24%, to #22. And Agnieszka Radwanska, up 20%, to #4.

On the other hand, Maria Sharapova fell 67%. Svetlana Kuznetsova lost 45% (to #29). Julia Goerges lost 40% (to #102). Sloane Stephens slid 38% (to #18). Tsurenko gave up 38%. Venus Williams fell 32%, to #49. Kimiko Date-Krumm went down 31%, to #105. And Ekaterina Makarova went down 27%, to #28.

If you’re wondering why we had so many more big losses than improvements, it’s almost certainly the new WTA rankings table. Remember, players reach the same round as last year will lose points. So players who didn’t do well last year improved their situation relative to those who were more successful in 2013.

We do note that Vera Zvonareva is now back on the rankings — but, at #992, she has a long road ahead of her still.

Our Personal Picks for “Best Mover of the Week”

These are subjective picks!

It’s hard to decide between Cibulkova and Bouchard, who both had the best results of their careers. Bouchard hit a career high, which Cibulkova didn’t, quite, but Cibulkova had a substantially bigger move. So we’ll go with Cibulkova.

KEYWORDS: Movers Women Cibulkova

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

THIS WEEK ON THE WTA:

Paris (Premier 700/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Mona Barthel

Pattaya City (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Maria Kirilenko

NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:

Fed Cup

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

Rankings

Estimated WTA Rankings As of January 29, 2014

Rank &

Prior

Rank …Name …………. Points

1..(1) SWilliams ……… 13000

2..(2) Azarenka ………..6581

3..(3) Li ……………..6570

4..(4) ARadwanska ………5750

5..(5) SHARAPOVA ……… 5515*

6..(6) KVITOVA ……….. 4745*

7..(8) Jankovic ………..4310

8..(7) ERRANI ………….4245*

9..(9) KERBER ………….4030*

10.(10) HALEP …………. 3760

11.(11) Wozniacki ……… 3370

12.(12) Ivanovic ………..3160

13.(13) Cibulkova ……… 3056

14.(14) VINCI …………. 3020

15.(15) LISICKI ……….. 2820

16.(17) Stosur ………….2705

17.(16) SUAREZ NAVARRO …..2685

18.(18) Stephens ………..2415

19.(19) Bouchard ………..2369

20.(21) FLIPKENS ………..2255*

21.(22) Pennetta ………..2165

22.(20) Kirilenko ……… 2046

23.(23) CIRSTEA ……….. 1950*

24.(24) Kanepi ………….1932

25.(25) CORNET ………….1870*

26.(26) PAVLYUCHENKOVA …..1870*

27.(28) MAKAROVA ………..1860*

28.(27) Safarova ………..1785

29.(29) KUZNETSOVA ………1741

30.(31) HANTUCHOVA ………1625

Draws

Paris (Premier — Week of January 27-February 2)

……………….QF

1 Sharapova……..(1)Sharapova

8 Flipkens

4 Kerber………..(4)Kerber

7 Suarez Navarro…Pavlyuchenkova

6 Vinci

3 Errani

5 Halep

2 Kvitova (WC)

STATUS OF SEEDS

1 Sharapova

2 Kvitova (WC)

3 Errani

4 Kerber

5 Halep…………lost 1R (Mladenovic)

6 Vinci…………lost 1R (Svitolina)

7 Suarez Navarro…lost 2R (Pavlyuchenkova)

8 Flipkens

Pattaya City (International — Week of January 27-February 2)

……………….QF

1 Lisicki……….Hlavackova

8 Peng

4 Makarova………(4)Makarova

6 Muguruza

7 Mattek-Sands….Ka.Pliskova

3 Cirstea………(3)Cirstea

5 Vesnina

2 Kuznetsova (WC)..Goerges

STATUS OF SEEDS

1 Lisicki………..WITHDREW from 2R

2 Kuznetsova (WC)…WITHDREW from 2R

3 Cirstea

4 Makarova

5 Vesnina

6 Muguruza……….lost 1R (Date-Krumm)

7 Mattek-Sands……lost 1R (Ka. Pliskova)

8 Peng

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

WEDNESDAY

Paris

Singles – First Round

(WC) Kristina Mladenovic def. (5) Simona Halep 7-6(7-1) 6-4

Elina Svitolina def. (6) Roberta Vinci 6-3 0-6 7-5

(8) Kirsten Flipkens def. Mona Barthel 6-3 4-6 6-2

(Q) Galina Voskoboeva def. Stefanie Voegele 5-7 7-5 7-6(7-3)

Singles – Second Round

(1) Maria Sharapova def. Daniela Hantuchova 6-0 6-1

(4) Angelique Kerber def. Klara Zakopalova 6-2 7-5

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. (7) Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 3-6 6-3

Doubles – First Round

(3) Groenefeld/Peschke def. Hradecka/Krajicek 4-6 6-1 11-9

Husarova/Rosolska def. Voracova/Zahlavova Strycova 0-6 6-2 10-8

Doubles – Quarterfinal

(1) Errani/Vinci def. (WC) Cornet/Garcia 3-6 6-4 10-5

Pattaya City

Singles – Second Round

(3) Sorana Cirstea def. Alison Riske 6-3 6-4

(4) Ekaterina Makarova def. (WC) Vera Zvonareva 6-0 6-2

Karolina Pliskova def. (Q) Alla Kudryavtseva 4-6 6-3 6-4

Doubles – First Round

(3) Kudryavtseva/Rodionova def. Kania/Solovyeva 7-5 6-4

(4) Peng/Zhang def. Aoyama/Dulgheru 6-3 6-3

Chuang/Kumkhum def. (WC) Wongteanchai/Wongteanchai 6-1 6-3

Daniilidou/Krunic def. Lertpitaksinchai/Plipuech 4-6 6-2 11-9

Savchuk/Tanasugarn def. C Chan/Xu 7-6(7-5) 7-5

Topics: 10sballs, Angelique Kerber, Daniela Hantuchova, Kirsten Flipkens, Kristina Mladenovic, Maria Sharapova, Paris, Roberta Vinci, Sabine Lisicki, Simona Halep, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News

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