Serena Williams Will Keep Number 1 For a Long Time, Look @The Numbers

Written by: Staff on 16th February 2014

Serena Williams Will Keep Number 1 For a Long Time, Look @The Numbers

epa04018579 Serena Williams of the USA in action during her first round match against Ashleigh Barty of Australia at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 13 January 2014. EPA/JOE CASTRO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY |

PRO TOUR NEWS – WOMEN

* Halep scores another title, hits another career high

* Hsieh/Peng take Doha title to affirm top rankings

****** TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS

Doha

Singles – Final: (7) Simona Halep def. (6) Angelique Kerber 6-2 6-3

Simona Halep found a peculiar way to win this title: She picked on Angelique Kerber’s first serve. Kerber won only 52% of points on first serve — slightly below her percentage on second serves. But, hey, whatever works; Halep broke four times, and was never broken.

It is career title #7 for Halep — but her first of 2014. It is also her biggest; prior to this, her best titles were the low Premier events at New Haven and Moscow. She’s won on every surface, and she has eight Top Ten wins in the last year; this win takes her to a career-high #9, and it would be no surprise at all to see her go higher still.

Angelique Kerber is still looking for her first title since Linz, and her first Premier title since Paris 2012, but she lasted long enough to rise from #9 to #8 (keeping her still ahead of Halep, although we wouldn’t bet on that lasting much longer). The big loser this week (other than defending champion Victoria Azarenka, who slides from #2 to #4) is Sara Errani; Halep, Kerber, and Jelena Jankovic all passed her, so Errani falls from #7 to #10.

Doubles – Final: (2) Hsieh/Peng def. (3) Peschke/Srebotnik 6-4 6-0

Give Hsieh/Peng credit. They didn’t back into the #1 ranking. They earned it properly, by taking the title.

It’s their second title of the year, but the first, Pattaya City, was pretty trivial. This one, of course, was big, and it makes them #1 and #2 by a very substantial margin:

1..(3) PENG ……………8555*

2..(4) HSIEH …………. 8435*

3..(5) Vesnina ……….. 7620

4..(7) Makarova ………..7421

5..(6) SREBOTNIK ……… 7420

6..(1) ERRANI ………….7270

6..(1) VINCI …………. 7270

8..(8) PETROVA ……….. 5955

9..(9) MIRZA …………. 5525

10.(11) PESCHKE ……….. 5350

By doing this well, they eliminated any possibility of Elena Vesnina passing them in the near future — and if Vesnina can’t do it now, she probably can’t do it later, because she has Indian Wells to defend next month.

Hsieh/Peng have certainly been having a great year. In the last twelve months, they have won Rome, Wimbledon, Cincinnati, Guangzhou, the (final) Istanbul championships, Pattaya City, and now Doha. That’s a surface sweep, and with big titles on all the surfaces. They pretty clearly deserve the top spots.

Kveta Peschke at least did well enough to return to the Top Ten. Katarina Srebotnik didn’t make it to #3, but it looks as if the Peschke/Sretbotnik reunion could be a genuine success.

THIS WEEK ON THE WTA:

Dubai (Premier/Hard). Defending Champion: Petra Kvitova

Rio de Janeiro (International/Clay). Defending Champion: New Event

NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:

Florianopolis (International/Clay). Defending Champion: Monica Niculescu

Acapulco (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Sara Errani

Rankings

Estimated WTA Rankings As of February 16, 2014

Rank &

Prior

Rank …Name …………. Points

1..(1) SWilliams ……… 12660

2..(3) LI ……………..6570

3..(4) ARADWANSKA ………5705

4..(2) Azarenka ………..5681

5..(5) Sharapova ……… 5206

6..(6) KVITOVA ……….. 4710

7..(8) JANKOVIC ………..4535

8..(9) KERBER ………….4490

9.(10) HALEP …………. 4435*

10..(7) ERRANI ………….4390

11.(11) WOZNIACKI ……… 3200

12.(12) IVANOVIC ………..3155

13.(13) CIBULKOVA ……… 3056

14.(14) VINCI …………. 3020

15.(15) Lisicki ……….. 2820

16.(17) Suarez Navarro …..2685

17.(16) STOSUR ………….2605

18.(18) STEPHENS ………..2415

19.(19) BOUCHARD ………..2355

20.(20) FLIPKENS ………..2295

21.(21) PAVLYUCHENKOVA …..2240

22.(22) PENNETTA ………..2165

23.(24) Kirilenko ……… 2046

24.(23) Makarova ………..2011

25.(27) KANEPI ………….1991

26.(25) CORNET ………….1985

27.(26) CIRSTEA ……….. 1940

28.(28) SAFAROVA ………..1820

29.(29) Kuznetsova ………1617

30.(31) Hampton ……….. 1601

Draws

Doha — week of February 10, 2014

WINNER: Simona Halep

……………3R……………..QF…………SF………F

1 Li………..(1)Li

14 Stephens….Cetkovska(Q)…….Cetkovska

9 Ivanovic…..Zakoaplova

6 Kerber…….(6)Kerber……….Kerber……..Kerber…..Kerber

3 Kvitova……(3)Kvitova………Kvitova

16 Flipkens….Safarova

10 Cibulkova…Kleybanova(WC)

5 Jankovic…..(5)Jankovic……..Jankovic……Jankovic

7 Halep……..(7)Halep………..Halep………Halep……Halep

11 Vinci…….Beck

15 Bouchard….Niculescu

4 Errani…….(4)Errani……….Errani

8 Wozniacki….Wickmayer……….Wickmayer

12 Stosur……Cepelova

[Majeric(LL)]..Lucic-Baroni(Q)

2 A Radwanska..(2)A.Radwanska…..Radwanska…..Radwanska

STATUS OF SEEDS

1 Li……………lost 3R (Cetkovska)

2 A Radwanska……lost SF (Halep)

3 Kvitova……….lost QF (Jankovic)

4 Errani………..lost QF (Halep)

5 Jankovic………lost SF (Kerber)

6 Kerber………..lost F (Halep)

7 Halep…………WON TOURNAMENT

8 Wozniacki……..lost 2R (Wickmayer)

9 Ivanovic………lost 2R (Zakopalova)

10 Cibulkova…….lost 1R (Kleybanova)

11 Vinci………..lost 1R (Pironkova)

12 Stosur……….lost 2R (Cepelova)

13 Suarez Navarro..WITHDREW (replaced by Majeric)

14 Stephens……..lost 1R (Cetkovska)

15 Bouchard……..lost 1R (Mattek-Sands)

16 Flipkens……..lost 1R (Safarova)

Dubai — week of February 17, 2014

1 S Williams

–bye

Kleybanova

Makarova

Stephens

Safarova

Qualifier

5 Jankovic

3 Kvitova

–bye

Suarez Navarro

Petrova (WC)

Flipkens

Qualifier

Cornet

7 Halep

8 Wozniacki

Lisicki

Stosur

Qualifier

Cirstea

Vinci

–bye

4 Errani

6 Kerber

Ivanovic

V Williams (WC)

Vesnina

Kanepi

Qualifier

–bye

2 A Radwanska

Rio de Janeiro — week of February 17, 2014

1 Zakopalova

Duque-Marino

Soler-Espinosa

Pigossi (WC)

Piter

Haddad Maia (WC)

Pfizenmaier

7 Zahlavova Strycova

4 Cadantu

Pereira

Shvedova

Mayr-Achleitner

Cepede Royg (Q)

Goncalves (WC)

Begu (Q)

8 King

6 Torro-Flor

Burnett (Q)

Larsson

van Uytvanck (Q)

Kovinovic (Q)

Bertens

Gibbs (Q)

3 Ormaechea

5 Nara

Hsieh

Friedsam

N Kichenok

Babos

Scheepers

Dominguez Lino

2 Schiavone

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

SUNDAY

Doha

Singles – Final

(7) Simona Halep def. (6) Angelique Kerber 6-2 6-3

Doubles – Final

(2) Hsieh/Peng def. (3) Peschke/Srebotnik 6-4 6-0

Topics: 10sballs, Angelique Kerber, Elena Vesnina, Jelena Jankovic, Sara Errani, Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Victoria Azarenka

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10sBalls_com says:

February 16, 2014 at 5:49 pm

Serena Williams Will Keep Number 1 For a Long Time, Look @The Numbers – http://t.co/2d32bgseJm #tennis #WTA #results