PRO TOUR NEWS – WOMEN
****** EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ******
* Bouchard shocked by Beck in Dubai qualifying final; Pennetta cruises into main draw
* Venus costs Vesnina chance to return to Top Thirty
* Another bad loss for Vinci, this one to Cirstea
* Safarova upsets Stephens
* Tough day for long-missing Russians: Makarova edges Kleybanova, Suarez Navarro eliminates Petrova
* #6 seed Torro-Flor falls in Rio; #3 Ormaechea advances after rain delay
****** TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS ******
Dubai
Lucie Safarova produced 31 winners and broke serve five times in a defeat of former Australian open semi-finalist Sloane Stephens 6-3, 7-5, the second first-round loss in ass many week for the American. Ekaterina Makarova beat fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4 to earn a second-round place against Williams. Spain’s Carla Suárez Navarro defeated Russian wild card Nadia Petrova 6-3, 6-2.
Venus Williams reached the second round over Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-2 while Sorana Cirstea put out Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-3. Sister Serena Williams only made a late entry into the field as a wild card after deciding that the back problem suffered at the Australian Open during a fourth-round loss to Ana Ivanovic had healed enough for her to test it in competition.
“I get bored training, I’d much rather play a match,” the 17-time grand slam champion said after confirming that she will partner sister Venus in the doubles to get more matches after playing only eight times so far in 2014. My back feels better than it did in Australia, I still have to take it a day at a time. I’ll do my best this week, but my goal is to lift the trophy. I always set higher goals, I always want to improve.”
Rio De Janiero
Third Paula Ormaechea of Argentina made a winning start at the new event as she defeated American Nicole Gibbs 6-2, 6-1. But Italy’s Nastassja Burnett upset sixth seed Maria Teresa Torro of Spain 7-5, 6-4 at the relatively weak event on a week in which many top women prefer playing in Dubai halfway around the world.
Unknowns filled the programme on opening day as Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck beat Sweden’s Johanna Larsson 6-4, 6-3 and Pole Katarzyna Piter put out local Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-3. Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands) stopped Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 7-5, 6-0 while Spaniard Silvia Soler Espinosa reached the second round at the expense of Brazilian Laura Pigossi 6-0, 6-1.
******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********
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
************ STATS AND FACTS ************
Rankings
Estimated WTA Rankings As of February 17, 2014
Rank &
Prior
Rank …Name …………. Points
1 (1) SWILLIAMS 12380*
2 (2) Li 6690
3 (3) ARADWANSKA 5705*
4 (4) Azarenka 5681
5 (5) Sharapova 5206
6 (8) KERBER 4490*
7 (9) HALEP 4435*
8 (7) JANKOVIC 4380*
9 (6) KVITOVA 4365*
10 (10) ERRANI 4195*
11 (12) IVANOVIC 3155*
12 (13) Cibulkova 3056
13 (11) WOZNIACKI 3001*
14 (14) VINCI 2940
15 (16) SUAREZ NAVARRO 2685*
16 (15) LISICKI 2650*
17 (17) STOSUR 2605*
18 (18) STEPHENS 2415
19 (19) BOUCHARD 2366
20 (20) FLIPKENS 2285*
21 (21) Pavlyuchenkova 2240
22 (22) PENNETTA 2160*
23 (24) MAKAROVA 2065*
24 (23) Kirilenko 2046
25 (25) KANEPI 1991*
26 (26) CORNET 1985*
27 (27) CIRSTEA 1940*
28 (28) SAFAROVA 1820*
29 (29) Kuznetsova 1598
30 (30) Hampton 1532
Draws
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 ********
MONDAY
Dubai
Singles – First Round
Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. (WC) Nadia Petrova (RUS) 63 62
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 64 67(3) 64
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. Roberta Vinci (ITA) 64 63
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. Sloane Stephens (USA) 63 75
(WC) Venus Williams (USA) d. Elena Vesnina (RUS) 63 62
Doubles – First Round
Kops-Jones/Spears (USA/USA) d. Chan/Huber (TPE/USA) 63 76(4)
Groenefeld/Rosolska (GER/POL) d. Dushevina/Parra Santonja (RUS/ESP) 64 63
Raymond/Zhang (USA/CHN) d. (WC) Flipkens/Kvitova (BEL/CZE) 06 64 107 (Match TB)
Singles Qualifying – Final Round
Annika Beck (GER) d. (1) Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) 61 64
(3) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. (5) Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) 61 63
Karolina Pliskova (CZE) d. Camila Giorgi (ITA) 75 62
Maryna Zanevska (UKR) d. Mona Barthel (GER) 76(8) 64
Rio De Janiero
Singles – First round
[5] Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d [Q] Maryna Zanevska (UKR) 6-4 6-3
[Q] Annika Beck (GER) d Samantha Stosur (AUS) 1-6 6-1 6-4
[8] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d Sabine Lisicki (GER) 2-6 6-3 6-3
Alize Cornet (FRA) d [7] Simona Halep (ROU) 6-1 1-1 ret
Doubles – First round
[1] S Errani/R Vinci (ITA/ITA) d A Pavlyuchenkova/N Petrova (RUS/RUS) 6-4 6-4
A Hlavackova/L Safarova (CZE/CZE) d [4] C Black/S Mirza (ZIM/IND) 7-6(5) 5-7 11-9
Topics: 10sballs, Alisa Kleybanova, Ana Ivanovic, Ekaterina Makarova, Elena Vesnina, Eugenie Bouchard, Kiki Bertens, Lucie Safarova, Nastassja Burnett, Nicole Gibbs, Paula Ormaechea, Roberta Vinci, Sloane Stephens, Sorana Cirstea, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Venus Williams
Bouchard loses in Strong Qualies and Ladies Updates from Rio and Dubai – http://t.co/7O2gNullJX @geniebouchard #Dubai #Rio #tennis #results