Serena Williams Wins Miami For A Record 7th. Time

Written by: Staff on 29th March 2014

Serena Williams Wins Miami For A Record 7th. Time

epa04146077 Serena Williams of the USA serves to Li Na of China during their finals match at the Sony Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne in Miami, Florida, USA, 29 March 2014. EPA/RHONA WISE |

BOB LARSON’S TENNIS NEWS

Miami

Singles – Final: (1) Serena Williams def. (2) Li Na 7-5 6-1

Twice in this match, Li Na seemed to just vanish for a few points. One was in the last game of the first set. Having blown a 5-2 lead, she served for the tiebreak, had game points, and couldn’t make it through. In the fourth game of the second set, same story: game points, but no game. Those two failed game points cost her the match.

(There were, to be sure, other breaks. But those were the decisive ones.)

It was still an amazing contest — the first set took more than an hour. Even with the second set blowout, the whole thing took almost exactly two hours.

In one sense, it makes no difference. We knew all along that Serena would be #1 and Li #2 when this was over. But it gives Serena the chance to reassert that she is the “true” #1. The WTA Race still has Li in the lead, and because Serena was defending champion, Li actually edges a little closer to #1. But Serena now has two titles in four events in 2014 (Brisbane and now Miami). She is 15-2. Li is 22-3, with two titles in five events, which is almost the same winning percentage — but one of those titles was Shenzhen, which was an International event. On the whole, no matter what the Race says, we’d say Serena is having the better year. Not by much! But the better year….

And she picks up title #7 in Miami. A mark that will probably never be exceeded, unless by Serena herself.

****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******

Women’s Look Forward: Charleston, Monterrey

In a sport where conforming to a standard model is considered such a virtue that even brand-new tournaments think it desirable to call themselves “classic” (and, more amazingly, are allowed to call themselves classics), distinctiveness is perhaps not a highly prized virtue.

Which is too bad for Charleston, because it’s a tournament like no other. For starters, it’s on green clay — a unique situation. It is the only American women’s event on clay before the tour heads to Europe, and the only high-tier event on clay in America for men or women. Plus it’s a Premier 700 with a 56-draw rather than a 30-draw.

Last year, it had two Top Ten players, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki. This year, it again has two: Serena and Jelena Jankovic. Who just happen to have been last year’s champion and finalist. Sara Errani, who just fell out of the Top Ten, is the #3 player; Sabine Lisicki, who will have to hurry in from the Miami doubles final, is #4. Sloane Stephen is the #5 seed and is in Errani’s quarter; Eugenie Bouchard is #6 and in Jankovic’s, Samantha Stosur (who is that oddest of odd things, an Australian who loves clay) is #7 and in Lisicki’s, and Sorana Cirstea is #8 and in Serena’s.

Those eight seeds have byes. The lower eight seeds do not. In the Round of Sixteen, Serena would face #13 Elena Vesnina, Cirstea would take on #12 Daniela Hantuchova, Errani faces #15 Madison Keys (meaning that there are three American seeds), and Stephens would face #10 Maria Kirilenko, who will finally try to come back from her long layoff. Stosur’s opponent would be #9 Lucie Safarova — that sounds like one of the best matches of the round. Lisicki will take on #14 Andrea Petkovic, while Bouchard is drawn against #11 Venus Williams. You read that right; both sisters are in the draw. They were last year, too. Jankovic’s third round opponent would be #16 Zhang Shuai.

If Zhang gets through. Her second round opponent will be either Ajla Tomljanovic or Stefanie Voegele — not normally names that strike tremendous fear into opponents, but Voegele was a semifinalist here last year. Kirilenko might end up facing her one-time doubles partner Nadia Petrova in round two — if Petrova ever gets her form back; she needed a wildcard here. But she does like clay. Stephens will likely play her second round against Elina Svitolina, who just missed seeding. There are some other pretty good unseeded players, too, such as Peng Shuai, but clay probably isn’t their surface.

Monterrey didn’t manage to land a Top Ten player (unlike last year when it was headlined by Angelique Kerber), but it snagged three of the Top Fifteen. Flavia Pennetta has the #1 seed, with Ana Ivanovic #2 and Caroline Wozniacki #3 (we’ll admit that we were kind of shocked to see that seeding order, but remember, this event was seeded based on the post-Indian Wells draws). Kirsten Flipkens took a wildcard to earn the #4 seed. Garbine Muguruza is #5, Magdalena Rybarikova #6, Karin Knapp #7, and Monica Puig #8; that’s about it for Top Fifty players. Given that this is a hardcourt event, though, Muguruza might have a bit of a first round struggle against Donna Vekic, and Rybarikova’s second round contest with Monica Niculescu might be tough. A year ago, Ivanovic’s first round against Urszula Radwanska might also have been worth watching, but Radwanska is still trying to get her game back in 2014.

The Rankings

Last year, Charleston was a rather weak event — with one exception. It had Serena Williams as the #1 seed. And Serena, hot off her title at Miami 2013, added the title at Charleston. Jelena Jankovic was the finalist; Venus Williams and Stefanie Voegele were semifinalists. The title at Monterrey went to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, over Angelique Kerber; Maria Kirilenko and Monica Niculescu were the semifinalists.

Even though Serena is the defending Charleston champion, her #1 ranking is in no danger at all. Indeed, we won’t see any changes in the Top Five. Jankovic may lose some points, but the worst that can happen is that she will fall to #9, and that’s if she loses early. On the other hand, because Kerber loses some points and Jankovic can add, there is just a possibility that Jankovic could rise to #7 — if she does as well as or better than last year. The one other serious possibility is that Dominika Cibulkova could lose the Top Ten ranking she just earned; it appears Sara Errani could make it back into the Top Ten with a semifinal. Errani is the only player who has a Top Ten chance this week.

Pavlyuchenkova isn’t playing this year, and could end up around #25. Kirilenko is in danger of losing her Top Thirty spot, as is Venus Williams.

NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:

Charleston (Premier/Green Clay). Defending Champion: Serena Williams

Monterrey (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

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

Rankings

Estimated WTA Rankings As of March 29, 2014

Rank &

Prior

Rank …Name …………. Points

1..(1) SWILLIAMS ………12660*

2..(2) LI ……………..7585

3..(3) ARADWANSKA ………5980

4..(4) Azarenka ………..5441

5..(5) Halep …………. 4695

6..(8) KVITOVA ……….. 4370

7..(9) KERBER ………….4185

8..(6) JANKOVIC ………..4150

9..(7) SHARAPOVA ……… 3961

10.(11) CIBULKOVA ……… 3720

11.(10) ERRANI ………….3645

12.(12) PENNETTA ………..3270

13.(13) IVANOVIC ………..3120

14.(18) WOZNIACKI ……… 2740

15.(15) LISICKI ……….. 2720

16.(14) VINCI …………. 2685

17.(17) SUAREZ NAVARRO …..2660

18.(16) STEPHENS ………..2550

19.(20) STOSUR ………….2485

20.(19) BOUCHARD ………..2445

21.(21) PAVLYUCHENKOVA …..2245

22.(24) MAKAROVA ………..2240

23.(22) CORNET ………….2155

24.(25) KANEPI ………….2110

25.(23) FLIPKENS ………..2085

26.(27) SAFAROVA ………..1940

27.(26) CIRSTEA ……….. 1780

28.(31) VWILLIAMS ……… 1617

29.(29) Kirilenko ……… 1516

30.(30) KUZNETSOVA ………1513

Draws

Miami — week of March 17, 2014

WINNER: Serena Williams

…………………3R……………….4R……….QF……….SF………F

1 S Williams………(1)S.Williams……..Williams….Williams….Williams…Williams

27 Zakopalova……..Garcia

21 Pavlyuchenkova….Vandeweghe(Q)……..Vandeweghe

16 Stosur…………(16)Stosur

9 Errani………….(9)Errani

23 Makarova……….(23)Makarova………Makarova

25 Cirstea………..Pironkova

5 Kerber………….(5)Kerber…………Kerber……Kerber

4 Sharapova……….(4)Sharapova………Sharapova…Sharapova…Sharapova

26 Safarova……….(26)Safarova

19 Flipkens……….(19)Flipkens………Flipkens

14 Lisicki………..(14)Lisicki

12 Ivanovic……….(12)Ivanovic………Ivanovic

20 Pennetta……….(20)Pennetta

28 Kuznetsova……..Vekic(Q)

8 Kvitova…………(8)Kvitova………..Kvitova…..Kvitova

[Cepelova(LL)]…….Dellacqua

29 V Williams……..(29)V.Williams……Williams

22 Cornet…………(22)Cornet

10 Cibulkova………(10)Cibulkova…….Cibulkova….Cibulkova…Cibulkova

13 Vinci………….Zahlavova Strycova

18 Bouchard……….Svitolina………..Svitolina

32 Vesnina………..(32)Vesnina

3 A Radwanska……..(3)A.Radwanska……Radwanska….Radwanska

7 Jankovic………..Lepchenko………..Lepchenko

30 Muguruza……….Tomljanovic

17 Stephens……….(17)Stephens

11 Wozniacki………(11)Wozniacki…….Wozniacki….Wozniacki

15 Suarez Navarro….(15)Suarez Navarro..Suarez N

24 Kanepi…………(24)Kanepi

31 Hantuchova……..Keys

2 Li……………..(2)Li……………Li………..Li……….Li……….Li

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 S Williams………WON TOURNAMENT

2 Li……………..lost F (S. Williams)

3 A Radwanska……..lost QF (Cibulkova)

4 Sharapova……….lost SF (S. Williams)

5 Kerber………….lost QF (S. Williams)

6 Halep…………..WITHDREW (replaced by Cepelova)

7 Jankovic………..lost 2R (Lepchenko)

8 Kvitova…………lost QF (Sharapova)

9 Errani………….lost 3R (Makarova)

10 Cibulkova………lost SF (Li)

11 Wozniacki………lost QF (Li)

12 Ivanovic……….lost 4R (Kvitova)

13 Vinci………….lost 2R (Zahlavova Strycova)

14 Lisicki………..WITHDREW from 3R

15 Suarez Navarro….lost 4R (Li)

16 Stosur…………lost 3R (Vandeweghe)

17 Stephens……….lost 3R (Wozniacki)

18 Bouchard……….lost 2R (Svitolina)

19 Flipkens……….lost 4R (Sharapova)

20 Pennetta……….lost 3R (Ivanovic)

21 Pavlyuchenkova….lost 2R (Vandeweghe)

22 Cornet…………lost 3R (Cibulkova)

23 Makarova……….lost 4R (Kerber)

24 Kanepi…………lost 3R (Suarez Navarro)

25 Cirstea………..lost 2R (Pironkova)

26 Safarova……….lost 3R (Sharapova)

27 Zakopalova……..lost 2R (Garcia)

28 Kuznetsova……..lost 2R (Vekic)

29 V Williams……..lost 4R (Cibulkova)

30 Muguruza……….lost 2R (Tomljanovic)

31 Hantuchova……..lost 2R (Keys)

32 Vesnina………..lost 3R (A. Radwanska)

Charleston — week of March 31, 2014

1 S Williams

–bye

Oudin (WC)

Cepelova

Lepchenko

Cetkovska

Schmiedlova

13 Vesnina

12 Hantuchova

Rogers (WC)

Qualifier

Mayr-Achleitner

Periera

–bye

8 Cirstea

3 Errani

–bye

Ormaechea

Qualifier

Garcia

Peng

Lucic-Baroni

15 Keys

10 Kirilenko

Qualifier

Erakovic

Petrova (WC)

Svitolina

Qualifier

–bye

5 Stephens

7 Stosur

–bye

Qualifier

Shvedova

Goerges

Razzano

Larsson

9 Safarova

14 Petkovic

Qualifier

Medina Garrigues

Dominguez Lino

King

Glushko

–bye

4 Lisicki

6 Bouchard

–bye

McHale

Qualifier

Riske

Scheepers

Zahlavova Strycova

11 V Williams

16 Zhang

Hsieh

Voegele

Tomljanovic

Pfizenmaier

Davis

–bye

2 Jankovic

Monterrey — week of March 31, 2014

1 Pennetta

Date-Krumm

Hermoso (WC)

Babos

Gibbs

Hlavackova

Puchkova

8 Puig

4 Flipkens (WC)

Qualifier

Kiick

Majeric

Qualifier

Jaksic

7 Knapp

5 Muguruza

Vekic

Peer

Ka. Pliskova

Mladenovic

Konta

Vandeweghe

3 Wozniacki

6 Rybarikova

Govortsova

Niculescu

Morita

Qualifier

Zacarias (WC)

U Radwanska

2 Ivanovic

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

SATURDAY

Miami

Singles – Final

(1) Serena Williams def. (2) Li Na 7-5 6-1

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10sBalls_com says:

March 29, 2014 at 6:21 pm

Serena Williams Wins Miami For A Record 7th. Time – http://t.co/aPbB6nuI5F @serenawilliams #miami #sonyopen #tennis #results