NYC / THE 2014 US OPEN WOMEN’S UPDATE & LADIES DOUBLES PREVIEW

Written by: Staff on 26th August 2014

NYC / THE 2014 US OPEN WOMEN'S UPDATE & LADIES DOUBLES PREVIEW

epa04367920 Andrea Petkovic of Germany hits a return to Ons Jabeur of Tunisia during the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, Meadows, New York, USA, 25 August 2014. The US Open runs through Monday 08 September, a 15-day schedule. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

TIDBITS :

* Unranked qualifier scares Halep, but #2 seed survives to keep alive hopes for #1

* #4 Radwanska loses only one game, but still at risk of falling to #5

* Venus Williams struggles past Date-Krumm, still needs more to be sure of remaining Top Twenty

* Lucic-Baroni shocks #25 Muguruza, who is first seed to fall; Spaniard still has a theoretical shot at Top 25, but almost certainly won’t make it in practice

* Kerber, Petkovic also struggle but advance

* Sharapova starts slow but eventually cruises against old friend Kirilenko

* Jankovic eases past countrywoman Jovanovski, who loses Top Thirty chance

* Safarova, Errani, Cornet, Lisicki, Nara also advance

* Win over Ormaechea should keep Vinci in Top Fifty, but she is still at risk of losing Top Forty spot

* No Top Fifty spot for Beck after loss to Stephens

* One week after reaching career high, Giorgi appears bound out of Top Forty after loss to Rodionova

* Zheng likely to fall below #70 after loss to countrywoman Peng

* Hantuchova survives tough opener but probably needs one more win to stay Top Fifty

* Bencic beats Wickmayer to close in on Top Fifty

* Konta still below #100 after thumping by Peer

* Dulgheru earns first main draw Slam win of 2014

* Repeated work with trainer can’t help Rybarikova; retires in third set against Wozniacki

U. S. Open

Second seed Simona Halep had to win a battle with wild card Danielle Rose Collins 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, 6-2. The American upstart had only played 27 pro matches and just one at the elite level. French Open finalist Halep admitted that she was taken by surprise by a 20-year-old opponent without a current ranking.

“The first round is really difficult,” the Romanian said. “Today was a big challenge, because I played the first match of this tournament on centre court. I started a little bit nervous, but it’s normal. And she played really well.”

Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska crushed Sharon Fichman 6-1, 6-0 as the Canadian played for the first time after arthroscopic knee surgery just under a month ago. “The first match is always tricky, but today everything was working my way,” Radwanska said. “It was a pretty good start for me.”

2006 champion and fifth seed Maria Sharapova won the last ten games in a defeat of longtime fellow Russian rival Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-0, who was treated for a left ankle injury trailing a set and 3-0 in the second set.

The fiery Sharapova cleaned up her game from 15 unforced errors in the opening set to just three. She now stands 17-0 in New York night matches. “It’s always tough to start here, especially against an opponent capable of playing good tennis, “said Sharapova. “I’m happy I stepped it up and finished very strong.

German sixth seed Angelique Kerber put out Ksenia Pervak 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, while Jelena Jankovic, seeded ninth, defeated fellow Serb Bojana Jovanovski 6-2, 6-3;

Caroline Wozniacki, seeded 10th, advanced as New Haven finalist Magdalena Rybarikova advanced 6-1, 3-6, 2-0 retired. Italian 13th seed Sara Errani beat Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 7-5; Czech 14th seed Lucie Safarova reached the second round over Timea Babos 6-4, 7-5.

Women’s Look Forward: U. S. Open Doubles

For once, most of the interest in the women’s doubles draw lay in the unseeded teams. Hingis/Pennetta. King/Raymond. And, of course, Williams/Williams.

Those three teams have, between them, a very large share of the Slams in the draw. Making the odds even worse for seeded pairs, last year’s champions, Hlavackova/Hradecka, aren’t back; Andrea Hlavackova is playing with Zheng Jie (they’re seeded #8) and Lucie Hradecka is with Michaella Krajicek (they’re seeded #11). Hard to believe those teams are bigger threats than Hingis/Pennetta or Williams/Williams.

Of course, the top team this year has been Errani/Vinci, and they’re seeded #1 — and looking to clinch the year-end #1. Hsieh/Peng, who were last year’s best team but are struggling this year, are seeded #2. Black/Mirza are #3 and in the Italians’ half; Makarova/Vesnina are #4 despite struggling lately. Peschke/Srebotnik, whose results have been going downhill, are #5 and in the Errani/Vinci quarter. The steady American team of Kops-Jones/SPears are #6 and in the Black/Mirza quarter; good as they are, they don’t seem like Slam winners. Babos/Mladenovic are #7, and we know that Kristina Mladenovic can win in mixed doubles at least; they are in the Makarova/Vesnina quarter. And Hlavackova/Zheng, as mentioned, are #8; they are in the Hsieh/Peng quarter.

In the Round of Sixteen, it would be Errani/Vinci against #15 Pavlyuchenkova/Safarova (a nasty draw for the top seeds). Peschke/Srebotnik take on #9 Kudryavtseva/Rodionova, who have arguably been the better team this year. Black/Mirza would take on #13 Medina Garrigues/Shvedova, who both have multiple Slams although not together. Kops-Jones/Spears are drawn against Hradecka/Krajicek. Babos/Mladenovic are up against Muguruza/Suarez Navarro, whose results are better than their seedings; they don’t play all that regularly. Makarova/Vesnina have perhaps the easiest draw; they’re up against #16 Goerges/Groenefeld. Hlavackova/Zheng face last year’s finalists Barty/Dellacqua, seeded #10. And Hsieh/Peng take on the Chan sisters, seeded #14 — expect that to be the match that gets the highest ratings in Taiwan.

And then there are all those tough unseeded teams. Hingis/Pennetta would face Pavlyuchenkova/Safarova in round two. Babos/Mladenovic have to open against the Williams Sisters! Goerges/Groenefeld open against King/Raymond — although there will be a lot of rust on the latter team. Makarova/Vesnina will begin against Hantuchova/Schiavone, a team with almost as much experience as King/Raymond. And the Chans might play another very experienced team, Date-Krumm/Zahlavova Strycova, in the second round.

We also have to note that this is the first draw we can recall where there are two Blacks to worry about. Cara Black is playing with Mirza; Tornado Alicia Black is in on a wildcard with someone named Pera; we honestly wouldn’t expect them to go far.

The Rankings

As we mentioned, Hlavackova/Hradecka were last year’s champions — although they haven’t done much since to back that up; it’s almost half the points for each of them. Barty/Dellacqua were the finalists; the semifinalists were the Williams Sisters (for whom it represents more than 80% of their points!) and Mirza/Zheng.

That means we have a lot of players in danger of real plunges. The Williamses could fall from co-#78 to around #350. #10 Hlavackova and #12 Hradecka could be in the vicinity of #30. #17 Dellacqua could be around #35; #20 Barty might end up around #40. #22 Zheng Jie could be around #35. Sania Mirza, interestingly, might not move at all, even if she loses her opener; she and Cara Black would simply become co-#5.

The “zero round” Top Twelve are as follows:

1 (1) ERRANI 10050*

1 (1) VINCI 10050*

3 (3) PENG 7785*

4 (4) HSIEH 7635*

5 (5) MIRZA 5375*

5 (6) BLACK 5375*

7 (7) SREBOTNIK 4455*

8 (8) VESNINA 4290*

9 (11) PESCHKE 4205*

10 (9) MAKAROVA 4180*

11 (14) KOPS-JONES 4150*

11 (14) SPEARS 4150*

This means that Errani/Vinci are guaranteed to stay #1. The only question really is whether they can put away the year-end #1 rankings. They come in with 9285 points in the Race, with Peng/Hsieh having 5023 and Kops-Jones/Spears 4045; no other team has as many as 4000 points. If Errani/Vinci can hold that lead, it’s over; they will have clinched the year-end top (team) spot. Even if they lose early, they’re a good bet. But they haven’t been in the habit of losing early lately.

Hsieh/Peng are guaranteed to stay #3/#4. Mirza and Black are good bets to stay #5 and #6, but it is not sure. They are sure to stay Top Ten. Below that, things are very wild — note that #7 Srebotnik has only a 300 point lead on #11/#12 Kops-Jones/Spears. #13 Kristina Mladenovic is less than 200 points behind that, her partner Timea Babos being another hundred points back. Thus we have eight serious competitors for just four Top Ten spots. It may be quite a while before that contest is settled.

Rankings

Estimated WTA Rankings As of August 25, 2014

Rank &

Prior

Rank Name Points

1 (1) SWILLIAMS 7440*

2 (2) HALEP 6100*

3 (4) KVITOVA 5806*

4 (5) ARADWANSKA 5380*

5 (6) SHARAPOVA 5345*

6 (3) Li 5270

7 (7) KERBER 4340*

8 (8) BOUCHARD 4315*

9 (9) IVANOVIC 3795*

10 (10) JANKOVIC 3485*

11 (11) WOZNIACKI 3075*

12 (13) CIBULKOVA 3007*

13 (14) ERRANI 2855*

14 (15) SAFAROVA 2795*

15 (19) PETKOVIC 2465*

16 (20) VWILLIAMS 2310*

17 (16) SUAREZ NAVARRO 2300*

18 (12) PENNETTA 2231*

19 (18) MAKAROVA 2075*

20 (21) STOSUR 2050*

21 (22) KUZNETSOVA 1860*

22 (23) CORNET 1840*

23 (26) MUGURUZA 1743

24 (25) PAVLYUCHENKOVA 1715*

25 (24) STEPHENS 1690*

26 (27) KEYS 1610*

27 (28) LISICKI 1486*

28 (29) ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA 1481*

29 (17) AZARENKA 1393*

30 (32) DELLACQUA 1391*

Draws

U. S. Open — Week of August 24, 2014

1 S. Williams

32 Zhang

24 Stosur

15 Suarez Navarro

11 Pennetta

23 Pavlyuchenkova

29 Dellacqua

8 Ivanovic

3 Kvitova

27 Keys

20 Kuznetsova

16 Azarenka

12 Cibulkova

17 Makarova

30 Zahlavova Strycova

7 Bouchard

6 Kerber

31 Nara

21 Stephens

9 Jankovic

14 Safarova

22 Cornet

28 Vinci

4 A Radwanska

5 Sharapova

26 Lisicki

18 Petkovic

10 Wozniacki

13 Errani

19 V Williams

25 Muguruza

2 Halep

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 S. Williams

2 Halep

3 Kvitova

4 A Radwanska

5 Sharapova

6 Kerber

7 Bouchard

8 Ivanovic

9 Jankovic

10 Wozniacki

11 Pennetta

12 Cibulkova

13 Errani

14 Safarova

15 Suarez Navarro

16 Azarenka

17 Makarova

18 Petkovic

19 V Williams

20 Kuznetsova

21 Stephens

22 Cornet

23 Pavlyuchenkova

24 Stosur

25 Muguruza…………lost 1R (Lucic-Baroni)

26 Lisicki

27 Keys

28 Vinci

29 Dellacqua

30 Zahlavova Strycova

31 Nara

32 Zhang

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

MONDAY

US Open

Singles – First Round

(2) Simona Halep (ROU) d. (WC) Danielle Rose Collins (USA) 67(2) 61 62

(4) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Sharon Fichman (CAN) 61 60

(5) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 64 60

(6) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. (Q) Ksenia Pervak (RUS) 62 36 75

(9) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) 62 63

(10) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 61 36 20 ret. (left hip injury)

(13) Sara Errani (ITA) d. Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 61 75

(14) Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. Timea Babos (HUN) 64 75

(18) Andrea Petkovic (GER) d. (Q) Ons Jabeur (TUN) 76(7) 16 63

(19) Venus Williams (USA) d. Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN) 26 63 63

(21) Sloane Stephens (USA) d. Annika Beck (GER) 60 63

(22) Alizé Cornet (FRA) d. (WC) Amandine Hesse (FRA) 61 62

(Q) Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) d. (25) Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) 63 76(4)

(26) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. (Q) Françoise Abanda (CAN) 63 75

(28) Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. Paula Ormaechea (ARG) 63 63

(31) Kurumi Nara (JPN) d. Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 62 61

Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Romina Oprandi (SUI) 46 62 63

Peng Shuai (CHN) d. Zheng Jie (CHN) 63 63

Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) d. Karin Knapp (ITA) 64 63

Belinda Bencic (SUI) d. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 63 62

Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) d. Sílvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) 76(4) 63

Jana Cepelova (SVK) d. María-Teresa Torró-Flor (ESP) 26 75 61

Monica Puig (PUR) d. Tereza Smitkova (CZE) 36 63 63

Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) d. Kiki Bertens (NED) 67(7) 43 ret. (viral illness)

Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) d. Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 63 64

Johanna Larsson (SWE) d. Virginie Razzano (FRA) 60 60

Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Johanna Konta (GBR) 62 63

(Q) Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) d. Anna Schmiedlova (SVK) 64 63

(Q) Zheng Saisai (CHN) d. Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 16 62 62

(Q) Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) d. (Q) Duan Ying-Ying (CHN) 26 62 64

(Q) Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) d. Camila Giorgi (ITA) 16 75 63

(WC) Madison Brengle (USA) d. Julia Glushko (ISR) 63 62

Topics: 2014 US Open, Tennis Results, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

August 26, 2014 at 9:38 am

NYC / THE 2014 US OPEN WOMEN’S UPDATE & LADIES DOUBLES PREVIEW- http://t.co/eowSXNKKqW #2014USOpen #tennis #dubs #WTA #USOpen #NYC