BEIJING LADIES TENNIS RESULTS – SHARAPOVA TO PLAY KVITOVA – A LOOK FORWARD TO LINZ, OSAKA & TIAJIN

Written by: Staff on 4th October 2014

BEIJING LADIES TENNIS RESULTS - SHARAPOVA TO PLAY KVITOVA - A LOOK FORWARD TO LINZ, OSAKA & TIAJIN

epa04431329 Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in action during her women's singles semi-final match against Samantha Stosur of Australia in the China Open tennis tournament at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China, 04 October 2014. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG |

TIDBITS :

* Sharapova, Kvitova to face off in Beijing final with #2 ranking on the line

* China celebrates when Hlavackova/Peng win doubles

NEWS FROM BEIJING

Singles – Semifinal: (3) Petra Kvitova def. Samantha Stosur 6-3 5-7 6-2

If Petra Kvitova feels like she’s spinning her wheels, who can blame her? She’s won eight straight matches, has a title and a final — and she’s still in danger of falling in the rankings! That sort of uncertainty is perhaps fitting after a very unpredictable contest on the court: “It’s tough to say something about the match. I mean, it was really up and down. In the second set she was the better player on the court. I’m just glad I could win it in the third. I knew how Samantha can play really well, and she played a really amazing second set. I was a little bit worried in the third set, like if she continued playing that way, it could have been a pretty quick one. But I had some chances and I did it. In the end I served well, and that was important.”

Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in action during her women’s singles semi-final match against Samantha Stosur of Australia in the China Open tennis tournament at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China, 04 October 2014. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG

Now we see what happens in the final. Win it, and Kvitova is #2, matching her career high. Lose it, and she is #4. Stosur will be #18 — and now goes to defend her Osaka title.

Singles – Semifinal: (4) Maria Sharapova def. (9) Ana Ivanovic 6-0 6-4

And, with this, Simona Halep’s tenure as #2 is over. We don’t know who will replace her, but she’ll be falling. Maria Sharapova with this win moved past the Romanian. So if Sharapova wins the final, the rankings will be 1. Serena, 2. Sharapova, 3. Halep, 4. Kvitova. If Petra Kvitova wins the final, then it’s 1. Serena, 2. Kvitova, 3. Sharapova, 4. Halep.

It’s hard to say much about the match itself, which saw Sharapova dominate then struggle — she had eight double-faults, and four of them came as she was serving for the match! Still, having come in at #4, she is guaranteed to gain at least one ranking spot. Ana Ivanovic will also gain a spot, rising to #8 — and she has finally earned the right to return to the year-end Championships. Even if this match was disappointing, it has been her best year in half a decade.

Maria Sharapova of Russia in action during her women’s singles semi-final match against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the China Open tennis tournament at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China, 04 October 2014. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG

Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in action during her women’s singles semi-final match against Maria Sharapova of Russia in the China Open tennis tournament at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China, 04 October 2014. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG

Doubles – Final: (5) Hlavackova/Peng def. (2) Black/Mirza 6-4 6-4

Li Na may be gone, but Beijing still managed to produce a Chinese champion. It’s the fifth title this year for Peng Shuai, but her first significant one with a partner other than Hsieh Su-Wei (she won Pattaya City with Zhang, but that was an International, and a weak one).

Peng may have felt nervous as she got close to the title; Hlavackova/Peng were up 6-4 4-0, then got tight. Peng admitted, “It’s really thanks to Andrea that we won. She kept talking to me, smiling out there and making me loose. After the match in the locker room, we said to each other, ‘It’s not bad idea we teamed up!'” Certainly it’s not bad for Andrea Hlavackova, who earns her first title of 2014; it seems that Hlavackova/Peng are rather more than the sum of their parts. If we’re seeking new teams to watch out for next year, they look like one of them — although they still have’t decided whether to stay together.

Black/Mirza are still seeking their first high premier event of the year. Nevertheless, with a title at the Pan Pacific and a final here, it has been quite an Asian swing for them.

LOOK FORWARD TO LINZ ,OSAKA , TIAJIN

If you want to understand the way the WTA players tend to plan their schedules, you need look no further than the qualifying draws of this week’s events. All three are the same tier — but the differences in fields is stunning. Linz, long-established and played in Europe, has a Top Fifty player (Monica Niculescu) in the qualifying (although she lost her opener to Alexandra Panova). Nine of the players in qualifying are Top Hundred, and about that many have been Top Fifty at some time in their careers. By contrast, Osaka, well-established but played in Asia, has a top qualifying seed ranked #171 but at least managed to have a full 32-player qualifying draw. Tianjin, also in Asia as well as being brand-new, managed to supply only 28 players for the qualifying, and that only because they managed to pull in three alternates to be the top three qualifying seeds!

The Tianjin draw is frankly pretty pathetic, except that they clearly made an effort to recruit a handful of strong headliners. Jelena Jankovic, who seems to make it a habit to let herself be wooed by an Asian international event at the end of the year, is the #1 seed. Peng Shuai, now China’s #1 in both singles and doubles, is the #2 seed. Rising Belinda Bencic is #3. Varvara Lepchenko’s recent hot results have taken her to the #4 seed. Zhang Shuai’s injury and slump have hurt her ranking a lot, but she still managed the #5 seed. Alison Riske is #6, Monica Puig #7, and Ajla Tomljanovic #8. There are two fairly noteworthy unseeded players, although obviously they’re both in awful slumps: Puig could play Sorana Cirstea in round two, and Riske might face Francesca Schiavone, who is in on a wildcard.

The Osaka draw isn’t nearly as strong at the top as Tianjin, but it’s much, much deeper. Defending champion Samantha Stosur is back as the #1 seed. Madison Keys is #2, and talented youngster Elina Svitolina has the #3 seed and perhaps her last big chance to hit the Top Thirty this year. CoCo Vandeweghe is #4, and Zarina Diyas, who has been rising steadily, has the #5 seed. Heather Watson is #6, Christina McHale #7, and Lauren Davis #8 — you’d think this was an American tournament from the draw! All the more so since Svitolina has to open against Shelby Rogers, while McHale might face Bethanie Mattek-Sands in round two. They’re among the most noteworthy unseeded players; the others to watch are Kristina Mladenovic, who is in on a wildcard and opens against Vandeweghe, and Zheng Jie, who decided to spurn Tianjin and play here; she might face Vandeweghe in round two.

We don’t have the Linz draw yet, but if it looks anything like the entry list, it will be the strongest event this week by far. There are two Top Ten players (Eugenie Bouchard and Ana Ivanovic), and three other Top Twenty players (Dominika Cibulkova, Andrea Petkovic, and Carla Suarez Navarro). The other three seeds, if they all show up and there are no surprise wildcards, would be Sabine Lisicki, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, and .Karolina Pliskova. Other Top Fifty players include Magdalena Rybarikova, Camila Giorgi, Kaia Kanepi, Kirsten Flipkens, Caroline Garcia, and Tsvetana Pironkova. Put it this way: More than half the players at Linz would be seeded at the week’s other two events.

The most noteworthy absence is last year’s champion Angelique Kerber.

The Rankings

Angelique Kerber of Germany celebrates with the trophy after winning the final against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, at the WTA Generali Ladies Tennis tournament in Linz, Austria, 13 October 2013. EPA/BARBARA GINDL

Maybe the most important thing to say about this week’s ranking is, “Remember how Angelique Kerber got into Linz last year?” Kerber, desperate to qualify for the Istanbul Championships, was not signed up for Linz — indeed, as a Top Ten player, she arguably wasn’t even eligible to play another International event. And, by the time Kerber realized that she needed more points, the Linz draw had been made and all the wildcards awarded. No matter. Kerber sent a desperate message, and one of the wildcards had her wildcard rescinded — and Kerber was plugged into the draw as the #1 seed even though that meant putting her in the bottom half of the draw where the #2 seed usually goes; Sloane Stephens, who had been seeded #1, suddenly found herself the #2 seed but at the top of the draw. Ana Ivanovic was demoted to the #3 seed, and so on down the line. And then Kerber won Linz, and qualified for Istanbul — and promptly pulled out of Moscow, where she was supposed to be the #1 seed.

So, anyway, Kerber has champion’s points to defend. The player she beat in the final was none other than Ivanovic, who ended up being relegated to the Sofia Also-Ran Championship rather than the big one. (There is perhaps some irony in the fact that Ivanovic is going to Singapore this year and Kerber will be an alternate.) The Linz semifinalists were Stefanie Voegele and Carla Suarez Navarro.

There were no such shenanigans at Osaka, although it is interesting to note that #1 seed Jelena Jankovic bailed after the draw was made (after all, she was safely qualified for Istanbul), and #2 Sabine Lisicki withdrew from the second round. That opened the door for #3 seed Samantha Stosur to win the title, over Eugenie Bouchard; Madison Keys and Kurumi Nara were the semifinalists.

This year, of course, we have three events coming on, so more points will be added than subtracted.

It may not affect the Top Ten at all, unless this is the week Li Na goes off the rankings. #10 Kerber’s lead over the next player in line (Errani) is large enough that she can’t fall in the rankings. Similarly, Ivanovic’s lead over Caroline Wozniacki is safe. The one change we might see is that Eugenie Bouchard might fall behind Agnieszka Radwanska in the contest for the #6 ranking.

Samantha Stosur, who just put herself into the Top Twenty, might fall right back out.

STATS & FACTS & RANKINGS

Estimated WTA Rankings As of October 3, 2014

Rank & (Prior rank )

Rank …Name …………. Points

1..(1) SWILLIAMS ……… 8645

2..(4) SHARAPOVA ……… 6330*

3..(2) HALEP …………. 6246

4..(3) KVITOVA ……….. 6126*

5..(5) Li ……………..5020

6..(7) BOUCHARD ………..4693

7..(6) ARADWANSKA ………4650

8..(9) IVANOVIC ………..4490

9..(8) WOZNIACKI ……… 4215

10.(10) KERBER ………….3920

11.(12) ERRANI ………….3085

12.(13) Cibulkova ……… 2977

13.(14) MAKAROVA ………..2970

14.(11) JANKOVIC ………..2945

15.(16) PENNETTA ………..2642

16.(17) PETKOVIC ………..2495

17.(15) SAFAROVA ………..2460

18.(21) STOSUR ………….2430

19.(18) SUAREZ NAVARRO …..2400

20.(19) VWILLIAMS ……… 2270

21.(20) CORNET ………….2255

22.(22) MUGURUZA ………..1983

23.(24) PENG ……………1925

24.(23) Azarenka ………..1862

25.(25) LISICKI ……….. 1835

26.(27) KUZNETSOVA ………1830

27.(26) DELLACQUA ……… 1705

28.(28) ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA .1656

29.(29) PLISKOVA ………..1650

30.(30) PAVLYUCHENKOVA …..1640

Draws

Beijing — Week of September 29, 2014

………………3R……………QF…………SF………F

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

13 Safarova…….(13)Safarova

10 Jankovic…….Cornet

6 Wozniacki…….Stosur………..Stosur……..Stosur

3 Kvitova………(3)Kvitova…….Kvitova…….Kvitova….Kvitova

16 V Williams…..(16)V.Williams

12 Makarova…….(12)Makarova

5 A Radwanska…..Vinci…………Vinci

7 Kerber……….(7)Kerber

11 Errani………Kuznetsova…….Kuznetsova

14 Pennetta…….Suarez Navarro

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

8 Bouchard……..Lisicki

9 Ivanovic……..(9)Ivanovic……Ivanovic…..Ivanovic

15 Petkovic…….(15)Petkovic

2 Halep………..(2)Halep………Halep

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 S Williams…….WITHDREW from QF

2 Halep…………WITHDREW from QF

3 Kvitova

4 Sharapova

5 A Radwanska……lost 2R (Vinci)

6 Wozniacki……..lost 2R (Stosur)

7 Kerber………..lost 3R (Kuznetsova)

8 Bouchard………lost 2R (Lisicki)

9 Ivanovic………lost SF (Sharapova)

10 Jankovic……..lost 1R (Cornet)

11 Errani……….lost 1R (Nara)

12 Makarova……..lost 3R (Vinci)

13 Safarova……..lost 3R (S. Williams)

14 Pennetta……..lost 2R (Suarez Navarro)

15 Petkovic……..lost 3R (Halep)

16 V Williams……WITHDREW from 3R

Linz — Week of October 5, 2014

DRAW NOT YET AVAILABLE

Osaka — Week of October 5, 2014

1 Stosur

Eguchi

Qualifier

Gajdosova

Putintseva

Ozaki (WC)

Jaksic

6 Watson

3 Svitolina

Rogers

E Sema

Osaka (WC)

Voracova

Qualifier

8 Davis

5 Diyas

Qualifier

Maria

Arruabarrena

J Zheng

Konjuh

Mladenovic (WC)

4 Vandeweghe

7 McHale

Kumkhum

Mattek-Sands

Hozumi

Doi

Qualifier

Vickery

2 Keys

Tianjin — Week of October 5, 2014

1 Jankovic

Kudryavtseva

Babos

S Zheng

Cirstea

Linette

Hlavackova

7 Puig

4 Lepchenko

Qualifier

F Liu (WC)

Wang

Govortsova

Schiavone (WC)

Buyukakcay

6 Riske

5 S Zhang

Kovinic

Rodionova

Hsieh

Wu (WC)

Oprandi

Zhu

3 Bencic

8 Tomljanovic

Qualifier

Duan

L Zhang

Soler-Espinosa

Qualifier

2 Peng

SCORES

SATURDAY

Beijing

Singles – Semifinal

(3) Petra Kvitova def. Samantha Stosur 6-3 5-7 6-2

(4) Maria Sharapova def. (9) Ana Ivanovic 6-0 6-4

Doubles – Final

(5) Hlavackova/Peng def. (2) Black/Mirza 6-4 6-4

***

VIA Bob Larson TENNIS News

Topics: Ana Ivanovic, Beijing, China Open, Ladies tennis, Linz, Maria Sharapova, Osaka, Petra Kvitova, Samantha Stosur, Tiajin, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

October 4, 2014 at 4:34 pm

#BEIJING LADIES #TENNIS RESULTS – @MariaSharapova TO PLAY @Petra_Kvitova- A LOOK FORWARD TO #LINZ, #OSAKA & #TIAJIN- http://t.co/eTL7yiUT20