SINGAPORE AND MORE / LADIES TENNIS RESULTS SCORES AND A LOOK AT THE GROUPING FOR THE WTA YEAR END CHAMPIONSHIPS

Written by: Staff on 18th October 2014

SINGAPORE AND MORE / LADIES TENNIS RESULTS SCORES AND A LOOK AT THE GROUPING FOR THE WTA YEAR END CHAMPIONSHIPS

epa04424659 Serena Williams of the USA in action against Tsevatana Pironkova of Bulgaria during their second round match at the Tennis China Open in Beijing, China, 30 September 2014. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL |

PRO TOUR NEWS – WOMEN

TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS

Moscow

Singles – Semifinal: Irina-Camelia Begu def. (4) Lucie Safarova 7-6(7-5) 1-6 6-3

What in the world has gotten into Irina-Camelia Begu? She has one WTA title (Tashkent 2012) and a couple of other finals (Marbella 2011, Budapest 2011) — but those were bottom-tier events. And, here, she has beaten two Top Twenty players, Ekaterina Makarova and now Lucie Safarova. She had only two Top Twenty wins in her entire career until now (#14 Kuznetsova at Marbella 2011 and #9 Wozniacki at the 2012 U. S. Open, both against players who were sliding fast). This is obviously a big breakthrough for Begu; we show her rising from #61 to #42, and with the chance for her first big title. Lucie Safarova, who would have been #15 had she won this, will have to settle for #16.

Singles – Semifinal: (6) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. (Q) Katerina Siniakova 6-2 6-2

This is turning into a very strange year for Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She already has one Premier title (Paris) and she will be the clear favorite to win her second. Yet she came here ranked #30, and is up only to #24; she’ll be #21 if she wins the title. Ordinarily we’d expect someone with two Premier titles to be ranked higher. It’s not really hard to see why Pavlyuchenkova is the exception; take away Paris and Moscow and she is a mere 16-20 on the year, with no other semifinals. If only she could find a coach who could keep her in Paris-and-Moscow form!

Doubles – Final: (2) Hingis/Pennetta def. (4) Garcia/Parra Santonja 6-3 7-5

So near and yet so far!

Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta, in their three months together, have won Wuhan and Moscow and made the U. S. Open final. On a per-tournament basis, they’re probably the best team on the Tour except Errani/Vinci.

It still won’t get them into Singapore. They need someone to withdraw. No word of that yet. Still — look out next year!

It was quite a day for Swiss players, too, with Timea Bacsinszky winning in Luxembourg. This raises an interesting question. We have to believe Hingis is thinking about the 2016 Olympics. So: Bencic or Bacsinszky? Too soon to tell, of course, but an interesting choice.

Luxembourg

Singles – Final: Annika Beck def. (4) Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2 6-1

A pretty dull final. Annika Beck broke Barbora Zahlavova Strycova seven times. Hard to win when you’re playing like that!

It probably didn’t help that Barbora Zahlavova Strycova was playing in her fifth final, and has won only one of them. No wonder her serve went off! And, with it, her chance to make Sofia. She ends up at #26, and the Sofia qualifiers appear to be Makarova, Cibulkova, Petkovic, Suarez Navarro, Cornet, and Stosur, with Pennetta and Pironkova as wildcards.

Annika Beck had only one previous final — here, a year ago. It’s pretty clear what her favorite tournament is! Because she has so much to defend, she rises only a little — from #60 to probably #54. But she now has more than two months to savor that first title. What a way to end the year!

Doubles – Final: Bacsinszky/Barrois def. (3) Hradecka/Krejcikova 3-6 6-4 10-4

Experience still counts for something, it seems. Lucie Hradecka is a veteran — but Barbora Krejcikova is an eighteen-year-old newcomer who had only one WTA singles event on her record. Playing in a final was a bit much….

For Timea Bacsinszky, it’s more evidence that she is finally back. She had an impressive 2010 in doubles, winning Budapest, Prague, and Luxembourg with Garbin — but then nothing. Her long battle with injuries cost her as much in doubles as in singles. Now, the struggle seems to be over.

For 33-year-old Kristina Barrois — whom we had frankly thought retired until earlier this year — this is the first WTA title of any kind. Her results still aren’t very noteworthy. But if she decides to (re?)-retire, she can at least do so having won an actual WTA title.

TODAY’S FEATURE

Women’s Look Forward: Singapore Championships

This looks like the Championships that could be decided by everything except the quality of the players. And, for once, we aren’t talking about jet lag — none of the players in the Singapore singles draw played at Moscow or Luxembourg, so they’ve all had plenty of time to adjust to the time zone and the surface. No, we’re just talking about experience, nerves, and injuries.

Serena Williams of the USA reacts during her women’s third round singles match against Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic for the China Open tennis tournament at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China 02 October 2014. EPA/ROLEX DELA PENA

Take the Red Group. That’s the one with Serena Williams in it. She is the #1 seed here. She also has a bad knee. And the rest of the group is Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard, and Ana Ivanovic. Halep has been having shoulder problems, has had a tough fall, doesn’t like the surface, and is playing her first Championships. Bouchard has also been hurting, has also been struggling, and is also playing her first Championships. That leaves Ivanovic, the lowest-ranked player in the group, as the only one who is healthy, and the only veteran other than Serena, and she hasn’t played here for years — Halep and Bouchard weren’t even really on the Tour when Ivanovic was last in the field.

So it really looks as if Serena should win her group — if she is healthy. If she isn’t, who knows?

The White Grop is much more experienced — everyone in it has been here before. Maria Sharapova, the #2 seed, heads the group, then #3 Petra Kvitova, #5 Agnieszka Radwanska, and #8 Caroline Wozniacki. But Sharapova, despite winning Beijing, has struggled in the fall in recent years and seems to have lost her liking for fast surfaces. Kvitova is incredibly inconsistent — and she has, believe it or not, only one Top Ten win this year (over Bouchard at Wuhan). That’s a scary number to take into the Championships! Radwanska and Wozniacki also have pretty low Top Ten win totals — just three each. (For comparison: Serena has eight Top Ten wins this year. Sharapova has nine. Halep has five, Bouchard six, and Ivanovic seven.)

Put it all together and… all we can say is, there is no way we would bet on anyone in this event. It’s just too unpredictable. Serena and Sharapova would feel like favorites if Serena were healthy and if Sharapova were playing on clay — but, of course, they aren’t.

The Rankings

The WTA may not like the state of health of a lot of the players here. But it will probably like the fact that the #1 ranking is on the line. Serena is about 550 points ahead of Sharapova, and about 1550 ahead of Kvitova. That means that Kvitova is out of the hunt for year-end #1, but Sharapova has a chance. How well she will need to do depends on what shape Serena is in, and on round robin wins, but a final would probably do it if Serena is too injured to do more than show up, and a title would do it if Serena doesn’t reach the final.

Sharapova needs only a couple of wins to assure that she stays at least #2.

We have a hot contest for #3, with Kvitova only about 200 points ahead of Halep. Odds are that whoever lasts longest will be #3. Bouchard is almost 900 points behind Halep, so she probably needs a title to rise above #5. Radwanska is less than a hundred points behind Bouchard, with Ivanovic 150 behind that and Wozniacki another 250 behind that. So as between Bouchard and Radwanska, whoever lasts longer is ranked higher. Ivanovic needs at least one more win than Radwanska to rise, and Wozniacki needs two more than Ivanovic to go anywhere. Still, we’d expect some of the spots from #5 to #8 to change hands.

Ana Ivanovic of Serbia returns a forehand shot against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark during the singles final of the Pan Pacific Open women’s tennis tournament in Tokyo, Japan, 21 September 2014. Ivanovic defeated Wozniacki to win the singles title in the final. EPA/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark returns a shot against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia during the singles final of the Pan Pacific Open women’s tennis tournament in Tokyo, Japan, 21 September 2014. Ivanovic won the singles title in the Pan Pacific Open tennis. EPA/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

Alternate Angelique Kerber is more than 500 points off the pace, so she has almost no chance of rising unless someone pulls out before action begins. Second alternate Ekaterina Makarova is another 500 points behind that; she has no hope at all of rising. The good news is, she’s already at a career high. And if she can play and win even one match, there is a faint chance she could go higher at Sofia.

In doubles, Errani/Vinci have already clinched the year-end #1. The contest is for the year-end #3 and #4 spots.

Rankings

Estimated WTA Rankings As of October 18, 2014

Rank &

Prior

Rank …Name …………. Points

1..(1) SWilliams ……… 7146

2..(2) Sharapova ……… 6680

3..(4) Kvitova ……….. 5597

4..(3) Halep …………. 5402

5..(7) Bouchard ………..4523

6..(6) ARadwanska ………4441

7..(8) Ivanovic ………..4290

8..(9) Wozniacki ……… 4045

9..(5) Li ……………..3970

10.(10) Kerber ………….3480

11.(12) MAKAROVA ………..2970

12.(14) CIBULKOVA ……… 2908

13.(11) Errani ………….2775

14.(13) Jankovic ………..2675

15.(15) PENNETTA ………..2638

16.(17) SAFAROVA ………..2615

17.(16) PETKOVIC ………..2495

18.(19) Suarez Navarro …..2370

19.(20) VWilliams ……… 2270

20.(21) CORNET ………….2145

21.(22) Peng ……………2005

22.(18) Stosur ………….1950

23.(23) Muguruza ………..1923

24.(30) PAVLYUCHENKOVA …..1890*

25.(27) KA PLISKOVA ……. 1830

26.(31) ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA .1750

27.(25) LISICKI ……….. 1735

28.(26) KUZNETSOVA ………1730

29.(28) Dellacqua ……… 1705

30.(29) Svitolina ……… 1655

Draws

Moscow — Week of October 12, 2014

……………….QF………………SF

1 Cibulkova……..Diatchenko(Q)

6 Pavlyuchenkova…(6)Pavlyuchenkova…Pavlyuchenkova..Pavlyuchenkova

3 Pennetta………Giorgi

7 Ka. Pliskova…..Siniakova(Q)……..Siniakova

5 Kuznetsova…….(5)Kuznetsova

4 Safarova………(4)Safarova………Safarova

8 Garcia………..Pironkova

2 Makarova………Begu…………….Begu…………Begu

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Cibulkova………lost 2R (Diatchenko)

2 Makarova……….lost 2R (Begu)

3 Pennetta……….lost 2R (Giorgi)

4 Safarova……….lost SF (Begu)

5 Kuznetsova……..lost QF (Safarova)

6 Pavlyuchenkova

7 Ka. Pliskova……lost 1R (Mladenovic)

8 Garcia…………lost 1R (Krunic)

Luxembourg — Week of October 12, 2014

WINNER: Annika Beck

…………………..QF…………………SF……….F

1 Petkovic………….Mayr-Achleitner

6 Vinci…………….Beck……………….Beck……..Beck

3 Lisicki…………..Allertova(Q)………..Allertova

5 Lepchenko…………(5)Lepchenko

7 Flipkens………….Larsson(Q)

4 Zahlavova Strycova..(4)Zahlavova Strycova…Zahlavova..Zahalavov

8 Niculescu…………Barthel…………….Barthel

2 Cornet……………Bertens

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Petkovic…………lost 1R (Parmentier)

2 Cornet…………..lost 2R (Bertens)

3 Lisicki………….lost 2R (Allertova)

4 Zahlavova Strycova..lost F (Beck)

5 Lepchenko………..lost QF (Allertova)

6 Vinci……………lost 2R (Beck)

7 Flipkens…………lost 1R (Larsson)

8 Niculescu………..lost 2R (Barthel)

Singapore Championships — Week of October 19, 2014

RED GROUP

(1)S.Williams

(4)Halep

(5)Bouchard

(7)Ivanovic

WHITE GROUP

(2)Sharapova

(3)Kvitova

(6)A.Radwanska

(8)Wozniacki

SCORES

SATURDAY

Moscow

Singles – Semifinal

Irina-Camelia Begu def. (4) Lucie Safarova 7-6(7-5) 1-6 6-3

(6) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. (Q) Katerina Siniakova 6-2 6-2

Doubles – Final

(2) Hingis/Pennetta def. (4) Garcia/Parra Santonja 6-3 7-5

Luxembourg

Singles – Final

Annika Beck def. (4) Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2 6-1

Doubles – Final

Bacsinszky/Barrois def. (3) Hradecka/Krejcikova 3-6 6-4 10-4

Bob Larson’s Tennis news wire.

Topics: Luxembourg, Moscow, Singapore, Tennis, Tennis Results, Wta

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October 18, 2014 at 5:51 pm

#SINGAPORE AND MORE / LADIES #TENNIS RESULTS SCORES AND A LOOK AT THE GROUPING FOR THE #WTA YEAR END CHAMPIONSHIPS- http://t.co/Ekt50nnbDY

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