PRO TENNIS TOUR NEWS – SHARAPOVA, IVANOVIC, SERENA, HALEP, VENUS, WOZNIACKI, HINGIS AND A LOOK @ HOBART

BRISBANE TITLE GOES TO MARIA

 

Singles – Final: (1) Maria Sharapova def. (2) Ana Ivanovic 6-7(4-7) 6-3 6-3

 

At least Ana Ivanovic didn’t get her blood pressure checked. She took a timeout during the match, but it was to have an existing abdominal strain re-taped. She still produced a quality match, coming back from a 4-1 deficit in the first set before struggling in the last two. She still lasted long enough to regain the #5 ranking — and she is taking next week off, so with luck she’ll be fully fit for the Australian Open. If she can keep playing as she played in her first three matches, she will have a real shot there.

As, in all likelihood, will Sharapova. This win moves her within 700 points of Serena Williams in the contest for #1. And she and Serena both lost in the Round of Sixteen last year. The difference between champion’s and finalist’s points at a Slam is 700. In other words, by winning this, Sharapova put the #1 entirely in her reach: Win Melbourne, and she is back at #1 no matter what Serena does.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doubles – Final: Hingis/Lisicki def. (4) Garcia/Srebotnik 6-2 7-5

Here’s something to think about: Martina Hingis is only 34, but her first title came twenty years ago — Hamburg 1995, with Gigi Fernandez. It makes you wonder what her career numbers would be like had she stuck with doubles. As it is, she picks up career doubles title #41. Two more and she’ll match her singles count.

It will be a while before she can match her former #1 doubles ranking, but this should take her to #9. She and her regular partner Flavia Pennetta have both won the Australian Open doubles — it’s probably been the best Slam for both of them. We may have interesting times ahead of us in both singles and doubles!

Hingis has a history of taking big-hitting singles players and turning them into top doubles players — temporarily. Lisicki came here at #70 in doubles. She had 1131 points. A thousand of those came at Miami with Hingis. With this, Lisicki will be hitting the Top Fifty. But, after this, she will be going back to singles. Or at least to playing with partners other than Hingis. So perhaps we shouldn’t expect much.

 

Shenzhen Title goes to Halep

 

Singles – Final: (1) Simona Halep def. (8) Timea Bacsinszky 6-2 6-2

If there was one flaw in Simona Halep’s 2014, it was the lack of titles. After finishing 2013 second only to Serena Williams in that category, she slipped in 2014. So opening 2015 with a victory, even if at a small tournament, has to be a very good feeling — although it won’t help her ranking; she remains #3, and isn’t likely to move even at Melbourne.

Timea Bacsinszky fails to win her second career title, but she did manage to hit the Top Forty, and she beat the world #4 along the way. There really doesn’t seem much question at this point: She’s back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doubles – Final: Kichenok/Kichenok def. Liang/Wang 6-4 7-6(8-6)

When the Kichenok twins first showed up, they looked mildly promising — they have a fairly long list of Challenger titles. But at the WTA level… nothing. And they’re 22 now. It seems pretty clear that they will never be major forces in singles. But maybe there is some slight hope in doubles. We’d guess they’ll be hitting the Top Hundred. At least they’ll have a trophy in their trophy cases, no matter what else happens.

 

Auckland Title Goes To Venus Williams

 

Singles – Final: (3) Venus Williams def. (1) Caroline Wozniacki 2-6 6-3 6-3

A very close thing — Venus Williams won only eight more points, and had only one more break, in this almost-two-hour match. Caroline Wozniacki was up a set and an early break in the second — and then Venus started to find her range. After all, she had never lost to Caroline Wozniacki. And she still hasn’t. It matters very little in the rankings; she is still at #18. But she hadn’t won a title since Dubai. If she needed something to spark up her year, this was surely it.

Caroline Wozniacki would have been #7 had she won this. As it is, she’ll have to settle for staying at #8. She’ll have another chance to climb next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doubles – Final: (1) Errani/Vinci def. (4) Aoyama/Voracova 6-2 6-1

In their first match here, Errani/Vinci looked pretty bad. And they both struggled in singles. But it now looks as if the team that won five titles last year is back. Their grip on #1 is so strong that it’s hard to believe they will lose it even after their Australian Open title comes off. And, with results like this, who says they won’t defend?

 

Hopman Cup

 

This one definitely didn’t follow the script. It was supposed to be Serena Williams beats Agnieszka Radwanska, and then the cruising starts. Instead… Radwanska beat Serena in a thriller, 6-4 6-7 6-1. Given that John Isner had pulled out of Auckland due to weariness, that looked like a bad sign. But Isner leveled things by beating Jerzy Janowicz 7-6 6-4. Which meant that it would come down to the mixed doubles. And Serena, despite her slams in mixed, didn’t do particularly well. The Americans lost the first set, and in game four of the second, Serena double-faulted at 30-30, and a point later, it was 3-1 Poland. Later, when Serena messed up a volley, she trashed her racquet, but it didn’t help any. Poland took the match, and the Cup, 7-5 6-3.

 

Women’s Look Forward: Sydney, Hobart

 

Simona Halep, it would appear, believes in going into the Australian Open as tired as possible. The players who won Brisbane and Auckland, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams, are taking this week off. But Shenzhen champion Halep, even though she has a long distance to travel, decided to play two Australian Open warmups; she is the #1 seed at Sydney, the week’s big tournament and once again the strongest of the early-season events. It features no fewer than six Top Ten players — those absent are Serena Williams, Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic (who is hurting anyway), and Eugenie Bouchard. Petra Kvitova, who also was at Shenzhen but didn’t reach the final, has the second and last bye. Agnieszka Radwanska, hot off winning Hopman Cup, takes the #3 seed; she has never worried much about over-playing. Caroline Wozniacki is the #4 seed despite playing five matches in Auckland. Angelique Kerber, who lost relatively early last week, is #5, and Ekaterina Makarova, who took last week off, is #6. Dominika Cibulkova, who probably should have taken last week off given how well she did, has the #7 seed (and one last chance to get into form to defend her Australian Open points); Flavia Pennetta, who had a tough time in Hopman Cup, is #8 (and she and Martina Hingis will warm up for Melbourne as the #2 doubles seeds behind Kops-Jones/Spears).

 

Pennetta is ranked #12, so there are quite a few very strong unseeded players here. Halep will likely start against Karolina Pliskova. Makarova’s opener is against Elina Svitolina, then Carla Suarez Navarro or Sabine Lisicki. Radwanska opens against fellow Hopman Cupper Alize Cornet, then Garbine Muguruza (who last year at this time was winning Hobart) or Sara Errani. Kerber’s second round is likely to be against Belinda Bencic. Pennetta’s second round is against Madison Keys or Svetlana Kuznetsova. Wozniacki opens against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, then Lucie Safarova or Samantha Stosur (probably Safarova, given the state of Stosur’s head), Cibulkova’s second round will probably be against Andrea Petkovic, the top unseeded player, ranked just two spots below her. And Kvitova starts against Anastasia Pavlyuchekova or Peng Shuai.

 

That’s 23 players with direct entry. The only two of them ranked below #28 are #32 Bencic and #33 Keys, both of whom were ranked higher last week.

 

It’s not often that we see such a sharp dividing line between events as we see this week. As noted, there are only two players below #30 at Sydney. And the only player above #30 in Hobart is #30 Casey Dellacqua — and, at #29, she’s just barely above! Zarina Diyas will try again to hit the Top Thirty as the #2 seed. Camila Giorgi, who took last week off and lost her chance at an Australian Open seed, is #3. Varvara Lepchenko, who was supposed to be #4, had to pull out with an ankle injury, so #5 Sloane Stephens is in the place of the #4 seed. Klara Koukalova is #6, Mona Barthel #7, Alison Riske #8, and Lepchenko’s withdrawal let Roberta Vinci move up to be the #9 seed. That does’t leave room for a lot of strong unseeded players, but Dellacqua opens against Lauren Davis, who seems to like this time of year, then perhaps Ajla Tomljanovic, whose conversion to Australianism seems to be very popular around here. Giorgi’s second round is against the ever-dangerous Kaia Kanepi. And Diyas’s second round might be against she who was once Daniela Hantuchova.

 

The Rankings

 

You may recall our surprise, last week, that the WTA hadn’t aligned Brisbane 2014, etc. with Brisbane 2015. That will have substantial effects this week. Sydney 2014 is already off, and the Australian Open doesn’t come off for another week. (In fact, we’ll have two sets of events come off at the Australian Open.) That means that players can only add points this week; nothing comes off. (Of course, it doesn’t matter all that much, since the Australian Open has already been seeded.) In any case, we won’t see much rankings movement this week. Serena Williams will stay #1, and Maria Sharapova #2, with Simona Halep hanging on to the #3 spot and Petra Kvitova staying #4. We could see some movement in the #5-#8 range, with Radwanska or even Wozniacki having a chance to retake the #5 spot from Ana Ivanovic. There is a slight chance that Kerber might lose the #9 ranking to Makarova (if Makarova wins Sydney); on the other hand, Cibulkova or Pennetta or Petkovic might take the #10 spot from Makarova.

 

With everyone from #16 Safarova to #29 Dellacqua in action, with the sole exception of #18 Venus Williams, we could see a lot of movement near the bottom of the Top Twenty, but we can’t really guess who will do the moving.

 

 

RANKINGS

 

Estimated WTA Rankings As of January 10, 2015

 

 

Rank &

Prior

Rank …Name …………. Points

1..(1) SWilliams ……… 8016

2..(2) SHARAPOVA ……… 7335*

3..(3) HALEP …………. 6571*

4..(4) KVITOVA ……….. 5891

5..(7) IVANOVIC ………..4845

6..(5) ARadwanska ………4810

7..(6) Bouchard ………..4715

8..(8) WOZNIACKI ……… 4625

9..(9) KERBER ………….3275

10.(10) Makarova ………..2970

11.(11) CIBULKOVA ……… 2953

12.(12) Pennetta ………..2861

13.(13) PETKOVIC ………..2780

14.(14) ERRANI ………….2735

15.(16) JANKOVIC ………..2590

16.(15) Safarova ………..2545

17.(17) SUAREZ NAVARRO …..2415

18.(19) VWILLIAMS ……… 2370*

19.(18) Cornet ………….2255

20.(21) STOSUR ………….1895

21.(22) PENG ……………1855

22.(23) KAPLISKOVA ………1830

23.(24) Pavlyuchenkova …..1820

24.(20) Muguruza ………..1805

25.(26) ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA .1800

26.(28) SVITOLINA ……… 1780

27.(25) KUZNETSOVA ………1730

28.(27) LISICKI ……….. 1681

29.(29) Dellacqua ……… 1512

30.(34) LEPCHENKO ……… 1480

31.(32) DIYAS …………. 1401

32.(31) Bencic ………….1391

33.(30) KEYS ……………1390

34.(35) STEPHENS ………..1372

35.(33) Giorgi ………….1355

 

Draws

 

Brisbane — Week of January 4

 

WINNER: Maria Sharapova

………………..QF……………..SF………F

1 Sharapova………(1)Sharapova…….Sharapova..Sharapova

7 Suarez Navarro….(7)Suarez Navarro

3 Kerber…………(3)Kerber

6 Jankovic……….Svitolina……….Svitolina

 

[Kudryavtseva(LL)]..Kudryavtseva(LL)

4 Cibulkova………Lepchenko……….Lepchenko

5 Petkovic……….Kanepi

2 Ivanovic……….(2)Ivanovic……..Ivanovic…Ivanovic

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Sharapova……..WON TOURNAMENT

2 Ivanovic………lost F (Sharapova)

3 Kerber………..lost QF (Svitolina)

4 Cibulkova……..lost 1R (Keys)

5 Petkovic………lost 1R (Kanepi)

6 Jankovic………lost 1R (Tomljanovic)

7 Suarez Navarro…lost QF (Sharapova)

8 Muguruza………WITHDREW (replaced by Kudryavtseva)

 

Auckland — Week of January 4

 

WINNER: Venus Williams

…………………..QF………………..QF………SF

1 Wozniacki………..(1)Wozniacki………..Wozniacki..Wozniacki

5 Kuznetsova……….Goerges

4 Zahlavova Strycova..(4)Zahlavova Strycova..Zahlavova

7 Vandeweghe……….(7)Vandeweghe

 

8 Barthel………….Vesnina

3 V Williams……….(3)V.Williams……….Williams…Williams

6 Stephens…………Davis………………Davis

2 Errani…………..U.Radwanska(Q)

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Wozniacki………..lost F (V. Williams)

2 Errani…………..lost 1R (Hantuchova)

3 V Williams……….WON TOURNAMENT

4 Zahlavova Strycova..lost SF (Wozniacki)

5 Kuznetsova……….lost 1R (Hradecka)

6 Stephens…………lost 1R (Davis)

7 Vandeweghe……….lost QF (Zahlavova Strycova)

8 Barthel………….lost 1R (Konjuh)

 

Shenzhen — Week of January 4

 

WINNER: Simona Halep

…………..QF…………….SF……….F

1 Halep…….(1)Halep……….Halep…….Halep

5 Koukalova…Krunic(Q)

4 Diyas…….(4)Diyas

7 Niculescu…S.Zheng………..Zheng

 

8 Bacsinszky..(8)Bacsinszky…..Bacsinszky..Bacsinszky

3 Peng……..Zvonareva

6 Begu……..Smitkova

2 Kvitova…..(2)Kvitova……..Kvitova

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Halep………WON TOURNAMENT

2 Kvitova…….lost SF (Bacsinszky)

3 Peng……….lost 1R (Zvonareva)

4 Diyas………lost QF (S. Zheng)

5 Koukalova…..lost 1R (Schmiedlova)

6 Begu……….lost 1R (Siniakova)

7 Niculescu…..lost 1R (Hercog)

8 Bacsinszky….lost SF (Halep)

 

ALL CONTENT via Bob LARSoN Tennis News Service

Topics: Ana Ivanovic, Auckland, Brisbane International, Caro Wozniacki, Hobart, Hopman Cup, Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, Shenzhen, Simona Halep, Sports, Tennis, Wta

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