Maria Sharapova had little time to digest her 6-3, 7-6(5) loss in the final of the Australian Open against Serena Williams, with the Russian finalist flying out of Melbourne at the weekend and back to the European winter. The No. 2 who suffered her 16th straight loss to Serena in the Australian Open final, is playing Fed Cup for Russia in Krakow against Poland.
And the imminent start of day of travel was already starting to weigh on Sharapova. “It’s still in my plans. I’m very much looking forward to the 30-hour flight I’m taking to Krakow tomorrow,” she said with irony. “A very convenient travel itinerary, too. It’s like minus eight, so that’s even better.
“Love the climate, love the travel, I haven’t gone to the match count yet, but all those other things are great. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.” She later tweeted pictures of her in various airports along the route.
In Canada. the hosts will face the champion Czech Republic without Eugenie Bouchard, who opted not to play in Quebec City this weekend. She is replaced on the team by 16-year-old Charlotte Robillard-Millette
“Of course we are disappointed that Genie is unable to be available for this tie and we know her fans in Quebec City will be disappointed as well,” said an official. “However, Genie wants to be the best in the world and win Grand Slams and she needs to make the right decisions for her schedule and her training to give her the best opportunity to achieve that. Tennis Canada is fully supportive of Genie as she strives towards her goals.”
Robillard-Millette joins Francoise Abanda, Gabriela Dabrowski and Sharon Fichman on the side.
Biggest Upward Mover — Most Places Moved (Top 100)
Leader: Madison Brengle — Moved 18 places, from #64 to #46.
Brengle hit a career high as a result of reaching the Australian Open fourth round.
Runner-Up: Denisa Allertova — Moved 16 places, from #107 to #91
Allertova, who was the top player in qualifying, qualified and made the Melbourne second round before losing to Alize Cornet.
Biggest Percentage Mover — Cut Ranking By Highest Percent (Top 100)
Leader: Madison Keys — Moved 15 places, 43%, from #35 to #20
Keys made it to her first Slam semifinal, even scaring Serena Williams a little, and became the only teenager in the Top Twenty.
Runner-Up: Venus Williams — Moved 7 places, 39%, from #18 to #11
Venus made the Melbourne quarterfinal before losing to Keys. Given her current form, a return to the Top Ten seems very possible.
Biggest Loser — Most Places Lost (Top 100)
Loser: Alla Kudryavtseva — Dropped 22 places, from #84 to #106
Kudryavtseva last year made the Melbourne second round as a qualifier, and also made the second round at Pattaya City. This year, she got into the Australian Open directly, but lost her opener.
Biggest Percentage Loser — Worst Percentage Increase in Ranking (Top 100)
Loser: Dominika Cibulkova, ranking increased 8 places, 80%, from #10 to #18.
Last year’s finalist this year again lost to the eventual champion — but, this year, she lost in the quarterfinal.
Ranking Notes
We have to start with a footnote: Yvonne Meusburger, who retired after losing at the Australian Open, has been taken off the rankings. She was #93 entering Melbourne. So rankings below that can be considered to have slightly different amounts of movement than they would otherwise have had.
As is usually the case at Slams, we had a lot of very impressive moves, although only five players managed to rise above the 20% threshold. Keys rose 43%. Venus rose 39%. Caroline Wozniacki made it back to #5 — a 28% improvement. Brengle rose 28%. And Irina-Camelia Begu gained 23%, to #34. Ekaterina Makarova rose 18%, to a career high #9; also gaining more than 15% were Yanina Wickmayer (from #80 to #66) and Caroline Garcia (from #36 to #30).
Still not ranked high enough to hit the Top Hundred, but making a big move nonetheless, was Bethanie Mattek-Sands, up 29%, to #183. And, of course, she won the Melbourne doubles (and rose from #110 to #29 in doubles. Her partner Lucie Safarova rose from #38 to #22).
Our downward moves were even bigger. Cibulkova, down 80%. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, down 56% (to #39; this is more the result of losing points from winning Paris 2014 than the Australian Open). Agnieszka Radwanska, down 33% (to #8). Sloane Stephens, down 28% (to #41). Kudryavtseva, down 26%. Casey Dellacqua, down 21% (to #35). Ana Ivanovic, down 20% (to #6). Daniela Hantuchova, down 20% (to #73). And Samantha Stosur, down 19% (to #25).
Our Personal Picks for “Best Mover of the Week”
These are subjective picks! By Bob Larson tennis news.
THIS WEEK ON THE WTA:
Fed Cup
NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:
Antwerp (Premier 700/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: New Event
Pattaya City (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Ekaterina Makarova
Rankings
Estimated WTA Rankings As of February 2, 2015
Rank &
Prior
Rank Name Points
1 (1) SWILLIAMS 9776*
2 (2) SHARAPOVA 8210
3 (3) HALEP 6571
4 (4) KVITOVA 6480
5 (8) WOZNIACKI 4565
6 (5) IVANOVIC 4425
7 (7) BOUCHARD 4365
8 (6) ARADWANSKA 4270
9 (11) MAKAROVA 3285
10 (9) KERBER 3090
11 (18) VWILLIAMS 2790
12 (13) PETKOVIC 2735
13 (14) ERRANI 2550
14 (12) PENNETTA 2441
15 (16) SAFAROVA 2425
16 (15) JANKOVIC 2360
17 (17) SUAREZ NAVARRO 2295
18 (10) CIBULKOVA 2137
19 (19) CORNET 2125
20 (35) KEYS 2100
21 (22) PENG 2080
22 (20) KAPLISKOVA 2015
23 (23) ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA 1930
24 (24) MUGURUZA 1845
25 (21) STOSUR 1835
26 (26) SVITOLINA 1740
27 (27) KUZNETSOVA 1701
28 (28) LISICKI 1592
29 (30) LEPCHENKO 1540
30 (36) GARCIA 1461
Content via Bob Larson tennis news.
Topics: Amelie Mauresmo, Eugenie Bouchard, Fed Cup, Maria Sharapova, Melbourne, Serena Williams, Tennis, Wta
HOT #TENNIS NEWS: @MariaSharapova IS PLAYING #FedCup & @geniebouchard OPTS OUT OF PLAYING FOR #CANADA & MORE- http://t.co/aUsNyZAGZx