****** TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS ******
Australian Open
Singles – Third Round: (2) Victoria Azarenka def. Yvonne Meusburger 6-1 6-0
That can’t have been much fun for Yvonne Meusburger, but she can console herself with a Top Forty ranking.
Singles – Third Round: (3) Maria Sharapova def. (25) Alize Cornet 6-1 7-6(8-6)
Maria Sharapova was broken as she served for this match at 5-4 in the second set, and it looked as if she might be in for another marathon — although the hot weather had finally broken on Saturday; the real worry was (wonder of wonders) rain. Sharapova broke back at once — and was broken again. Which made it ten breaks in the match, in 19 games. Fortunately for our sanity, and probably for Sharapova’s, she managed to finish things in the tiebreak, leaving Alize Cornet still right around #25.
Singles – Third Round: (5) Agnieszka Radwanska def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7 6-2 6-2
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova still has a chance to make the Top 25, but this costs her the chance to clinch.
Singles – Third Round: (8) Jelena Jankovic def. Kurumi Nara 6-4 7-5
Jelena Jankovic was down a break for most of the second set, but managed to end strong. If Serbia ever gets into a war with Japan (hard to imagine, since Japan is an island and Serbia is landlocked), the Serbs should perhaps put Jankovic in charge; she has now beaten three Japanese in a row. (She quipped herself that it felt like she was playing the Japan Open, not the Australian Open.) She needs two more wins to rise in the rankings, though. Kurumi Nara, despite losing, will rise about ten spots above her current #74.
Singles – Third Round: Garbine Muguruza def. (10) Caroline Wozniacki 4-6 7-5 6-3
Not a huge surprise given current form, but Caroline Wozniacki was defending fourth round points. She will lose her Top Ten spot. Garbine Muguruza is up to #35 — and seems sure to climb even higher. Maybe not this week, but soon.
Singles – Third Round: (11) Simona Halep def. Zarina Diyas 6-1 6-4
Bad news for Caroline Wozniacki in the contest for the #10 ranking. Not only is Wozniacki down to #11, but this win means that Simona Halep is 200 points ahead in the contest for #10, with the gap likely to widen.
Singles – Third Round: (13) Sloane Stephens def. Elina Svitolina 7-5 6-4
Sloane Stephens has now defended enough points that she ought to stay at #18 at least, and probably #17 — but she faces Azarenka next, and she has to win that to stay Top Fifteen. Elina Svitolina lasted long enough to put herself in the Top Forty.
Singles – Third Round: (20) Dominika Cibulkova def. (16) Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-0
Carla Suarez Navarro looked pretty bad in her previous round, but managed to barely survive against a weak opponent. She had to face a much trickier adversary this time, and it costs her. She might still hit #15, but this costs her the chance to clinch a Top 15 spot. One more win might put Dominika Cibulkova back in the Top Twenty.
Doubles – Second Round: (3) Makarova/Vesnina def. Jankovic/Knapp 6-4 6-3
Very quietly, Jelena Jankovic had put herself in the doubles Top Twenty (she, Sara Errani, and Roberta Vinci were the only players who were Top Twenty in both singles and doubles) — but with this, she’s back out. Ekaterina Makarova has earned enough points that she just might hit the Top Five; Elena Vesnina keeps alive her hopes of reaching #1.
Doubles – Second Round: Babos/Martic def. (5) Barty/Dellacqua 6-1 6-3
Out go last year’s finalists, who will crash hard in the rankings. Casey Dellacqua will fall from #9 to no better than #15; Ashleigh Barty will go from #12 to not much above #20. They, and a lot of others, must be wishing Timea Babos would start picking stronger partners so she could get seeded; Babos is turning into a major force in doubles.
Doubles – Second Round: (6) Black/Mirza def. Niculescu/Zakopalova 7-5 6-1
Niculescu/Zakopalova finally see their winning streak end, but still, they won two titles in the first two weeks of January!
Doubles – Second Round: (7) Hlavackova/Safarova def. Medina Garrigues/Shvedova 6-2 6-2
Because she has a smaller eleventh event score, this moves Andrea Hlavackova, #11 coming in, ahead of Sania Mirza, who came in at #10. The one who lasts longer is just about sure to be Top Ten; the other could fall just short. We currently show the Top Twelve as follows:
1..(3) HSIEH …………. 7675
1..(3) PENG ……………7675
3..(7) SREBOTNIK ……… 6995*
4..(5) VESNINA ……….. 6560*
5..(6) MAKAROVA ………..6361*
6..(1) ERRANI ………….6305*
6..(1) VINCI …………. 6305*
8..(8) Petrova ……….. 6225
9.(11) HLAVACKOVA ………5350*
10.(10) MIRZA …………. 5335*
11.(13) HRADECKA ………..4790*
12.(14) BLACK …………. 4580*
Doubles – Second Round: Bouchard/Dushevina def. (11) Groenefeld/Lucic-Baroni 6-4 7-5
Not really a big surprise; there isn’t much mobility on the Groenefeld/Lucic-Baroni team.
Doubles – Second Round: Keys/Riske def. (12) Mladenovic/Pennetta 7-5 6-4
Kristina Mladenovic loses her chance to hit the Top Fifteen.
Doubles – Second Round: Adamczak/Rogowska def. (14) Goerges/Zahlavova Strycova 6-2 6-3
Doubles – Second Round: (15) Hantuchova/Raymond def. Rybarikova/Voegele 6-2 6-3
Doubles – Second Round: Cornet/Garcia def. Kuznetsova/Stosur 6-3 7-6(7-4)
Svetlana Kuznetsova and Samantha Stosur have both won Slams in both singles and doubles. But who picks up the other one when one of them gets goofy? Talk about head-case-itis….
Doubles – Second Round: Gajdosova/Tomljanovic def. Beck/Petkovic 6-4 6-2
Mixed Doubles – First Round: (1) Groenefeld/Peya def. Dushevina/Rojer 6-3 7-6(7-5)
Not so good for Mixed rankings, which would have demoted Peya/Groenefeld to unseeded, actually slightly behind Dushevina/Rojer.
Mixed Doubles – First Round: (2) Srebotnik/Bopanna def. Kops-Jones/Huey 6-2 6-3
Mixed Doubles – First Round: (5) Medina Garrigues/Soares def. Black/J Murray 6-2 6-4
Medina Garrigues/Soares would have been unseeded under Mixed rankings, too, but still ahead of Black/Murray.
Mixed Doubles – First Round: (6) Mirza/Tecau def. H Chan/Lindstedt 4-6 7-6(7-3) 10-8
Mixed Doubles – First Round: Goerges/Qureshi def. Vekic/Kokkinakis 6-3 6-4
Mixed Doubles – First Round: Mladenovic/Nestor def. Hsieh/Klaasen 7-5 6-3
Mladenovic/Nestor would have been our #1 seeds under Mixed rankings, so this is no surprise, but we’d still call it a bad day for Mixed rankings.
Mixed Doubles – First Round: Gajdosova/Ebden def. Sanders/Guccione 6-2 6-4
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Rankings
Estimated WTA Rankings As of January 18, 2014
Rank &
Prior
Rank …Name …………. Points
1..(1) SWILLIAMS ……… 13000*
2..(2) AZARENKA ………..6391*
3..(3) SHARAPOVA ……… 5416*
4..(5) ARADWANSKA ………5210*
5..(4) LI ……………..4810*
6..(6) KVITOVA ……….. 4745
7..(7) ERRANI ………….4440
8..(8) JANKOVIC ………..4310*
9..(9) KERBER ………….4030*
10.(11) HALEP …………. 3570*
11.(10) WOZNIACKI ……… 3370
12.(12) VINCI …………. 3020
13.(15) LISICKI ……….. 2980
14.(14) IVANOVIC ………..2970*
15.(16) SUAREZ NAVARRO …..2745
16.(17) STOSUR ………….2705
17.(13) STEPHENS ………..2415*
18.(18) Kirilenko ……… 2325
19.(19) FLIPKENS ………..2255
20.(21) CIRSTEA ……….. 2020
21.(24) CIBULKOVA ……… 1996*
22.(29) PENNETTA ………..1975*
23.(23) KANEPI ………….1932
24.(25) CORNET ………….1870
25.(30) PAVLYUCHENKOVA …..1840
26.(31) BOUCHARD ………..1829*
27.(26) SAFAROVA ………..1805
28.(22) MAKAROVA ………..1801*
29.(20) KUZNETSOVA ………1712
30.(27) Hampton ……….. 1601
Draws
Australian Open (Slam — Weeks of January 13-26)
………………..3R……………….4R
1 S Williams……..(1)S.Williams……..Williams
31 Hantuchova…….(31)Hantuchova
17 Stosur………..(17)Stosur
14 Ivanovic………(14)Ivanovic………Ivanovic
12 Vinci…………Zheng
18 Flipkens………Dellacqua…………Dellacqua
30 Bouchard………(30)Bouchard………Bouchard
7 Errani…………Davis
4 Li…………….(4)Li…………….Li
26 Safarova………(26)Safarova
22 Makarova………(22)Makarova………Makarova
15 Lisicki……….Niculescu
9 Kerber…………(9)Kerber…………Kerber
23 Vesnina……….Riske
28 Pennetta………(28)Pennetta………Pennetta
6 Kvitova………..Barthel
8 Jankovic……….(8)Jankovic……….Jankovic
32 Rybarikova…….Nara
21 Cirstea……….Diyas(Q)
11 Halep…………(11)Halep…………Halep
16 Suarez Navarro…(16)Suarez Navarro
20 Cibulkova……..(20)Cibulkova……..Cibulkova
25 Cornet………..(25)Cornet
3 Sharapova………(3)Sharapova………Sharapova
5 A Radwanska…….(5)A.Radwanska…….Radwanska
29 Pavlyuchenkova…(29)Pavlyuchenkova
24 Kanepi………..Muguruza………….Muguruza
10 Wozniacki……..(10)Wozniacki
13 Stephens………(13)Stephens………Stephens
19 Kuznetsova…….Svitolina
33 Jovanovski…….Meusburger
2 Azarenka……….(2)Azarenka……….Azarenka
STATUS OF SEEDS
1 S Williams
2 Azarenka
3 Sharapova
4 Li
5 A Radwanska
6 Kvitova…………lost 1R (Kumkhum)
7 Errani………….lost 1R (Goerges)
8 Jankovic
9 Kerber
10 Wozniacki………lost 3R (Muguruza)
11 Halep
12 Vinci………….lost 1R (Zheng)
13 Stephens
14 Ivanovic
15 Lisicki………..lost 2R (Niculesu)
16 Suarez Navarro….lost 3R (Cibulkova)
17 Stosur…………lost 3R (Ivanovic)
18 Flipkens……….lost 2R (Dellacqua)
19 Kuznetsova……..lost 1R (Svitolina)
20 Cibulkova
21 Cirstea………..lost 1R (Erakovic)
22 Makarova
23 Vesnina………..lost 1R (Riske)
24 Kanepi…………lost 1R (Muguruza)
25 Cornet…………lost 3R (Sharapova)
26 Safarova……….lost 3R (Li)
27 Hampton………..WITHDREW
28 Pennetta
29 Pavlyuchenkova….lost 3R (A. Radwanska)
30 Bouchard
31 Hantuchova
32 Rybarikova……..lost 2R (Nara)
33 Jovanovski……..lost 2R (Meusburger)
******** SCORES ********
SATURDAY
Australian Open
Singles – Third Round
(2) Victoria Azarenka def. Yvonne Meusburger 6-1 6-0
(3) Maria Sharapova def. (25) Alize Cornet 6-1 7-6(8-6)
(5) Agnieszka Radwanska def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7 6-2 6-2
(8) Jelena Jankovic def. Kurumi Nara 6-4 7-5
Garbine Muguruza def. (10) Caroline Wozniacki 4-6 7-5 6-3
(11) Simona Halep def. Zarina Diyas 6-1 6-4
(13) Sloane Stephens def. Elina Svitolina 7-5 6-4
(20) Dominika Cibulkova def. (16) Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-0
Doubles – Second Round
(3) Makarova/Vesnina def. Jankovic/Knapp 6-4 6-3
Babos/Martic def. (5) Barty/Dellacqua 6-1 6-3
(6) Black/Mirza def. Niculescu/Zakopalova 7-5 6-1
(7) Hlavackova/Safarova def. Medina Garrigues/Shvedova 6-2 6-2
Bouchard/Dushevina def. (11) Groenefeld/Lucic-Baroni 6-4 7-5
Keys/Riske def. (12) Mladenovic/Pennetta 7-5 6-4
Adamczak/Rogowska def. (14) Goerges/Zahlavova Strycova 6-2 6-3
(15) Hantuchova/Raymond def. Rybarikova/Voegele 6-2 6-3
Cornet/Garcia def. Kuznetsova/Stosur 6-3 7-6(7-4)
Gajdosova/Tomljanovic def. Beck/Petkovic 6-4 6-2
Mixed Doubles – First Round
(1) Groenefeld/Peya def. Dushevina/Rojer 6-3 7-6(7-5)
(2) Srebotnik/Bopanna def. Kops-Jones/Huey 6-2 6-3
(5) Medina Garrigues/Soares def. Black/J Murray 6-2 6-4
(6) Mirza/Tecau def. H Chan/Lindstedt 4-6 7-6(7-3) 10-8
Goerges/Qureshi def. Vekic/Kokkinakis 6-3 6-4
Mladenovic/Nestor def. Hsieh/Klaasen 7-5 6-3
Gajdosova/Ebden def. Sanders/Guccione 6-2 6-4
Topics: 10sballs, Agnieszka Radwanska, Alize Cornet, Australian Open, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Victoria Azarenka, Wta