WTA A LOOK @QUEBEC CITY , TASHKENT , HONG KONG / MORE LADIES TENNIS COMING UP

Written by: Staff on 7th September 2014

WTA A LOOK @QUEBEC CITY , TASHKENT , HONG KONG / MORE LADIES TENNIS COMING UP

epa04345018 Serena Williams of the USA prepares to serve to Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic during their Rogers Cup third round tennis match in Montreal, Canada, 07 August 2014. EPA/ANDRE PICHETTE |

When we saw that the WTA had scheduled three events for the week after the U. S. Open, we couldn’t help but think, Why? Why would anyone fly from New York to the Far East for a new event? Especially given that one of this week’s events is Quebec City, which is closer to home and is a tournament the players like a lot.

We were pleasantly surprised. The events this week aren’t strong, but they’re better than we thought. Even Hong Kong, which suffers from the handicap of being a new event, is better than we expected. It managed a full three-tier qualifying draw, and even had a fairly big name (Tamira Paszek) in the qualifying.

We don’t have the main draw yet, and given the way the time zones lay out, it appears we need to do this preview before it comes out. The commitment list was impressive, with ten players who were Top Fifty before the U. S. Open: Eugenie Bouchard, Zhang Shuai, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Daniela Hantuchova, Elina Svitolina, Kurumi Nara, Peng Shuai, Karolina Pliskova, Christina McHale, Zarina Diyas. To be sure, Peng is hurting, and Bouchard is now ranked too high for an event of this type to make any difference; it was announced on Saturday that both had pulled out. But Sabine Lisicki apparently was willing to join the field at the last minute; if they can get even half of the others, Hong Kong will be the strongest of this week’s events.

Oddly enough, despite getting high rankings in player voting, Quebec City managed to land only one Top Fifty player. But what a Top Fifty player! Venus Williams took a wildcard to earn the #1 seed. The dropoff below that is steep; the #2 seed is Ajla Tomljanovic, ranked #55 before the U. S. Open and now below #60. Kristina Mladenovic, who was the #2 seed last year (which shows that it wasn’t exactly a mighty event in 2013 either) is now the #3 seed. The solid results Shelby Rogers had this summer were sufficient to make her #4. Julia Goerges is #5 and was the last Top Hundred player on the pre-USO rankings list. Michelle Larcher de Brito is #6, Anna Tatishvili #7, and Timea Babos #8.

Goerges isn’t actually the last Top Hundred player in the draw, though. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (who would be probably the #4 seed based on her current ranking) could face Babos in the second round. Babos also has to start against skilled but long-injured Romina Oprandi; there isn’t much question about which seed got the worst draw here. The other most noteworthy name in the field is probably Melanie Oudin, who could face Goerges in the second round.

Even Tashkent, historically one of the weakest events on the WTA schedule, was strong enough that Lesia Tsurenko and Yulia Putintseva ended up in qualifying — they probably didn’t expect that. It’s a small qualifying field, though — sixteen players and two rounds rather than the usual three rounds. And, as at Quebec, there is only one Top Fifty player — the defending champion and #1 seed, Bojana Jovanovski. Irina-Camelia Begu is #2, with Karin Knapp #3 and Lara Arruabarrena #4. Talented but inconsistent Donna Vekic is #5, with Misaki Doi #6. Anna-Lena Friedsam, who just won the Suzhou $125K Challenger, is #7, with Danka Kovinic #8.

And although there aren’t a lot of high-ranking players here, there are certainly plenty of interesting ones. Jovanovski has to open against Kateryna Bondarenko, who is trying to make a comeback though she hasn’t had much luck so far. Vekic’s second round opponent might be Urszula Radwanka. Kovinic might face big-serving Akgul Amanmuradova, who is in on a wildcard, in round two. Doi’s second round might be against last year’s finalist Olga Govortsova. Friedsam’s second round might be against one-time champion Shahar Peer. And Begu’s second round is likely to be against Aleksandra Krunic, who beat Madison Keys and Petra Kvitova at the U. S. Open.

The Rankings

This is one of those weeks when more is coming on than going off. Last year, there were only two events this week, Quebec City and Tashkent. (Which at least meant slightly fewer time zones between events than we have this year.) The champion in Quebec City was Lucie Safarova, then ranked #48 — clearly she has had quite a year! The finalist was Marina Erakovic, who hasn’t done much since and could fall out of the Top Hundred. The semifinalists were Eugenie Bouchard (who has done well since then!) and Christina McHale. At Tashkent, the champion was Bojana Jovanovski (who was the #1 seed despite being ranked a mere #58). Olga Govortsova, who has been almost invisible this year, was the finalist; Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor and Mandy Minella made the semifinal.

Since we don’t know who will be in the Hong Kong draw, we can’t know exactly what will happen in the rankings this week. But we can be confident that there won’t be any changes in the Top Ten; Bouchard is the only one defending anything, and what she has on the line isn’t enough to matter. Lucie Safarova will lose the #14 ranking — but she will fall only to #15. Venus Williams could gain a spot or two but will remain short of the Top Fifteen. Peng, if she can play, has a shot at the Top Twenty, but how quickly can she recover from the U. S. Open? After all, he has a lot of time zones to cover in addition to having suffered so badly from heat illness that she doesn’t even remember whether she retired or was ordered to leave the court.

Jovanovski could fall to not much above #50. Govortsova, who is already well below #100, could end up in the #175 range. McHale, who is now just barely Top Fifty, could end up below that. Torro-Flor is likely to fall below #70. Minella might wind up below #150.

Rank &

Prior

Rank …Name …………. Points

1..(1) SWILLIAMS ……… 8730*

2..(2) HALEP …………. 6160

3..(4) KVITOVA ……….. 5926

4..(6) SHARAPOVA ……… 5575

5..(5) ARADWANSKA ………5380

6..(3) Li ……………..5270

7..(8) BOUCHARD ………..4545

8..(7) KERBER ………….4400

9.(11) WOZNIACKI ……… 4305*

10..(9) IVANOVIC ………..3855

11.(10) JANKOVIC ………..3655

12.(14) ERRANI ………….3215

13.(13) CIBULKOVA ……… 3007

14.(15) SAFAROVA ………..2965

15.(18) MAKAROVA ………..2845

16.(12) PENNETTA ………..2651

17.(19) PETKOVIC ………..2525

18.(16) SUAREZ NAVARRO …..2420

19.(20) VWILLIAMS ……… 2370

20.(21) STOSUR ………….2110

21.(39) PENG ……………1905

22.(23) CORNET ………….1900

23.(22) KUZNETSOVA ………1860

24.(17) AZARENKA ………..1813

25.(25) PAVLYUCHENKOVA …..1775

26.(26) MUGURUZA ………..1743

27.(24) STEPHENS ………..1690

28.(27) KEYS ……………1670

29.(32) DELLACQUA ……… 1621

30.(29) ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA .1601

Topics: Hong Kong, Quebec City, Tashkent, Tennis, US Open, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

September 7, 2014 at 1:32 pm

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QuebecRetweets says:

September 7, 2014 at 2:33 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: #WTA A LOOK @QUEBEC CITY, TASHKENT, HONG KONG / MORE LADIES TENNIS COMING UP- http://t.co/cklGIXSya8 #tennis #HongKong #T…