Today’s Women’s News (10/14) – Osaka & Linz

Written by: Staff on 14th October 2012

WTA Generali Ladies tennis tournament in Linz

Today's Women's News (10/14) - Osaka & Linz

epa03432944 Julia Goerges (GER) during her match against Victoria Azarenka (BLR) at the final of the WTA Generali Ladies tournament in Linz, Austria, 14 October 2012. EPA/BARBARA GINDL |

Osaka

Singles – Final: Heather Watson def. Chang Kai-Chen 7-5 5-7 7-6(7-4)

It was quite the wait. Not just for Britain to finally have another tournament winner. It was also for the match to end. Heather Watson was down 5-4 in the final set, and had to save four match points. Afterward, she admitted, “I was already thinking how I was going to cry in the locker room. I’m really proud of myself for getting through that.”

It really was pretty impressive.

Watson takes home more than just the trophy. Or even the distinction of being the first British woman to win a final since before she was born. She also picks up enough points to rise to, it appears, #50 in the world. She is not only Britain’s leading title-winner, she is also its highest-ranked female player.

This tournament guaranteed us a first-time winner. If it hadn’t been Watson, it would have been Chang Kai-Chen. She failed to achieve that — but she did earn 200 points, increasing her total by more than 40%. #134 coming in, she should hit the Top Hundred.

Doubles – Final: (1) Kops-Jones/Spears def. (4) Date-Krumm/Watson 6-1 6-4

Moscow really will be interesting after this. Kops-Jones/Spears played four Asian events, and won three of them — Seoul, the Pan Pacific, and now this. They have four titles this year. They’re now 40-20 this year — and 20-4 in their last eight events, and 16-2 in their last five. They will certainly go to Istanbul — if not as the #4 qualifying team then as the alternates. Moscow will decide — and while Kops-Jones/Spears will surely be very tired, they may well be healthier than rivals Kirilenko/Petrova. And the Russians are playing singles as well as doubles….

Kimiko Date-Krumm doesn’t get to leave Japan with a title, but she certainly helped Heather Watson post an impressive week, as Britain’s new #1 ended up with a singles title and a doubles final. We’d say they’ve both earned their off season.

Linz

Singles – Final: (1) Victoria Azarenka def. (5) Julia Goerges 6-3 6-4

If there is such a thing as an Official Nickname, then Victoria Azarenka is formally known informally as “Vika.” But maybe we should start calling her “Bookends.” Azarenka started the year with titles at Sydney, the Australian Open, Doha, and Indian Wells, then went completely silent. Now, with just one more tournament to play this year, she has won back-to-back titles at Beijing and Linz.

In terms of rankings, it makes no difference; she was already #1. It doesn’t even make any difference in points; she had spare International events in the bank. (Although she will have one come off next week, so this is sort of a pre-emptive adding of points.) But she does push herself a little closer to the year-end #1. It’s looking pretty inevitable now.

Julia Goerges was #19 win or lose. But at least she added enough points to make herself a much stronger #19. The one disappointment is that she has no titles this year; this was her big chance to qualify for Sofia.

At least, it would have been her big chance had she faced someone other than Azarenka.

Doubles – Final: (1) Groenefeld/Peschke def. (2) Goerges/Zahlavova Strycova 6-3 6-4

Victoria Azarenka isn’t the only one playing bookends this year; Kveta Peschke is doing it too. She started the year with a title at Sydney, and hadn’t won one since. It’s still going to be rather a lost year for her; there appears to be no chance she will end the season in the Top Ten. But since teaming with Anna-Lena Groenefeld, she has a title, a final, and two quarterfinals in four events, plus a record of 10-3, and all her losses have been good ones (to Hlavackova/Hradecka at New Haven, to Kops-Jones/Spears at the Pan Pacific, and to Kirilenko/Petrova at Beijing). It’s at least mildly promising.

It’s more than promising for Groenefeld; it’s desperately needed. It’s her first WTA title since Copenhagen 2010 — which, coincidentally, she won with Julia Goerges.