Roland Garros
Singles – Final: (1) Serena Williams def. (2) Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-4
This wasn’t a blowout, but it was pretty straightforward. Maria Sharapova started strong, winning the first couple of games, but then Serena Williams got her serve working, and there really wasn’t much else to say about the match.
There is, of course, plenty to say about the record books. Whichever player won would have her second Roland Garros title — but, for Serena, that means she now has at least two of every Slam (and a lot more than two of most of them). She becomes the oldest player to win the French Open, surpassing Chris Evert’s record by several months.
And, of course, she is an even stronger #1. Her lead over Victoria Azarenka is now almost 4000 points. In other words, she’ll be #1 even if she doesn’t play Wimbledon. No question at all about who is the dominant player in tennis right now!
All the talk, of course, is about Serena’s Slam total, but there are plenty of other amazing numbers; she is now 41-2 in 2013, with a withdrawal (95.3% not counting the withdrawal). She has nine events, and has won six of them, including her last five straight. She has won 29 matches in a row. She is 23-0 on clay. She already has almost 7000 points this year — meaning that, if she doesn’t play another match this year, she would end the year probably #3 or #4! (We show Sharapova with 5790 points this year, to Serena’s 6961; Azarenka is at 4920.) This should surely cause her to be qualified for the year-end championships.
Maria Sharapova won thirteen straight matches here, but that of course means that she didn’t defend her points. She falls from #2 to #3, behind Azarenka. She is a strong #3, and will have a shot at getting the #2 spot back at Wimbledon — but she (and everyone else) will still have Serena to contend with…. At least she, like Serena, should have qualified for the Championships.
****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******
Women’s Look Forward: Birmingham, Nurnberg
One of life’s little mysteries is why the WTA keeps scheduling clay events for the week after Roland Garros. Sure, they need to put tournaments somewhere — but there are enough grass slots at Birmingham (it’s a 56-draw) that they don’t absolutely need a second event this week, and it’s tough to get a decent clay field at a time when Roland Garros is over and Wimbledon just two weeks away. The events scheduled in this slot tend not to last long, and they don’t get many players.
Hence Nurnberg, which is a new event and which has a main draw cutoff around #140. It did manage to draw one big name: Jelena Jankovic took a wildcard to earn the #1 seed. But the #2 seed is Klara Zakopalova. Alize Cornet, who won Bad Gastein at this time last year, is #3. Struggling Julia Goerges is #4. Lucie Safarova, who is also struggling, is #5. Lourdes Domingues Lino has the #6 seed, with Simona Halep #7 and Annika Beck #8 — meaning that we have several seeds ranked below #50. The most noteworthy unseeded players are probably Anabel Medina Garrigues, who could face Jankovic in round two, and wildcard Andrea Petkovic, a potential second round opponent for her countrywoman Goerges.
The competition with Nurnberg probably didn’t hurt Birmingham much, but it isn’t very strong — the top players who want a grass warmup will be playing Eastbourne instead. It doesn’t have a star like Jankovic; the #1 seed is Kirsten Flipkens. It does have a lot of pretty good grass players — although a surprising number of them are unseeded. Defending champion Melanie Oudin, for instance, is drawn to meet top seed Flipkens in the second round. The #2 seed is Ekaterina Makarova, who will have to hurry in from the Roland Garros doubles final. Sorana Cirstea is #3, with Tamira Paszek #4. Sabine Lisicki is #5, Mona Barthel #6, Laura Robson #7, and Urszula Radwanska — who likes grass a lot — is #8 and has the last bye. The lower seeds are #9 Yanina Wickmayer, #10 Hsieh Su-Wei, #11 Ayumi Morita, #12 Kristina Mladenovic (who, given her recent doubles results, seems likely to be a grass threat), #13 Bojana Jovanovski, #14 Heather Watson, #15 Francesca Schiavone, and #16 Magdalena Rybarikova. That means that the cutoff for seeds is right around #50.
Still, we could see more tough early matches here than in Nurnberg. In addition to that second round contest between Flipkens and Oudin, Hsieh has to open against red-hot Jamie Hampton, with Madison Keys to follow. Cirstea will play her opener against Tsvetana Pironkova — who really likes grass — or Lauren Davis. Wickmayer would play her second round against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who long, long ago was a Wimbledon semifinalist. Watson’s second round could be against Kimiko Date-Krumm, who had big Wimbledon results even longer ago. Robson could play Daniela Hantuchova in round two. And Makarova will face either Marino Erakovic, another grass-lover, or promising Elina Svitolina.
The Rankings
The events last year at this time were Birmingham and Bad Gastein, but the points were the same, so the schedule change doesn’t matter much. Melanie Oudin was a shock winner at Birmingham; she beat Jelena Jankovic. Ekaterina Makarova and Zheng Jie were semifinalists (Zheng, oddly enough, as a qualifier, even though she would have been about the #7 seed had she filed her entry papers properly!). The title at Bad Gastein went to Alize Cornet, with Yanina Wickmayer the finalist and Ksenia Pervak and Mandy Minella semifinalists.
You’ll notice a lot of struggling names in that list. Oudin’s and Minella’s Top Hundred spots appear to be in danger, and Wickmayer may well lose her Top Fifty spot.
At the top, on the other hand, no one is in danger of anything. Serena Williams is going to stay #1 by a wide margin, and the rest of the Top Ten is also safe.
And all of this matters because the rankings after this week will be used to seed Wimbledon. We will of course keep you up to date on that. Right now, it looks as if the most interesting contest is for the #16 Wimbledon seed, since Jankovic comes in at #16 but with points to defend (although her lead over #17 Stephens is a lot more than the points she has to defend). We’ll also have a contest for the #22-#24 seeds, with Makarova, Cornet, Cirstea, Peng (who isn’t playing), and Lisicki being the leading contenders. There will also be a contest for the last seeds, with Zakopalova, Goerges, Robson, Mladenovic, and maybe Jovanovski in the hunt for the last two or three spots. We might note that Venus Williams’s decision not to play this week pretty well takes her out of the contest for a seed.
KEYWORDS: Preview Birmingham Nurnberg
******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********
THIS WEEK ON THE WTA:
Roland Garros (Slam/Clay). Defending Champion: Maria Sharapova
NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:
Birmingham (International/Grass). Defending Champion: Melanie Oudin
Nurnberg (International/Clay). Defending Champion: New Event (Cornet won Bad Gastein in this slot)
************ STATS AND FACTS ************
**RANKINGS
Estimated WTA Rankings As of June 8, 2013
Rank &
Prior
Rank….Name…………..Points
1..(1) SWILLIAMS ………13615*
2..(3) AZARENKA ………..9625
3..(2) SHARAPOVA ……… 9415
4..(4) ARADWANSKA ………6465
5..(5) ERRANI ………….5335
6..(6) LI ……………..5155
7..(8) KERBER ………….4915
8..(7) KVITOVA ……….. 4555
9.(10) WOZNIACKI ……… 3565
10.(12) KIRILENKO ……… 3436
11.(15) VINCI …………. 3060
12.(14) IVANOVIC ………..2920
13.(11) PETROVA ……….. 2910
14..(9) STOSUR ………….2905
14.(13) BARTOLI ……….. 2905
16.(18) JANKOVIC ………..2900
17.(17) STEPHENS ………..2530
18.(16) CIBULKOVA ……… 2140
19.(20) SUAREZ NAVARRO …..2095
20.(21) FLIPKENS ………..1978
21.(19) PAVLYUCHENKOVA …..1950
22.(22) MAKAROVA ………..1811
23.(27) CORNET ………….1765
24.(30) CIRSTEA ……….. 1750
25.(23) PENG ……………1685
26.(34) LISICKI ……….. 1681
27.(39) KUZNETSOVA ………1662
28.(25) LEPCHENKO ……… 1566
29.(33) PASZEK ………….1539
30.(29) SAFAROVA ………..1500
30.(35) BARTHEL ……….. 1500
**DRAWS
Roland Garros — Week of May 26
WINNER: Serena Williams
……………….3R………………4R…………….QF………..SF………F
1 S Williams…….(1)S.Williams…….S.Williams……..Williams…..Williams…Williams
26 Cirstea………(26)Cirstea
19 Pavlyuchenkova..Cetkovska
15 Vinci………..(15)Vinci………..Vinci
10 Wozniacki…….Jovanovski
22 Makarova……..Kuznetsova……….Kuznetsova……..Kuznetsova
29 Lepchenko…….(29)Lepchenko
8 Kerber………..(8)Kerber………..Kerber
4 A Radwanska……(4)A.Radwanska……Radwanska………Radwanska
30 V Williams……Pfizenmaier(Q)
24 Goerges………Razzano(WC)
14 Ivanovic……..(14)Ivanovic……..Ivanovic
11 Petrova………Puig
20 Suarez Navarro..(20)Suarez Navarro..Suarez Navarro
32 Lisicki………(32)Lisicki
5 Errani………..(5)Errani………..Errani…………Errani…….Errani
6 Li……………Mattek-Sands……..Mattek-Sands
27 Shvedova……..Ormaechea(Q)
23 Zakopalova……Voegele
12 Kirilenko…….(12)Kirilenko…….Kirilenko………Kirilenko
13 Bartoli………(13)Bartoli
21 Flipkens……..Schiavone………..Schiavone
31 Cornet……….(31)Cornet
3 Azarenka………(3)Azarenka………Azarenka……….Azarenka…..Azareka
7 Kvitova……….(7)Kvitova
25 Safarova……..Hampton………….Hampton
18 Jankovic……..(18)Jankovic……..Jankovic……….Jankovic
9 Stosur………..(9)Stosur
16 Cibulkova…….Erakovic
17 Stephens……..(17)Stephens……..Stephens
28 Paszek……….Zheng
2 Sharapova……..(2)Sharapova……..Sharapova………Sharapova….Sharapova..Sharapova
STATUS OF SEEDS
1 S Williams
2 Sharapova
3 Azarenka……….lost SF (Sharapova)
4 A Radwanska…….lost QF (Errani)
5 Errani…………lost SF (S. Williams)
6 Li…………….lost 2R (Mattek-Sands)
7 Kvitova………..lost 3R (Hampton)
8 Kerber…………lost 4R (Kuznetsova)
9 Stosur…………lost 3r (Jankovic)
10 Wozniacki……..lost 2R (Jovanovski)
11 Petrova……….lost 1R (Puig)
12 Kirilenko……..lost QF (Azarenka)
13 Bartoli……….lost 3R (Schiavone)
14 Ivanovic………lost 4R (A. Radwanska)
15 Vinci…………lost 4R (S. Williams)
16 Cibulkova……..lost 2R (Erakovic)
17 Stephens………lost 3R (Sharapova)
18 Jankovic………lost QF (Sharapova)
19 Pavlyuchenkova…lost 2R (Cetkovska)
20 Suarez Navarro…lost 4R (Errani)
21 Flipkens………lost 2R (Schiavone)
22 Makarova………lost 1R (Kuznetsova)
23 Zakopalova…….lost 1R (Kanepi)
24 Goerges……….lost 1R (Z Kucova)
25 Safarova………lost 1R (Hampton)
26 Cirstea……….lost 3R (S. Williams)
27 Shvedova………lost 2R (Ormaechea)
28 Paszek………..lost 1R (Oudin)
29 Lepchenko……..lost 3R (Kerber)
30 V Williams…….lost 1R (U. Radwanska)
31 Cornet………..lost 3R (Azarenka)
32 Lisicki……….lost 3R (Errani)
Birmingham — Week of May 10
1 Flipkens
–bye
Oudin
Qualifier
Cetkovska
Johansson
South (WC)
16 Rybarikova
10 Hsieh
Hampton
Keys
Tsurenko
Dolonc
Koehler
–bye
6 Barthel
3 Cirstea
–bye
Pironkova
Davis
Hlavackova
Puckova
Bouchard
13 Jovanovski
11 Morita
Qualifier
Qualifier
Cepelova
Giorgi
Vekic
–bye
8 U. Radwanska
5 Lisicki
–bye
Vandeweghe
Kr. Pliskova
Lucic-Baroni
Ka. Pliskova
Putintseva
9 Wickmayer
14 Watson
Czink
Qualifier
Date-Krumm
Keothavong (WC)
Qualifier
–bye
4 Paszek
7 Robson
–bye
Qualifier
Hantuchova
Qualifier
Konta (WC)
T Moore (WC)
12 Mladenovic
15 Schiavone
Tatishvili
Qualifier
Babos
Svitolina
Erakovic
–bye
2 Makarova
Nurnberg — Week of May 10
1 Jankovic (WC)
Rus
Larsson
Medina Garrigues
Minella
Pegula
Duque-Marino
6 Dominguez Lino
4 Goerges
Cadantu
Petkovic (WC)
Arvidsson
Knapp
Pfizenmaier (WC)
Bratchikova
8 Beck
7 Halep
Qualifier
Cabeza Candela
Qualifier
Qualifier
Voskoboeva
Parmentier
3 Cornet
5 Safarova
Karatantcheva
Torro-Flor
Pereira
Qualifier
Cohen
Hercog
2 Zakopalova
******** SCORES ********
SATURDAY
Roland Garros
Singles – Final
(1) Serena Williams def. (2) Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-4
Girls’ Singles – FInal
(2) Belinda Bencic def. (5) Antonia Lottner 6-1 6-3
Girls’ Doubles – Final
(2) Krejcikova/Siniakova def. Gonzalez/Haddad Maia 7-5 6-2
©Daily tennis news wire
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