Archive: sara-errani
Petra Kvitova aimed to try and put aside a month of tennis torment as the 2011 Wimbledon winner vows to recover fitness in time for her title defence at the Dubai WTA tournament starting today.
Serena Williams is back in Dubai a year after pulling out at the last possible moment from the hard-court event. And the world No. 1 says that she hopes to make amends for that embarrassment by working to win the title at this edition for the first time.
Simona Halep found a peculiar way to win this title: She picked on Angelique Kerber's first serve. Kerber won only 52% of points on first serve -- slightly below her percentage on second serves. But, hey, whatever works; Halep broke four times, and was never broken.
Talk about brutal -- Agnieszka Radwanska was broken seven times. In the short term, surprisingly, it doesn't make much difference. Radwanska had already earned the #3 ranking, and that was as high as she could go. But she loses her chance to reach #2 next week. Simona Halep is still at #10, but she'll be #9 if she wins the title.
No surprise here, surely, and it won't be any surprise if Agnieszka Radwanska wins this event. Even if she doesn't, this win assures that she will rise to #3 (behind #1 Serena Williams and #2 Li Na); Victoria Azarenka, #2 coming in, will slip all the way to #4.
Petra Cetkovska is a genuine upset artist, but she doesn't often beat Top Five players. Especially not players who are about to take the #2 ranking, and who had yet to lose a match this year! Did Li Na get nervous contemplating a career high?
Sorana Cirstea was hurting in Fed Cup. It was a bit of a surprise she did so well in the first round. But it appears it caught up to her. Which means she will stay below the Top 25.
Click here to view the Qatar Total Open results, order of play and more.
This arguably should have gone the other way, and in straight sets. Sara Errani seemed to be cruising into the second set, breaking in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's first service game -- only to lose seven straight games. It looked as if the marathon she had played the night before had cost her.
Maria Sharapova's extremely disappointing 2014 continues. This event should have been her chance to get back to #4. Instead, after firing back-to-back double-faults to lose the final game of the match, she stays stuck at #5.
These are all free points for Maria Sharapova; if she can win her next two matches, she will regain the #4 ranking from Agnieszka Radwanska. She leaves Kirsten Flipkens at #20.
Sara Errani reasserts her place as Italy's #1, but she still has a lot of points to defend; she still needs more than this to keep the #7 ranking. The good news is, she's the only seed left in the bottom half. Karin Knapp will probably hit the Top Forty, but she is a mere #40 in safe points, so it isn't sure yet.
Australian Open champion Li Na stepped off the plane in her home province of Hubei and found a delegation of provincial officials waiting for her with a check for $132,000. . . . . Serbia’s Davis Cup captain Bogdan Obradovic says he respects top player Novak Djokovic’s decision not to play his nations tie against Switzerland.
The WTA Premier 5 tournament in Doha, which starts Feb. 10, the day after Fed Cup weekend, is already wreaking havoc on the competition. Few players want to fly to the tournament on Sunday night or Monday and not all have byes.
Click here to see the Australian Open results.
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