Archive for: womens
And so both Serbian “sisters” go out in the first round. But while there was nothing particularly shocking about Ivanovic’s loss – since it came to Petrova, last year’s finalist and possessor of the kind of power serve you expect to be successful on grass – Jankovic’s loss is pretty shocking. Although Chakvetadze is a former top-five player (in 2007, her best year, she reached the US Open semifinal and won several titles) she has barely won a match all year and her ranking is down to 31. Jankovic finished last year number one, and has dropped to 6 after an overtraining left her muscle-bound in the first part of the year.
Jankovic returns a shot from Chakvetadze on her way to a first-round loss
Jankovic, who said yesterday she’s been working to improve her serve, learn to volley, and shorten the points on grass, nonetheless looked uncomfortable in the first set, starting with a string of errors while Chakvetadze barely put a foot wrong for six games. Until 5-1, when Chakvetadze was serving for the set and stopped being able to find her first serve. Five games later, Chakvetadze had to serve to save the set, succeeded, and then dropped a tightly-fought tiebreak.
At that point, it seemed obvious that Chakvetadze was going to melt down further and Jankovic would win in straight sets. Still, the pair stayed level until 3-3, when Chakvetadze saved five break points to go 4-3, then broke Jankovic for 5-3, and served out to love.
In the third set, Jankovic set afterwards, her legs gave out from the strain of having to bend so low to get back all those deep, skidding shots. Her quads started to hurt, and her legs were tired, and she didn’t have the ernergy to keep running.
When you have two slujmping players playing each other, one of them has to lose. Surprising that the one who lost was Jankovic. But Chakvetadze does have a long history of playing on grass – the first time I saw her was at Wimbledon in the juniors, playing Michaela Krajicek probably ten years ago.
Jankovic herself admits that grass is her weakest surface – she’s made the semis of all the other Slams but never been past the fourth round at Wimbledon.
The second major of the year is already upon us as qualifying for the French Open gets underway today. With just a few days to go until main draw play begins this Sunday, all the talk on the men’s side is about Rafael Nadal’s quest for his 5th consecutive French title and whether Federer or Djokovic can catch him. An intriguing story line, certainly, but that is basically the extent of the discussion.
On the Women’s side, there is much more room for conversation. After more than a year of the WTA playing a game of #1 ranking tag, we actually enter Roland Garros with a clear favorite for the title in Dinara Safina. Of course, being the clear favorite, she will certainly lose before the Quarterfinals. Nonetheless, Safina has been the only top player to avoid looking disastrous. Playing her best tennis since last fall, Safina ran away with both the Rome and Madrid titles while the rest of her colleagues looked lost, uninspired, and injured. The question is not whether she has the game, it is whether she can hold it together mentally. If she can, the title is hers.
The other finalists from Rome and Madrid, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Caroline Wozniacki, can hardly make convincing claims as French Open favorites. Kuznetsova did beat Safina in Stuttgart, but she long since vacated the relevant conversation as she proved time and again her inability to close out big matches. Her collapse against Serena in Australia was just another in a long line of almost-wins. As for Wozniacki, she is still unproven. She has never reached the Quarterfinal stage of a major before, so we still don’t know how she handles the important moments. Without a big weapon off the ground, Wozniacki may struggle against a hard hitter who has found her rhythm (See: Safina in Madrid, Lisicki in Charleston, Dokic in Australia, etc.)
And what of the Williams sisters? Serena is injured and frustrated. Winless since March, she has spent her time speaking out against the tour for forcing her to play hurt and the ranking system for not rewarding her accomplishments. She retired against Schiavone in Madrid, and barring a miraculous recovery, Serena looks headed for an early exit. Venus seemed to be in a much better place than her sister, making the Rome Semifinal and having some of her best clay results in years. With a favorable draw she can make the second week, but an early round unforced error parade against Kleybanova in Madrid exposed why she might struggle to advance further.
Earlier in the year, it looked as though the Serbian train had lost a little steam. Now, it has fallen off the tracks, arrived at the wrong station, and caught on fire. Jankovic hit rock bottom during the Spring hardcourt season, but a title in Marbella seemed to indicate that she may have found her form, but it was not to be. Recent lackluster losses to Schnyder and Kuznetsova proved that she is still nowhere near her best and would do well just to make her seeding. When the French Open ends, it will mark one year since Ana Ivanovic fell to pieces. She’s had flashes of strong play since (Linz 08, Indian Wells 09) but nothing consistent or confidence inspiring. And the worst part? She pulled out of Madrid with injury. This defending champion will be hard pressed to make it even close the winners circle once again.
As for the rest of the top 10, Zvonareva is still injured and unlikely to play. Victoria Azarenka was the talk of tennis just weeks ago, but she has failed to make a deep run on clay. She can still upset a few people, but her bandwagon likely won’t get up to speed again until the US hardcourt season. This leaves Elena Dementieva. Just a few months ago, she was in Safina’s position, the favorite with momentum who is a solid bet to win her first major. It didn’t happen for Dementieva, and ever since she has been solid but unconvincing. In Australia, all of the pressure was on her, and she couldn’t handle Serena in the Semifinals. Now, no one is talking about her. Maybe that is exactly what she needs.
That probably completes the list of players with a serious chance to win the title, but there are a host others who could pull off the odd upset here and there. By beating Dementieva in Madrid, Amelie Mauresmo showed that she can still contend with the best. A few confidence building wins in the early rounds, and she could put together an inspired run and finally do what she has never done at Roland Garros, just when it seems the least likely. Last year’s surprise Quarterfinalist Carla Suarez Navarro can only find her game at majors, but she has the potential to repeat. Last month’s official WTA flavor, Sabine Lisicki, has been hampered with injury and illness since her Charleston win, but she has the game to go far. I expect we also will see some veterans with kind draws, like Patty Schnyder, Li Na, or Anabel Medina Garrigues, put together a few wins.
This leaves Maria Sharapova. She’s back and she’s unseeded. She could surprise some people and make a deep run, and she’s a horrifying first round threat to any seed. The attention is elsewhere, and she may actually go pretty deep in this draw. But winning? Just wait until Wimbledon.
A few days ago it was announced that Kim Clijsters would be returning to womens professional tennis. Kim has had a few years away from the game and im sure she will come back with a bang. I hope Kim performs a lot better than Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis when they return from retirement.
In the couple years Kim was away from tennis she has got married and even had a baby. So this time round she will have a lot more life experience and maturity on court and hopefully this will lead to more outstanding results.
The Belgian has mentioned that it will be a tentative return. She will play three tournaments—Cincinnati, Toronto and most notably, the US Open.
Overall it will be very interesting to see how she fair against the like of the Williams sisters and the young girls who are currently on tour.
Dinara Safina is now officially the womens world number one tennis player. On Monday Dinara Safina has now joined the group of world number one tennis players. Dinara and Marat as the only brother and sister combination to have every been both world number one.
Safina is still yet to win a Grand Slam title but she has twice reached the final. Dinara Safina is the 19th woman to top the rankings since they were introduced in 1975.
Safina won four titles last year, but lost to Serena Williams at the Australian Open this year, who she replaced as world number one.
It is good to see however that Dinara is still in search of more and more titles.
“He has two Grand Slams,” Safina said of her brother in a video posted on the WTA’s Web site. “He’s still much better than me, so I have to catch him.”
The International Level event in Monterrey, Mexico kicks off this week boasting a field headlined by world #10 Agnieszka Radwanska and former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli. With many players resting up for the four week run through Indian Wells and Miami, this event could be a golden opportunity for an unheralded player to take home a trophy, 280 ranking points, and $37,000.
For most of the top seeds, it’s easy to find a reason why they won’t win the title. Radwanska, Szavay and Kirilenko have been monumentally struggling with form, and a consistent and confident challenger could send any of them out of the event early. Bartoli pulled out of Dubai with injury, but knowing Bartoli, that could mean absolutely nothing coming into this week. Pennetta seemed to break out of her slump last week, reaching the final in Acapulco, but she looked completely lost against Venus Williams in the final, and the transition back to hardcourt may be difficult for her. All of these question marks will make for a very interesting appetizer to the spring season.
First Quarter:
The draw gods made sure that this event would be compelling from the first day, as the top seed Radwanska goes up against the supremely dangerous Li Na of China. Li came back from injury last month and challenged Jelena Jankovic in Paris. Combine that with Radwanska’s struggles, and we could very well see a first round exit for the top seed. The other seed in this quarter, Maria Kirilenko, has yet to win a set in 2009 and should be a non-factor in this event. The other big challenge in this section may be Czech Lucie Safarova, who can play brilliantly one day and horrendously the next. If she is having a good day, she will be a threat.
Prediction: Li Na
Second Quarter:
The #3 seed Flavia Pennetta heads up this quarter and may see a challenge from Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the second round, but Pennetta should still be the favorite in that match. The #6 seed Iveta Benesova, she of ‘looking kind of like Daniela Hantuchova’ fame, has a nice draw up to a quarterfinal meeting with Pennetta. These two played just last week with Pennetta prevailing in straight sets. It should be the same result this week.
Prediction: Pennetta
Third Quarter:
The seeds Dulko and Zheng should face little opposition in this quarter unless the veteran Nathalie Dechy is able to find her excellent form of years past, in which case Dulko might find herself in trouble in the first round. Zheng should sail through to the quarterfinals for an encounter with Dulko. On clay, this could be a real match, but Zheng will be too strong on a hardcourt and will prevail rather easily.
Prediction: Zheng
The severity of Bartoli’s Dubai injury is unknown, but nonetheless she should be thankful for her easy draw. She is seeded to meet the lost-in-the-wilderness Agnes Szavay in the quarterfinals, but more likely she should sail through to the semifinals without meeting a top-50 opponent.
Prediction: Bartoli
Semifinals:
Li still seemed to be a bit rusty in her return matches, so she may lament her lack of match play in the later rounds. Pennetta may have struggled against Williams, but she will not meet that level of competition in this event, which should help her make a deep run. Bartoli will struggle when she finally meets an opponent of her level, which should benefit Zheng in that semifinal.
Prediction: Pennetta and Zheng into final
Final:
I expect Zheng to be playing too consistently for Pennetta in this match, who will fall short in a tournament final for the second consecutive week. Zheng looked in very solid form in her Dubai loss to Serena Williams, and that should carry her through to a tournament victory here.
Over at the DamnGoodList they have profiled the top 25 female tennis players. The list features so big names and some ladies who are still yet to actually make their mark on tour. Take a look and let us know what you think.
Players include:
Elena Dementieva
Tatiana Golovin
Sania Mirza
Marta Domachowska
and more..
Click here for the full list.
We have previously reported about the relationship between Ana Ivanovic and Fernando Verdasco and this time they have been out and about together.
It is good to see Ana and Fernando are just being open about their relationship. Ana has to be one of the best looking female tennis players on tour and Fernando is just Spanish.
Stay tuned for more photos and more information in the coming months as the Paps start to follow them. Oh and by the way they were watching Real Madrid play against Real Union.
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has released the official 2008 season-ending tennis rankings.
Jelena Jankovic has ended the tennis year as the number one tennis player in the world, followed by Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, and Ana Ivanovic.
2007 POINTS DROPPED ON NOVEMBER 10: Madrid (SEC)
Top 20 Rankings (November 10, 2008)
1. Jelena Jankovic – Serbia – 4710
2. Serena Williams – United States – 3866
3. Dinara Safina – Russia – 3817
4. Elena Dementieva – Russia – 3663
5. Ana Ivanovic – Serbia – 3457
6. Venus Williams – United States – 3272
7. Vera Zvonareva – Russia – 2952
8. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Russia – 2726
9. Maria Sharapova – Russia – 2515
10. Agnieszka Radwanska – Poland – 2286
11. Nadia Petrova – Russia – 1976
12. Caroline Wozniacki – Denmark – 1678
13. Flavia Pennetta – Italy – 1670
14. Patty Schnyder – Switzerland – 1590
15. Victoria Azarenka – Belarus – 1494
16. Alize Cornet – France – 1492
17. Marion Bartoli – France – 1410
18. Anna Chakvetadze – Russia – 1363
19. Dominika Cibulkova – Slovakia – 1337
20. Katarina Srebotnik – Slovakia – 1272
SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR RANKINGS
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings is the worldwide computer ranking for women’s professional tennis.
The ranking system is a 52-week, cumulative system in which the number of Tournament results that comprise a player’s ranking is capped at 17 Tournament results for Singles and 11 Tournament results for Doubles.
The results used to determine a player’s ranking are the Tournaments yielding the player’s highest Ranking points over the past 52 weeks.
