Vera Zvonareva Two of the seeds fell on the second day of action at the Apia International in Sydney. Sam Stosur was out-of-sorts as she was defeated by Francesca Schiavone, 6-2 6-4. There were some exciting points in the match (see highlights below) and Schiavone continued her solid start to the 2012 season. It was…
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga The ATP tour kicked off with three tournaments this week in Doha, Brisbane and Chennai. In Doha, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came away with the title without playing his best tennis as he beat Gael Monfils in the final, 7-5 6-3. Tsonga benefited from Roger Federer‘s withdrawal in the semi-finals, which was only the second…
Lucie Safarova Last night, I was already regretting my prediction of Ana Ivanovic reaching the final in Sydney. I was right to have second thoughts about this prediction as she crashed out in the first round of action at the Apia International in Sydney. Ivanovic was beaten in straight sets by the dangerous leftie, Lucie…
Zheng Jie rounded off a stunning week in Auckland with victory over the number 4 seed, Flavia Pennetta in the final. Unfortunately, Pennetta had to retire at the start of the third set because of a back injury trailing at 2-6 6-3 2-0 down. This was Zheng’s fourth title on the WTA tour, but her…
Nine of the top ten players are heading for Sydney in what is an exceptionally strong draw. Caroline Wozniacki is the top seed and has a bye into the second round. Wozniacki competed at the Hopman Cup last week where she won her first two matches before losing a tight three setter to Petra Kvitova. …
Kaia Kanepi capped off a fine week in Brisbane with a comprehensive victory over Daniela Hantuchova in the final, 6-2 6-1. Kanepi, the world number 34 dominated a one-sided encounter with her thumping groundstrokes and solid serve, which was too consistent for Hantuchova to impose herself on this final. It is interesting to note that…
The one striking thing from this weeks draw in Hobart is that there are no stand-out names and that it is a very level playing field; therefore I think there are a host of names that could go all the way and claim the title. The number one seed is Yanina Wickmayer, who will play…
An unlikely final was all set in Friday’s semi-finals as Daniela Hantuchova and Kaia Kanepi both won against struggling opponents. At the start of the week, the names of Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams and Sam Stosur were all being mentioned as possible winners however things have not turned out as many (including me!) predicted in…
Francesca Schiavone saved 2 match points to beat Jelena Jankovic, 5-7 7-6 6-3 and advance to the semi-finals. I mentioned yesterday that I was hoping for more drama and sure enough, they delivered up a treat! Jankovic wasted so many chances in this match; she was up 7-5 4-3 and then had 2 match points…
Kaia Kanepi The first three days of the new season had seen just one seeded player exit the WTA events in Brisbane and Auckland. However normal order was restored on the WTA tour today as the upsets were well and truly flowing! The number 7 seed in Brisbane, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was well and truly thumped…
