Posts Tagged ‘WTA’

Sania’s fight with Venus in Charleston

India’s top tennis star Sania Mirza booked a second round fight with second seeded Venus Williams on Tuesday with the straight sets conquest at WTA occasion in Charleston at South Carolina.

Sania Mirza defeat Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan 6-4 6-4 to line up the marquee meeting with Williams, who will be beginning her movement on Wednesday afternoon after enjoying a first round bye.

The top ranked Russian Elena Dementieva, who rose to a career high ranking of number three in the world last week, reached in the third round with a overriding 6-0 6-2 triumph over American Julie Ditty.

Dementieva said, “I don’t feel any kind of pressure being the number one seed here”. Tonight’s start was excellent to the tournament for me. I had never played Julie before so I in fact didn’t want her to find into the match. It’s simple to misplace your attention. I really remained focused tonight.”

Third seeded Vera Zvonareva and number four Nadia Petrova, both of Russia, also qualified for the third round, as did sixth seeded Marion Bartoli of France and seventh seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

Zvonareva cruised past Paraguay’s Rossana de los Rios 6-3 6-2.

Said Zvonareva “I felt very good for my first match of the year on clay, a finalist here last year. I didn’t wait for myself to play my best, and it was a bit of a struggle at times because of the wind, but it was pretty good.”

Fourth seeded Petrova punch Austrian Patricia Mayr 6-1 2-6 6-2, Bartoli beaten Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-1 6-3 and Cibulkova crushed Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-4 6-0.

Wozniacki downed Aleksandra at Ponte Vedra Beach

The second top player Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark crushed the Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1 6-2 on Sunday to gain the Ponte Vedra Beach WTA claycourt tournament.

Second seeded Denmark’s Wozniacki created just 14 unforced faults and succeeded to win 84 per cent of points on her first serve to lift the trophy.

Wozniacki said, “In fact my plan was to play violent and make her run, this is a huge beginning to the clay court season, a truly good start. I showed I can hit these better players.”

Wozniak, the fifth seed who had disturbed top seeded Nadia Petrova in the semi finals, went after 3-1 in the starting set and yield two more games with double faults. Wozniacki prepared the first break of the second set to lead 4-2, and Wozniak won just three points in the last two games. Wozniacki arrogate her fourth career title and her first of 2009.

Wozniacki played and performed with her right thigh bandaged for the second straight match, but she said her wounded leg no longer hurt and she sensed as fast as ever on the court.

She prescribed, “The speed is one of my pluses.”

She as well dealt superior with the warmth, after experiencing dizziness and nausea in her semi final triumph over Elena Vesnina. She reserved and kept ice bags near her chair and used them at times during the changeovers to make herself cool down.

She said, “They were defensive, I didn’t wish for the similar thing to occur today as happened Saturday.”

Frustrated Wozniak said, “I rose up short, which is coming back from a torn tendon in her right shoulder. I lost key shots and she took benefit of all my faults. You obtain so close and then lose, it is sad.”

She said,” lingering pain in her shoulder added to her six double errors. It’s getting well but still distresses every time I serve. You just try to not think about it.”

Safina disappointed to prove the tennis significance

Russia’s tennis star Dinara Safina, who will put back Serena Williams as world top ranked later this month in spite of never having won a Grand Slam title, insists she will provide evidence she belongs on top of the rankings.

Dinara Safina, whose brother Marat was the men’s tennis top player in the world in 2000, will substitute Williams, who has been on top for 11 successive weeks, and 72 in all, on April 20.

Safina, who is the runner up to the American at the Australian Open year, said, “There’s no question that while I am very proud of my consequences over the past year, I would have wished to arrive at this achievement in an unusual way. I expect to demonstrate to everyone over the coming months that I deserve the honor of being world number one.

She further said by expressing her feelings, “It’s a big honor to get the top ranking and it is a dream that each girl who has ever wanted to play professional tennis shares. It is yet extra ordinary for me since my brother Marat was capable to obtain the number one ranking and I am excited and happy to share this triumph with him.”

Safina is the only second Russian woman, along with Maria Sharapova, to hold the top spot. Her elevation was declared just after Williams endured a shock 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 first round conquer against world number 95 Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic in Marbella.

Safina has gained four WTA Tour singles titles over the past year. Montreal, Los Angeles, Berlin and Tokyo and was runner-up five times, including the Australian Open and Roland Garros. She was also a silver medalist at the Beijing Olympics. Her constantly move up the rankings will symbolize the first time a brother and sister have been number one in the world.

In the Meanwhile, Williams fell off to beat in Marbella in her initial clay court outing of the season handing her Czech rival a first win over a top 10 player since 2003. Williams had been downed in the final of the Miami hard-court occasion on Sunday when her performance in opposition to Victoria Azarenka was harshly handicapped by a thigh injury which required serious strapping.

Williams who once more was wearing a bandage on her left leg said, “I am very disappointed about my defeat. She further said, “In face I wanted to play my excellent tennis and best performance but because of my injury I couldn’t perform well.”

Azarenka kicked out Kuznetsova to attain Miami final

Belarus Victoria Azarenka sophisticated to her initial main final by crushing Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 at the WTA and ATP hard-court tournament on Thursday. Azarenka linked on 63% of her initial functions for her primary vocation triumph over Kuznetsova, while her Russian rival dedicated 46 natural faults.

19 years old 11th seed will face the winner of a afterward semi-final that pits world number one Serena Williams, the dominating US and Australian Open champion in opposition to Sister Venus, the prevailing Wimbledon champion. Azarenka looks for her third career title after captivating her original and primary tops at Brisbane and Memphis earlier this year. She is looking for her original title in one of the WTA’s best Premier proceedings.

Azarenka who qualified for the semi finals last month at Indian Wells, said by expressing her feelings, “It’s the largest moment and dream in my career, It feels and seems immense that all the work I’ve been doing is paying off. I was just annoying to play in every position and every point from the start to the end”.

She further said, “The second set was not so well for me and it did not go in favour of me, but I was still hanging in there and just play in every position and each point no matter what”. Victoria Azarenka ceased an untimely service smash in the opening set, but she gained the next four games to pocket the set.

Kuznetsova competition to a 5-1 pass en route to making level the match at one set apiece, but Azarenka cracked Kuznetsova in the earliest game of the third set to achieve the superior hand.

Azarenka lost her first chance to serve out the match, Kuznetsova saving one match point then flouting serve courtesy of an Azarenka double error. But in the next game Azarenka crushed Kuznetsova, and preserved the conquest on her third match point after two hours and 40 minutes played in boiling heat.

Azarenka prescribed “The last points and the last games were really hard and difficult to even walk there, but I’m just so glad that I found power and that fighting moment that I had to fight no matter what.”

Murray and Federer succeeding at Miami quarter-finals

Federer and Murray will be the participants of ATP quarter finals. British fourth seed Andy Murray and second seed Federer moved into the quarter finals of the ATP and WTA hard-court tournament with directly set triumphs.

Federer turned American qualifier Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-2 while Murray running scared Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-0. Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic as well got a 6-3, 6-2 conquest over Czech Tomas Berdych. Federer required just 85 minutes making a set up in the final eight by ousting 27 year old Dent who wasted eight break-point chances.

Federer said, “I had to arise with some superior transitory shots to be able to create dissimilarity, He might have got a little bit weary towards the end.”

Murray now will have to face eighth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who crushed Czech 18th seed Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-2.

On the other hand Murray said, “I didn’t build much faults and mistakes, high proportion of first serves used my slice very well just reserved judgment and thinking all the way during the match. From the beginning to obtain a smash untimely, set the tone for the rest of the match. He didn’t really get well from that.”

Federer moved to the next round where he will countenance fifth seeded American Andy Roddick who superior with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 win over France’s Gael Monfils.

Federer said of Roddick, “We’ve had several large matches over the years; I played and performed him at the Australian Open and done fine against him. He appears like he distorted a couple of things in his game so it should be a good match”.

The eighth seed Russian Svetlana Kuzentsova became the first semi-finalist in the women’s draw by thrashing Danish 13th seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1. Ahead for Kuznetsova will be also Russian 11th seed Victoria Azarenka or Australian Samantha Stosur, who previously ousted second ranked position Russian Dinara Safina.

Djokovic, who achieved and won the Miami cap in 2007, swooped Berdych’s every error to advance.

Djokovic said, “I was annoying to attach with him all the time, because I knew he’s very violent and aggressive, but not actually reliable from the baseline. He makes a lot of natural faults, particularly from the forehand side, so I distorted the pace and I played a well tennis.”

Djokovic will now be in the front of French 10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who carried off seventh-seeded countryman Gilles Simon 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-2 in another fourth-round match.

Tsonga, who seemed a little bit ill before the match, is the first Frenchman in a decade to arrive at the quarter-finals at Miami. And Djokovic knows he is in for a fight.

The WTA Chief Executive Larry Scott resigning

The WTA chief Larry Scott threw a surprising effect and shocked into the women’s tennis on the eve of one of the major occasions on the calendar on Tuesday by declaring that he will give up and steps down to move to a university athletics job in the United States.

The resignation declaration prior to the Miami Masters came less than three months after ATP boss Etienne de Villiers was enforced out and interchanged with a lawyer, Adam Helfant, with little bit experience in the sport.

Scott, who worked hard with the men’s ATP before coming over to the women’s side and functioning for six years as chief executive of the WTA, will head the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) PAC-10 Conference, effective July 1.

Scott oversaw a huge addition in prize money and a prosperous partnership with tour global sponsor Sony Ericsson, which turned headline players like Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters into crossover celebrities with forays into fashion, music and show business and computer gaming.

Scott shortly prescribed “With women’s professional tennis more well-liked and admired than ever the Tour in the strongest business position in its history and a incredible senior management team in place, it is now the exact time for me to meet with the new challenge reliable with my family and personal destinations, and give up the room for the next generation of Tour leadership to take on new tasks”.

He will now work with the Tour Board on the selection procedure for his replacement.

The representative of Tournament Board and chairman of the Tournament Council Steve Simon said by expressing his opinion in the favour of Larry, “Under Larry’s leadership and guidance, both Tour and our sport have developed and grown up over the past six years beyond anyone’s extreme expectations,”

“As an association and sport, we are positioned for constant victory and success. We wish and hope Larry the very well in his new position, and are looking forward to start the process of electing a new one CEO for the organization to guide us into the future.”

The resignation will also let Scott to move a bullet in the continuing case of the Williams sisters’ boycott of the just-concluded Indian Wells Masters, a posture which for the first time in 2009 will result in sanctions for the millionaire sibling act.

The most recent Scott’s crisis and calamities came into being last month at Dubai when Israeli player Shahar Peer was deprived of a visa into the Arab emirate, sparking a war of words, a fine of $US300,000 ($A433,000) from the WTA and potential sanctions in opposition to the highlight event.

Scott also felt and analysis by seeing the global growth and development of the sport into new markets, including organization of the Tour’s first ever Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing.