Wk.28- Inheriting the Earth... for a week

Cockroaches and other insects are set to one day inherit the earth from the human race, but such is not the case when the top players are "resting up" following the conclusion of a long grand slam fortnight.

A week after Wimbledon, it was time for the up-and-comers on tour to stand up and make their intentions for the second half of 2008 crystal clear (Ms. Szavay, not so fast). As it turned out, the finals in the two clay events in Budapest and Palermo included four players looking to grab a first career WTA singles title. In fact, three of them were first-time finalists.

Nope. No cockroaches in sight.

Of course, more attention was probably garnered (at least in the U.S.) by World Team Tennis action featuring, amongst others, both Williams sisters. Though, for the Backspinning life of me, I'm not sure why. Or maybe it's just me who's come to believe the idea of the WTT is far, far more intriguing than the product that actually hits the court.

Every time I catch some WTT action on television, I think, "Ooh." Then, ten minutes later, I'm usually watching something else rather than whatever's taking place on a playing surface that's the tennis equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting, with less apparent intent. Quite possibly there's more inherent entertainment value to the enterprise when it's taken in in person. But as a television event, World Team Tennis makes Arena Football almost seem like a real live serious "sport."

Meanwhile, in the matches that counted, 18-year old Pastry Alize Cornet continued to solidify her new status as France's best player in Budapest, winning both her first career singles and doubles titles. Not to be outdone, Italy's Sara Errani pulled the exact same dual-first titles feat in Palermo.

As far as the weekend results of the Washington Kastles or Boston Lobsters? Ummm, I don't really know.

*WEEK 28 CHAMPIONS*

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (III-RCO)
S: Alize Cornet def. Andreja Klepac 7-6/6-3
D: Cornet/Husarova d. Henke/Olaru

PALERMO, ITALY (IV-RCO)
S: Sara Errani def. Mariya Koryttseva 6-2/6-3
D: Errani/Llagostera-Vives d. Kudryavtseva/Pavlyuchenkova


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Alize Cornet, FRA

AP PHOTO/MTI, Tamas Kovacs
...it took Cornet three tries in '08 singles finals to get things right, but she finally did it in Budapest, ending the surprising run of Andreja Klepac in the final. With her first career singles and doubles titles under her belt, the Pastry with the lovely-sounding name shot to a career-best #18 ranking. She's just the second teenager (with Agnieszka Radwanska) to win a singles title this season and, at 18 years and five months, she's the youngest so far.
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RISERS: Mariya Koryttseva, UKR & Anna-Lena Groenefeld, GER
...23-year old Koryttseva was one of the three first-time finalists this weekend, falling in the Palermo decider after having notched wins over youngster Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and veteran Anabel Medina-Garrigues. Groenefeld reached the QF in Budapest, her best tour result since reaching the Stanford QF in 2006. She warmed up for her return WTA breakthrough by winning three ITF events in recent weeks.
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SURPRISES: Andreja Klepac, SLO & Karolina Sprem, CRO
...Klepac was the surprise of the week, upsetting top-seeded Agnes Szavay and Petra Kvitova en route to her first career final in Budapest. The 22-year old Slovenian, ranked #135 coming into the event, had reached two previous tour QF in 2008. She's now #99. Meanwhile, Sprem's return to something resembling past form was a nice thing to see. She returned to the court in March, ten months after undergoing elbow surgery, and her SF in Hungary was her best tour result since she reached the Kolkata final in 2005.
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VETERANS: Greta Arn, HUN & Margalita Chaknashvili, GEO
...veteran Hungarian Arn sparked much better in her home country than Szavay did, defeating Iveta Benesova and Klara Zakopalova to reach the QF. Chaknashvili, a 26-year old Georgian who has mostly made a living on the ITF circuit (winning seven titles), reached her first tour-level QF in Palermo. Ranked #208, she qualified and got a win over Yanina Wickmayer.
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FRESH FACES: Sara Errani, ITA & Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS

...after trying to pinpoint the week that Errani was going to win her first title earlier this season (after a couple of failed Backspin Picks, I shut down the enterprise), she finally pulled it off in a week in which I didn't pick her. Naturally, I shifted my will-to-a-title action to Carla Suarez-Navarro... who, perhaps not so ironically, retired from her QF match with Errani due to a finger injury last week. Oh, well. Errani's singles/doubles sweep in Palermo nearly pushed her into the Top 50 as she posted some nice wins over Hsieh Su-Wei, Julia Vakulenko, Flavia Pennetta and Mariya Koryttseva. (It pays to not have to face Nuria Llagostera-Vives, I guess --Errani's 0-3 against HER this season.) Meanwhile, Pavlyuchenkova took a week that looked like chicken you-know-what and turned it into some tasty chicken salad. After losing in Palermo qualifying, she entered the draw as a Lucky Loser. She defeated vets Roberta Vinci and Rossana de los Rios to reach her first tour QF, then topped things off by reaching the doubles final with Alla Kudryavtseva, who likel gave her fellow Russian fashion tips on what NOT to wear next year at Wimbledon.
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DOWN: Agnes Szavay, HUN
...Agnes' homecoming wasn't exactly a successful one. A year ago, she opened up her 3rd Quarter schedule by winning the Palermo title. This time around, she suffered a loss in her first match in Budapest. Hopefully, this isn't the return of the early-season Szavay who found new and exciting players to lose to each and every week. That it was Klepac, who ended up having a career week, who defeated her is probably a good sign. I guess we'll see this week in Bad Gastein.
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ITF PLAYER: Petra Martic, CRO
...following in the wake of Kvitova and Cetkovska, there's another Petra to keep an eye on. This one -- Petra Martic -- is a 17-year old Croatian who won her first ITF title over the weekend in the $75K event in Zagreb. Along the way, she defeated Kirsten Flipkens, Anastasia Pivovarova and Yvonne Meusburger. In May, she knocked off Evgeniya Rodina in a $50K event. This week, her ranking jumped from #371 to #236.
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1. Bud F - Cornet d. Klepac
...7-6/6-3. Ah-li-zeh COR-neh, Ah-li-zeh COR-neh, Ah-li-zeh COR-neh. How can you not enjoy saying it out loud?
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2. Pal F - Errani d. Koryttseva
...6-2/6-3. It was the second time this season that two first-time finalists met to decide a tournament champion.
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3. Bud 2nd - Klepac d. Szavay
...6-2/6-3. Bad 1st Quarter flashback, man. Baaaaad.
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4. Bud SF - Klepac d. Sprem
...6-2/4-6/6-4. Ranked #329, if Sprem had made the final she'd have had a shot to become the second lowest-ranked tour champion ever, behind only #579 Angelique Widjaja in Bali in 2001.
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5. Bud Q3 - Zoric d. Karatantcheva
...6-3/6-3. Zoric is an 18-year old Serb who was ranked #462.
Bad Gastein Q2 - Zahlavova d. Karatantcheva
...6-2/6-3. Obviously, it wasn't a very good week for the Sesil-meister.
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HM- Stan Q1 - Stevenson d. Black
...7-5/6-2. A rare singles appearance from Black, a former junior #1 who won the Wimbledon & U.S. Open Girls titles (and was RU at Roland Garros) in 1997.
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HM- Stan Q3 - Wozniak d. Stosur
...6-4/6-2. The U.S. Open Series has begun, so is it time for another Canadian to surprise? First it was Dubois, then Dancevic. Could A-Woz be next?


**2008 SINGLES FINALS**
4...Serena Williams (3-1)
4...Vera Zvonareva (1-2 + L)
3...Maria Sharapova (3-0)
3...Agnieszka Radwanska (3-0)
3...Ana Ivanovic (2-1)
3...Elena Dementieva (1-2)
3...Dinara Safina (1-2)
3...ALIZE CORNET (1-2)
3...Svetlana Kuznetsova (0-3)

**2008 WTA SEMIFINALISTS BY NATION**
31...Russia
13...United States
11...FRANCE
11..Serbia
7...ITALY
7...SPAIN

**SINGLES/DOUBLES CHAMP IN SAME EVENT**
FEB - Memphis - Lindsay Davenport
APR - Estoril - Maria Kirilenko
JUL - Wimbledon - Venus Williams
JUL - BUDAPEST - ALIZE CORNET
JUL - PALERMO - SARA ERRANI

**2008 TWO FIRST-TIME FINALISTS**
JUN - Birmingham - K.Bondarenko d. Wickmayer
JUL - PALERMO - ERRANI d. KORYTTSEVA

**LOW-RANKED 2008 FINALISTS**
#140 M.J. Martinez-Sanchez (Birmingham-L)
#135 ANDREJA KLEPAC (BUDAPEST-L)
#132 Iveta Benesova (Estoril-L)
#114 Nuria Llagostera-Vives (Bogota-W)

**2008 BACKSPIN PLAYERS OF THE MONTH/QUARTER**
JANUARY: Maria Sharapova, RUS
FEBRUARY: Maria Sharapova, RUS
MARCH/APRIL 1Q: Serena Williams, USA
Q1 - MARIA SHARAPOVA, RUS
APRIL 2Q: Serena Williams, USA
MAY/pre-RG: Dinara Safina, RUS
Q2/CLAY - ANA IVANOVIC, SRB
JUNE/pre-Wimb: Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
Q2/GRASS - VENUS WILLIAMS, USA


**TOP 3 BY SEASON**
2004: Davenport-Mauresmo-Likhovtseva
2005: CLIJSTERS-Pierce-Mauresmo
2006: Ivanovic-SHARAPOVA-Clijsters
2007: Sharapova-Jankovic-HENIN
--
CAPS: won U.S. Open





STANFORD, CALIFORNIA USA (II-Hard Outdoor)(USO Series)
07 FINAL: Chakvetadze d. Mirza
08 TOP: S.Williams/Chakvetadze
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=SF=
S.Williams d. Zvonareva
Peer d. Sugiyama
=FINAL=
S.Williams d. Peer

...does the assault on New York begin in California?


BAD GASTEIN, AUSTRIA (III-Red Clay)
07 FINAL: Schiavone d. Meusburger
08 TOP: Szavay/Cornet
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=SF=
Szavay d. Meusburger
Cornet d. Llagostera-Vives
=FINAL=
Cornet d. Szavay

...maybe Szavay has less pressure to succeed in Austria than she did back home in Hungary. Maybe Cornet has finally got the formula memorized, and is raring to show the world.


All for now.