Sunday, July 26, 2015

Wk.29- Sam Has a Good ol' Time in Bad Gastein

So, Sam Stosur began her week in Bad Gastein on a zipline...



...and then ended it on Cloud Nine.



Not a bad week, I'd say. In fact, you're almost tempted to wonder if maybe the Aussie had some "help" from someone with a little behind-the-scenes "ummmph." Hmmmm.



Naaahhh. Right?

Well, no one ever said Sam was on anyone's "Naughty List." So...



*WEEK 29 CHAMPIONS*
BAD GASTEIN, AUSTRIA (Int'l $227K/Red Clay)
S: Samantha Stosur/AUS def. Karin Knapp/ITA 3-6/7-6(3)/6-2
D: Danka Kovinic/Stephanie Vogt (MNE/LIE) d. Lara Arruabarrena/Lucie Hradecka (ESP/CZE) 4-6/6-4 [10-3]
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (Int'l $227K/Hard Court)
S: Lesia Tsurenko/UKR def. Ula Radwanska/POL 7-5/6-1
D: Daria Gavrilova/Elina Svitolina (AUS/UKR) d. Cagla Buyukakcay/Jelena Jankovic (TUR/SRB) 5-7/6-1 [10-4]



PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Samantha Stosur/AUS
...when Slingin' Sammy has been good this season, she's been VERY good. The last few days in Bad Gastein was one of those times. A week after a missed opportunity in Bastad in which she was the #2 seed but lost in the 2nd Round of an event while #1-seed Serena Williams withdrew after her first match, Stosur came to Austria with redemption on her mind. Well, maybe not... but the way the Aussie's season has gone she had to figure things couldn't get any worse. 2015 has been a feast-or-famine deal for Sam. After ending 2014 with back-to-back final runs, Stosur hasn't been able to find such consistency this year. Counting this past week, she's played in sixteen tour events and failed to reach even the QF fourteen times... but she's won the title at the other two events, both on red clay. Her run to an eighth career title -- just one behind Wendy Turnbull for fifth place on the all-time Aussie list -- included wins over Anastasiya Sevastova, Klara Koukalova, Danka Kovinic, Budapest champ Anna Schmiedlova and a come-from-behind (6-3/4-2 down with the Italian serving at 5-4) win in the final over Karin Knapp to give the 31-year old the crown. She'll come within one spot of returning to the Top 20 on Monday, bumping up ever so slightly from #23 to #21. And, unlike many of the '14 title winners on tour this year, Stosur will be looking to defend her championship in '16.

=============================
RISERS: Lesia Tsurenko/UKR & Karin Knapp/ITA
...26-year old Ukrainian Tsurenko has always seemed to exist just on the outside of notoriety. She climbed as high as #60 in 2013, reached a career-best 3rd Round at the Australian Open and had her first of back-to-back Top 100 seasons. But last year she took a bit of a tumble. She reached her second career tour semifinal in Tashkent, but only managed to put up four MD tour victories all year (in that event and Wimbledon, before which she'd bottomed out at #170 before putting on a successful Q-run and winning a 1st Round match). From the start of SW19 qualifying until the end of '14, Tsurenko staged a nice comeback, going 22-7 in mostly ITF events, but also putting together another slam Q-run at the U.S. Open. She ended the year at #96, and has continued her mid-career push in 2015. She climbed to a career-high #55 in April after a qualifier-to-quarterfinalist run at Indian Wells which included wins over Annika Beck, Andrea Petkovic, Alize Cornet and Genie Bouchard before she retired from her QF match vs. Jelena Jankovic. Last week in Istanbul, Tsurenko was back to stringing wins together, knocking off Daria Gavrilova, Daniela Hantuchova, Kateryna Bondarenko (saving eight set points over two sets in a straight sets win over her countrywoman) and Kirsten Flipkens to reach her first career WTA singles final. Facing off with similarly title-less (though she had one final under her belt) Ula Radwanska, Tsurenko won in straight sets to claim her maiden singles title and jump from #71 to a career-best #47 in Monday's rankings. She's pulled out of next week's event in Baku with a wrist injury, but hopefully that'll just be a minor bump in the road for one of the season's Most Improved Player contenders.

In Bad Gastein, Knapp had a great week going until Mother Nature -- and Stosur -- got in the way. The Italian knocked off Tamira Paszek, Bastad champ Johanna Larsson and Polona Hercog to reach a SF match-up with countrywoman Sara Errani. But rain wiped out the Saturday contest, meaning the 2:30 that it took for Knapp to defeat Errani for the fifth time in six meetings on Sunday put her in a bad position when it came to also playing the final (her second of '15) later in the day. Still, she led Stosur by a set and 4-2, and even served for the match. But once things got pushed to a 3rd set, the edge went to the far-more-fresh Aussie, who pulled away in a 6-2 deciding set that ultimately ended Knapp's second two-and-a-half-hour match of the day.
=============================

SURPRISE: Ula Radwanska/POL
...the Radwanska Summer Revival Tour continued in Istanbul. After Aga righted her season on the grass courts, Ula continued her long-term comeback from shoulder surgery after the '13 season this past week. U-Rad's run in Turkey included big wins over Jelena Jankovic (who Aga beat at Wimbledon), Bojana Jovanovski, Tsvetana Pironkova (Aga def. in Eastbourne) after the Bulgarian served for the match twice and Magdalena Rybarikova in the SF to reach her second career final (she lost the 's-Hertogenbosch final to Nadia Petrova in '12) and just the 24-year old's third semifinal-or-better in three years. She lost in the championship match to Lesia Tsurenko, but at least the glitter dress that Aga never got much use out of in Paris finally got its day in the sun SOMEWHERE.

Hey, Monica!

Ula jumps from #99 all the way up to #80 heading into this coming week.
=============================
VETERAN: Sara Errani/ITA
...a week after her runner-up result on the clay in Bucharest, Errani put up her third semifinal-or-better result in eight events this season on the surface (red or green). An opening round win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich was followed by a comeback victory over Maryna Zanevska in which she saved match point and another over young Russian Daria Kasatkina. After her semifinal with countrywoman Karin Knapp was pushed back to Sunday because of rain, Errani lost the 2:30 three-set affair to fall to 1-5 in their career head-to-head.
=============================

COMEBACKS: Kateryna Bondarenko/UKR & Laura Robson/GBR
...28-year old Ukrainian Bondarenko returned early last season after skipping the 2013 campaign while having a baby, and this past week in Istanbul was surely the best of the former Top 30 (2009) player's comeback so far. She spent most of last season on the ITF circuit, going 0-2 in her only WTA main draw matches. She won two ITF titles in '14, but only qualified once in five attempts at tour events and slams. She finished at #204, her lowest season-ending standing since 2004. Bondarenko's season has been slow to build in '15, but her near-Top 200 finish last year has gotten her into the qualifying at far more tour events. She made it through to the main draw four times in twelve attempts before her fifth successful Q-run this past week, but had so far only gone 1-5 in MD WTA matches this season. But that all changed when she notched her second career win over #1-seeded Venus Williams (knotting their head-to-head at 2-2) in the 1st Round to put up her first Top 20 victory since 2012. She followed up with a win over Mona Barthel (her first two-win WTA event since February '12 in Doha) reaching her first tour QF since 2011 (Dallas). She probably should have been playing in her first semifinal since Bad Gastein four years ago, as well, as Bondarenko held four set points in both the 1st and 2nd sets of her straight sets SF loss to Lesia Tsurenko. She'll enter next week at #106, and has a shot to gain automatic entry into the U.S. Open main draw. It'd be her first slam MD appearance since her final pre-pregnancy match in '12 (a 1st Round U.S. Open loss to Jelena Jankovic), after having failed to qualify in four slam qualifying tournaments since her comeback. Meanwhile, in the $50K challenger in Granby, Canada is was Laura Robson who notched her first match win in over two years since missing so much time due to wrist surgery. The Brit got a nice 7-6(5)/6-7(5)/6-3 victory over Naomi Osaka in the 1st Round before losing to Canadian Ellie Halbauer a round later. She rebounded to reach the doubles final with Erin Routliffe, losing to Aussies Jessica Moore & Storm Sanders in straight sets. Robson has never won a doubles title as a pro (0-1 WTA, 0-2 ITF), though she did win the Mixed Doubles Silver with Andy Murray at the 2012 Olympics. It was also announced this past week that Robson would be entered in next month's U.S. Open main draw because of her protected ranking status due to her injury layoff. She ended 2013 ranked #46 in the world, but she came into Week 29 at #913.
=============================
FRESH FACE: Daria Kasatkina/RUS
...the 2014 Roland Garros girls champ, Daria (rather than the former "Darya") reached her first tour-level quarterfinal in Bad Gastein. After making it through qualifying with wins over Victoria Kan and Richel Hogenkamp, the Hordette impressively knocked off Aleksandra Krunic and Julia Goerges (her first two Top 100 wins, with the latter having come after losing to the German last week in the 1st Round in Bucharest) before losing while taking #1-seed Sara Errani to three sets. The 18-year old will jump into the Top 150 for the first time on Monday, and she's the youngest Russian ranked in the Top 250.

=============================
DOWN: Venus Williams/USA
...ten years ago, Venus visited Istanbul and played some tennis on the Bosphorus Bridge with Turk player Ipek Senoglu in celebration of the inaugural edition of the WTA event. She'd go on to take the title.

She played the event again in 2007 (losing in the 2nd Round), but hadn't returned since before this past week, when she was the #1-seed at the tournament. Once again, she played on the Bosphorus, this time with Ipek Soylu and Cagla Buyukakcay.

Her new hitting partners -- and the rather pedestrian-sized (and that's giving it too much credit) net and shunted-off-to-the-side location compared to a decade ago -- weren't the only differences this time around, though. Williams lost in the 1st Round to Kateryna Bondarenko, falling to one of the Ukrainian sisters (along with the retired Alona, vs. whom she was 3-0) for the first time in six years. After battling back from a 5-2 2nd set deficit to serve for the set, Venus lost 11 of the final 15 points to lose the tie-breaker and drop the match in straight sets. The loss to #119-ranked Bondarenko is just Venus' third to a player ranked outside the Top 100 since 1999, and worst since a then-#143 ranked Petra Kvitova upended her in Memphis in 2008. Not only that, it's just the sixth #100+ loss in a career that included matches in pro events as far back as 1994. Bouchard's had about that many in the past year alone, or at least it seems like it.
=============================
ITF PLAYER: Johanna Konta/GBR
...the 24-year old Brit was one of the stories of the grass season, going on a 6-4 run that included Nottingham and Eastbourne QF results. In her first week back in action since her 1st Round loss to Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon, Konta won the $50K hard court challenger in Granby, Canada. Her tenth career ITF crown comes after a week that included wins over Naomi Broady, Pan-Am Games Silver medalist Victoria Rodriguez and veteran Pastry Stephanie Foretz in a 6-2/6-4 final.

=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Anna Bondar/HUN
...the 18-year old Hungarian, in her first junior event since last year's U.S. Open girls competition, claimed the European Junior Championships in Switzerland. In the draw as an unseeded entrant, Bondar took out Wimbledon junior finalist Anna Blinkova (#3 seed) as well as #7 Miriam Kolodziejova and the Swiss home crowd favorite, #12 Jill Teichmann 2-6/6-3/6-1 in the final. Before now, Bondar had spent all of '15 competing in ITF pro events, going 18-8, reaching a pair of finals and winning one $10K title (her second pro crown).

=============================


DOUBLES: Daria Gavrilova/Elina Svitolina (AUS/UKR) & Miriam Kolodziejova/Marketa Vondrousova (CZE/CZE)
...the Eternal Sunshine of the Gavrilovian Mind is alive and well, and paying dividends. Just look at what happened this past week in Istanbul. After Gavrilova and Svitolina both lost their opening singles matches, they got into the doubles draw from their position as the first doubles alternate when Anna Tatishvili retired from her late night marathon against Ipek Soylu due to dizziness. That precipitated the Bannerette pulling out of her doubles commitment with Kristyna Pliskova. Enter Svitolina (who won the '14 Istanbul title with Misaki Doi) and Gavrilova at the very last moment, who then proceeded to knock off #1-seeded Hlavackova/Pavlyuchenkova and #4 Diatchenko/Savchuk to reach the final, where they took out local favorite Cagla Buyukakcay & Jelena Jankovic in a 5-7/6-1 [10-4] come-from-behind win of which JJ said, "We lost because of me." It's Gavrilova's first tour title of any kind, while Svitolina has now managed to defend BOTH the first tour singles (2013-14 Baku) and doubles (2014-15 Istanbul) titles that she won in her career. With a twist.


Meanwhile, at the European Junior Championships in Switzerland, after failing to win their third straight '15 girls slam crown at Wimbledon (losing in the SF to eventual champs Dalma Galfi & Fanni Stollar), the all-Maiden duo of Kolodjiezova & Vondrousova got right back on the proverbial horse. Even with their huge doubles success, the Czech pair were the #2 seeds in the event (Anna Blinkova & Anna Kalinskaya's combined overall ranking pushed them to #1). But, no matter, they just went out and reached the final. Then, after #1 Blinkova/Kalinskaya lost in the semis to #3 Galfi/Stollar, the Czech defeated the Hungarians 6-4/7-5 to take the title. They're 32-2 as a doubles pair this season (27-1 since the start of the Australian Open).
=============================


The universe balances itself.





While Simona seeks balance... and pie-making skills.






1. Bad Gastein Final - Stosur d. Knapp
...3-6/7-6(3)/6-2. Two hours after defeating Sara Errani in a 2:30 semifinal, Knapp led Stosur 6-3/4-2 and served for the title at 5-4. She failed to close things out, and (not shockingly) the Aussie eventually outlasted the Italian as she edged into her fifth hour of Sunday competiton in a second 2:30 contest.

=============================


2. Istanbul 1st Rd. - Soylu d. Tatishvili 5-7/7-5/2-0 ret.
Istanbul Doubles Final - Gavrilova/Svitolina d. Buyukakcay/Jankovic 5-7/6-1 [10-4]
...in a match that went until 1:40 a.m., Tatishvili led 7-5/5-2 but eventually retired down 2-0 in the 3rd due to dizziness, prompting her doubles withdrawal and "alternates" Gavrilova/Svitolina being added to the draw. The rest is history... or herstory, as it may be.


=============================
3. Bad Gastein 2nd Rd. - Errani d. Zanevska
...6-2/4-6/7-5. Zanevska served up 5-2 in the 3rd and held a match point.
=============================
4. Bad Gastein 1st Rd. - Mitu d. Haas
...6-1/6-7(5)/7-6(5). Mitu served up 5-3 in the 2nd and held two MP at 5-4, but 19-year old Haas forced a tie-break and won it to go into the 3rd with a home crowd advantage. Haas held two MP of her own at 5-4, but the Swarmette battled back to take the match in another TB.
=============================
5. Istanbul 1st Rd. - Pironkova d. Gasparyan
...0-6/7-6(4)/7-6(3). In her post-Serena at Wimbledon career, Gasparyan is still showing fight. The Russian qualifier held two MP at 6-5 in the 3rd set before Pironkova won on her third MP in the TB to take the 2:43 match.

=============================
6. Istanbul 2nd Rd. - Schiavone d. Giorgi
...6-4/7-6(6). Schiavone lost in the QF to Flipkens, but this nice win over her #31-ranked countrywoman is her first over a fellow Italian in two years (Pennetta - Carlsbad '13).
=============================

7. Istanbul 1st Rd. - Rybarikova d. Svitolina
...6-1/6-3. #2-seed Svitolina didn't have a great week in singles in Turkey (that wasn't the case in doubles, though, thanks to Tatishvili's timely dizziness). She won't be attempting to win in Baku for a third straight year next week, though. So, the only current player with active three-peat singles titles runs remains Serena (in Miami, the U.S. Open & WTA Finals). Stosur could go for a third straight title later this season in Osaka.
=============================
8. $10k Sharm El Sheikh Final - Julia Jones d. Giada Clerici
...6-3/6-4. The 21-year old former Ole Miss star plays in her second ITF challenger final in two weeks, and this time the Floridian is a pro singles champ for the very first time.


=============================


Petra is working diligently -- skipping AND running! -- to make her return a good one.


Jumping up and down stairs all day long #kangaroo

A photo posted by Petra Kvitova (@petra.kvitova) on



While Vania's return will be delayed, but only for an additional week.




Oh, and there's a Brit who might wish she hadn't left Wimbledon right about now. Ouch.






1. Istanbul 1st Rd. - Kateryna Bondarenko d. Venus Williams
...6-4/7-6(4). Venus won four straight games in the 2nd to get the chance to serve for the set at 6-5, but she was broken and eventually lost eleven of the final fifteen points.
=============================
2. Istanbul Final - Tsurenko d. Ula Radwanska
...7-5/6-1. Ukraine (Tsurenko & Svitolina) becomes the seventh nation this season to produce multiple singles champions.
=============================

3. Istanbul 1st Rd. - Ula Radwanska d. Jankovic 6-4/3-6/6-2
Istanbul QF - Ula Radwanska d. Pironkova 6-2/3-6/7-6(5)
...Aga handled JJ (Wimbledon 4th Rd.) and Pironkova (Eastbourne QF) in straight sets in recent weeks, but Ula more than maintained the family honor. She especially pulled the ol' Radwanska magic act on Pironkova, who fell to 2-12 vs. the sisters despite twice serving for the match and managing to fight off four straight MP in the 3rd set TB after falling behind 6-1. U-Rad won on #5... naturally, on a net cord dribbler.

=============================
HN- Istanbul QF - Tsurenko d. Kateryna Bondarenko
...7-6(13)/7-5. K-Bond had four SP in the 28-point tie-breaker, which Tsurenko won on her own fifth SP. In the 2nd, Bondarenko had three SP at 5-3, then a fourth at 5-4.
=============================



Vika as Citizen Anna?



Exploring alternate career paths.






Hmmm, where's the Sugarpova?



Reporting the news early.






Daria as Citizen Anna?

A photo posted by Daria Gavrilova (@daria_gav) on


Not sure WHAT to say about this...

Family workout ?? ???????? Granny is the best ?? #health #gym #fitness #workout #fit

A video posted by Daria Gavrilova (@daria_gav) on




**2015 FIRST-TIME SINGLES CHAMPIONS**
Katowice - Anna Schmiedlova (SVK, age 20, #67)
Bogota - Teliana Pereira (BRA, age 26, #130)
's-Hertogenbosch - Camila Giorgi (ITA, age 23, #35)
Nottingham - Ana Konjuh (CRO, age 17, #87)
Eastbourne - Belinda Bencic (SUI, age 18, #30)
Bastad - Johanna Larsson (SWE, age 26, #72)
Istanbul - Lesia Tsurenko (UKR, age 26, #71)

**2015 BEST FINAL WIN PCT. 2+**
BEST WINNING PCT. IN WTA FINALS (3 or more)
1.000 - Serena Williams (4-0)
1.000 - Simona Halep (3-0)
1.000 - Angelique Kerber (3-0)
1.000 - Petra Kvitova (2-0)
1.000 - SAMANTHA STOSUR (2-0)
0.667 - Timea Bacsinszky (2-1)
0.667 - Maria Sharapova (2-1)
0.667 - Anna Schmiedlova (2-1)

**2015 FIRST-TIME FINALISTS**
Hobart - Madison Brengle (24/USA) lost to Watson
Pattaya - Ajla Tomljanovic (20/AUS) lost to Hantuchova
Rio - Anna Schmiedlova (20/SVK) lost to Errani
Bogota - Teliana Pereira (26/BRA) def. Shvedova
Strasbourg - Kristina Mladenovic (22/FRA) lost to Stosur
Nottingham - Ana Konjuh (17/CRO) def. Niculescu
Istanbul - Lesia Tsurenko (26/UKR) def. U.Radwanska

**2015 LOW-RANKED CHAMPIONS**
#130 - Teliana Pereira, BRA (Bogota)
#87 - Ana Konjuh, CRO (Nottingham)
#73 - Daniela Hantuchova, SVK (Pattaya)
#72 - Johanna Larsson, SWE (Bastad)
#71 - LESIA TSURENKO, UKR (ISTANBUL)
#67 - Anna Schmiedlova, SVK (Katowice)
#60 - Anna Schmiedlova, SVK (Bucharest)

**VENUS WILLIAMS LOSSES TO PLAYERS RANKED #100+**
1997 Toronto - #115 Nathalie Dechy
1999 Amelia Island - #140 Sonya Jeyaseelan
1999 Roland Garros - #125 Barbara Schwartz
2008 Memphis - #143 Petra Kvitova
2013 Florianopolis - #109 Olga Puchkova
2015 Istanbul - #119 Kateryna Bondarenko

**2015 TWO UNSEEDED FINALISTS**
Hobart - Heather Watson/GBR d. (Q) Madison Brengle/USA
Pattaya - Daniela Hantuchova/SVK d. Ajla Tomljanovic/AUS
Doha - Lucie Safarova/CZE d. (WC) Vika Azarenka/BLR
Notthingham - Ana Konjuh/CRO d. Monica Niculescu/ROU
Istanbul(*) - Lesia Tsurenko/UKR d. Ula Radwanska/POL
--
* - all unseeded in SF

**2015 UNSEEDED CHAMPIONS**
Hobart - Heather Watson, GBR
Pattaya - Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
Doha - Lucie Safarova, CZE
Bogota - Teliana Pereira, BRA
Stuttgart - Angelique Kerber, GER
Nottingham - Ana Konjuh, CRO
Eastbourne - Belinda Bencic, SUI
Istanbul - Lesia Tsurenko, UKR

**2015 OLDEST SINGLES CHAMPIONS**
34y6m3w - Venus Williams, USA (Auckland)
33y9m3w - Serena Williams, USA (Wimbledon)
33y8m2w - Serena Williams, USA (Roland Garros)
33y6m2w - Serena Williams, USA (Miami)
33y4m1w - Serena Williams, USA (Australian Open)
31y9m3w - Daniela Hantuchova, SVK (Pattaya City)
31y4m - Samantha Stosur, AUS (Bad Gastein)
31y3w - Samantha Stosur, AUS (Strasbourg)

**2015 YOUNGEST DOUBLES CHAMPIONS**
18 - Belinda Bencic, SUI (Prague)
18 - Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA (Bogota)
19 - Rebecca Peterson, SWE (Rio)
19 - Katerina Siniakova, CZE (Prague)
20 - Ysaline Bonaventure,BEL (Rio,Katowice)
20 - Wang Yafan, CHN (KL)
20 - Elina Svitolina, UKR (Istanbul)

**WEEKS AT WTA #1**
[all-time]
377...Steffi Graf
331...Martina Navratilova
260...Chris Evert
251...SERENA WILLIAMS
209...Martina Hingis
178...Monica Seles
117...Justine Henin
[consecutive]
186 - Steffi Graf
156 - Martina Navratilova
127 - SERENA WILLIAMS
113 - Chris Evert

**2015 FINALS IN HOME NATION - DOUBLES**
Shenzhen - Liang/Y.Wang, CHN
Pattaya - Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
Antwerp - Mestash/Van Uytvanck, BEL
Prague - Katerina Siniakova, CZE (W)
Prague - Eva Hrdinova, CZE
Nottingham - Rae/Smith, GBR
Bastad - Johanna Larsson, SWE (W)
Bucharest - Mitu/Tig, ROU
Istanbul - Cagla Buyukakcay, TUR
==
ALSO: Pan-Am Games (Toronto) - Dabrowski/Zhao, CAN (W)

**CAREER WTA TITLES - AUSTRALIANS**
92...Margaret Court, 1968-76
68...Evonne Goolagong, 1970-80
17...Kerry Melville, 1968-79
15...Dianne Fromholtz, 1973-79
9...Wendy Turnbull, 1976-83
8...SAMANTHA STOSUR, 2009-15
6...Jelena Dokic, 2001-11
5...Alicia Molik, 2003-05

**CAREER WTA TITLES - active, #14-22**
14t.Simona Halep, ROU (11)
14t.Anabel Medina-Garrigues, ESP (11)
16.Flavia Pennetta, ITA (10)
17.Roberta Vinci, ITA (9)
18t.Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN (8)
18t.Sara Errani, ITA (8)
18t.SAMANTHA STOSUR, AUS (8)
21t.Daniela Hantuchvoa, SVK (7)
21t.Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (7)

**RECENT WTT FINALS**
2006 Philadelphia Freedom def. Newport Beach Breakers 21-14
2007 Sacramento Capitals def. New York Buzz 24-20
2008 New York Buzz def. Kansas City Explorers 21-18
2009 Washington Kastles def. Springfield Lasers 23-20
2010 Kansas City Explorers def. New York Sportimes 21-18
2011 Washington Kastles def. St. Louis Aces 23-19
2012 Washington Kastles def. Sacramento Capitals 20-19
2013 Washington Kastles def. Springfield Lasers 25-12
2014 Washington Kastles def. Springfield Lasers 25-13

**WTA $125K SERIES SINGLES CHAMPIONS**
Lara Arruabarrena, ESP (2013)
Vitalia Diatchenko, RUS (2014)
Anna-Lena Friedsam, GER (2014)
Bojana Jovanovski, SRB (2013)
Magda Linette, POL (2014)
Kristina Mladenovic, FRA (2012)
Shahar Peer, ISR (2013)
Peng Shuai, CHN (2014)
Tereza Smitkova, CZE (2014)
Elina Svitolina, UKR (2012)
Alison Van Uytvanck, BEL (2013)
Zhang Shuai, CHN (2013)


Hingis comes home! Sorry, Martina... you can't be inducted a SECOND time.




And... Mama Maria.





A Riske-y vacation is the Key(s) to success... get it?




Nevermind. Just focus on Fichman logic...




I'm sure it's better than mine when it comes to this picks section...



BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (Int'l $227K/HCO)
14 Final: Svitolina def. Jovanovski
14 Doubles Final: Panova/Watson d. Olaru/Peer
15 Top Seeds: Pavlyuchenkova/Knapp
=============================
=SF=
Flipkens d. #8 Schiavone
#2 Knapp d. #9 Kovinic
=FINAL=
#2 Knapp d. Flipkens

...no matter what happens here, Kovinic had a good time last week, from start to finish.




She was given the #9 seed after Tsurenko pulled out, moving her from the top half of the draw to the bottom. She might have been better off where she was, though.



FLORIANOPOLIS, BRAZIL (Int'l $227K/RCO)
14 Final: Zakopalova def. Muguruza
14 Doubles Final: Medina-Garrigues/Shvedova d. Schiavone/Soler-Espinosa
15 Top Seeds: Maria/Tomljanovic
=============================
=SF=
#4 Pereira d. #1 Maria
#5 Mattek-Sands d. #8 Kania
=FINAL=
#5 Mattek-Sands d. #4 Pereira

...I should probably pick the Brazilian in Brazil.



NANCHANG, CHINA (WTA 125K Series $115K/HCO)
14 Final: Peng Shuai def. Liu Fangzhou
14 Doubles Final: Chuang/Namigata d. CW.Chan/Y.Xu
15 Top Seeds: Jankovic/Sai.Zheng
=============================
=SF=
#1 Jankovic d. #3 Q.Wang
#4 SW.Hsieh d. #6 Kumkhum
=FINAL=
#1 Jankovic d. #4 SW.Hsieh

...not sure what JJ is doing here, but it's difficult to not pick her since she is. Although, that QF match with Duan Yingying does make one pause.



WORLD TEAM TENNIS PLAYOFFS (HCO)
14 Final: Washington Kastles def. Springfield Lasers
=FINAL=
Washington d. Austin

...Martina Hingis & Co. go for a WTT-record fifth straight title.






All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:52 PM 

2 Comments:

Blogger Zidane said...

A friend of mine just told me that Schnyder played a small ITF last week. Have you heard whether she intends to perform a full comeback? I always liked Schnyder.

Tue Jul 28, 10:18:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Ah, hadn't seen that until today. It looks like she's entering more events -- her one match last week was a 3:00 thriller -- this summer and going to see how things play out. So it wasn't just a one-shot deal. Here's the story on the match, with a lot of quotes.

Tue Jul 28, 12:30:00 PM EDT  

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