WTA Premier Mandatory, Beijing 2013

[ozza]

Wow second straight tournament Vika bows out early in not a good way for her to be ending the season and begin next season.

I think she will be fine in Istanbul. Asian swing rarely has any impact on what happens next season.

 

[Calvy]

I guess that was an interesting match between Vika and Petko after all.

Genie won, she WILL play Sloane.

I bow down to u with great apology. You were in this instance.

By the way, not a particular good match.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

No apology needed Calvy, we are here for fun!
It was fun talking to you about it.

I have scores:
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

SECOND ROUND
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d Kaia Kanepi (EST) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 3 |
[5] Sara Errani (ITA) d Misaki Doi (JPN) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 2 |

FIRST ROUND
Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) d Sorana Cirstea (ROU) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 2 |
Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) d Sharon Fichman (CAN) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 3 |
[8] Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) | 1 - 6 | 6 - 4 | 6 - 0 |
Shuai Zhang (CHN) d Shuai Peng (CHN) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 3 |
[14] Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d Flavia Pennetta (ITA) | 7 - 6 (9) | 6 - 1 |
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) | 6 - 1 | 6 - 1 |
Polona Hercog (SLO) d Monica Puig (PUR) | 6 - 1 | 6 - 4 |
Andrea Petkovic (GER) d [2] Victoria Azarenka (BLR) | 6 - 4 | 2 - 6 | 6 - 4 |
Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) d Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 1 |

---

We have an awesome order of play for tomorrow, all the semisfinalist from Tokyo will be in action including a Venus vs Sabine, here it is:

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 01, 2013

NATIONAL TENNIS STADIUM

12:30 - [1] SERENA WILLIAMS (USA) V FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE (ITA)
19:30 - BOJANA JOVANOVSKI (SRB) V [4] NA LI (CHN)

LOTUS COURT

15:00 - [13] SABINE LISICKI (GER) V VENUS WILLIAMS (USA)
17:00 - MONICA NICULESCU (ROU) V [6] CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (DEN)

MOON COURT

14:30 - [10] ROBERTA VINCI (ITA) V SHUAI ZHANG (CHN)
16:30 - VARVARA LEPCHENKO (USA) V [9] PETRA KVITOVA (CZE)
18:30 - LAURA ROBSON (GBR) V [7] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER)

COURT 1

12:30 - [11] SLOANE STEPHENS (USA) V EUGENIE BOUCHARD (CAN)

COURT 3

14:00 - JULIA GOERGES / BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA (GER / CZE) V [2] SU-WEI HSIEH / SHUAI PENG (TPE / CHN)

COURT 4

12:30 - [6] RAQUEL KOPS-JONES / ABIGAIL SPEARS (USA / USA) V VANIA KING / GALINA VOSKOBOEVA (USA / KAZ)

COURT 7

12:30 - LAUREN DAVIS (USA) V [12] CARLA SUAREZ NAVARRO (ESP)
14:30 - KRISTINA MLADENOVIC / FLAVIA PENNETTA (FRA / ITA) V SILVIA SOLER-ESPINOSA / CARLA SUAREZ NAVARRO (ESP / ESP)
16:30 - SABINE LISICKI / ANABEL MEDINA GARRIGUES (GER / ESP) V DANIELA HANTUCHOVA / LISA RAYMOND (SVK / USA)

COURT 8

12:30 - VERA DUSHEVINA / ARANTXA PARRA SANTONJA (RUS / ESP) V [4] JELENA JANKOVIC / KATARINA SREBOTNIK (SRB / SLO)
14:30 - MARIA KIRILENKO (RUS) V URSZULA RADWANSKA (POL)
16:30 - [1] SARA ERRANI / ROBERTA VINCI (ITA / ITA) V HAO-CHING CHAN / LIEZEL HUBER (TPE / USA)

That's the third time Franny gets Serena this year.

 

[my sherona]

time for Vika to retire after her back to back losses against over the hill players in the early round..

 

[10isfan]

The true rivalry is between Vika and Pova for the second highest ranking. Vika blew it big time. Instead of increasing the lead over Pova while she is recuperating from injury, Vika does nothing to give herself the extra points to ensure she will be on the half opposite Serena in draws. Vika is foolish not getting a serve coach. She should take a wild card to get some match practice before Istanbul.

Vika's lackluster play guarantees that Serena will surpass Seles for weeks at number one, making her five on the all-time list behind Hingis.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Maria is defending finalist points at the YEC, so unless she makes it back to the final, she could be losing points as well. It will be a matter of who wants to work the hardest to avoid Serena and collect that number 2 seed. I am quite curious to see if Li can try and claim the number 4 ranking and seed and oust Radwanska.

 

[Hoergren]

What a nice bunch at the players party:

And here two neighbours:

 

[ozza]

The true rivalry is between Vika and Pova for the second highest ranking. Vika blew it big time. Instead of increasing the lead over Pova while she is recuperating from injury, Vika does nothing to give herself the extra points to ensure she will be on the half opposite Serena in draws. Vika is foolish not getting a serve coach. She should take a wild card to get some match practice before Istanbul.

Vika's lackluster play guarantees that Serena will surpass Seles for weeks at number one, making her five on the all-time list behind Hingis.

Maria is defending finalist points at the YEC, so unless she makes it back to the final, she could be losing points as well. It will be a matter of who wants to work the hardest to avoid Serena and collect that number 2 seed. I am quite curious to see if Li can try and claim the number 4 ranking and seed and oust Radwanska.

Vika is guaranteed to end the year number 2. The only purpose chasing the number 2 has is a slight change in the draw, otherwise 2,3 who cares?

I highly doubt Vika takes a wildcard anywhere. She can only take one to Moscow because all the internationals already have a top 10 player in them, and I just can't see it the week before Istanbul. She basically said in her post match press conference that she wants to practice rather than match play.

I think Vika's motivation was pretty low this Asian swing, she's basically playing for nothing. The number 1 is so far away it's not even worth it, she's already qualified for Istanbul, and she probably doesn't even want to be there.

 

[ozza]

This is what Azarenka said:

Meanwhile, Azarenka wasn't happy with her performance at all - she talked about it in her presser.
"It was an awful match and a very bad performance from me, so there's not much to say about it," the World No.2 commented. "It happens once, twice a year to every player, and it happened to me today."

Azarenka also lost her first match at last week's Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, to Venus Williams.
"If I did it all again, I probably should have taken a longer break and prepared myself better. I don't feel like I was ready to play - to be 100%, the preparation wasn't enough, I cannot deny that. It's my mistake for not paying enough attention after the US Open how I managed my time and managed my health.

"But you cannot put yourself down too much. In the end the important thing is how you come out of it. I'm going to go back, re-evaluate and practice more. I just needed more preparation, and that's what I'm going to get now before the last tournament. I'll just look at the positives. I have three weeks now."

This to me sounds like she should have done what Serena done and not play Tokyo. But the problem is unlike Serena (who already played 4 premier 5s), Vika stood to lost a lot by not playing Tokyo.

This just highlights the main flaw in the Asian swing. There is too little time between the end of the US Open and the big events in Asia. It needs to be at least 3 weeks. If you make the latter stages of the US Open these events come way too quick. I think Vika flew out to Tokyo on the Monday, 8 days after the US Open final, I imagine she barely picked up a racket in that time, you're never going to be well prepared under that schedule. Most the top players want to take some kind of time off after a grand slam, it's not possible in WTA after the US Open short of withdrawing from the Asian events.

It's even worse for Serena, Serena wins US Open, has to do days of press work after winning it, then you are expecting her to fly out to Tokyo a couple of days later? Just not going to work is it, so it's no wonder she withdrew from Tokyo. She probably did the smart thing taking an extra week off.

You have a situation where you have a packed spring - early summer with French Open and Wimbledon. Then most top players take some kind of vacation/break after Wimbledon recharging their batteries for the USO series. Probably the 3 most brutal switches on your body clock are upon arrival to Australia, the switch from Europe to America and the switch from America to Asia. Australia is the start of the season, so you can turn up as early as you like to get adapted. There is a full 5 weeks between the end of Wimbledon and the big events in the USO series beginning. Then you have 2 weeks between the end of the US Open and the big Asian events. This on the back of a long season too, it's just too quick a turnaround.

 

[rugged]

Looks like they want Serena vs Sloane again

Who is "they"?
....

Well this "they" sure doesn't want to see Caro. She is so boring to watch. If I want to watch a golden retriever, I will borrow my neighbor's

 

[kskate2]

This is what Azarenka said:

Meanwhile, Azarenka wasn't happy with her performance at all - she talked about it in her presser.
"It was an awful match and a very bad performance from me, so there's not much to say about it," the World No.2 commented. "It happens once, twice a year to every player, and it happened to me today."

Azarenka also lost her first match at last week's Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, to Venus Williams.
"If I did it all again, I probably should have taken a longer break and prepared myself better. I don't feel like I was ready to play - to be 100%, the preparation wasn't enough, I cannot deny that. It's my mistake for not paying enough attention after the US Open how I managed my time and managed my health.

"But you cannot put yourself down too much. In the end the important thing is how you come out of it. I'm going to go back, re-evaluate and practice more. I just needed more preparation, and that's what I'm going to get now before the last tournament. I'll just look at the positives. I have three weeks now."

This to me sounds like she should have done what Serena done and not play Tokyo. But the problem is unlike Serena (who already played 4 premier 5s), Vika stood to lost a lot by not playing Tokyo.

This just highlights the main flaw in the Asian swing. There is too little time between the end of the US Open and the big events in Asia. It needs to be at least 3 weeks. If you make the latter stages of the US Open these events come way too quick. I think Vika flew out to Tokyo on the Monday, 8 days after the US Open final, I imagine she barely picked up a racket in that time, you're never going to be well prepared under that schedule. Most the top players want to take some kind of time off after a grand slam, it's not possible in WTA after the US Open short of withdrawing from the Asian events.

It's even worse for Serena, Serena wins US Open, has to do days of press work after winning it, then you are expecting her to fly out to Tokyo a couple of days later? Just not going to work is it, so it's no wonder she withdrew from Tokyo. She probably did the smart thing taking an extra week off.

You have a situation where you have a packed spring - early summer with French Open and Wimbledon. Then most top players take some kind of vacation/break after Wimbledon recharging their batteries for the USO series. Probably the 3 most brutal switches on your body clock are upon arrival to Australia, the switch from Europe to America and the switch from America to Asia. Australia is the start of the season, so you can turn up as early as you like to get adapted. There is a full 5 weeks between the end of Wimbledon and the big events in the USO series beginning. Then you have 2 weeks between the end of the US Open and the big Asian events. This on the back of a long season too, it's just too quick a turnaround.

Agree Ozza. Too short a turnaround from the USO as the U.S. is at least 12 hours behind Asia. Moving the USO series and the USO up one week would help. The problem is starting in 2015, they are adding another week to the grass warmup schedule. So there will be 3 weeks between RG and Wimby and I believe that will push Wimby back a week. If you move the USO series up a week now you only have 3 weeks to recharge the batteries instead of 5.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Well this "they" sure doesn't want to see Caro. She is so boring to watch. If I want to watch a golden retriever, I will borrow my neighbor's

Caro may be boring to you, but lots(including me) like watching her!
And excuse me, I wouldn't trade Caro with a dozen...
:-/


Caro vs. Sloane would be good but I like to see Caro vs. Genie.



But then, Caro needs to win first.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Wow, Serena had some heat on that racket smash she had during her doubles match.

 

[RJD11]

Frankie loses 1st set 6 - 4 vs Serena

She's playing very well so far

I guess She won't need a hug from the Ball guy this time.

 

[kskate2]

Franny breaks again and leads 4-3 in the 2nd frame.

 

[tossip]

Redfoo is partying it up in Australia ...that could be Vika s problem.

 

[kskate2]

Serena finally rights the ship and breaks twice to take the match in straights, 6-4 7-5

 

[ozza]

Agree Ozza. Too short a turnaround from the USO as the U.S. is at least 12 hours behind Asia. Moving the USO series and the USO up one week would help. The problem is starting in 2015, they are adding another week to the grass warmup schedule. So there will be 3 weeks between RG and Wimby and I believe that will push Wimby back a week. If you move the USO series up a week now you only have 3 weeks to recharge the batteries instead of 5.

They can't move USO because it's entire schedule is built around the labour day weekend etc. The real solution imo is to expand the season back at least a week. They already have this crazy number of events crammed into the Asian swing. Look at the 2014 calendar: http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Archive/AboutTheTour/TourCalendar_2014.pdf.

Seoul and Guangzhou already struggle to get good fields, and next year they are adding a premier event in Tokyo to that week. Those events are going to be very weak.

While you keep it as it is, the Asian swing will never truly live up to its potential. They always suffer from an underlying feeling that some of the very top players simply don't care. I look at how Serena is playing this week, and its hardly impressive, she may go on to win the tournament, but she is beatable with the form she's showing, and again it probably comes down to a complete lack of preparation.

 

[Hoergren]

Great start for Caroline in Beijing 63 61. Improvement in her gameplay - see the stats here:

Her FH, BH, serve and netplay has improved. FH not perfect yet but it's ok. Time for a Carlsberg. Go get'm Caroline - let the sun shine over Beijing :clap

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Caro hit 24 winners against 6 unforced errors? Are these numbers right?

Caro gets Sloane next, then the winner will most probably get Serena.

The strange numbers continue today, Venus won 1 point off the Sabine first serve! Venus had no break chances!?! How is that possible?

Angie and Na are playing, I will post scores once those matches are completed.