Peng Shuai continued her 2011 success today by upsetting 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-1 at the Sony Ericsson Open. Peng, who has yet to drop a set, advances to the Miami quarterfinals for the first time. Kuznetsova won the tournament in 2006.
In second round play yesterday, seeds Kaia Kanepi, Alisa Kleybanova and Tsvetana Pironkova were all defeated. Wild card Dinara Safina took a set off of 3rd seed Vera Zvonareva, but Zvonareva prevailed. Yaroslava Shvedova strained a muscle near her knee--the one in which she sustained the injury--and had to retire against Jarmila Groth. Shvedova reports that she needs to do even more leg strengthening.
In doubles, recently retired Rennae Stubbs showed up, but she and partner Jill Craybas were defeated. Top seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta advanced to the second round.
Combined (as in, the WTA and the ATP are both playing on the same days) tournaments are supposed to be good for the WTA. They certainly aren't good for me, as a fan.Tennis TV, the only venue I like to watch with the sound on, is showing 42 ATP matches in Miami, and 12 WTA matches.
4 comments:
Diane, you and I seem to be the only ones who do not see that the WTA gets short shrift at these combined events. I am currently watching Tipsariv v. Cilic on TC. These are 2 players who between them have a combined 5 titles, all of which belong to Cilic.
These days the WTA seems more inclined to market the women as movie stars and celebrities rather than as professional sportswomen. We have them giggling and telling us all about themselves, and not one word about what they truly do. Most of the players that they have chosen are yet to even win a tournament title. What does that say about the WTA's agenda that it prefers to market women based on their marketability to sponsors, rather than the reason why they play the sport. Just makes me so freaking mad.
Remember last summer when Jon Wertheim wrote "...the market has spoken and it says, unmistakably, that the product simply isn't worth as much," referring to the WTA? If the sports media paid even half (or a quarter) the attention to women's sports as it does to men's sports, fans would take an interest. As it is, women's sports are virtually ignored, and then people can say "See? No one wants to watch them."
The WTA doesn't seem to try very hard to promote the athleticism of the players, nor have I seen any evidence that the tour has confronted the sports media. Promoting the players as personalities is great, as long as those players are first being promoted as athletes.
The LPGA is worse, for what it's worth. Some of the goings-on on that tour make me cringe.
Diane, did you see that there's some big Charleston tennis announcement coming Monday? Saw it on Jon Wertheim's twitter page today...any thoughts?
There's a media conference call on Monday. Ilana Kloss is involved, too, so we can make some educated guesses, as--apparently--Wertheim has.
Post a Comment