Monica Niculescu was not the only qualifier to make it out of the first round of the China Open. Joining her were Chanelle Scheepers (def. Hu Yue-Yue), Christina McHale (def. Ayumi Morita) and Carla Suarez Navarro (def. Ekaterina Makarova). The Scheepers-Hu scoreline is worth noting: 6-0, 5-7, 6-0.
There have also been two retirements. Alexandra Dulgheru (knee injury) retired against Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Irina-Camelia Begu (right shoulder injury) retired against Sabine Lisicki. In doubles, Natalie Grandin retired because of illness.
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In other news, another good person of tennis won a small challenger.
Andrea HLAVACKOVA (CZE) (1) defeated Tatjana MALEK (GER) (6) 6-4 0-6 7-6(6)
I know you're a fan of Lucie, but from the one time I ran into her, I found Andrea to be a class act.
In addition, the score seems to be "All Andrea" . She hits hard and flat. Seems to be from the Djoker school of high risk tennis. The nickname types might call her Andrea GoForBrokeOva.
The high risk play is surprising to me, given her doubles success.
Oh, thanks so much for adding this. I've heard good things about her, too. I've seen her, only on TV, a couple of times, and yes, she hits really flat.
The other big doubles player who comes to mind is Ai Sugiyama, who hit so flat in singles play. (Seeing her at the Tokyo ceremony made me think of her right away.)
Hi Diane. Those retirements bring something to mind: I was at the U.S. Open a ton this summer and it seemed like the leading brand on display was Kiniseo Tape! I know the women just had their season shortened, but I wonder why there isn't as much of an outcry as we're hearing from the men?
I don't think there's any real leadership on the tour, Van, and I think that this generation of women pretty much goes along with whatever the "authority" tells them to do. If breaking away and forming the WTA were up to this group and not BJK et al, I don't believe there would be a tour.
Diane I am so disappointed by the lack of leadership from the women that I just constantly keep shaking my head at their inability to stand up for their sport. You are right when you say that they are just mouthing what the WTA wants them to say and I have become so disengaged over the last few months that it will perhaps be soon when I just stop watching. It all gets so dispiriting
A "natural" leader sometimes emerges. Lindsay Davenport was such for a while, though she eventually caved to Larry Scott. Venus Williams then became the unofficial leader--much as Nadal is in the ATP--but no one has stepped forward since. I think Flavia Pennetta would have been a good leader, but she is surely close to retirement age.
What irks me is that the women seem almost too scared to say anything to stand up for themselves. They go into press conferences looking to please a bunch of old farts rather than defending strenuously their sport. I doubt if any of them would have had the gall to walk out of a press conference as abruptly as Roddick did recently, but then if the women had done that, the so called press corps would have had a field day decrying her for doing that but Roddick gets kudos for doing it.
I cannot imagine what would have been the situation if a female player had been suspended for a doping violation. They would have drawn and quartered her, but every single male tennis writer stood up and defended Robert Kendrick. It is like the more things change the more they remain the same.
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