Maria Sharapova, who sprained her ankle in Tokoyo, withdrew from the WTA Championships today, citing continued swelling of her ankle as the reason. Sharapova, who was in the White Group, lost to Li Na today. Li's 7-6, 6-4 victory included her winning seven straight points when she was down 0-4 in the first set tiebreak. The Russian star had already lost her first match to Samantha Stosur.
Stosur lost today to Victoria Azarenka, which gives Azarenka a 5-0 record against Stosur. In the Red Group, Vera Zvonareva defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Zvonareva hit 49 winners and made 49 unforced errors.
Here are the results so far:
RED GROUP
Caroline Wozniacki, 1-1
Petra Kvitova, 1-0
Vera Zvonareva, 1-1
Agnieszka Radwanska, 0-1
WHITE GROUP
Maria Sharapova, 0-2, withdrawn
Victoria Azarenka, 1-0
Li Na, 1-0
Sam Stosur, 1-1
After the round-robin has been completed (see rules here), the best-performing player from the Red Group plays the second best-performing player from the White Group, and vice versa. The winners of those two matches then meet in the final.
Tomorrow, Azarenka plays Li, Wozniacki plays Kvitova and Zvonareva plays Radwanska. (Azarenka will play her third round-robin match against first alternate Marino Bartoli.)
Since Bartoli will now play a match in Istanbul, I wonder if it means she's giving up her spot in the Bali draw?
ReplyDeleteOf course, though I don't think anyone's played in both since they started holding the TOC event, why shouldn't she be allowed to play in both? I mean, they're having something called the Tournament of "Champions"... yet Peng is in the draw. Really, all the players involved should have at least won one singles title during the season, don't you think?
Oh, and did you see Wozniacki's comments about grunting the other day? Talking about how "some players" (like her friend Azarenka?) who don't grunt in practice suddenly make noise during matches "on purpose," and how fans tell her they turn down the sound during matches, I almost get the feeling she's gotten her "talking points" from the top as the push for the institution of a courtside "grunt-o-meter" begins. I guess we now know for sure who Stacey Allaster's favorite player is.
I see nothing to keep Bartoli from going to Bali, where her chances are good.
ReplyDeleteBali is nothing but an expensive marketing gimmick, if you ask me. Eight players, and two of them are wild cards? And Peng--as great a year as she has had--did not win a tournament, and simply shouldn't be there; I agree.
Then there's Pavlyuchenkova, who can't be there because she had to play Fed Cup. What a mess.
I missed Wozniacki's comments, but I'm not surprised at all. Maybe people turn down the sound during her coaching sessions, too :)
Oh, and the other thing is: Wozniacki is the biggest actual grunter on the tour.
ReplyDelete