Caroline Wozniacki returned to the WTA top 10 today when she defeated Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions. Wozniacki's opponent in the final will be Nadia Petrova, who defeated Roberta Vinci 6-7, 6-1, 6-4.
Wozniacki holds a 4-1 record against Petrova. The two players are seeded numbers 1 and 2, respectively.
In Taipei, Kristina Mladenovic will face Chang Kai-Chen in the final. Mladenovic came back from being two breaks down in the third set of her semifinal against Kurumi Nara, defeating her opponent 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. Chang defeated Misaki Doi 6-7, 6-3, 6-1.
Hmmm, have you seen what they're going to classify a title in Taipei as? I mean, it's bigger than a regular challenger event at $125K, and it's also run by the WTA rather than ITF (and was included on the WTA site's tournament page). I'm wondering whether or not it'll count as an official "WTA title," or simply as a challenger, although a new classification of challenger.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question. I have no idea. I guess we'll find out when it's over. Does it qualify as an "International Tournament"? Who knows. It kind of bothers me, just like having the Tournament of Champions bothers me, but the WTA, sadly, didn't consult me about either of them :)
ReplyDeleteWell, it IS separate challenger series (WTA 125s) -- here's the original WTA announcement of the whole thing -- so I'm thinking it'll just be that, and not listed as an "official WTA title," since it's designed for lower-ranked players.
ReplyDeleteOne is being held next week in India, too.
Now I'm wondering if, say, on the ITF site, whether (now) Mladenovic will be listed as having won a challenger event in the normal place, or if it'll be listed as something else.
I looked it up, and I wound up with the same question. If they're adding a completely new tier of competition, that seems confusing and unnecessary. If they aren't, then what "shelf" do these little tournaments get placed on?
ReplyDelete