Dominika Cibulkova and top seed Agnieszka Radwanska have both advanced to the Sydney semifinals by defeating Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, respectively.
Qualifier Madison Keys, who defeated Lucie Safarova in the the first round, went on to defeat Zheng Jie in the second round. Impressive. However, Keys will next face 4th seed Li Na, which is likely to mean that her run will end.
Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated Caroline Wozniacki in the second round, will play 2nd see Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals.
Question: How long does a player have to be out with injury before they get a protected ranking? I remember several years ago that Davenport got one. Also Serena wasn't qualifying for any tournaments (or had she not dropped that low after a year). I was wondering because Kuznetsova caught my attention. She has been out 6 months with a knee injury but had to qualify for Sydney. So I am confused. Also I believe in the protected rankings you get so many tournaments that you can use it before it runs out. It is not that you have your old ranking but that you can get into main draws.
ReplyDeleteHi Sunny
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the protected ranking but I was watching the match and Todd Woodbridge was mentioning that Kuznetsova could have possibly got a wildcard but she didn't request one. They think she wanted to play qualies to get some match play under her belt. Possibly the same reason that she hasn't tried to get a protected ranking?
I have to take my hat off to the women and the men who played in Sydney on Tuesday. I live here and the temperature topped out at 43 deg (that's about 105 or so in your speak) and the on court temp was even hotter! It was ridiculously hot and I know a few of them suffered some heatstroke but can't believe they managed to get through the matches! I'm surprised they let play go ahead. Surely there must be some kind of heat policy?
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your answer. Yes I watched the players playing in the heat. Any 3 setters just made me hot watching. I am not sure about heat policy. I thought there was a loose one and that it might be at the discretion of the tournament director. They are reluctant to delay the tournament because it backs up to the Aussie Open. It was something like that that I read but don't quote me ;)
I forgot what the protected ranking period is, but I'm pretty sure it's longer than 6 months.
ReplyDeleteWell, now that I think about it, I believe it is 6 months. But she may not want to use it yet.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I tried to check the rules to be sure, but they won't load. What a surprise.
On a side note, on the WTA website discussion on a previous post, I see today that at least the rankings page has now been altered to include the previous week's ranking, date of birth and total tournaments. :)
ReplyDeleteI saw that. Also, more of the match stats are loading.
ReplyDeleteBut where are the doubles profiles? :(
I complain to them everyday about something. They even changed the big "D" in the line scores to the regular little "d". Not a big thing but they seem to be getting the big and little things slowly done. Now about the grey on grey line scores.....
ReplyDeleteThat is great about the rankings Todd.
Just jumping in. I understand from interviews that Sveta did request a WC into Sydney but this was denied, hence her playing qualies.
ReplyDeleteFrankly speaking, I was shocked when I saw that she had to be playing qualies. It really gets my ire up when I see a player as accomplished as Sveta having to play qualies, while I recall when Ana was going through her issues, she was being offered WCs into almost every tournament. I tell you this tennis thing just grates on my nerves at times