Miscellany

Valerie Tetreault has retired. Tetreault, who became a professional tennis player only four years ago, said, in her announcement: "I still have the same passion for my sport I have always had, but I am ready to take on new challenges, all while maintaining a more stable lifestyle." Tetreault, who lives in Canada, will seek a career in communications, and plans to remain involved in tennis.

Martina Navratilova, who had to come down off of Mount Kilimanjaro because of pulmonary edema, was discharged from the hospital on Sunday. 18 of the 27 Laureus fundraisers reached the top of the mountain. Navratilova reports that she is feeling much better.

Agnes Szavay, who sustained a left thigh strain in September, will not be playing in any of the 2011 Australian tournaments, including the Australian Open. Szavay has not yet begun training for the season. She plans to play for the Hungarian Fed Cup team in February.

On Friday, December 10, Martina Hingis married Frenchman Thibault Hutlin in Paris. Hutlin is a showjumper; he and Hingis met earlier this year at a jumping event in St. Tropez. The former tour star, who won five majors, is an experienced competitive equestrian.

Steve Flink's choice for WTA Match of the Year is the Brisbane final between Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.

Clijsters and Henin, by the way, say that they may form a doubles team for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Kanepi wins Palermo, Szavay wins Prague

Kaia Kanepi, seeded 5th at the Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo, won the championship today. Kanepi defeated top seed and defending champion (and wild card) Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-3. Kanepi is now 3-3 against Pennetta. This is Kanepi's first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title.

Agnes Szavay, who won the Budapest title last week, won the Prague title today, defeating Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2, 1-6, 6-2. Szavay and Zahlavova Strycova were seeded 7th and 8th, respectively. This was Zahlavova Strycova's first tour final.

Also repeating were the unseeded Timea Bacsinszy and Tathiana Garbin. They won the Budapest doubles title last week, and today, they won the Prague title, defeating Monica Niculescu and Szavay 7-5, 7-6.

Zahlavova Strycova & Szavay to play in Prague final

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and Agnes Szavay have reached the final of the Prague Open. 8th seed Zahlavova Strycova defeated Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals, and 7th seed Szavay defeated Lucie Hradecka 6-3, 6-4.

In the doubles final, the unseeded team of Timea Bacsinszky and Tathiana Garbin will play 3rd seeds Monica Niculescu and Szavay.

Szavay defends Budapest title

Agnes Szavay defended her title in Budapest today by defeating Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-4 in the final. Szavay was the 7th seed. Szavay defeated Schnyder in last year's final, also.

Timea Bacsinszky and Tathiana Garbin won the doubles title, defeating top seeds Sorana Cirstea and Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-3. Bacsinszky and Garbin were seeded 2nd.

Szavay and Schnyder return to Budapest final

Last year's Budapest final will be repeated tomorrow, at least in terms of the participants. Defending champion and 7th seed Agnes Szavay defeated 2nd seed Alexandra Dulgheru 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 today in the semifinals. Patty Schnyder defeated qualifier Zuzana Ondraskova 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Schnyder is last year's runner-up; Szavay defeated her 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the 2009 final. Schnyder was last year's top seed.

In doubles, 2nd seeds Timea Bacsinszky and Tathiana Garbin will compete for the title against top seeds Sorana Cirstea and Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Top seed out of Estoril in 1st round

Today in Estoril, Anastasija Sevastova upset top seed Agnes Szavay 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

It wasn't the only upset. Julia Goerges defeated 3rd seed Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-1, and Kirsten Flipkens defeated 8th seed Sybille Bammer 6-1, 6-3.

Of interest was the three hour and twelve minute match between Petra Martic and Kimiko Date Krumm. Date Krumm won it, 6-7, 7-5, 7-6. Date's comeback doesn't get the publicity that the top name comebacks get, but it is quite an impressive accomplishment, nonetheless.

There was also an upset in doubles play. Wild cards Michelle Larcher De Brito and Arantxa Rus defeated 4th seeds Jill Craybas and Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-1.

Semifinals set in Acapulco

Here is the semifinal draw for Acapulco:

Venus Williams vs. Edina Gallovits
Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Polona Hercog

Williams had to work for almost two hours and twenty minutes to obtain her 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 score against Laura Pos Tio, who is making somewhat of a statement in her return to the tour. Pous Tio, in fact, was up 5-1 in the third set. She failed to hold when she served for the match at 5-3, and was finally broken in a very long game at 5-all.

Agnes Szavay had to retire during her quarterfinal match against Hercog because of a left adductor strain.

Wozniacki and Jankovic lose in Sydney 1st round

A resurgent Li Na took 4th seed Caroline Wozniacki out of competition in Sydney today, defeating her 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Also leaving in the first round was 7th seed (that still sounds odd) Jelena Jankovic, who was taken out by qualifier (that still sounds odd, too) Agnes Szavay, 5-7, 6-1, 7-5.

Though those were the only two official upsets, there were some other upsets, and some other interesting results:

Flavia Pennetta made easy work of Sam Stosur, defeating her 6-3, 6-1.

Sabine Lisicki, after serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set, lost to Victoria Azarenka, who took the match 3-6, 6-2, 7-5. Lisicki hit 39 winners, including 11 aces, but made 75 unforced errors, including 9 double faults. Clearly, she is still all over the place.

Kimiko Date Krumm defeated Nadia Petrova 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

8th seed Vera Zvonareva retired in her first set against Elena Vesnina because of--you guessed it--her right ankle. Zvonareva hurt the post-op ankle while playing an exhibition match in Hong Kong last week. She said that it became swollen because of the surgery.

And finally, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez defeated Varvara Lepchenko, which means that she will play Serena Williams in the second round, and their matches get better as time goes on.

Szavay out in first round in Los Angeles

Just when Agnes Szavay was ending her slump and returning to form, she met Elena Vesnina in the first round of the LA Women's Tennis Championships. Vesnina, who is having her best season to date, defeated Szavay 6-1, 6-0. As good as Vesnina has become, that is still a most puzzling score.

Also in the first round, Anna Chakvetadze upset 11th seed Virginie Razzano, Lucie Safarova upset 15th seed Kaia Kanepi (who is not having a good season), and Jill Craybas upset 16th seed Francesca Schiavone. Nicole Vaidisova won two games against Yanina Wickmayer, Coco Vandeweghe defeated Tathiana Garbin, and Anastasia Rodionova retired from her match with a left ankle injury.

Szavay wins Budapest championship

Playing in front of her home crowd, Agnes Szavay upset top seed Patty Schnyder today in the GDF SUEZ Grand Prix in Budapest. Szavay defeated Schnyder 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Alisa Kleybanova and Monica Niculescu won the doubles title, defeating Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4, 7-6, in a match that included eleven breaks of serve.

Szavay and Schnyder to meet in Budapest final

4th seeded Agnes Szavay, playing in her home country, will compete with Patty Schnyder for the GDF SUEZ Gran Prix title tomorrow. Szavay defeated 6th seed Alona Bondarenko, and Schnyder defeated Edina Gallovits, in the semifinals.

This will be the first meeting between Szavay and Schnyder.

Szavay gets past Garbin

I like to watch Tathiana Garbin play, and I wish I could have seen her three-hour match against Agnes Szavay in Budapest today. Szavay won, 7-6, 5-7, 7-5. Szavay double-faulted thirteen times; there's a lot of that going around.

Defending champion out, top seed very much in

Dinara Safina has now dropped only five games en route to the quarterfinals of the French Open. Today, she defeated Aravane Rezai 6-1, 6-0.

The defending champion, Ana Ivanovic, was handily defeated by Victoria Azarenka, who--a couple of weeks ago--looked very awkward on red clay, and who suddenly looks as though she were born in Spain or Italy. Azarenka made only seven unforced errors in her 6-2, 6-3 victory over Ivanovic, though Ivanovic hit several more winners than Azarenka.

Ivanovic said that during the first point of the fourth game, she began to feel dizzy, and that the dizziness continued every time she looked up. Obviously, this had an effect on the outcome of the match. At this time, I have no idea what caused the dizziness, however.

I didn't get to see the match between Agnes Szavay and Dominika Cibulkova, but I did see highlights. It appeared that Cibulkova easily dictated play to produce her 6-2, 6-4 victory.

I also didn't get to see Maria Sharapova play Li Na, but I understand, from checking around, that I didn't miss much. Sharapova won, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.

Venus out of French Open in 3rd round--again

For the third year in a row, Venus Williams has been defeated in the third round of the French Open. Yesterday, she was taken out by a resurgent Agnes Szavay, who--despite playing quite well--had some help from the 3rd seed. Williams looked lost and could not find any rhythm throughout the match. She served poorly and her movement suffered. Szavay, for her part, hit only thirteen winners, which was all she needed to take the match, 6-0, 6-4.

Top seed Dinara Safina continued her destruction of opponents, defeating the talented Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-0. So far, Safina's opponents--combined--have won a total of four games.

The defending champion, Ana Ivanovic, also prevailed, winning her match against Iveta Benesova. And Maria Sharapova, playing a spirited and determined Yaroslava Shvedova, advanced to the round of 16 with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. Both players seemed tired (perhaps more mentally than physically) by the third set, but the fatigue was more harmful to Shvedova.

Safina, Zvonareva and Ivanovic upset in Miami

It took Slammin' Sam Stosur only and hour and nineteen minutes to dispense with number 2 seed Dinara Safina in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open today. For the first two-thirds of the match, the service stats were notable: Stoser wasn't getting in too many first serves, but those she got in tended to be successful, as was her second serve. Safina, on the other hand, was getting almost all of her first serves in, but winning with hardly any of them. Also, her second serve stats were dismal. All of that ironed itself out in the last third of the match, but it was too late for Safina--Stosur beat her, 6-1, 6-4.

Number 6 seed Vera Zvonareva, who won in Indian Wells last week, was upset by Li Na. Number 7 seed Ana Ivanovic fell victim to the not-slumping Agnes Szavay, who appears to have joined us again. Szavay defeated Ivanovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Bagels are a very popular snack in Miami--unless you're Alize Cornet. The 14th seed was upset by 17th seed Zheng Jie, 6-4, 6-0. 9th seed Nadia Petrova was upset by countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova, and 15th seed Flavia Pennetta was upset by 20th seed Amelie Mauresmo.

And then there was the matter of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Dominika Cibulkova. No one ever talks about Medina Garrigues' fitness, but it has to be among the best, and my guess is that she has spent proportionally more time on the court in her career than anyone else on the tour. Medina Garrigues is there--really there--to the bitter end, in every (long) match, and it paid off tonight. She took the first set, 6-4, and lost the second, 1-6. She served for the match at 5-3 in the third set, and was broken. Cibulkova then held, and at 5-all, she was cramping so badly, she had to retire. That is most unfortunate for Cibulkova, to have come so far, fought off defeat, and then--after three hours and sixteen minutes--to have to retire.

Szavay moves on, Dulko doesn't

Agnes Szavay had a bit of a difficult start, quickly falling to 1-4 down in the first set of her second round Acapulco match against Roberta Vinci. But she turned the set around, then won the match 7-6, 6-4.

Gisela Dulko did not have the same good fortune. The 4th seed fell to Maret Ani, 7-6, 6-3. Dulko's winning opponent in last week's Bogota final, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, is also out in the second round, losing to Petra Cetkovska. And 3rd seed Carla Suarez Navarro--probably still playing with an injury--lost to Barbora Zahlavova Strycov.

Lucky loser Szavay makes it to round 2 in Acapulco

Agnes Szavay, who became a truly lucky loser in Acapulco, has won her first round. She defeated 15-year-old Anna Orlik 7-5, 7-5. Her next opponent will be Roberta Vinci, who upset Lucie Safarova in the first round.

Szavay continues her decline

For reasons unknown to me, Agnes Szavay had to qualify to play in Acapulco (as the top qualifying seed), and she was defeated in the final round of qualifying, this time by countrywoman Greta Arn, who is ranked number 160 in the world. The last time I was able to look at the scoreboard, Szavay was up 5-1 in the first set. She took that set, 6-1, but Arn took the next two--1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Something is wrong with Szavay; I suspect it is something mental. I'm just taking an educated guess, of course, but perhaps this is one of those occasions when it would be best for her to play some ITF tournaments until her confidence returns.

Phenom flashback

What's next for Victoria Azarenka?

Not that many years ago, all eyes were on a fifteen-year-old named Nicole Vaidisova. She could hit the ball hard and she had some talent. Many people expected great things from her, but now her name is barely mentioned; she is number 65 in the world. We were also watching the very talented Lucie Safarova, who turned out to be streakier than a kindergarten drawing, and is now number 50 in the world.

A couple of years ago, we watched some more players with great interest: Tamira Paszek, Agnieszka Radwanska and Agnes Szavay. Some of us also had our eyes on Caroline Wozniacki and Alize Cornet. Paszek has had her share of problems, and is currently ranked number 70. Szavay has been going out in the first round at most tournaments for several months now; her current ranking of 29 may soon look good if she doesn't change something soon.

The others have done better. Cornet, perhaps the most watchable of all of them, is number 11 in the world, but shows signs of significant mental weakness. She is still young, and can overcome that. If she does, I think she can have a very nice career. World number 12 Wozniacki, like Cornet, is a fiery player who has impressed many of us. She, too, should have a very nice career.

World number 10 Radwanska is a little harder to read. Radwanska is a very fine court thinker who can hit deadly accurate groundstrokes. But she tends to fold when she faces players who give her a lot of variety, such as Patty Schnyder and Amelie Mauresmo. Radwanska will have to learn how to handle these players (though--sadly--there are not many of them) if she is to improve.

That leaves Azarenka. For a time, Azarenka got into finals and lost them. She did that four times, in fact. Then she won Brisbane, and now she seems like a different player; now she has belief. Her performance at the Australian Open, unfortunately terminated by illness, was excellent. She just won Memphis, and did so by handily defeating Wozniacki.

Any of the above-named women could still break through in a big way, and it wouldn't surprise me. Players do things in their own time. But right now, the one who looks more and more like the real thing every day is Azarenka.

Dubai first round--same song, who knows which verse...

Agnes Szavay and Anna Chakvetadze both went out in the first round in Dubai today. Szavay was defeated 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 by Camille Pin in a match in which Szavay double-faulted nine times. People tend to dismiss Pin because she cannot serve (why didn't she ever do something to fix that?), but the rest of her game is pretty good.

Chakvetadze was beaten by Ayumi Morita, 7-5, 6-2.

In other Dubai news, things went better for Ana Ivanovic this time when she played Alisa Kleybanova in their second round match. Ivanovic won, 7-5, 6-4.