Serena, Venus Lead Cincinnati Field

by Staff | August 10th, 2009, 9:07 am
  • 6 Comments

WESTERN AND SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP WOMEN’S OPEN
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Surface: Hard outdoor

Seeds: Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Elena Dementieva, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Nadia Petrova, Ana Ivanovic, Marion Bartoli, Agniezska Radwanska, Flavia Pennetta, Dominika Cibulkova, Virginie Razzano ADHEREL

Floaters: (WC) Kim Clijsters, Gisela Dulko, Patty Schnyder, Alona Bondarenko, Daniela Hantuchova, Aravane Rezai, Carla Suarez Navarro, Aleksandra Wozniak, Alize Cornet, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, (WC) Maria Kirilenko, Anna Chakvetadze, Shuai Peng


Notes: No former No. 1 Maria Sharapova but the return of former No. 1 Kim Clijsters; openers of interest include (15) Cibulkova vs. Peng, (12) Bartoli vs. (WC) Clijsters (winner to face Dulko-Schnyder winner), (10) Petrova vs. A.Bondarenko, (8) Wozniacki vs. Suarez Navarrro-Wozniak winner), (16) Razzano vs. Groenefeld, and potential (5) Jankovic vs. Kirilenko 2nd rd.


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6 Comments for Serena, Venus Lead Cincinnati Field

Colin Says:

I don’t know who writes those “funk” and “trunk” lists, but I think describing Bartoli as a “doughy, twitchy, frightened Daddy’s girl” is pretty damned offensive.

August 10th, 2009 at 11:32 am


Veno Says:

For those who like stats:

Made a break down of Safina and Serena’s points results if the ATP system would have been in place:
The big surprise? Safina would still be ranked 1, although it would be very close:

Safina(using ATP-counting best 18 results) 8000 pts(she has 18 results to add up)

Serena would have 7966(14 results with 2 1-pointers)

Safina can try to defend her number 1 position all she wants and it isn’t her fault that the computers giver her the highest position, but please be realistic…..there is just NO WAY she FEELS like the number 1 player :-D

August 10th, 2009 at 11:46 am


Marcus Says:

I agree that Safina should not even try to defend her ranking. It was not her fault to be number one but she should just keep quiet about it, even when asked. The only words that should come out of her mouth are, “No comment”. She should just play the best she can. Her game should give the best comment about the subject.

August 10th, 2009 at 12:17 pm


Dan Martin Says:

Rarely does a player hold #1 on the ATP side without having a slam in the previous 52 weeks. M. Rios did so off and on in 1998. Agassi did briefly after his semifinal loss at the 1996 Australian left him failing to defend his title, but Pete lost in the 3rd round and lost a lot of runner-up points. Pete Sampras did in 1993 after winning Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back. Pete and Andre had won slams in their career. Agassi nearly tracked Hewitt down at the close of 2002 despite winning no slams in that calendar year. The WTA has had a slew of #1’s without slam titles in the previous 52 weeks and several with none in their career at the point of claiming #1. This problem is not Safina’s but the WTA should either explain their current ranking system in detail is it seems to produce results that should happen 1-2 times per decade on a regular basis or they should change their system. A #1 without a slam in 52 weeks is not unheard of, but it should be rare. The WTA is not producing that sort of result.

August 10th, 2009 at 1:36 pm


tennisontherocks Says:

WTA’s fault may very well be using a ranking system very similar to men’s i.e. use roughly same # of events, got rid of ‘bonus points’ (both tours awarded extra points based on ranking of opponents).

Another thing is the exception case of Venus/Serena who do well in slams, are really good at working their way through the events, but I don’t think they have the fitness level to maintain their explosive form for whole year. In fact, having a extra day’s rest may actually help them more in slams. Plus lack of serious depth along with 32 seeds allows them easy matches in the beginning to find their footing.

Reducing the # of events used for ranking is one solution, but then it hurts the product itself as players are inclined to play less. Best is to add the bonus points back. On men’s side, the depth is there to live w/o them. But not the case on women’s side. Venus-Serena have excellent records against fellow top 10 players and deserve to be rewarded for that.

August 10th, 2009 at 3:18 pm


krisinsyd Says:

Clijters has just beated Bartoli 6-4,6-3. She is back!

August 10th, 2009 at 10:40 pm

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