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LADIES TENNIS RESULTS AND MORE FROM DOHA , Acapulco ( THE Mexican RIVIERA ) Serena attends the OSCARS AND ENJOYS HOLDING COMMONS STATUE. VENUS IS IN DOHA. FLIPPER FLIPKENS GOES THRU QUALIES AND IS MAINDRAW. SHE WAS LUCKY TO GET THAT WILDCARD INTO QUALIES. WILDCARDS ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. TOURNEYS ALL NEED MORE WILDCARDS ! Bonus points would be nice. Double bonus points are even better. Congrats to Bethanie Mattek - Sands for winning her match thanks to a wc after hip surgery it's nice to get a little lift up. (LJ)
TIDBITS :
* Halep pulls out of Doha, opening door for Kvitova to regain #3 ranking
* No return to Top Ten for Kerber after winning only three games against Azarenka
* Kuznetsova loses to Pennetta, will not return to Top 25
* Zahlavova Strycova beats Lisicki to edge closer to Top Twenty
* Venus edges Dellacqua; needs more to regain Top Fifteen spot
* Safarova leaves Stosur still around #25
* Begu withdraws from Acapulco
* Sharapova motors past Rogers despite suffering early break
* Wildcard poses no problem for Mattek-Sands; Brengle loses to Torro-Flor
DOHA RESULTS
Veteran Venus Williams quickly found form as she plays in the Gulf for a second straight week, opening with a comeback from a set down to beat Australian Casey Dellacqua 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. The 34-year-old Williams, seeded seventh, needed more than two hours to reach the second round
The American won a run of 12 or 14 games on the way to her win in 94 minutes. "I've been going non-stop this year actually," said the winner. "I've played so much, and it's only February. But so far I'm happy with how it's going."
Williams next faces Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who beat Germany's Sabine Lisicki, 7-5, 6-4. German hopes fell even further when eighth seed Angelique Kerber lost to comeback-bound former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, 6-0, 6-3. Azarenka has won now her last 11 matches in Qatar and took the title in 2012 and 2013, the last time she competed at the event.
Italy's Flavia Pennetta rallied to defeat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 while Czech Lucie Safarova defeated Aussie Sam Stosur 7-6(3), 6-4 to post a seventh win in her past eight meetings with the former US open champion.
Acapulco
Maria Sharapova performed as expected, with the top seed making a winning start on her debut in Mexico. The No. 2 opened play with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of American Shelby Rogers after losing serve in the opening game but storming back against the youngster after an hour and a quarter. Sharapova wrapped it up with flair, winning the last seven points.
"I've been in many different situations in my career, and when you're down, you have to change a few things and stay positive," Sharapova said. "You just have to concentrate on one point at a time instead of the bigger result, and as the match went on I definitely felt more and more comfortable out there.
"Your first match at a new tournament is never easy. You're getting used to all of the conditions, a new place and a new atmosphere. You're also adjusting your game a little bit. The court here is quite different to the surfaces I've competed on so far this year, and the ball goes through the air because it's much warmer."
Other winners on opening day included Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Monica Puig, with the Puerto Rican defeating Tereza Smitkova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Spain's María-Teresa Torró-Flor came from 5-3 down in the last two sets to beat eighth seed Madison Brengle 2-6, 7-5, 7-5.
TODAY'S FEATURE
This Week's Movers -- Women
Each week, Daily Tennis will look at the biggest movers of the week, looking at how they did what they did.
Biggest Upward Mover -- Most Places Moved (Top 100)
Leader: TIE
Anna Schmiedlova -- Moved 16 places, from #75 to #59
Wang Qiang -- Moved 16 places, from #98 to #82
Schmiedlova made the Rio final to hit a career high. Wang qualified for Dubai and beat Kurumi Nara to reach the second round.
Biggest Percentage Mover -- Cut Ranking By Highest Percent (Top 100)
Leader: Karolina Pliskova -- Moved 5 places, 28%, from #18 to #13
A Dubai final took Pliskova to yet another career high.
Runner-Up: TIE
Simona Halep -- Moved 1 place, 25%, from #4 to #3
Sara Errani -- Moved 4 places, 25%, from #16 to #12
Errani won Rio for one of her few few upward moves of recent months. Halep won Dubai to regain the #3 spot from Petra Kvitova -- but possibly for only one week.
Biggest Loser -- Most Places Lost (Top 100)
Loser: Kurumi Nara -- Dropped 18 places, from #42 to #60
An interesting inversion here: Our biggest loser suffered her loss because of the action of our (co-)biggest gainer. Nara was last year's Rio champion; this year, she lost her opener, to Wang. That puts Nara in almost exactly the same ranking spot as last year; she was #62 entering Rio 2014.
Biggest Percentage Loser -- Worst Percentage Increase in Ranking (Top 100)
Loser: Venus Williams, ranking increased 6 places, 55%, from #11 to #17.
Venus, last year's Dubai champion, this year lost in the Round of Sixteen.
Ranking Notes
With a very big event this week, it's perhaps not surprising that we had a lot of fairly significant moves. Pliskova, up 28%. Errani and Halep, 25%. Schmiedlova, 21%. Johanna Larsson, up 19%, to #56. Garbine Muguruza finally made the Top Twenty; she rose 17%, to #20. And Wang gained 16%.
The downward moves were not quite as common but were even bigger. Venus, down 55%. Nara, down 43%. Petra Kvitova, down 33%, to #4, because of Halep's gain. Alize Cornet, down 26%, to #24 -- she didn't have Serena to pick on this year. And Klara Koukalova, down 26%, to #58; last year's Rio finalist is having a terrible year. She'll likely be our biggest downward mover next week, when her Florianopolis title comes off.
BOBS TEAM Personal Picks for "Best Mover of the Week"
These are subjective picks!
Pliskova was our biggest mover, hit a career high, and had the best result of her career. She's the obvious choice.
KEYWORDS: Movers Women Karolina Pliskova
THIS WEEK IN TENNIS
THIS WEEK ON THE WTA:
Doha (Premier/Hard). Defending Champion: Simona Halep
Acapulco (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Dominika Cibulkova
NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:
Monterrey (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Ana Ivanovic
Kuala Lumpur (International/Hard). Defending Champion: Donna Vekic
STATS AND FACTS
Rankings
Estimated WTA Rankings As of February 23, 2015
Rank &
Prior
Rank Name Points
1 (1) SWilliams 9592
2 (2) SHARAPOVA 8210*
3 (3) Halep 6571
4 (4) KVITOVA 6395*
5 (5) WOZNIACKI 4730*
6 (6) Ivanovic 4425
7 (7) Bouchard 4306
8 (8) ARADWANSKA 4025*
9 (9) MAKAROVA 3420*
10 (10) PETKOVIC 3150*
11 (11) KERBER 2650
12 (12) ERRANI 2641*
13 (13) KAPLISKOVA 2620*
14 (14) SUAREZ NAVARRO 2580*
15 (15) SAFAROVA 2580*
16 (16) PENNETTA 2560*
17 (17) VWILLIAMS 2420*
18 (19) Keys 2100
19 (21) Peng 2080
20 (22) ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA 2055*
21 (23) JANKOVIC 2030*
22 (20) MUGURUZA 2015*
23 (18) Cibulkova 1957
24 (24) CORNET 1925*
25 (25) STOSUR 1835
26 (26) KUZNETSOVA 1760
27 (27) SVITOLINA 1740*
28 (28) LISICKI 1651
29 (29) Lepchenko 1540
30 (31) DIYAS 1495*
Draws
Doha -- Week of February 23
1 Kvitova
9 Suarez Navarro
5 Makarova
6 Petkovic
7 V Williams
4 A Radwanska
8 Kerber
3 Wozniacki (WC)
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Kvitova
2 Halep............WITHDREW
3 Wozniacki (WC)
4 A Radwanska
5 Makarova
6 Petkovic
7 V Williams
8 Kerber..........lost 1R (Azarenka)
9 Suarez Navarro
Acapulco -- Week of February 23
1 Sharapova
9 Hantuchova
3 Garcia
8 Brengle
7 Stephens
5 Bacsinszky
6 Vinci
2 Errani
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Sharapova
2 Errani
3 Garcia
4 Begu..........WITHDREW
5 Bacsinszky
6 Vinci
7 Stephens
8 Brengle.......lost 1R (Torro-Flor)
9 Hantuchova
SCORES
MONDAY
Dubai
Singles - First Round
[7] V. Williams (USA) d C. Dellacqua (AUS) 36 62 61
[WC] V. Azarenka (BLR) d [8] A. Kerber (GER) 60 63
L. Safarova (CZE) d S. Stosur (AUS) 76(3) 64
B. Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) d S. Lisicki (GER) 75 64
F. Pennetta (ITA) d S. Kuznetsova (RUS) 36 64 62
Doubles - First Round
[4] R. Kops-Jones (USA) / A. Spears (USA) d A. Klepac (SLO) / A. Rodionova (AUS) 76(2) 64Women's
Qualifying Singles - Third Round
Qualifying - [6] [WC] K. Flipkens (BEL) d K. Kozlova (UKR) 63 64
Qualifying - S. Voegele (SUI) d Y. Putintseva (KAZ) 63 36 64
Qualifying - A. Dulgheru (ROU) d S. Zheng (CHN) 61 60
Qualifying - D. Gavrilova (RUS) d S. Hsieh (TPE) 16 63 64
Acapulco
Singles - First Round
[1] M. Sharapova (RUS) d S. Rogers (USA) 64 61
M. Torró-Flor (ESP) d [8] M. Brengle (USA) 26 75 75
B. Mattek-Sands (USA) d [WC] M. Zacarias (MEX) 62 61
M. Lucic-Baroni (CRO) d L. Arruabarrena (ESP) 63 63
M. Puig (PUR) d T. Smitkova (CZE) 64 36 63
Doubles - First Round
[3] K. Bertens (NED) / J. Larsson (SWE) d K. Bondarenko (UKR) / I. Olaru (ROU) 62 46 10-6
Qualifying Singles - Third Round
Qualifying - [5] L. Hradecka (CZE) d S. Karatantcheva (BUL) 63 63
Qualifying - [6] R. Hogenkamp (NED) d M. Ninomiya (JPN) 36 61 76(4)
Qualifying - E. Bogdan (ROU) d [7] M. Duque-Mariño (COL) 64 46 76(1)
Qualifying - L. Chirico (USA) d R. Ozaki (JPN) 62 63
CONTENT VIA BOB LARSON TENNIS NEWS SERVICE.