Toronto - Premier - Aug. 5

[janie]

latest Player lists. it's a little unsettling to see Venus so near to Q territory

S.Williams
Sharapova OUT - Replaced by Zakopalova
A.Radwanska
Errani
Li
Kerber
Kvitova
Wozniacki
Kirilenko
Vinci
Ivanovic
Stosur
Jankovic
(SR)Pennetta
Petrova
Stephens
(SR)Kanepi OUT - Replaced by Rybarikova
Suárez Navarro
Cibulkova
Flipkens
Pavlyuchenkova
Vesnina
Cirstea
Lisicki OUT - Replaced by Schiavone
(SR)Kleybanova
Hampton
Peng
Makarova
Lepchenko
Safarova
Cornet
Halep OUT - Replaced by Hsieh
Barthel
Oprandi OUT - Replaced by Wickmayer
V.Williams
Goerges
Mladenovic
Robson
Jovanovski OUT - Replaced by U.Radwanska

Qualis:

Kuznetsova
Zakopalova OUT - Replaced by Paszek
U.Radwanska OUT - Replaced by Zahlavova-Strycova
Hsieh OUT - Replaced by Glushko
Keys
Hantuchova
Niculescu
Voegele OUT - Replaced by Karatantcheva
Morita
Zheng
Mattek-Sands
Bouchard
Wickmayer OUT - Replaced by de Brito
(SR)Dulgheru
Schiavone OUT - Replaced by Kr.Pliskova
Tsurenko OUT - Replaced by An.Rodionova
Petkovic
Date-Krumm
Soler Espinosa
Bertens
Scheepers
Erakovic
Watson
Ka.Pliskova
Begu
Larsson
Cepelova
McHale
Ormaechea
Garcia
Govortsova
Davis
Arruabarrena
Hradecka OUT - Replaced by Fichman
Voskoboeva
Medina Garrigues OUT - Replaced by Oudin
Cabeza Candela OUT - Replaced by Lucic-Baroni
Tatishvili
Martic
Riske
King
Sanchez

[janie]

Q-Draw:

1 KUZNETSOVA, Svetlana RUS
2 KING, Vania USA

3 O'NEILL, Jillian CAN
4 DAVIS, Lauren USA

5 KEYS, Madison USA
6 MOLNAR, Sonja CAN

7 RODIONOVA, Anastasia AUS
8 PASZEK, Tamira AUT

9 MORITA, Ayumi JPN
10 SANCHEZ, Maria USA

11 KARATANTCHEVA, Sesil KAZ
12 MARTIC, Petra CRO

13 MATTEK-SANDS, Bethanie USA
14 ROSOLSKA, Alicja POL

15 FOURNIER, Elisabeth CAN
16 RISKE, Alison USA

17 BERTENS, Kiki NED
18 GRANDIN, Natalie RSA

19 LARCHER DE BRITO, Michelle POR
20 ORMAECHEA, Paula ARG

21 LARSSON, Johanna SWE
22 CASTANO, Catalina COL

23 LIANG, Gloria CAN
24 TATISHVILI, Anna GEO

RSA SCHEEPERS, Chanelle 25
USA PEGULA, Jessica 26

USA HSU, Chieh-Yu 27
FRA GARCIA, Caroline 28

ESP SOLER-ESPINOSA, Silvia 29
GEO KALASHNIKOVA, Oksana 30

CAN EL TABAKH, Heidi 31
SVK CEPELOVA, Jana 32

BLR GOVORTSOVA, Olga 33
ROU DULGHERU, Alexandra 34

JPN ISHIZU, Sachie 35
KAZ VOSKOBOEVA, Galina 36

CZE PLISKOVA, Karolina 37
CAN DABROWSKI, Gabriela 38

ISR GLUSHKO, Julia 39
USA MCHALE, Christina 40

ROU BEGU, Irina-Camelia 41
HUN MAROSI, Katalin 42

CAN ZHAO, Carol 43
ERAKOVIC, Marina 44

GBR WATSON, Heather 45
UKR SAVCHUK, Olga 46

CAN JANUSKOVA, Petra 47
ESP ARRUABARRENA, Lara 48

[janie]

Edit: the draw shown below is now wrong and has been replaced by the one in this link:
www.rogerscup.com/women/pdf/draws/2013/MDS4.pdf

due to Azza's late injury w/d. Just leaving the old one here for laughs. Woz is laughing the hardest.

(1)Serena vs BYE
Q vs Schiavone
Q vs Q
Venus vs (13)Flipkens

(9)Wozniacki vs Lepchenko
Rybarikova vs Q
Q vs Q
BYE vs (7)Bartoli

(3)A.Radwanska vs BYE
Wickmayer vs Robson
Zheng vs Barthel
Mladenovic vs (14)Stephens

(11)Kirilenko vs Q
Cornet vs Vesnina
Zakopalova vs Safarova
BYE vs (5)Errani

--------------------------

(8)Kerber vs BYE
Q vs Cibulkova
Q vs Makarova
Goerges vs (10)Vinci

(16)Ivanovic vs Hsieh
Pennetta vs U.Radwanska
Q vs Pavlyuchenkova
BYE vs (4)Li

(6)Kvitova vs BYE
Bouchard vs Kleybanova
Suarez Navarro vs Hampton
Q vs (12)Stosur

(15)Jankovic vs Q
Fichman vs Dubois -- oops!
Cirstea vs Q
BYE vs (2)Azarenka

[lexpretend]

LMAO, those Canadians really know how to fix a draw. I'm sure this is not the first time it's happened.

Really hope Kleybanova can beat the hugely overhyped Bouchard. Looking forward to Vinci possibly double bagelling JuGs. Mladenovic/Stephens is a good R1. Very excited to see how WIMBLEDON CHAMPION CAKE does.

[Grarliner]

First round exit to the Q v Q winner, no doubt.

[lexpretend]

Oh my god. Sweta lost to DAVIS 7-5, 4-6, 4-6 in nearly three hours in qualies. Gets in as LL. PLAYS DAVIS AGAIN. Flopping to Davis twice in the same tournament would truly be a New Low for Sweta.

[Grarliner]

Crazy that Sveta is still sucking this much despite two Slam QF appearances this year.

[janie]

Yes, it's hard to get a feel for her form this season, isn't it!

Meanwhile, Azarenka w/d with low back injury. Revised draw here:

www.rogerscup.com/women/pdf/draws/2013/MDS4.pdf

[janie]

Doubles draw, r1:

(WC) KERBER, Angelique (GER)/KVITOVA, Petra (CZE) vs (WC) HANTUCHOVA, Daniela (SVK)/HINGIS, Martina (SUI)

[Grarliner]

Shame about BMS losing to Wickmayer. I saw a few games - BMS is such a refreshing player to watch.

[lexpretend]

Aug 5, 2013 3:22:49 GMT -5 lexpretend said:

Oh my god. Sweta lost to DAVIS 7-5, 4-6, 4-6 in nearly three hours in qualies. Gets in as LL. PLAYS DAVIS AGAIN. Flopping to Davis twice in the same tournament would truly be a New Low for Sweta.

Hoooo boy Sweta is actually doing this. Served for the match at 6-3, 5-3. Hasn't won a game since. Down 0-3 in the third set. Let us be thankful it's not being streamed.

[lexpretend]

She did it! She did it!

7-5 4-6 4-6 in qualies after leading 7-5 4-2. 6-3 5-7 5-7 in the MD after leading 6-3 5-3. The newest and lowest low of Sweta's career.

[lexpretend]

Domi literally just hit seven consecutive UEs in that TB.

[Grarliner]

But the second set is turning out much differently, isn't it?

[janie]

For a while it looked like JJ was planning to be the next Sweta, but thankfully she came through.

[lexpretend]

Domi/Angie is a bit insane. No telling what's going to come off Domi's racquet on any given point, Angie well below par but not so much that she's just rolling over...Domi to serve for it, which means precisely zero.

[lexpretend]

Domi wins on her 4th MP, now leads the h2h 4-0 - and three of those were three-setters.

I swear the first game of the final set lasted about an hour alone.

[lexpretend]

Flipkens serves 13 DFs (at least), beats Venus 0-6 6-4 6-2. Venus was just sad by the end...couldn't hit the ball in court, couldn't even take advantage of Flipkens hitting multiple DFs per game, REALLY couldn't smash.

[janie]

Aug 6, 2013 17:18:12 GMT -5 lexpretend said:

Venus was just sad by the end...couldn't hit the ball in court, couldn't even take advantage of Flipkens hitting multiple DFs per game, REALLY couldn't smash.

Ouch. Doesn't sound like her back is better at all.

[janie]

What?? Someone on twitter is saying Bouchard's being coached by Cult-fave TAUZIAT? How did I not know that?

[Grarliner]

Did you mean Tauzita?

Cibulkova is so awesome. I love her. I'm not sure how someone that tiny can play like that!

She trailed in the third 1-4. I think the decisive moment came at 30-30 in the sixth game, Cibulkova serving. She hit two winners to close the game, if I recall correctly. It easily could have been two errors and a 1-5 deficit!

As for Kerber, she is going to need to be a bit more aggressive sometimes. Her defense seemed a little bit off too.

I have an odd feeling Kvitova might go down to Bouchard now.

[lexpretend]

Shitra has lost to (even) worse, so it's entirely possible.

I was commenting on Twitter that Cibulkova might be THE most unpredictable player on tour (amongst stiff competition). Her week-to-week results make no sense. Within matches, her UEs and winners are entirely random. That's what you get when a midget tries to play like a big babe, I guess, it's erratic enough when Kvitova does it. And she needs to be closer to 100% than most to win matches. You wonder why she never, ever retreats to her former defensive style any more, she's capable of both so she could certainly mix it up...but I guess her mindset is all about going for it, now.

Peak Kerber mixes up aggression with counterpunching superbly but she hasn't been near that level this year. Probably a touch of burn-out, seems to be the consensus. I don't think she'll get back to the top 5 but I hope she doesn't totally fade away.

Fichman beat Dubois and makes the top 100, gross. The Canadian Cohen arrives just as we'd got rid of the old one.

[lexpretend]

CAKE shows Sweta how Slam champions do it: 0 and 3 over Davis

Good to see she's not one of those who immediately slump after their first Slam.

[lexpretend]

Well, even Shitra isn't bad enough to lose to Bouchard, it turns out. 3 and 2, easy.

Wozniacki blew MPs yet again to lose to Cirstea 7-5, 6-7, 4-6 When even Cirstea has figured you out...

I fear Cirstea will probably beat JaJa, who has struggled against both Tatishvili and Fichman, next, though

Rampant Rybarikova vs CAKE should be a good match.

[Traveling Man]

LOL! She lost 15 points in a row from her 2 mps. Apparently Woz will drop out of top 10 if Stosur wins one more match. Sophie's choice, Lex?

Hingis/Dani easily beat Petra/Angie!

Allez Cake! Hope she gets the QF with Serena.

[Pamela Shriver]

I guess Martina looks really good out there with the exception of her serve, which is apparently a joke. I've always thought that she COULD improve it if she tried - it's never going to be a world-beater serve, but it could improve enough to not be a glaring weakness that negatively effects the rest of her game. Maybe I'm wrong.

Also I'm surprised nobody is discussing the scheduling SCANDAL that's taking place. Lopez and Tomic were paid $20K each to play an exhibition as one of the featured night matches in Toronto tonight. In the article I read, the tournament director basically said that they had been planning this, and were doing this to give ticket-holders more bang for the buck. He also said it was much harder to market women's tennis than it was 15 years ago, that most of the top/popular players had retired, etc. I wasn't "offended" by the move, as many people on the World were, but I do find it somewhat notable and interesting to discuss. I think 15 years ago, when you had both Williams sisters, Capriati, Davenport, Hingis, Seles, Kournikova, etc. all competing in your Tier I draws, there's no question marking the tournament was a much easier job. Those were all household names. Now... who is? You've got Sharapova and Serena of course on a level of their own. Venus will always have the name recognition, but she's hardly playing/losing early. Azarenka? I think the general public have heard of her over the past few years, but not approaching the level of the stars from the 90s mentioned earlier. Ni is huge in China/Asia, but I'd question her notoriety in North America. And it rapidly goes down hill from there. And in my personal experience with casual tennis fans/non-fans at tennis matches, when given the option of watching a men's match or a women's match where you don't know any of the players anyway, nine times out of ten that person is going to default to wanting to see a men's match. So anyway, I get it. The decision isn't putting the WTA back 40 years and saying that women playing tennis is a bad idea. It's just a commentary on the fact that these women currently playing tennis generally isn't too fascinating for the general public.

[Old Hag]

I didn't hear about it.

And it's not a surprise. Basically anywhere but the US with Serena, women's tennis has returned to being less popular than the men. If you're not putting butts in seats, you shouldn't get the money and attention.

[lexpretend]

SEWTA is going to take some time to recover from its years of sucking. And of course the continued mismanagement/terrible promotion by the WTA.

The tournament director is an idiot, though. One, you don't slap the people you're meant to be promoting in the face. Two, you can't complain that the problem is lack of star power and then provide a LOPEZ-TOMIC EXO as the solution. No one gets excited about that who wouldn't be excited for the top women. Three, we can discuss the relative merits of the ATP and WTA as fans, but it behoves tournament directors to promote the sport as a whole - that's only sensible long-term thinking because everyone knows the quality is cyclical. The WTA's future looks stronger than the ATP's does.

There's a danger to succumbing to nostalgia when it comes to all the players who were our faves when we first got into tennis...but there's a lot of romanticisation going on as well. And it happens with every era, in the late '90s I heard so much "all the old stars are retiring, these new young players aren't the same, I miss Navratilova and ASV, who cares about the Williamses" from older fans. It's only natural. But I think the WTA has come through its worst era now.

That said, judging by the Radwanska/Stephens match, they could really do with dialling down the Sloane hype. So many horrible errors, so much horrible technique, so little fight. And her occasional flashes of power do not make her some kind of stand-out talent. Aga was a bit sloppy at times but really excellent at others, it's good to see her be more aggressive.

[lexpretend]

BAG's choke from serving for the match at 5-3 was the definition of NID, even with Li spraying errors randomly.

[Old Hag]

The board is updated and people aren't posting.

Hurley FIRED