Sara Errani keeps SF battle alive at WTA Championships

By Magdalena Stanislav

Sara Errani keeps the competition warm at WTA Championships

ISTANBUL, Turkey (TheSportsNEXT) October 25, 2012: Sara Errani of Italy kept her hopes of making it into WTA Championships Semi-Finals alive on Thursday when she outlasted Samantha Stosur of Australia in three sets by 6-3 2-6 6-0 in Istanbul.

-->

Samantha Stosur, who replaced Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic after she had to pull out of the season-ending TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships due to viral illness, couldn’t stand the challenge posed by her Italian opponent, especially in the third set where she could never offer a fight.

The victory for Sara Errani has added colors to the final day of the round-robin matches on Friday when two matches will decide the two semi-finalists as Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams have already qualified into last-four stage.

Sara Errani showed good control on her game in the opening set and raced to victory by 6-3 but Sam Stosur responded really well to the situation and won the second set 6-2 with an aggressive game plan which woke the Italian up in the third set and she made no further mistakes and won the penultimate set by 6-0.

Sara Errani told reporters after her impressive victory, "In the beginning she was making a lot of unforced errors, but in the second set she was playing amazing. I was just trying to stay focused and aggressive today and I think the third set was better for me."

Sam Stosur could never face the pressure against Sara Errani as she committed seven double faults as well as 49 unforced errors in the match.

Sam Stosur told reporters, “I really wanted to try and play a good match tonight and be at least one match up, but obviously the result wasn't quite that way. It was a little bit up and down - in the second set I got off to a good lead and then was able to hold onto that and win the set, and then I had a break point in the first game of the third and missed a return, and then it was like all the energy went out of me. I certainly dug myself into too much of a hole to try and get out."

Sara Errani had praise for her Australian opponent when she stated, “Sam is a great player but I was ready today. I'm happy I won and that I'm still in the tournament - I hope I can play well tomorrow too and maybe win, I don't know, we'll see how it goes."

Sara Errani will take on world number five Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in her final round-robin match at the WTA Championships which is very much a quarter-final for both the players as the winner of this match will proceed into knockout stage.

Sara said of Agnieszka Radwanska, "She's a very strong player. I know her and we have played before. It will be a tough match and we will see what happens."

In another mouth-watering showdown on Friday, Victoria Azarenka and Li Na will battle it out for a place in the last-four.

The first match on Friday is a dead-rubber between Maria Sharapova and Sam Stosur because the result will have no effect on the standings in the White Group. 

Read More

Sick Petra Kvitova pulls out of WTA Championships

By Magdalena Stanislav

Petra Kvitova pulls out of WTA Championships title defense

ISTANBUL, Turkey (TheSportsNEXT) October 24, 2012: The WTA Championships will certainly have a new winner crowned this year after defending champion Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic withdrew from the tournament citing a viral illness.

-->

Samantha Stosur of Australia will replace Petra Kvitova at the WTA Championships as the WTA gave no detail of the nature of illness to the defending champion.

Petra Kvitova, who is world number six in WTA Tour Rankings, got off to an embarrassing start to her title defense in Istanbul last night when Agnieszka Radwanska defeated her in straight sets by 6-3 6-2 as the Czech committed a whopping 41 unforced errors.

Later on her Twitter account, Petra Kvitova said, “I am on my way to the airport now to fly home and see my doctor. I am so sad to withdraw from the WTA Champs and to leave Istanbul.

I want to say sorry to the Turkish fans who supported me so much here. I just wasn't able to compete at 100 per cent and need to recover”, she added.

“Will keep fingers crossed for Fed Cup and let you know. Good luck to Sam, hope she can win some matches for me :)”, she stated on social networking website Twitter.

The WTA Championships comprises of the WTA Tour Rankings’ top eight women players and this year the Red Group has Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, Serena Williams of United States, Angelique Kerber of Germany, and Li Na of China while the White Group has Maria Sharapova of Russia, Samantha Stosur of Australia, Sara Errani, and Agnieszka Radwanska.

Karel Tejkal  and Petra Kvitova on Day 1 of WTA Championships in Istanbul

Read More

Sam Stosur puts a lid on Alize Cornet in Kremlin Cup

By Alexia Krause

Samantha Stosur survives scare at Kremlin Cup

MOSCOW, Russia (TheSportsNEXT) October 19, 2012: Top-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia backed her abilities and talent to stave off a massive scare against Alize Cornet of France and defeated her by 7-6 7-5 to book her a place in quarter-finals of the Kremlin Cup on Thursday.

The victory came for Sam Stosur not really because of her great tennis skills but an inability of Alize Cornet to execute crucial points as the Frenchwoman lost the first set by 7-6 after losing the tiebreak 8-6.

Alize Cornet, who is 43^rd ranked in the WTA Tour Rankings, was once again in a position of advantage in the second set when she was leading by 5-4 but only then she wasted three set points which ate up all the remaining confidence in her. At the same time, Alize’s inability to close the deal gave Sam Stosur enough breathing space to execute a hard-fought victory just before midnight.

In another match, fourth-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia continued her return to top draw with a comfortable 6-1 6-4 victory over Russian qualifier Valeria Solovieva to storm into quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup.

Ana Ivanovic, who will be up against 158^th-ranked Vesna Dolonc of Russia, told reporters, "I think she looked nervous, especially in the first set, because it was probably her first big match.

Her opponent Vesna Dolonc, who took Serbian citizenship last year, thrashed Simona Halep of Romania in virtually no contest by 6-1 6-0 to advance into her first quarterfinal on the WTA Tour this season.

In the men’s Kremlin Cup, top-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine didn’t enjoy the luck as good as Sam Stosur and crashed out of the tournament after 116^th-ranked Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France saved four match points to win the match by 6-3 5-7 7-6.

The 28-year-old Edouard Roger Vasselin has entered third quarterfinal this season where he will take on Ivo Karlovic of Croatia who got the better of Alex Bogomolov Jr. by 7-6 6-4 with the help of 16 aces.

Edouard Roger Vasselin told reporters after his triumph, "Dolgopolov just didn't play well on those match points. He looked a bit tense out there”.

Carlos Berlocq of Argentina, who was seventh seeded in the tournament, also was knocked out of the Kremlin Cup second seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy and fourth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil advanced further.

Andreas Seppi edged out Igor Sijsling of Netherlands by 7-5 6-2 while Thomaz Bellucci kicked out Flavio Cipolla of Italy by 6-4 6-1.

Read More

Stosur exits Japan Open; Heather enters first WTA final

By Alexia Krause

Kai-chen Chang vs Heather Watson for WTA Japan Open title on Sunday

OSAKA, Japan (TheSportsNEXT) October 13, 2012: Kai-chen Chang of Taiwan stunned former world number one Samantha Stosur of Australia in an epic semi-final encounter at WTA Japan Open on Saturday.

In the second semi-final played later on Saturday evening, Heather Watson of Great Britain stormed her way into first WTA Final of a promising career when she outlasted local favorite Misaki Doi by 7-6(2) 7-5 after a two hours long battle.

Samantha Stosur was clearly a title favorite at the Japan Open 2012 but her resilience came to a fag end with world number 134 Kai-chen Chang continuing her dream run in the tournament after a 143-minute long epic battle.

It is merit mentioning here that Kai-chen Chang has defeated players like Christina McHale, Casey Dellacqua and Laura Robson on her way to the Japan Open Semi-Finals.

Chang came up with two breaks in the first set and won 21 out of 28 points on serve in the second set before forcing a decider which she eventually prevailed.

Heather Watson, who is currently ranked 71 in the WTA Tour Rankings, presented her appetite for big victories against Misaki Doi of Japan as she did a world of good to her rankings which are scheduled to be updated on Monday.

This is the second time in last three weeks that a British teenager has surged into final of a WTA event after Laura Robson played final of the Guangzhou International but on that occasion she failed to win the penultimate encounter.

However, Heather Watson will enter into Japan Open final as favorite despite of Kai-chen Chang’s giant-killing run as she is yet to meet a bad day in the office in the tournament.

No matter what happens in Sunday’s final, the only guaranteed thing is a new winner for the WTA Japan Open title.

Read More