No Ghostface Masks? Fail

Just because I don’t want to be accused of leaving out the WTA on the ‘ridiculous photos’ front during the Asia Swing … the Radwanska sisters and Caroline Wozniacki do something involving masks.

No, I don’t know either.

What nice young ladies.

L.A: Stosur, Shazza, Flavia Through

In ‘the other match I saw last night’, Samantha Stosur beat Zheng Jie Jie Zheng 46 63 64.

I’m thinking radioactive spider bite.

Zheng got off to a flier, but by the middle of the second set Sam was picking up her serve much better and finding her range on the forehand, and that was pretty much all she wrote. Another great run for Sam, who has the chance to make her first final of the year when she faces a blistered Sorana Cirstea in the semis tonight.

A shame for Zheng, who is frankly adorable. I just wish she’d put together results like this on a  more consistent basis.

Next up was Shazza, who beat Urszula Radwanska 64 75. I can’t speak as to what actually happened in this match as I was asleep, but I’m getting the impression that Shazza was once again plagued by double faults. Still, Urszula must have put up some fairly determined resistance. I actually think she’s better than Agnieszka, or at least can bring more to the court, but lacks her sister’s level head. And AmyLu agrees with me, so I must be right.

I would like to know what exactly Urszula thinks she’s wearing, but that’s neither here nor there. I can’t decide if I love it or hate it. It definitely beats Agnieszka’s outfit, that’s for sure.

And in the quarter-final that it seems nobody saw, Flavia Pennetta beat Vera Zvonareva 64 62. Not a huge surprise. At least Vera seems to have recovered her tantrum-throwing form with impressive speed.

So the real question is, can Flavia put an end to Shazza’s run and make the final again? What do you think?

Today’s OOP:

Stadium (from 12.00hrs)
1. King/Niculescu vs. Chuang/Yan
2. Stosur vs. Cirstea (NB 14.00hrs)
3. Sharapova vs. Pennetta (NB 19.00hrs)
4. Kirilenko/A.Radwanska vs. Hsieh/Peng

Warsaw Results: Daniela, a Radwanska Win

So today was reasonably uneventful in Warsaw (i.e. Keo and Masha weren’t playing).

Daniela Hantuchova survived a tough three-setter with Nuria Llagostera Vives. Vives has never beaten Dani, but she came out really strong and aggressive, and Dani was rocked for a while there. Luckily she served well, which kept her in the match, and figured out eventually how to mix up her tactics to keep Vives off-balance. A good win for her, requiring a lot of mental toughness.

And proving that every tournament worth its salt has at least one Radwanska, the smaller sister Urszula had a good win over Koryttseva in three sets.

Presumably she doesn’t drive a Mercedes.

Singles – First Round
(5) Sara Errani (ITA) d. (Q) Greta Arn (HUN) 62 16 76(2)
(6/WC) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) 36 63 63
Urszula Radwanska (POL) d. Mariya Koryttseva (UKR) 63 36 63
Jill Craybas (USA) d. Edina Gallovits (ROU) 36 75 63
Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) d. Patricia Mayr (AUT) 64 61
Klara Zakopalova (CZE) d. Melinda Czink (HUN) 36 64 63
(Q) Ioana Raluca Olaru (ROU) d. Jelena Dokic (AUS) 64 63
(Q) Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) d. (Q) Agnes Szatmari (ROU) 63 64
(LL) Darya Kustova (BLR) d. (LL) Lenka Tvaroskova (SVK) 64 61

Doubles – First Round
(2) Yan/Zheng (CHN/CHN) d. Gallovits/Govortsova (ROU/BLR) 61 62
(4) Bondarenko/Bondarenko (UKR/UKR) d. (WC) Kosinska/Rosolska (POL/POL) 63 60
Amanmuradova/Kustova (UZB/BLR) d. Kapshay/Tvaroskova (UKR/SVK) 61 61
Goerges/Olaru (GER/ROU) d. Dekmeijere/Senoglu (LAT/TUR) 75 64

Hard-Hitting, Hard Hats

So Daniela Hantuchova and the Radwanska sisters (apparently, although I only see Urszula) helped out on a Habitat for Humanity project in Warsaw.

The Warsaw build, due for completion this September, will provide new homes and a better future for six families. The talented trio joined in with the construction on the latest instalment of the “women-only” build program; designed to recruit, train and empower women. Female volunteers attended from Habitat for Humanity, Whirlpool and the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour including Stacey Allaster, President of the Tour.

Yeah, yeah … let’s look at the funny pictures!

Dani moves up another spot on my “players I’d like to hang out with” list.

Paint that wagon.

Today’s Raddest ‘Wanska rocking a wheelbarrow.