Hold on to whatever you haven’t already shed in despair: Caroline Wozniacki is one win away from taking back the no. 1 ranking in Dubai.
She benefitted from a dramatic collapse from Anna Chakvetadze in the second round, who was suffering from the aftereffects of gastroenteritis, just when the Russian looked to be making an impact in the match:
Wozniacki then beat Ayumi Morita today after the Japanese qualifier upset Petra Kvitova in the opening round. She’ll play Shahar Peer in the quarterfinals. It was Peer who beat her in the third round last year, but she had a tough third-round match against Yanina Wickmayer, so I suspect that no. 1 trophy is headed back Wozniacki’s way, and why not.
Still, let’s not forget the conditions Peer is playing under to even be allowed to participate in this tournament. I hope she goes on winning just to stick it to them. It’s absurd and cynical that the WTA even has a tournament under these conditions, no matter how good the field is. Anyway.
Radwanska will play Kuznetsova after the former beat Bartoli and Svetlana reprised her Melbourne epic with Francesca Schiavone. Six match points went begging again before the Russian closed it out this time. Azarenka flattered to deceive in one of her patented pointless comebacks, taking Pennetta to a third set before losing.
Pennetta will face Alisa Kleybanova, who surprised Vera Zvonareva in straight sets earlier, but the Italian needed an MTO in her singles match and withdrew from her doubles with a leg strain, so maybe don’t expect too much. The remaining quarterfinal will be Sam Stosur against Jelena Jankovic, who came back from losing the first set 2-6 to Kaia Kanepi to win 7-5 in the third. Yay.
Singles – Third Round
(1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. (Q) Ayumi Morita (JPN) 61 60
(15) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) d. (2) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 63 62
(16) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. (3) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 16 60 75
(4) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Patty Schnyder (SUI) 63 64
(6) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (12) Kaia Kanepi (EST) 26 63 75
(11) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. (7) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 63 67(2) 64
(8) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (10) Marion Bartoli (FRA) 63 62
(9) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 36 64 61
Doubles – Second Round
(1) Peschke/Srebotnik (CZE/SLO) d. Dushevina/Peng (RUS/CHN) 75 62
(2) Huber/Martínez Sánchez (USA/ESP) d. Groth/Zakopalova (AUS/CZE) 64 64
(WC) Kuznetsova/Zvonareva (RUS/RUS) d. (3) Chan/Zheng (TPE/CHN) 63 75
(4) Azarenka/Kirilenko (BLR/RUS) d. Kleybanova/Yan (RUS/CHN) 64 64
(6) Mattek-Sands/Shaughnessy (USA/USA) d. Pennetta/Schiavone (ITA/ITA) w/o (Pennetta: left lower leg muscle strain)
(7) Raymond/Stosur (USA/AUS) d. Niculescu/Peer (ROU/ISR) 75 57 107
Hantuchova/Radwanska (SVK/POL) d. Diatchenko/Poutchek (RUS/BLR) 61 61
Mirza/Vesnina (IND/RUS) d. Dulgheru/Sfar (ROU/TUN) 62 46 1210