Li Na Takes Edgbaston Title

Li Na d. Maria Sharapova, 75 61

I’m not going to lie, I didn’t see any of this tournament apart from the final. According to reports, however, Maria’s performance today was something of a drop from the standard set throughout the week, as she found herself outserved and outplayed by Li Na (who beat her in the semifinals last year). Cracking match from Li Na and a well-deserved title.

Also a well-deserved gravy boat.

Birmingham: Rybarikova Catches the Boat

Magdalena Rybarikova won her first WTA tour title at Edgbaston Priory today, defeating Li Na Na Li 60 76(2).

Bad luck, LNNL.

I didn’t see a lick of this. But it’s always nice to see (or read about) someone getting their first title. Dangerous floater for Wimbledon?!! (Yes, it’s a theme.)

She gets a nice gravy boat for her troubles. Well done indeed.

Far more importantly, with her exploits this week she now has her own YFB tag. Probably not used enough to appear in the tag cloud, but it means I don’t have to constantly type “magdalena rybarikova”, so good news for us both there.

Birmingham Results: Shazza, Mirza Out

It’ll be Li Na Na Li vs. Magdalena Rybarikova in the finals at Edgbaston Priory as the great runs of Sharapova and Mirza came to an end today.

Bye girls. It was fun while it lasted.

Sania started off well, taking the first set 63, but it all went horribly wrong after that, and tough grass-court prospect Rybarikova bagelled her in the second and snatched a tight third 63. I think this might be Rybarikova’s second final of the year after Pattaya City, but I’m too lazy to check.

Things were much more straightforward for Li Na Na Li, who took out Shazza in straights, 64 64. This was still a great result for Sharapova, and look at how much it meant to LNNL.

For reals, it’s great to see LNNL healthy and playing well. So much talent.

Friday Results: The Four People You Meet In Halle

(thanks to ptenisnet for the title, which I never found a good opportunity to use and totally screwed up)

So we have our semifinalists!

Queens

It’ll be Murray-Ferrero in the top half of the draw, as Murray took on Mardy and emerged victorious. We like that. And how about a great run for Ferrero to the semi-finals? Sadly I think it might end there. It’ll be an all-American semi (heh) on the other side, as Blake took out Youzhny (he of the beautiful eyes and communist aesthetic) and Roddick beat Karlovic in two unsurprising tiebreak sets. As Pat Cash astutely said before the match, “I think it’s all going to come down to the serve.”

One imagines a lot of the match looked like this.

Singles – Quarter-finals
[1] A Murray (GBR) d [8] M Fish (USA) 75 63
[2] A Roddick (USA) d [9] I Karlovic (CRO) 76(4) 76(5)
[6] J Blake (USA) d [14] M Youzhny (RUS) 76(5) 63
J Ferrero (ESP) d S Darcis (BEL) 46 63 64

Doubles – Quarter-finals
[7] J Coetzee (RSA) / J Kerr (AUS) d [4] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) 76(6) 76(4)
[6] M Melo (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) d S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) 76(2) 46 11-9
[5] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) d [WC] C Fleming (GBR) / K Skupski (GBR) 57 76(3) 10-7 – Saved 3 M.P.
W Moodie (RSA) / M Youzhny (RUS) d J Benneteau (FRA) / M Llodra (FRA) 75 63

Halle

What a terribly democratic semi-finals line-up. We have a top seed (Nole, who beat Jurgen Melzer); an unseeded homeboy (Kohlschreiber), a Belgian qualifier (Rochus) and a German wildcard (Haas). Great stuff.

You know when you’ve been Nole’d. 

Singles – Quarter-finals
[2] N Djokovic (SRB) d [7] J Melzer (AUT) 61 64
P Kohlschreiber (GER) d A Beck (GER) 36 63 63
[Q] O Rochus (BEL) d [WC] B Becker (GER) 67(4) 63 63
[WC] T Haas (GER) d [WC] M Zverev (GER) 76(5) 62

Birmingham

Oh well, I think two of my semi-final predictions are still standing. Seeds Li Na Na Li and Rybarikova beat Voegele (who?) and Urszula (once again not the Raddest ‘wanska) to advance. Sania Mirza continues her nice run, defeating sixteenth seed Melinda Czink, and Maria Sharapova took three sets to subdue ‘the Belgian Sharapova’, Estoril champ Yanine Wickmayer. Shazza’s run is just scary here, let’s face it. There are going to be a lot of top players praying she doesn’t land in their quarter for Wimbledon.

 

Why do all the pictures suck this week? Where are all the good snappers? Resting up for Wimbledon, or over in L.A. taking fuzzy candids of Ronaldo and Paris Hilton?

Singles – Quarterfinals
(4) Li Na (CHN) d. Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 63 76(3)
(13) Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) d. Urszula Radwanska (POL) 63 63
Sania Mirza (IND) d. (16) Melinda Czink (HUN) 61 76(4)
Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 61 26 63

Doubles – Quarterfinals
(1) Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) d. Czink/Grandin (HUN/RSA) 64 46 105
(3) Chuang/Mirza (TPE/IND) d. Chan/Yan (TPE/CHN) 76(5) 61
(4) Kops-Jones/Spears (USA/USA) d. Shvedova/Tanasugarn (KAZ/THA) 63 76(4)
Schiavone/Vinci (ITA/ITA) d. Goerges/Parra Santonja (GER/ESP) 57 75 1210

Doubles – First Round
Goerges/Parra Santonja (GER/ESP) d. Morita/Sugiyama (JPN/JPN) 76(4) 64

Thursday Results: Birmingham

Is it me, or was every match ever played at Edgbaston today?

Top seed Zheng Jie Jie Zheng beat Britain’s last great up and coming no-hoper, Melanie South, and then lost to Magdalena Rybarikova. Still looks cute in the lavendar though.

Third and fifth seeds, Aleksandra Wozniak and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, also fell to Melinda Czink and Sania Mirza respectively. Mirza’s going on a little mini-tear here, isn’t she? Great stuff.

Meanwhile, the tournament’s basically-the-top-seed-although-not-officially, Maria Sharapova, beat Alexa Glatch and Francesca Schiavone back to back. Now that’s a good day’s work.

Singles – Third Round
(13) Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) d. (1) Zheng Jie (CHN) 76(10) 64
(16) Melinda Czink (HUN) d. (3) Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 67(7) 75 75
(4) Li Na (CHN) d. (15) Aravane Rezai (FRA) 75 64
Sania Mirza (IND) d. (5) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 76(3) 36 62
Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (7) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 61 63
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. (14) Roberta Vinci (ITA) 61 64
Urszula Radwanska (POL) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 76(3) 63
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) d. (WC) Naomi Cavaday (GBR) 64 62

Singles – Second Round
(1) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. Melanie South (GBR) 63 61
(4) Li Na (CHN) d. Jarmila Groth (SVK) 64 26 61
(5) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. (WC) Elena Baltacha (GBR)
67(1) 63 76(3)
(7) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Mariya Koryttseva (UKR) 61 61
Julia Goerges (GER) d. (8) Sara Errani (ITA) 64 57 75
(13) Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) d. (Q) Chanelle Scheepers (RSA)
67(8) 61 63
(14) Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. (Q) Lilia Osterloh (USA) 64 62
(15) Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 76(12) 36 62
(16) Melinda Czink (HUN) d. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 62 63
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. (LL) Michaella Krajicek (NED) 62 64
Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Alexa Glatch (USA) 63 64
Urszula Radwanska (POL) d. Petra Cetkovska (CZE) 63 75

Doubles – First Round
(1) Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) d. Errani/Kirilenko (ITA/RUS) 64 61
Schiavone/Vinci (ITA/ITA) d. (2) Mattek-Sands/Raymond (USA/USA) 63 63
(3) Chuang/Mirza (TPE/IND) d. King/Senoglu (USA/TUR) 61 75
(4) Kops-Jones/Spears (USA/USA) d. Amanmuradova/Rodionova (UZB/RUS)
62 63
Chan/Yan (TPE/CHN) d. (WC) Borwell/Keothavong (GBR/GBR) 62 64
Czink/Grandin (HUN/RSA) d. Ditty/Gullickson (USA/USA) 62 63
Shvedova/Tanasugarn (KAZ/THA) d. Koryttseva/Poutchek (UKR/BLR) 62 06 119

Suspended due to darkness
Goerges/Parra Santonja (GER/ESP) lead Morita/Sugiyama (JPN/JPN) 76(4) 33

Wednesday Results: Birmingham

Why does it always rain on British tennis? Home fave Anne Keothavong lost in straight sets to Sania Mirza (and that’s after leading, what, 5-1 in the second set)?

In other bad news for the Tims, Naomi Broady lost to Alla Kudryavsteva 64 in the third set of a match carried over from yesterday. But all is not lost; wildcard Naomi Cavaday (WTF is it with all these Naomis?) beat twelfth seed Tamarine Tanasugarn. C’mon Tim!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even Tanasugarn’s like “…. what?”

Sixth seed Ekaterina Makarova also fell to Voegele of Switzerland, but Aravane Rezai and Aleksandra Wozniak progressed smoothly enough. Maria Sharapova’s match with Alexa Glatch was called off with the Russian leading, so she’ll be back tomorrow.

Singles – Second Round
(3) Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) d. Olga Govortsova (BLR) 64 64
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) d. (6) Ekatarina Makarova (RUS) 63 36 62
Sania Mirza (IND) d. (11) Anne Keothavong (GBR) 61 76(5)
(WC) Naomi Cavaday (GBR) d. (12) Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 76(5) 26 64

Singles – First Round
(15) Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. (LL) Mariana Duque Marino (COL) 64 61
Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) d. (Q) Naomi Broady (GBR) 57 76(4) 64
(Q) Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) d. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 67(5) 76(7) 63
(Q) Lilia Osterloh (USA) d. Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) 67(4) 75 63

OOPs I Forgot: Queens, Halle, Birmingham

Sorry, totally forgot to do this last night.

Birmingham

CENTRE COURT 11:00am
Julie DITTY (USA) vs Naomi CAVADAY (GBR)
Maria SHARAPOVA (RUS) v Stephanie DUBOIS (CAN)
Melanie SOUTH (GBR) v Katie O’BRIEN (GBR)
Maria KIRILENKO (RUS) v Urszula RADWANSKA (POL)

COURT 1
Abigail SPEARS (USA) vs Naomi BROADY (GBR)
Vania KING (USA) v Jarmila GROTH (SVK)
Julie COIN (FRA) v Tamarine TANASUGARN (THA)
Georgie STOOP (GBR)v Elena BALTACHA (GBR)

Court 2
Michaella KRAJICEK (NED) v Tatiana POUTCHEK (BLR)
Olga GOVORTSOVA (BLR) v Yung-Jan CHAN (TPE)
Alexa GLATCH (USA) v Bethanie MATTEK-SANDS (USA)
Petra CETKOVSKA (CZE) v Stephanie FORETZ (FRA)

Court 3
Carly GULLICKSON (USA) v Raquel KOPS-JONES (USA)
Eleni DANIILIDOU (GRE) v Arantxa PARRA SANTONJA (ESP)
Anastasija SEVASTOVA (LAT) v Yanina WICKMAYER (BEL)
Roberta VINCI (ITA) v Severine BREMOND (FRA)

Court 4
Anastasia RODIONOVA (RUS) v Rika FUJIWARA (JPN)
Mariana DUQUE MARINO (COL) v Lilia OSTERLOH (USA)
Akgul AMANMURADOVA (UZB) v Magdalena RYBARIKOVA (SVK)

 Queens here.

Halle here.

WTA Week Ahead: Birmingham

Oh how I love this time of year! Suddenly everything feels so delightfully local.

Birmingham

Draw here.

K-Bond picked up the gravy boat last year, but unless I’ve developed selective Bondarenko blindness, I don’t see her in the draw this year.

Jie Zheng Zheng Jie is the top seed this year, and given that her quarter’s got two British girls (Mel South and Katie O’Brien) in it, I don’t see her having too much trouble. (Burn!) U-Rad vs. Kirilenko could be an interesting first-round, and knowledgeable people tell me to look out for Rybarikova. Clay-courter Errani could have trouble, but look for JZZJ (or ZJJZ, possibly) to come out of this quarter.

The big question in the second quarter is whether Aleksandra (?) Wozniak can back up a good Roland Garros run here. I should think so. The bottom half of that quarter also has three British girls – Keo, possibly-mythical Georgie Stoop, and feisty Baltacha – as well as possibly-engaged Sania Mirza. I still look for Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to strain the scoreboards until at least the quarter-finals though.

Li Na Na Li shouldn’t be too troubled in her quarter, although she’s got well known giant-killers Alla Kudryavsteva and Julie Coin lurking. Makarova’s success mystifies me (sorry Ekaterina!), and Aravane Rezai will hopefully have a new and outlandish outfit to keep us all guessing. LNNL (NLLN?) for the quarters, just to make me keep typing her name twice.

The big question about this draw was where Shazza was going to land. Well, it looks like Francesca Schiavone and Kaia Kanepi drew the short straw this time. Shazza shouldn’t be overly bothered by Dubois in the first round, but if Alexa Glatch can live up to an excellent Roland Garros result (double-baguetting Flavia Pennetta), then taking out Shazza in the second would bolster her Fed Cup claims no end. Kanepi doesn’t seem to have done too much since her Dubai run, but she has a pretty easy run. KK or Shazza for the semis.

Predicted semifinalists: Zheng, Pavlyuchenkova, Sharapova, Li

Predicted finalists: Ooh, could be all-Russian or all-Chinese. Who’s the emerging world superpower? Um … Zheng, Li

Winner: Zheng

Maria Sharapova to Play Birmingham

Shazza will be playing the former DFS Classic – now the AEGON Classic – at Edgbaston Priory as her first grass-court tournament of the season.

Shazza’s played it five times and won it twice.

Anne Keothavong and Zheng Jie Jie Zheng are also confirmed.

(via the LTA)