All of us must have made a lot of New
Year resolutions and must have thought of the things that we wanted to do this
year. One thing that I thought of doing this year was to start a weekly article
on the blog, featuring the summary of the tournaments of the week and awarding
players for their performance during that week. I thought about it, what to
name the article and I came up with the name of “Weekend Warriors”. I am excited to be starting this article and I
am in the process of completion of this article. I hope that all of you will
like it.
Champions
Auckland (ASB Classic) : Radwanska d. Wickmayer 6-4 6-4
Brisbane International : Serena Williams d.Anastasia
Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 6-1
Shenzhen Longgang Gemdale Open : Li Na d. Zakopalova 6-3 1-6 7-5
Agnieska
Radwanska became the first WTA titlist of 2013 when
she defeated Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets to win Auckland. It is for the first time that
Radwanska has won her first event of the year. The Wimbledon runner-up last
year did not lose a set en-route to her first title of the year.
Radwanska started her 2013 campaign with
a win over Greta Arn and followed it up with wins over Simona Halep, Elena
Vesnina, Jamie Hampton and Yanina Wickmayer.
Wickmayer has to be happy with her
runner-up showing in her first event of the year. En-route she defeated
Anastasija Sevastona, Johanna Larsson and Mona Barthel.
Serena Williams picked up her 2013
campaign just where she left it in 2012.
Serena Williams has now won 16 straight matches. She powered her way to her
first 2013 trophy and her 47th overall title. Serena Williams defeated
Varvara Lepchenko, Alize Cornet, Sloane Stephens and finally Anastasia
Pavlyuchenkova to win Brisbane International event for the first time.
The
Brisbane field was everything one could ask for in a non-slam event. Only two
of the top 10 players were missing. There were some upsets and some unfortunate
with-drawls from Brisbane International but overall it provided the drama and
heat everyone was looking forward to.
Withdrawals started with reigning French
Open champion, Maria Sharapova, who withdrew from Brisbane International due to
right collarbone injury. It was followed by the withdrawal of reigning
Australian Open champion and world no.1 Victoria Azarenka, from the
block-buster semi-final against Serena Williams. Azarenka had to withdraw due
to the infection on her toe that she sustained from a bad pedicure. The good
news is that she will be ready in time for the defence of her Australian Open
title.
Upsets started with the surprise win of
Sofia Arvidsson over Samantha Stosur in the first round. Ksenia Pervak kept the
upset streak going with her hard fought win over Caroline Wozniacki. Jarmila
Gajdosova upset Roberta Vinci to justify her wild-card and move into the 2nd
round. Daniela Hantuchova showed the glimpses of her former self when she upset
the world no.6 Sara Errani. Petra Kvitova bowed in the 2nd round to
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Pavlyuchenkova followed up her surprise win over
Kvitova by a hard fought straight sets win over world no. 5 Angelique Kerber.
Shenzhen did good in its inaugural year
by attracting a good field in Li Na, being the top seed and Marion Bartoli, the
second seed.
Li Na powered her way to her first title
of the year as she defeated Klara Zakopalova in 3 sets in the final to clinch
the title. The French Open 2011 champion defeated Mandy Minella in the first
round, Julia Cohen in the second round, Bojana Jovanovski in the QF, Shuai Peng
in the semi-finals and Klara Zakopalova in the final.
Klara Zakopalova did great in making her
way through Andrea Hlavackova, Elina Svitolina, Marion Bartoli and Monica
Niculescu, but fell short in the final against Li Na.
Let us move on to the awards.
Players of the Week:
Agnieszka Radwanska
Serena Williams, and
Li Na
Performance of the Week:
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Honourable
Mentions
Ksenia Pervak
Klara Zakopalova
Sloane Stephens
Surprises of the Week
Lesia Tsurenko
Jamie Hampton
Monica Niculescu
Disappointments
of the Week
Petra Kvitvoa
Angelique Kerber
Victoria Azarenka (her late withdrawal
from her semi-final match against Serena Williams)
Caroline Wozniacki
Players
to watch for Australian Open:
Sloane Stephens
Jamie Hampton
Mona Barthel
Yanina Wickmayer
Klara Zakopalova
That is all for this week. Any additions
that you would like to see in the article just let me know. Happy tennis season 2013.
Good job, Omair. I'm impressed with this article. I would add Medina-Garrigues to the list of players of the week. She really carried Spain to the victory at HC.
ReplyDeleteAzarenka is definitely a disappointment, her attitude stinks. I would add Pavlychenkova to the list of players to watch at AO, she's had a great run in Brisbane. Was it not for Serena she'd have the title,IMO.
Thanks Nina! I hope I can keep this weekly article coming :)
ReplyDeleteYes, You are right! AMG Should have been there in the players of the week. Actually, I had published the article before the HC final.
And yes, Pavlyuchenkova is also the one to watch for the AO. I watched the final. She was very solid till 2-all in the first set, but once Serena broke her serve, Pavlyuchenkova completely lost her plot.
and yes, may be you are right, had it not been for Serena, Pavlyuchenkova would have been holding the trophy.
Excellent Omair Malik ,
ReplyDeleteYou guy did great jobs on these article name is Weekend Warriors.
I am big fan of tennis and serena williams.
.