Midwest Sports Tennis Blog

Bali tennis tournament news and results

Aravane Rezai became the first winner of the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali when Marion Bartoli retired after the opening set. The first four games went with serve, before Bartoli broke to lead 3-2. Rezai was leading 6-5 when Bartoli limped to her chair and called for the trainer. She was in obvious pain but attempted to continue the match. After double-faulting to lose the set, she retired with a left quad strain.

Women’s Singles, Final
Aravane Rezai d (1) Marion Bartoli 7-5, 0-0 (Ret’d)

Women’s Singles, Semifinal
(1)Marion Bartoli d Kimiko Date Krumm 6-1, 6-3
Aravane Rezai d Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-2, 6-3

**UPDATE: According to the Associated Press, Yanina Wickmayer has said she will appeal her one-year suspension for failing to report her whereabouts to anti-doping officials.

http://www.cbssports.com/tennis/story/12483053/itf-confirms-one-year-bans-for-belgian-players-wickmayer-malisse 

http://www.commbanktennis.com/

Women’s tennis tour still waiting

It will be a few more months until we hear whether or not Sony Ericsson will decide to re-sign a new title sponsorship for the WTA Tour. Their current $88 million deal expires at the end of 2010, and due to Sony Ericsson’s financial struggles, there are rumors that the mobile communications company may not continue the sponsorship.

Losses have been reported in successive quarters and a new group of leaders have been put into place to re-inject the company with life. The company also has contracts with the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and Maria Sharapova, which are both due to expire in 2011.

Both the WTA Tour board and Sony Ericsson’s corporate VP, Aldo Liguori, have been in talks that are expected to become more serious in the next few weeks.

“The deadline to respond to the renewal is the end of this year. We still have a little bit of time left. I can certainly confirm….we are looking at our sponsorship seriously. We haven’t made any decision yet, and all options are open,” Liguori said.

Do you think it would be beneficial for Sony Ericsson to continue the record setting sponsorship for another six years? Do you think it is realistic?

DailyTennisNews@racquettech.com

Bali WTA Results

The Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions is now underway.

Singles, Nov. 4, 2009

A Group:
Marion Bartoli (1) d Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4  6-4
B Group:
Samantha Stosur (2) d Agnes Szavay 6-2  3-6  6-1
C Group:
Yanina Wickmayer (3) d Kimiko Date Krumm 7-6(5)  6-3
D Group:
Aravane Rezai d Sabine Lisicki (4) 1-6  6-3  6-4

Singles, Nov. 5, 2009

A Group:
Shahar Peer d Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1  7-6(4)
B Group:
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez d Agnes Szavay 4-6  6-4  6-0
C Group:
Kimiko Date Krumm d Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4  6-3
D Group:
Aravane Rezai d Melinda Czink 6-3  7-5

Which player has impressed you the most? Follow this link to answer the Bali Poll toward the bottom of the page:  http://www.commbanktennis.com/

Women’s Tennis in Bali: who is allowed to play?

The tennis players that will be competing at the inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali this week include Marion Bartoli, Samantha Stosur and Yanina Wickmayer (US Open semi-finalist).

The WTA Tour rules do not allow players to compete in both the Sony Ericsson Championships and Bali; which is why you won’t see players like Dinara Safina or Caroline Wozniacki in Bali. Players who competed in doubles during Doha and have qualified for singles in Bali –like Samantha Stosur and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez— are allowed to play.

Another woman who will be allowed to play in Bali is Shahar Pe’er, the Israeli player who was prevented from entering the United Arab Emirates and playing in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships eight months ago. This was a huge breach of WTA Tour rules which state that no host country can deny a player the right to compete in any event on the tour that she has qualified for.

Indonesia (Bali) has no diplomatic relations with Israel and there were doubts as to whether Pe’er would be able to compete. Stacey Allaster, WTA Tour chief executive officer, put an abrupt stop to these doubts when she made it clear to the Indonesian government that the entire event would be cancelled if Pe’er was denied entry into the country.

The matches of this event will occur November 4-8.

DailyTennisNews@racquettech.com

How are the women doing in DOHA?

Singles Oct. 30, 2009

White Group
Jelena Jankovic (8)(SRB) d Caroline Wozniacki (4)(DEN) 6-2  6-2
Agnieszka Radwanska (10)(POL) d Victoria Azarenka (6)(BLR) 4-6  7-5  4-1

Maroon Group
Svetlana Kuznetsova (3)(RUS) d Elena Dementieva (5)(RUS) 6-3  6-2

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/page/Scores/0,,12781,00.html

Catch WTA Championships on Tennis Channel

If you haven’t tuned in yet, you can catch the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships in Doha, Qatar this week! The Tennis Channel previously announced that they will be screening the championships on a daily basis with more than 30 hours of live coverage in the United States.

Playing for the singles will be defending champion Venus Williams, along with Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva and Victoria Azarenka. For the doubles, playing will be the Williams sisters as well as Cara Black and Liezel Huber, Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez, and Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs.

Leif Shiras as well as Lindsay Davenport and Corina Morariu will host as the commentary team, giving you analysis and news as it happens. The coverage by the Tennis Channel will be live and will include all round-robin matches, singles semifinals and doubles play for the six-day event. Prime-time encore replays will air every evening at 8 p.m. ET.

DailyTennisNews@racquettech.com

Aussie Tennis Pro Stosur Wins First WTA Tour Title at Japan Open

While the men were struggling through their Asian tennis tour, Samantha Stosur made her mark and won her first WTA Tour title at the Japan Open. In her final match, the Australian defeated world No. 24, Francesca Schiavone 7-5  6-1 to win.

“I just told myself not to panic, keep doing the same things as I did in the first set and stay positive. I’m very pleased to win my first title after losing five previous finals. It has been a personal goal for a while, so I’m glad to have achieved it and it’s the perfect way to finish my year in singles,” Stosur told the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour after the match.

Not only did Stosur claim a win over No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-0  4-6  6-4, she did it without dropping a set on her way to that semi final. Neither Stosur nor her final opponent had strong finals records, but the Australian pulled it off and is now 4-1 lifetime against Schiavone.

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/news/sams-singles-breakthrough-20091018_2256076_1829520

http://thetennistimes.com/samantha-stosur-wins-her-first-wta-tour-title-at-japan-open/