Twits

Friday, August 13, 2010

Bartoli blasts Caro

Caroline Wozniacki, then exactly two hours later Jelena Jankovic. The Top 2 seeds at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open were bundled out of the tournament on Thursday.

Wozniacki, the No.2 seed, had lost to Marion Bartoli in the pair's last meeting and this time it was no different, as the No.16-seeded Frenchwoman's two-fisted groundstrokes caught fire from 3-4 in the first set, and she won nine of the next 10 games to complete a 6-4 6-1 victory over the No.3-ranked Dane.

"With Caroline, you have to find the right balance between being aggressive and keeping the unforced errors low," said Bartoli, who hit 32 winners. "But she's not just a retriever. She retrieves very well, but she can step inside the baseline and dictate if you're hitting the ball right to her. You're not No.3 for nothing."

Bartoli earned her fifth career win over a Top 3 opponent: "The turning point was Wimbledon, when I beat Jelena and Justine," she said. "It helped me believe in myself. Sometimes, you lose before you go on the court because you're afraid to play against them; if you see my record, all my Top 3 wins came after that."

Shortly afterwards, Jankovic, the No.1 seed and defending champion, was ousted by qualifier Akgul Amanmuradova and her booming serve, 7-6(3) 6-4. The two hung tightly to their serve, with only one break in 24 service games - Jankovic lost her serve from having a 40-15 lead at 3-all in the second set.

"My opponent played really well. She served very well," said Jankovic, who withstood 12 aces and no double faults from Amanmuradova. "I thought that was the key to the match, actually. I didn't have much chance when I was returning. Unfortunately I lost today, but it's okay. It's part of the sport."

"I've never beaten anyone in the Top 10. She's No.2 right now and has a lot of titles - she's an incredible player," Amanmuradova said. "My serve is one of my strongest points. Today I served a lot of aces, which helped me save energy. Jelena moves very well and gets to every ball, so if I played rallies on every point, I would have already been tired in the first set."

As if No.1 and No.2 wasn't enough, No.6, No.7 and No.8 also fell. No.6 seed Vera Zvonareva lost six straight games from 4-3 up in the first set and fell to No.11 seed Flavia Pennetta, 6-4 6-3; No.7 seed Agnieszka Radwanska lost to No.10 seed Maria Sharapova, 6-2 6-3, her fifth straight loss to the former No.1; and No.8 seed Li Na fell to No.12 seed Yanina Wickmayer, 2-6 6-2 7-6(4).

5 comments:

Carlos said...

The thing with "The Big Stuffed Bunny" is that her ranking is bloated/over-rated. Like JJ The Big Bunny played a lot of tournaments to rack points and climb up the rankings, for JJ was to reach the number one ranking. It is no surprise to me when The Big Bunny crashes big time to opponents inside the top 20. Both Chinese players give her a hard time, Lisicki (remember the "incident" with her?) and the aforementioned Bartoli to name a few. I also think she is a drama queen.


I like tournaments with upsets, no matter the sport I like the underdog to beat the favorite.


Now I have the "Fist Pumping Imbecile" in the finals, but knowing my bad streak in predictions she might go out before then. :P

Emily or as Carlos likes to call me "Captain" said...

Yes "The Big Stuffed Bunny" really hasn't done much to earn the number 3 rank, and shouldn't have been 2 either! JJ did well to get to number 2 (thanks to venus' wimbledon upset) But players inside the top 20 give both of them trouble.

Tournaments with upsets make the tour more intresting! much more intresting!

so that means you would think the "Fist Pumping Imbecile"would beat "kim-kong" I'm going a Clijsters Bartoli final!

Carlos said...

For some strange reason I thought Divapova was going against "Kim Kong" in the semis, my bad. Not sold on "Kim Kong", just to let you know I strongly dislike a player who retires and then decides to comeback. I'll give the edge "Kim Kong" though, but she has been so inconsistent this year that I don't know which Kim will show up. As far as the "Fist Pumping Imbecile" she can wilt at any moment. I'm really waiting for a melt down from this woman, epic style. Winner "Kim Kong" more mentally strong than the "F.P.I." BTW god nickname for Mrs. K.C.


Double checking the draw. I have "Divapova" in the final vs. "Kim Kong". That shoulder will be tested for the rest of the tournament.

Emily or as Carlos likes to call me "Captain" said...

Oh ahaha that's okay! well yeah she has been a rollercoastr this year I think she's definatly got a very strong upperhand against "F.P.I" I think it would be horrible for her to get to the final, shes to mentaly week and the further she goes up the bigger shes going to crash! dissapointed at "F.P.I" making semi final I had a bet with a friend she will be out side the top 100 by the end of 2010, now she's going to shoot in to the top 40. Ahahahah thankyou, I think it fits.

Okay you have "Divapova" vs "Kim Kong" in the final and I have "Kim Kong" vs Marion lets wait and see what happens! I think Bartoli will be able to crack "Divapova" Don't know why I just have a feeling.

P.S. have you got a nickname for Bartoli?

Carlos said...

No, actually I don't have a nickname for Bartoli. Give me a couple of days to think of one.

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