Twits

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Wickmayer upsets Li.


Li Na, Asia's first Grand Slam finalist, became the first big name to fall at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, losing a heartbreaker to Yanina Wickmayer on Centre Court Wednesday evening.

Li, the No.5 seed, seemed to have finally figured out Yanina Wickmayer as she built quadruple match point at 6-2 in their second set tie-break, but Wickmayer fought all of them off and wound up the winner, 6-7(6) 7-6(6) 6-2.

"The last time I played her I won 7-6 in the third, so I knew it was going to be tough," Wickmayer said. "She had four match points in a row - it wasn't easy to come back from that one. I kept fighting. I stayed aggressive and positive."

Wickmayer got her second Top 10 win over the No.7-ranked Li, having beaten a No.9-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska in Fed Cup play last season.

"I also saved three match points against Radwanska," Wickmayer said. "I don't think I've ever saved four in a row. I knew I had to keep going for my shots."

Next up for Wickmayer won't be a Top 10 player, but the closest thing to that - No.11. Shahar Peer, the No.9 seed here, won their last meeting right here a year ago. "I've played Shahar a few times. She's a big fighter, so it won't be easy. But I'm not really thinking about tomorrow yet. It has been a really big one for me today and I'll think about that one tomorrow when I wake up."

Wickmayer leads Peer in their head-to-head series, 2-1.

Li was playing her first match since finishing runner-up to Kim Clijsters in Melbourne. She rose to a career-high No.7 in the world afterwards.

Another one of the top seeds was in trouble but managed to get by, as No.1 seed Caroline Wozniacki advanced past Anna Chakvetadze with a 6-1 3-5 retirement victory. Chakvetadze retired with a gastrointestinal illness.

"Suddenly I saw her collapse on the court. I didn't know what happened, so I went over to her. I wanted to know what was going on," Wozniacki said. "It was a shock. It was scary. She's a good friend of mine. It's not a nice sight. I wanted to make sure she was okay and the doctors went out as soon as possible."

Wozniacki can regain the No.1 ranking from Clijsters by reaching the semifinals this week. She next faces young Japanese qualifier Ayumi Morita.

The seeds were spotless during the day session. No.2 seed Vera Zvonareva rebounded from her semifinal loss in Pattaya City with a 6-3 6-1 win over Roberta Vinci; No.4 seed Samantha Stosur rolled past Pattaya City finalist Sara Errani, 6-0 6-1; No.6 seed Jelena Jankovic beat Chanelle Scheepers, 6-2 6-3; No.7 seed Victoria Azarenka scraped by Peng Shuai, 4-6 6-2 7-6(5); and No.8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska beat Anastasija Sevastova, 7-5 6-4. No.9 seed Shahar Peer, No.10 seed Marion Bartoli, No.11 seed Flavia Pennetta, No.12 seed Kaia Kanepi, No.15 seed Alisa Kleybanova, Patty Schnyder and Ayumi Morita also advanced to the round of 16 on Day 3.

7 comments:

Carlos said...

I'll focus on the doubles.

There are pretty good double teams in this tournament.

Azarenka left her old partner Aggie for The Princess. Good move for both they are good doubles team. I'm going to pick Angry Bird/The Princess -which I'm now calling them "Double Trouble"- to win the whole thing. Lets see if they learned from the AO final. A possible semis meeting with the number one doubles seed. Lets hope Angry Bird doesn't go bonkers again.

Aggie now paired with Dani H. That is a good a combo. Dani is a good doubles player. I remember when a teenage Dani got to the AO final when she paired with Sanchez-Vicario; they lost though. This team like Double Trouble can make noise this year.

Srebotnik, she was the type of singles player that no one would wanted to have in their bracket, even the top contenders. She would put a tough fight, by no means she was a super star but she would give hell to the super stars. She got injured and hasn't been the same in singles. She is a good doubles player partnered with Peschke are the number one doubles seed in this tournament. I think they are going to be tested by the Americans Bethanie/Shaughnessy.

I'm hoping for, more like wishful thinking Aggie/Danni vs. Double Trouble.

Couple of questions to you Captain, Is King still a double partner with Shvedova? Is there any word on Venus's injury?

PS I'm calling Azarenka "Angry Bird". :P

Carlos said...

QF I have

Stosur, Aggie, and Kleybanova, winning.

I'm late for The Big Stuffed Bunny's match but I wasn't surprised by the result.

Anonymous said...

I thought this Aggie match started at 11am Eastern.. Guess it got moved up.

Anyway, Aggie is down 4-3 in the first set.

Anonymous said...

Not very happy. The bunny is #1 again and Aggie just lost a first set tie break after being up 4-2 and having 2 set points.

Carlos said...

Aggie just got smoked in the second set.

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

Carlos, Venus' injury has forced her out of her next tournament where she is again. Twice defending champion.

I believe she will return in Miami. That's all I know.

And Carlos, I will not even comment on your predictions. :P

King still a double partner with Shvedova I believe, but because of Shvedova's injury, I think she is taking time away from doubles!

Carlos said...

My "gut feeling" let me down today, :P but is nice to see Pennetta doing well.

Kuzzie/Vera downed Aggie/Dani. I wonder if it is a one time pairing for this two Russians.

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