2014 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open

[Sundaymorningguy]

I don't know Sharapova has played terrible since winning the French Open, and she doesn't have an easy draw.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

However, Sharapova can gain the most points of anyone in the top 5. Simona can gain a lot of points too if she does well at the YEC. I can see Sharapova trying for that number 2 seed before Australia, so she doesn't have to deal with Serena before a final.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Main draw starts in about 10 hours, Venus is listed to play today.
Sveta and Nara go at it in a replay of DC Citiopen finals.
Camila plays too.

Genie appears in China.

 

[colleen66]

I can't wait to see how Serena plays in this tournament. With the tying of the American record off her shoulders, it will be interesting to see if she hits through the court with the same aplomb as last year.

 

[Hoergren]

Order of play Sunday, September 21, 2014

Centre Court -
11:00 - Shilin Xu (CHN) V Alison Riske (USA) 64 46 66 ret 2h 45 min
Heat drama ending the match with Riske 2 points away with 50 lead in the tiebraker when the Chinese broke down.
13:00 - Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) V Kurumi Nara (JPN) 63 62
15:00 - Venus Williams (USA) V Caroline Garcia (FRA) 46 64 67
17:00 - [16] Andrea Petkovic (GER) V Donna Vekic (CRO) 57 61 62

Court 1
11:00 - Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) V Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 76 76 2h 29 min!
13:00 - Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) V [13] Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 26 26
15:00 - Francesca Schiavone (ITA) V Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 62 67 46
17:00 - Darija Jurak / Megan Moulton-Levy (CRO / USA) V Casey Dellacqua / Lisa Raymond (AUS / USA) 62 64

Court 2
11:00 - Elina Svitolina (UKR) V Camila Giorgi (ITA) 62 63
13:00 - Klara Koukalova (CZE) V Zarina Diyas (KAZ) 46 76 26
15:00 - Karin Knapp (ITA) V Marina Erakovic (NZL) 64 26 61

Court 4
14:00 - [5] Alla Kudryavtseva / Anastasia Rodionova (RUS / AUS) V Yi-Fan Xu / Kai-Lin Zhang (CHN / CHN) 63 75

There IS a stream from center court and Tennis TV is sending from Wuhan.

http://www.drakulastream.eu/tennis-live-streaming-video.html - sorry for the adds.

Breaking news
Victoria Azarenka has withdraawn abd in her pkace is LL Beck, Annika GER

 

[Hoergren]

Sorry to see this but I hope she comaes back well in the new season:

Victoria Azarenka 6 minutes ago
Hi everyone, I have some news to share…Unfortunately I will not be competing in any tournaments for the remainder of the season. It has been a very tough year for me. I have been trying my best to improve day in and day out by pushing and pushing…but that does not appear to be the best approach for me right now. I will use this time to work on making a full recovery and take care of my body to compete at my best next season. I always believe that everything happens for a reason and everything doesn't happen the way you'd want it to but it is up to you to make the best out of everything that does…and that is exactly what I am going to do.

The sad part about making this decision is not being able to play in these amazing tournaments that I really enjoy playing in every year and performing in front of all of you! You are all truly my motivation and inspiration! I want to thank all my fans and my team for your support. It means a lot to me. I love you guys. There is a great deal for us to accomplish still. And I will be there with all my heart and passion giving you 100% to get it done! Love V

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

^ Thanks I just read this news on her facebook.I hope Vika can make a full recovery and I look forward to her returning to the tour next year.

 

[Bounce It !!]

^ Thanks I just read this news on her facebook.I hope Vika can make a full recovery and I look forward to her returning to the tour next year.

Best wishes to Vika, seems like a wise decision. She seemed to be digging a deeper hole, whether its physical or emotional. Best thing to do when digging oneself out of a hole, is to put down the shovel, and stop digging !

 

[Bounce It !!]

Venus v Caroline Garcia underway, Venus holds 1-0, Garcia firing her forehand, needs some adjustment.

 

[Hoergren]

Seems they are having long matches and another 2½ h match Caroline Garcia def Venus Williams. There's something about the name Caroline

 

[Bounce It !!]

Seems they are having long matches and another 2½ h match Caroline Garcia def Venus Williams. There's something about the name Caroline

I really thought Venus would win when she had match point, but Garcia was just to aggressive, she never let up. V needs to work on her top spin... it looked mine at times, either not enough to clear the net, or clears the far base line by 3-4 feet. Some of that was the pace provided by Garcia, most of it was just plain V.

 

[Hoergren]

Maybe a little geography is in place - because where is Wuhan in China? Here is a map:

Placed a little over 1200 km from Beijing - a 12 h trainride.
Timezone: CST (China Standard Time)UTC/GMT +8 hours.
Weather:
Mon Sep 22, Mainly sunny 26°C, NE 10 km/h
Tue Sep 23 Cloudy with sunny breaks 26°C, N 15 km/h
Wed Sep 24 Mainly sunny 26°C, N 10 km/h
Thu Sep 25 A mix of sun and clouds 27°C, E 5 km/h
Fri Sep 26 Chance of a shower 26°C, E 10 km/h
Sat Sep 27 A mix of sun and clouds 26°C, 10-15 mm rain, NE 10 km/h
Sun Sep 28 Rain 25°C, >10 mm rain, NE 6 km/h


Holding sub-provincial status, Wuhan is recognized as the political, economic, financial, cultural, educational and transportation center of central China. The city of Wuhan, first termed as such in 1927, has a population of 10,220,000 people (as of 2013)

 

[Si Si Simona]

You think Sharapova is guaranteed to do well in Wuhan?

I just did the math. She will be ranked 3 after Wuhan. Kviti cant close a 500 points gap.
Screamer will be ranked 2 before the end of the year imo. Simo wont play Moscow and her form is in question mark.
Simo doesnt handle her ranking well and is losing many points lately, sad to say.
I hope she proves me wrong and the only way is to start fighting like she did in 2013.
I doubt if she has that fight in her now.
As her fan I can show off and talk sophisticated stuff like tennis "experts" do but it wont change reality.

 

[faradubii]

I just did the math. She will be ranked 3 after Wuhan. Kviti cant close a 500 points gap.

Your math is dubious, right now Kvitova has 350 points over Sharapova, so Masha passes her to #3 only if she reaches SF and Kvitova bows out in her 1st match; it could happen, but I highly doubt it. If Kvitova wins her 1st match, Masha needs a final.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

The next 2 weeks will tell a lot about the tour, this is the last crunch time, last drill of the year,last chance to save a bad year.
The horses with the most desire and energy will go on, others will fall behind or limp away.
I have seen Caro and Aga win the double prize in back to back years, it's a new year and a new format, no one has done it since Aga did it in 2011. We shall see how this turns.
But one thing is for sure, no one gets a free pass!

 

[Si Si Simona]

I just did the math. She will be ranked 3 after Wuhan. Kviti cant close a 500 points gap.

Your math is dubious, right now Kvitova has 350 points over Sharapova, so Masha passes her to #3 only if she reaches SF and Kvitova bows out in her 1st match; it could happen, but I highly doubt it. If Kvitova wins her 1st match, Masha needs a final.

No, thats wrong. You base your count on the official rankings which dont count the change starting on the day the event started.
At start of Wuhan, Petra has only 5027 while Screamer has 5575. Thats how both start the event. I cant see Petra getting 500 points more than screamer.
Petra lost her Tokyo 900 points, its counted per year, 365 days.
You just dont know that stuff, no big deal. Unlike other fans who laugh at the "idiots" who dont know, I understand, no problem. I also had to learn it once.
Screamer has nothing to defend until 2015, thats why it will be easy for her to be ranked 2 before 2015.
If Simona wakes up and starts to win then she may keep the 2nd place.

 

[Si Si Simona]

Poor Victoria always did everything the hard way. A fighter is always a fighter and it shows on her injuries.

 

[Si Si Simona]

The next 2 weeks will tell a lot about the tour, this is the last crunch time, last drill of the year,last chance to save a bad year.
The horses with the most desire and energy will go on, others will fall behind or limp away.
I have seen Caro and Aga win the double prize in back to back years, it's a new year and a new format, no one has done it since Aga did it in 2011. We shall see how this turns.
But one thing is for sure, no one gets a free pass!

Its just two weeks in Asia but I like your style
What you really want to say is that your Masha has come to kick some @rse and wont be an easy ride. We get it

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Sorry to see this but I hope she comaes back well in the new season:

Victoria Azarenka 6 minutes ago
Hi everyone, I have some news to share…Unfortunately I will not be competing in any tournaments for the remainder of the season. It has been a very tough year for me. I have been trying my best to improve day in and day out by pushing and pushing…but that does not appear to be the best approach for me right now. I will use this time to work on making a full recovery and take care of my body to compete at my best next season. I always believe that everything happens for a reason and everything doesn't happen the way you'd want it to but it is up to you to make the best out of everything that does…and that is exactly what I am going to do.

The sad part about making this decision is not being able to play in these amazing tournaments that I really enjoy playing in every year and performing in front of all of you! You are all truly my motivation and inspiration! I want to thank all my fans and my team for your support. It means a lot to me. I love you guys. There is a great deal for us to accomplish still. And I will be there with all my heart and passion giving you 100% to get it done! Love V

Hope she recovers well and becomes competitive again. I want her back soon as she is
probably the only person with mental and physical wherewithal to give a tough fight to Serena.
With Vika MIA, Serena's quest to catch Steffi will be lot easy.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Maybe a little geography is in place - because where is Wuhan in China? Here is a map:

Placed a little over 1200 km from Beijing - a 12 h trainride.
Timezone: CST (China Standard Time)UTC/GMT +8 hours.
Weather:
Mon Sep 22, Mainly sunny 26°C, NE 10 km/h
Tue Sep 23 Cloudy with sunny breaks 26°C, N 15 km/h
Wed Sep 24 Mainly sunny 26°C, N 10 km/h
Thu Sep 25 A mix of sun and clouds 27°C, E 5 km/h
Fri Sep 26 Chance of a shower 26°C, E 10 km/h
Sat Sep 27 A mix of sun and clouds 26°C, 10-15 mm rain, NE 10 km/h
Sun Sep 28 Rain 25°C, >10 mm rain, NE 6 km/h


Holding sub-provincial status, Wuhan is recognized as the political, economic, financial, cultural, educational and transportation center of central China. The city of Wuhan, first termed as such in 1927, has a population of 10,220,000 people (as of 2013)

OK. Where is Shenzhen?