Apia International Sydney 2014

[Correspondent Kiu]

Thursday, January 09, 2014

Ken Rosewall Arena
11:00 Julia Goerges / Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (GER / CZE) V Timea Babos / Lucie Safarova (HUN / CZE)
14:30 Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) V [2] Petra Kvitova (CZE)
16:00 Madison Keys (USA) V [5]Angelique Kerber (GER)

Grandstand
13:00 [1] Sara Errani / Roberta Vinci (ITA / ITA) V [4] Raquel Kops-Jones / Abigail Spears (USA / USA)

No more surprises, me thinks!

Petra vs. Angie in the final, Petra is poised to take this one.
I doubt Tsvetana or Angie can stop her.

Question is, Can Madison beat Angie? It is possible but Keys will need a good strategy.

 

[kskate2]

Not likely Maddy has the necessary belief to beat Angie. After Kerber's early flame out in Brisbane, she looks sharp this week. It will be difficult to beat her. Even Petra might find the task daunting.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Wow, a battle of the players who showed promise in Kerber and Petra, but have been spectacularly good at finding a way to lose and not live up to their ranking. It should be entertaining. I hope they have a new mindset for 2014. I saw Petra has been working on her fitness. All I can say to that is it is about time on that one.

 

[HawkEye]

As qualification starts within the next12 hours it might be in time to start this thread for the final AO preparations tournament. Press the following link and you'll get the order of play for the qualifiers:

Order of play for the qualifiers Friday

Then it's up to you to give comments, predictions etc. to the players on the player list:

Agnieszka Radwanska POL
Petra Kvitova CZE :nono
Sara Errani ITA :nono
Jelena Jankovic SRB
Angelique Kerber GER uzzled
Caroline Wozniacki DEN
Simona Halep ROU uzzled
Sloane Stephens USA uzzled
Roberta Vinci ITA :nono
Carla Suarez Navarro ESP uzzled
Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS uzzled
Sorana Cirstea ROU uzzled
Dominika Cibulkova SVK
Ekaterina Makarova RUS uzzled
Alize Cornet FRA uzzled
Jamie Hampton USA uzzled
Lucie Safarova CZE uzzled
Kaia Kanepi EST
Eugenie Bouchard CAN
Daniela Hantuchova SVK :nono

Signs: will do ok uzzled not sure how good :nono nay - more practise

hoergren your predictions didn't turn out to be very acurate. A bit of a wishful thinking I assume.

 

[Hoergren]

Kiu you got another upset - the biggest until now Pironkova beats Kvito in straights 64 63:clap and that to a qualifier. It shows me that anything can happen in tennis and the level has upped again. It can be a quite exiting AO

And for hawkeye. It's just for fun and it wasn't me this time. Actually it was just to get all of you out of the foxholes to comment - I didn't quite succeed in that.

 

[Hoergren]

Final day in Sydney

Friday, January 10, 2014
Ken Rosewall Arena

19:30 [5] Angelique Kerber (GER) V Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 46 46
21:30 [1] Sara Errani / Roberta Vinci (ITA / ITA) V Timea Babos / Lucie Safarova (HUN / CZE) 57 63 7-10

Can Pironkova go all the way? - she's got the game for it

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

the qualifier

Versus

The remaining Top seed

 

[kskate2]

Why are they both taped up? I think Angie takes this one in a battle royale.

 

[MashaFan]

I saw this match (Pironkova vs Kvitova) and Petra was unrecognizable - Maybe she was sick or something bad had happened before the match - I dunno? - Her face was kinda zombie like - no expression - no emotions and I was really sorry for her - Tsvetana at the other hand played well - She kept the boll in play and let Petra make the errors - Occasionally Tsvetana however could hit some good winners as well - I assume that Kerber will win the final but I like it a lot when a way lower ranked player appears from the shadows and win - Go Tsvetana!!!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Good win for Pironkova as a qualifer making the final in Sydney.I believe this is the first time a qualifer has made the final in Sydney.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Why are they both taped up? I think Angie takes this one in a battle royale.

Scars of battle!

I was wrong before so here I try again.
8 wins for the 26 year old Bulgarian must have her tired, Kerber will not lose to a qualifier.

Kerbie in 2 sets.

 

[Hoergren]

Well well Kerber has just lost first set 64 and she's not playing bad Pironkova is just better. See where the fairytale ends - exciting:clap

And SHE did it in a convincing way 64 64 congratulations Pironkova - you've earned a lot of fans. The first qualifier in 3½ years to win a premier event - AND her first WTA title - what a week for Pironkovaclap:clap

 

[kskate2]

Why are they both taped up? I think Angie takes this one in a battle royale.

Scars of battle!

I was wrong before so here I try again.
8 wins for the 26 year old Bulgarian must have her tired, Kerber will not lose to a qualifier.

Kerbie in 2 sets.

Kerbie did just the opposite. Lost in 2 tough sets and the grass court specialist gets her first career title. Great job Piro! :clap

 

[Front242]

Very impressed by Pironkova's performance and delighted for her. Ever since she beat Venus Williams easily two successive Wimbledon's I've always wondered why she didn't do better than she has. Maybe this is the start of her coming up the rankings.

 

[Hoergren]

Very impressed by Pironkova's performance and delighted for her. Ever since she beat Venus Williams easily two successive Wimbledon's I've always wondered why she didn't do better than she has. Maybe this is the start of her coming up the rankings.

Indeed she has moved - 50 places - now actual #57 - well done Pironkova.:clap

 

[Front242]

Very impressed by Pironkova's performance and delighted for her. Ever since she beat Venus Williams easily two successive Wimbledon's I've always wondered why she didn't do better than she has. Maybe this is the start of her coming up the rankings.

Indeed she has moved - 50 places - now actual #57 - well done Pironkova.:clap

Nice. With her game she could easily be top 20. Just has to up the consistency. Commentators are already hyping her up after this win saying she'll do well in Melbourne and I hope so but all too often when a player wins their first title they're so over the moon for ages that they under perform next tournament. Hope not in this case.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Why are they both taped up? I think Angie takes this one in a battle royale.

Scars of battle!

I was wrong before so here I try again.
8 wins for the 26 year old Bulgarian must have her tired, Kerber will not lose to a qualifier.

Kerbie in 2 sets.

Kerbie did just the opposite. Lost in 2 tough sets and the grass court specialist gets her first career title. Great job Piro! :clap

Remarkable job by the Bulgarian. No one thought she could do it.

Congrads.

 

[Hoergren]

Finals
Friday, January 10, 2014
Ken Rosewall Arena

19:30 [5] Angelique Kerber (GER) V Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 46 46
21:30 [1] Sara Errani / Roberta Vinci (ITA / ITA) V Timea Babos / Lucie Safarova (HUN / CZE) 57 63 7-10

So the day of surprises are over - Sydney 2014 is over - what a nice tournament this year. Two surprise winners - well well - 2014 here they come. Now over to Australian Open. Thanks for taking part in this thread.:clap

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Wow, I see Petra and Angelique are still good at ruining great opportunities for themselves to get back into conversations, lol.

 

[10isfan]

According to Potro, the surface was playing as fast as grass. That explains why a grass specialist won the title. Not entirely sure she will do that much better than she has been except on grass.