Archive for: October 2008

Russian cutie pie, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has advanced to the Semifinals of the $100,000+H ITF Bratislava 2008 tournament being played in Bratislava, Slovak Republic Oct 27-Nov. 2.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is seeded No. 8 in the tournament. All three matches so far have been 3-set matches, but Pavlyuchenkova has stayed tough and won all three.

In the first round, she defeated No. 66 ranked Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. In round two, she defeated fellow Russian, No. 82 ranked Elena Vesnina 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. In the Quarterfinals Pavlyuchenkova defeated No. 45 ranked Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (9-7).

Elena Dementieva won the battle of two of our featured tennis cutie pies. Dementieva is seen here reacting after the final point.

It was the No. 1 seed, Elena Dementieva against the No. 4 seed, Caroline Wozniacki in the 2008 WTA Fortis Championships played in Luxembourg Oct. 20-26. Dementieva won the exciting close match in a 3rd set tie-break, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

That’s a great championship match. It is exciting to see Ana Ivanovic win a championship. But she did it so convincingly, 6-2, 6-1, that it did not make for a good championship match for the fans.

Check it out! This is a photo we haven’t seen for a while. Serbian tennis cutie pie, Ana Ivanovic, is receiving a trophy. Yes, she is the champion of the 2008 WTA Generali Ladies Linz tournament held in Linz Austria the past week.

Ana Ivanovic has really struggled since winning the French Open title June 8, 2008. That was eight tournaments ago. Now’s she back, losing only one set during the entire tournament. That’s the Ivanovic we know and love!

Tennis cutie pie, Patty Schnyder was eliminated in the 2nd round from the WTA Generali Ladies Linz tournament played Oct. 20-26 in Linz, Austria. She lost to Alona Bondarenko in an up-and-down match 2-6, 6-2, 1-6.

Patty Schnyder, ranked No. 11, had a bye in the 1st round. However, the No. 33 ranked Bondarenko from the Ukraine was too tough for her in the 2nd round.

After winning the WTA Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic four tournaments ago, Schnyder has been able to win only one match in the last three tournaments. That seems to be a plague affecting a lot of the top players toward the end of the season – inconsistency. Too bad there’s not a vaccination for the “inconsistency” disease.

Maria Kirilenko, a tennis cutie pie from Russia, was beaten out of the WTA Generali Ladies Linz tournament played in Linz, Austria Oct 20-26.

Maria Kirilenko won her first round against No. 81 ranked Olga Savchuk of the Ukraine, 6-2, 7-5. She then fell to No. 19 ranked Alize Cornet of France in a see-saw 3-set match 6-1, 2-6, 1-6. Do great the 1st set, then fall flat the last two sets. I call that see-saw.

Elena Dementieva has earned a berth in the final match of the WTA Fortis Championships at Luxembourg Oct. 20-26, 2008. She will meet Caroline Wozniacki.

Elena Dementieva has not dropped a set in this tournament through her first four matches. She defeated No. 100 ranked Tatjana Malek, No. 55 ranked Gisela Dulko, No. 24 ranked Amelie Mauresmo, and No. 39 ranked Sorana-Mihaela Cirstea.

The final match pits No. 5 ranked Dementieva against No. 16 ranked Wozniacki. It should be a great match.

Slovakian tennis cutie pie, Daniela Hantuchova, lost her quarterfinal match in the WTA Fortis Championships being played in Luxembourg Oct 20-26. Hantuchova’s opponent was 39th ranked Sorana-Mihaela Cirstea of Romania. Cirstea won the match 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.

In the first round, No. 15 ranked Daniela Hantuchova defeated No. 61 ranked Pauline Parmentier of France 6-2, 7-5. She had an easy win over No. 56 ranked Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-0, 6-2. Then Cirstea ended Hantuchova’s hopes for this tournament.

Hantuchova has made to the quarterfinals eight times this year in twenty tournaments. She won only two of those quarterfinal matches. In both cases, she lost the semifinal match. She has no tournaments wins this year.

Russian tennis cutie pie, Anna Chakvetadze, is out of the WTA Fortis Championships held Oct. 20-26, 2008 in Luxembourg. She was defeated by No. 42 ranked Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4.

Anna Chakvetadze, ranked No. 12, won a close first round match against No. 83 ranked Mathilde Johansson of Sweden, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). But she never really got into the match in her 2nd round.

Chakvetadze has won only two matches in her last six tournaments. Time to turn it around!

It’s into the finals for Danish cutie pie, Caroline Wozniacki, in the WTA Fortis Championships being held Oct. 20-26 in Luxembourg. Wozniacki, ranked No. 16, won a close 3-set semifinal match over No. 27th ranked Na Li of China, 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-2.

Caroline Wozniacki had not dropped a set in the 1st three matches. She defeated 49th ranked Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-2, 6-3 in the first round. The 2nd round was a 6-4, 6-4 win over 40th ranked Shuai Peng of China. In the quarterfinals, she defeated No. 22 ranked Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.

Serbian tennis cutie pie, Jelena Jankovic, continues to hold on to the top spot of the world rankings on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. This is an amazing feat, considering Jelena Jankovic has never won a Grand Slam title. In fact, she has only reached the finals once, which was this year at the US Open where she was defeated by Serena Williams in straight sets.

Yet her overall consistency is paying off. Jankovic has won four singles titles this year on the WTA Tour, including three in a row in September and October. That was a good run. However, in her last tournament, The WTA Zurich Open, she lost her first round in a 3-set match to No. 14 ranked Flavia Pennetta.