D’oha: Day 4

Jelena Jankovic defeated a one-legged Caroline Wozniacki routinely 6-2, 6-2 to clinch her spot in the semifinals. JJ is apparently the most non-deserving semifinalist EVER but it really wasn’t her fault that Dinara Safina is having back problems nor that Caro only has one leg. She showed up, didn’t retire and kept both her feet on the ground without wincing and she’s in the semis. Luck plays a great part in every sport and you can’t rag on a girl for being a little lucky.

Svetlana Kuznetsova likes Americans. In a dead round robin match for her against fellow Russian, Elena Dementieva, who needed to win this match to advance to the semifinals, Sveta squashed Lena’s hopes 6-3, 6-2 for reasons only a $100,000 check can explain. And maybe professional athletes. With this Sveta win, Lena is now on her way back to Monte Carlo and Venus Williams gets a pass to the semis.

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Victoria Azarenka has had an unfortunate few days in Doha. Failing to close out Caroline Wozniacki in their round robin meeting, Vika failed again against alternate #2, Agnieszka Radwanska. Leading 6-4, 5-2 (yeah, seriously, again) with a match point, she double faults it away. It’s all downhill from there and in the third set she acquired a left thigh injury which forced her to retire from the match trailing 6-4, 5-7, 1-4 and in tears.

Vika’s loss gives Caro a pass to the semifinals.

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D’oha: Day 3

Caroline Wozniacki gutted out a win against Vera Zvonareva. Blood, sweat and tears were involved. Lots of them.

Caro and her bum leg seemed to be steamrolling Vera at 6-0, 5-2. But this is the WTA and we all know 5-2 is still not a safe lead (6-2 might be). Hey, even Roger Federer lost to Jo-Wilfried after leading 5-2 in the deciding set. Anyway, Caro lost that second set in a tie-breaker. Then, come the deciding set and Caro cramped halfway through it. As in, she could barely walk and in tears while serving out the match at 5-4 but she somehow did and won it 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4. I admire you, Caroline.

Now, Caro wasn’t the only one having physical issues. Vera had blood coming out of her nose and played like this.

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For serious. This match was one for the ages in terms of just pure drama.

After overcoming back to back super long physically and mentally draining matches, Caro still might not clinch a semifinal berth if Victoria Azarenka and Jelena Jankovic win their matches tomorrow. Round robin is crazy. There should be an extra set awarded for super effort.

Serena Williams is undefeated in round robin play and has clinched a semifinal berth after she dusted off Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-4. Nothing much happened there but since it’s ReRe and there should be some sort of news when she’s out, she… said some words about Andre Agassi’s crystal meth confession.

I don’t even know what crystal meth is so, you know, that’s what my reaction to it is. I haven’t read anything about Andre Agassi’s book. All I know is that I have a book coming out.

Hahhhh, you think you’re so funny. Stay classy, World Number 1.

Venus Williams finally won a match and kept her semifinal berth kind of alive. She defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4. She’s played all her 3 matches and her semifinal fate will rely on the hands of the lady she just defeated. If Sveta wins her match against Elena Dementieva tomorrow, then Vee will move on to the semis.

Sveta has no real reason to win tomorrow except to save face and not go 0-3 in Doha so it should be interesting to see how much effort she’ll actually put in the match.

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D’oha: Day 2

Day 2 in Doha wasn’t as exciting. Or maybe it’s just me since I only saw the Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic 10-minute hit.

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According to my Twitter dashboard, the match between Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka brought some type of excitement. Not that Caro’s game is ever exciting. I like the girl a lot but I can’t say the same about her playing style. Nevertheless, she defeated Vika 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 in a match that lasted almost 3 hours.

Vika had a match point sometime during that 3 hours and couldn’t convert. I’m going to guess it was when she was up 5-4 in the third. Then, at one point went ballistic and was awarded a code violation. I give credit to Caro for hanging in there. Keep pushing, Sunshine.

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Now, this match I saw and I can tell you that Dinara Safina gave the match to Jelena Jankovic. Dina had to retire in the third game with a back injury. She has officially pulled out of the tournament and will be replaced by Vera Zvonareva.

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Serena Williams defeated her big sister, Venus Williams, in their RR match 5-7, 6-4, 7-6.

In a must win match for Vee, she, just like yesterday, looked to be in good position for a solid victory after winning the first set. She then drops the second set and we all know it can only be trouble for her after that.

D’oha

For what I thought was going to be a yawner of a year-end championships, Day 1 in Doha actually brought some entertainment.

First, there was the bitch!mess of Victoria Azarenka and Jelena Jankovic. Thank you draw makers for that. Vika dusted off JJ 6-2, 6-3. The entertainment for this match came in the presser just like most of JJ’s matches.

According to JJ,

I basically gave her everything. I beat myself. That was really unfortunately the case. My game was completely off.

Vika was only grateful for that gift, J. May I call you J?

I’m glad she gave me the match and she was not in the mood. It worked out pretty well for me.

Lovely. I didn’t see the match (I thought it started at 10AM Pacific duh) but from what I hear there were no MTOs nor on-court coaching. There were so  many impressive things in this encounter. I would like to see more in 2010.

Then, Venus Williams took on Elena Dementieva. After winning the first set, Vee looked like she was on her way to a nice straight sets win over someone she’s dominated in the past 5 years but this is the WTA and 09!Vee. Lena held her nerve and composure which she can sometimes do and stole the match in the third set 3-6, 7-6, 6-2.

Finally, Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova faced off in a well contested match. Sveta played well to take early leads in both sets but could not hold on to them. ReRe won in straight sets 7-6, 7-5.

My favorite part of the match was when ReRe yelled “come on!” in the middle of a point during the second set. She thought her shot was a winner but wasn’t because Sveta hustles. She apologized and everyone laughed. I might have laughed a little too much.

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Trophy case: October 18, 2009

Samantha Stosur won her first WTA singles title at the Japan Open in Osaka. She defeated Francesca Schiavone in the finals 7-5, 6-1. Sam is well known for her achievements in doubles having won 22 titles there but this year she’s become a threat in singles as well. She reached the semifinals of Roland Garros losing to eventual champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Yanina Wickmayer won her second WTA title this year and of her career at the Generali Ladies Linz tournament in Linz, Austria. She defeated Petra Kvitova in the finals 6-3, 6-4. Yanina upset top seed Flavia Pennetta in the semifinals en route to the title.

Nikolay Davydenko won his eighteenth career ATP singles title and fourth of the year at the Shanghai Masters in Shanghai, China. Kolya pulled back to back upsets to win the title. He defeated Novak Djokovic in the semifinals 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1) and then Rafael Nadal in the finals 7-6(3), 6-3. How about that Kolya? Also, he is now 3-0 in ATP Masters Series finals.

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