BNP Paribas Open top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova played her first match of the tournament in Indian Wells yesterday, and was defeated by Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Kuznetsova's error-filled performance became worse as the match wore on, and toward the end, she she seemed to not be there at all.
Kuznetsova wasn't the only seeded player to go. 21st seed Daniela Hantuchova lost to Roberta Vinci, the woman who beat Melanie Oudin in the first round. Anastasija Sevastova defeated 24th seed Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-4. This loss puts Ivanovic out of the top 50. 26th seed Dominika Cibulkova was upset by Sara Errani.
Defending champion Vera Zvonareva probably got more than she bargained for in qualifier Sloane Stephens. Stephens, who had never before played in a big stadium in front of a very large crowd, was remarkably composed throughout the match. She repeatedly engaged in long rallies with Zvonareva, and held her own. She also set up a lot of short balls from Zvonareva, but--most of the time--did not know what to do with them. She hit a number of them into the net, and others she hit long. Had she been able to finish what she started, the match might well have gone to three sets. Stephens has an impressive forehand, and it will be interesting to see how her game progresses.
4 comments:
Maybe no one will agree with me, but I don't like parity. Not in the way the WTA seems to. From what I have read they seem to enjoy the chaos that is reigning in women's tennis. To me it isn't an upset if Kuznetsova loses. She is one of many I like, but she is unreliable, no 1 seed or not. It is not an upset for Ivanovic to lose because she hasn't been playing well for a long time. It wouldn't be an upset if anyone in the top ten lost because they seem to be able to be "upset" at any time. Henin might be an upset but she is just getting her game back. Clijsters too. Sharapova still isn't herself. Except at a major, even Serena wouldn't be an upset if she lost. No one get on me if I mentioned your favorite players because some of these are mine. But there doesn't appear to be anyone who is consistent. Yes Venus has won a couple titles but what happened in Australia? I guess my point is, is that parity at the expense of someone grabbing the reins and winning titles and being consistent is no fun. If you don't have a dominant player (not just at majors) to upset then how is that fun?
I happen to be someone who does not need to have a dominant player, but I know that most people believe there should be one. That doesn't mean I don't think there should be a few big consistent winners--of course there should be.
In this blog--as in other reports--upsets are official upsets--upsets on paper. That means that Henin cannot be officially upset until after this tournament when she regains a ranking number. Of course, we all know that an upset isn't always a "real" upset, and that some wins that are not "official" upsets actually are upsets.
I think I miswrote. I didn't mean to have one dominant player. I just want rankings in general to mean something. I think what I said came from the emotion of "will somebody please, please, do something." Watching Sharapova and Zheng. Zheng is a break up and really fighting.
I know what you mean, Sunny. I hope some of the younger players will be more consistent and stabilize things.
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