Drop Shots

Off Court Photos: US Open

2010-09-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

[Credit: Tennisforum.com]

Spotlight On ... Beatrice Capra

2010-09-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Eighteen-year-old American Beatrice Capra made herself known at the 2010 US Open after reaching the third round as a wildcard (l. to Maria Sharapova) after wins over Karolina Sprem and 18th seed Aravane Rezai. Coming into the tournament, the teenager was ranked # 371 and has been plying her trade on the ITF circuit. She won a play-off competition to earn her US Open wildcard.

On the ITF circuit, she reached the semi-finals of $25k Osprey (USA), beating top seed Anastasiya Yakimova in the second round (l. to Florencia Molinero). Stepping up to the higher level ITF events and WTA tournaments didn't bring much notable success until her breakthrough moment at the US Open, which came largely out of the blue.

Beatrice trains at the Evert Academy in the USA. Despite her good run at the US Open, her WTA profile states that her preferred surface is actually clay.

Click here to read Beatrice's "Getting to Know..." interview on the WTA Tour website.

Spotlight On ... Tsvetana Pironkova

2010-07-06T06:23:00.000-07:00

Bulgarian tennis player, Tsvetana Pironkova had her breakthrough tournament at Wimbledon, where she reached the semi-finals with wins over higher ranked players like Vera Dushevina (# 56), Regina Kulikova (# 69), Marion Bartoli (# 13) and Venus Williams (# 2). Prior to this success, she had never been beyond the second round of a Grand Slam event, and her run was all the more surprising given that in her previous tournament at Eastbourne, she had lost in qualifying to Britain's Heather Watson, who at # 346 was considerably lower ranked than herself. She has hit a career high ranking of # 35 (up from # 82) now that the WTA rankings have been updated.

Tsvetana hasn't emerged out of nowhere. Earlier this year in Warsaw, she beat Elena Dementieva, who was ranked # 5 and also scored a win over Aleksandra Wozniak (then ranked # 46) in an earlier round before losing in the quarter-finals to Alexandra Dulgheru. In previous seasons, she has had wins over Patty Schnyder in Hobart 2009 and Vera Zvonareva in Moscow 2009.

Off Court Photos: Wimbledon Ball

2010-07-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

[Above: Serena Williams]

[Above: Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal]

[Above: Kristyna Pliskova - Girls Champion]

[Above: Kristyna Pliskova]

[Source: Tennisforum.com]

Spotlight On ... Yaroslava Shvedova

2010-07-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

Yaroslava Shvedova was a surprise inclusion in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, where she lost to 4th seed Jelena Jankovic after upsetting 8th seed Agnieszka Radwanska and 28th seed Alisa Kleybanova). Switching to the grass was more disappointing as she lost her opening match in Birmingham (l. to qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva) but rebounded to reach the quarter-finals in 's-Hertogenbosch (l.to 5th seed Alexandra Dulgheru). As the 30th seed at Wimbledon, she lost to Russia's Regina Kulikova in the second round.

Doubles has also become profitable for the former Russian, who is now representing Kazahkstan. Alongside Austria's Julian Knowle, she was a finalist in the Mixed Doubles at Roland Garros. They continued their partnership at Wimbledon, reaching the quarter-finals, where they lost to 11th seeds Wesley Moodie and Lisa Raymond. In the Women's Doubles, Yaroslava teamed up with American Vania King. They booked their place in the final alongside the Russian partnership of Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva after wins over 14th seeds Monica Niculescu and Shahar Peer, 6th seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik and 5th seeds Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Spotlight On ... Alison Riske

2010-07-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

America's Alison Riske made her big emergence at Birmingham just a few weeks ago, where she qualified and caused a string of upsets over players like Aleksandra Wozniak, Anna Chakvetadze and Yanina Wickmayer, before losing to Maria Sharapova in a three-set battle. Her exploits there were rewarded with a wildcard into the Wimbledon main draw., where she was again drawn against Wickmayer. On that occasion, it was the Belgian who triumphed after a three-set win.

Alison made her WTA debut on the clay in Charleston (USA) in April 2010, where she lost to # 64 Angelique Kerber in straight sets. Back on the ITF circuit, she had a couple of first-round exits to players who were slightly lower ranked than herself before reaching a semi-final in $50k Raleigh (USA) (l. to compatriot Lindsay Lee-Waters). She fell in the first round of qualifying at Roland Garros (l. to Anna Tatishvili) and reached the quarters at $50k Nottingham (l. to 6th seed Xinyun Han). Then came the breakthrough moment in Birmingham, which helped her to achieve her

career-high ranking of # 145 was achieved in June 2010 after her good run in Birmingham. Surprisingly, the ITF event in Nottingham the week before was her first grass court event.

She is coached by her sister, Sarah, who was also a tennis player.

Read Alison's "Getting to Know" interview on the WTA website here.

Upcoming Posts

2010-07-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

It's going to be a busy week or so here at Drop Shots as I look to get some new (or updated) posts going again. Who can you expect to see some Spotlight On ... posts for?

Planned posts so far are:

Kristyna Pliskova
Sachie Ishizu
Tsvetana Pironkova (update)
Petra Kvitova (update)

If you've got any requests or suggestions for players that you want me to profile, feel free to leave a comment or Tweet me! The Twitter link is in the right sidebar or you can just go here.

Off Court Photos: Wimbledon Player Party [Part 3]

2010-07-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

[Above: Elena Baltacha]

[Above: Anne Keothavong]

[Above: Jelena Jankovic]

[Above: Maria Sharapova]

Off Court Photos: Wimbledon Player Party [Part 2]

2010-07-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

[Above: Vera Zvonareva and Anna Chakvetadze; Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta]

[Above: Dinara Safina]

[Above: Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska]

[Above: Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki]

[Above: Ana Ivanovic, Kimiko Date-Krumm]

[Source: Tennisforum.com]

Off Court Photos: Wimbledon Player Party [Part 1]

2010-07-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

[Above: Venus Williams]

[Above: Agnieszka Radwanska]

[Above: Sorana Cirstea and Ana Ivanovic]

[Above: Serena Williams]

[Above: Jelena Jankovic]

[Source: Tennisforum.com]

Off Court Photos: Jelena Jankovic

2010-06-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

[Credit: Tennisforum.com]

Off Court Photos: Sorana Cirstea

2010-06-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

[Credit: Tennisforum.com]

Spotlight On ... Chanelle Scheepers

2010-05-29T14:24:00.000-07:00

Chanelle Scheepers is a South African tennis player who has played on the ITF circuit for most of her career. She is currently ranked at # 131, just below her career-high ranking of # 127 that was achieved in December 2009). Her 2009 season started promisingly with qualification at the Australian Open in January, although she exited in the first round to 18th seed Dominika Cibulkova. The following month, she qualified for Memphis and won a round before losing to 8th seed Pauline Parmentier.

Her qualifying successes came to a halt in March 2009 as she failed to qualify for Monterrey, but she made up for that by winning an ITF title in Mexico. She failed in qualifying for Ponte Vedra Beach, Charleston, Stuttgart and Estoril but won an ITF doubles title in Saint Gaudens (w/Rika Fujiwara). She turned that around by qualifying for Roland Garros (l. to 4th seed Elena Dementieva in the opening round of the main draw), beating top 100 player Alla Kudryatseva in the first round of an ITF event in Nottingham (l. to Elena Baltacha in the second round), and qualifying for Birmingham (d. Yaroslava Shvedova in the opening round of the main draw).

In 2010, the South African really came to prominence at Roland Garros. So far, she has reached the fourth round with wins over Akgul Amanmuradova and Gisela Dulko and will face off against Elena Dementieva (who she lost to in the first round in 2009 after qualifying). Her progress through to the fourth round has been all the more impressive when you consider that she was almost down and out in her third qualifying match against Zuzana Ondraskova before regrouping to level the match and go onto win it. It's her best Grand Slam result and marks the first time that a South African woman has reached the fourth round since Amanda Coetzer back in 1997.

Chanelle is coached by Tony Huber, who is married to doubles specialist, Liezel Huber.

Read Chanelle's "Getting to Know" interview on the WTA Tour website here.

Spotlight On ... Sally Peers

2010-01-24T06:21:00.000-08:00

Australia's Sally Peers has been enjoying doubles success at the Australian Open alongside fellow young gun, Laura Robson. The duo were awarded a wildcard into the Women's Doubles competition and have successfully defeated a string of higher-ranked doubles players (including the 12th seeds) on their way to the quarter-finals.

Ordinarily, Sally spends most of her time on the ITF circuit. She was awarded a qualifying wildcard for WTA Brisbane, where she beat #174 Andrea Hlavackova in the first qualifying round before being knocked out by #89 Alla Kudryatseva. The previous week she received a qualifying wildcard for WTA Hobart, but was beaten in the first qualifying round by #83 Elena Baltacha. She hit a career-high ranking of #308 in January 2010, and is currently ranked just below that.

In doubles, she was ranked #22 going into the Australian Open, which is one place below the career-high doubles ranking that she achieved in December 2009. Throughout the 2009 season, she was partnered by several fellow Australians, including Alison Bai and Isabella Holland (with whom she reached several finals on the ITF circuit). Teaming up with compatriot Jessica Moore in WTA Brisbane, they were beaten by the Russian partnership of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Galina Voskoboeva in their opening match, and there was little indication that an impressive run in a Grand Slam doubles competition was on the cards.

Spotlight On ... Thiemo de Bakker

2009-12-30T14:20:00.000-08:00

Thiemo de Bakker became the first Dutch player to finish a year inside the top 100 since Raemon Sluiter ended the 2004 season at #84. The 21-year-old is currently ranked #96, after winning four Challenger titles over the course of 2009 in Tampere (d. Peter Luczak), Vigo (d. Thierry Ascione), San Sebastian (d. Filip Krajinovic) and Brasov (d. Pere Riba). The latter three Challenger titles were won in consecutive events, with the winning streak being broken in Alphen (l. to Michael Russell). He also reached the final of a Challenger event in Caltanisetta (l. to compatriot Jesse Huta-Galung), along with a semi-final in in Seoul (l. to Lucas Lacko) and a quarter-final in Kolding (l. to Ivan Dodig).

As a player on the Dutch Davis Cup team, Thiemo has played ties against Argentina (l. to Juan Monaco and Juan Ignacio Chela) and France (d. Gael Monfils, l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga).

Spotlight On ... Sabine Lisicki

2009-10-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

Sabine Lisicki shot to prominence at the 2008 Australian Open after reaching the third round as a qualifier and beating 16th seed Dinara Safina before losing to rising star Caroline Wozniacki. Her win over Safina was the first top 20 scalp of her career. She also qualified for WTA Indian Wells but lost in the opening round to fellow qualifier Greta Arn. She brushed aside that disappointment in fine style by reaching the fourth round of WTA Miami. She beat 5th seed Anna Chakvetadze for her first top 10 scalp. This result saw her rise to the outskirts of the top 100. She broke into the top 100 courtesy of a second round appearance in WTA Berlin. Here, she defeated Shahar Peer as a wildcard before losing to Sybille Bammer. The win over Peer was her third top 20 scalp. She reached the second round of Roland Garros, losing to 12th seed Agnes Szavay. Since then, her results have been less impressive, with early losses at WTA Birmingham, WTA s'Hertogenbosch (qualifying) Wimbledon and WTA Los Angeles and Montreal.

Sabine got things back on track with a quarter-final in WTA Cincinnati (l. to 3rd seed Maria Kirilenko) and a second round losses at the US Open (l. to 27th seed Alona Bondarenko) and WTA Seoul (l. to Samantha Stosur). In October, she reached the final of WTA Tashkent, beating top seed Shuai Peng before losing to 3rd seed Sorana Cirstea. She reached a career-high ranking of #49 in the same month.

Sabine's ranking slipped at the start of the 2009 season after she failed to defend the points gained in Melbourne the previous year, but she has still been racking up the wins. She reached the semi-finals in Memphis, beating 3rd seeded Lucie Safarova (l. to 2nd seed Victoria Azarenka). She stunned 2nd seed Venus Williams in the third round of Charleston and went on to reach the final (l. to Caroline Wozniacki) after also beating 6th seed Marion Bartoli in the semi-finals. This was followed by a second round in Stuttgart (l. to 3rd seed Jelena Jankovic) and a quarter-final in Estoril (l. to 8th seeded compatriot, Anna-Lena Groenefeld).

Sabine reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon (l. to top seed Dinara Safina, after wins over 5th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and 9th seed Caroline Wozniacki). Second rounds in Stanford (l. to 4th seed Jelena Jankovic), the US Open (l. to qualifier Anastasia Rodionova), Tokyo (l. to 7th seed Jelena Jankovic) followed this, but Luxembourg proved to be a return to form as she battled her way into the final (l. to Timea Bacsinszky).

She is coached by her father, Dr Richard Lisicki, who is a tennis coach. He introduced her to tennis at the age of seven.

Read Sabine's Luxembourg blog on the WTA Tour website here

Spotlight On ... Petra Martic

2009-09-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

Petra Martic is a Croatian tennis player who broke into the top 100 today at # 89. Despite her ranking being outside of the top 100 until now, she has been playing quite frequently on the WTA circuit this year. She reached the second round of Roland Garros as a qualifier (l. to 24th seed Aleksandra Wozniak) and backed that up with a first round victory at the US Open (d. Severine Bremond Baltrame, l. to 9th seed and eventual finalist Caroline Wozniacki). In the middle, she reached the quarter-finals in Budapest as a qualifier (d. 8th seed Lucie Safarova, l. Edina Gallovits) and Portoroz, this time as a wildcard (l. to 5th seed Sara Errani). In 2008, she reached the quarter-finals of Portoroz (l. to Julia Goerges).

Spotlight On ... Jesse Witten

2009-09-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

Despite being ranked outside of the top 270, Jesse Witten reached the third round of this year's US Open before losing to 4th seed Novak Djokovic. Before this success, he had yet to win a round in an ATP Tour event but that didn't stop him dispatching 29th seed Igor Andreev and Maximo Gonzalez to book his place in round three.

As you might guess from his ranking, Jesse has been played predominantly on the lower rungs of the circuit. At the start of 2009, he was playing Futures tournaments in the US as his ranking was close to # 400. He won Futures events in Florida and Texas, and retired in the final of a Futures event in Alabama (l. to Sam Groth). Inbetween these events, he attempted to qualify for Indian Wells (l. to Paul Capdeville) and lost in the first round of the Sunrise Challenger (l. to Bjorn Phau). Moving up to the Challenger circuit, he reached the quarters in California (l. to Michael Russell) and Granby (l. to Ryler DeHeart) and returned to the Futures circuit to win an event in California. He qualified for ATP Washington but lost in the first round to Alejandro Falla in his last event prior to the US Open.

Spotlight On ... Petra Kvitova

2009-09-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Petra Kvitova reached the fourth round of Roland Garros in 2009 (like her qualifying compatriot Petra Cetkovska) with wins over top 20 player Agnes Szavay, Samantha Stosur and Akiko Morigami, before losing to Kaia Kanepi.

The nineteen-year-old Czech comes from Fulnek, and was ranked 87 (a career-high) going into the tournament. She had a lot of success on the ITF circuit (five ITF titles in the last couple of years), but she is no stranger to success on the WTA tour too. In February 2009, she got to the second round of WTA Paris, again beating Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, before bowing out to Elena Dementieva. She qualified for WTA Memphis in the same month and defeated top seed Venus Williams in the first round. This was her first win over a top 20 player – not bad for someone who had only played four matches on the WTA circuit (including that match)! She was ranked 143, and currently holds the record for the lowest ranked player to beat Venus. She got her second win over a top 20 player when she defeated Israel’s Shahar Peer in a Fed Cup match earlier this year. She reached the second round in WTA Strasbourg just before Roland Garros, but it was in Paris that her results really caught the eye.

After Roland Garros, Petra suffered first round exits at WTA Birmingham and Wimbledon. She rebounded in WTA Budapest, where she reached the quarter-finals, but that was followed by second round exits in WTA Los Angeles and WTA Montreal (l. to top seed Ana Ivanovic) and a first round exit at the US Open. On the ITF circuit, she reached the quarter-finals in Sofia, and rounded off her 2008 season with quarter-final showings in WTA Zurich (l. to 2nd seed Ana Ivanovic) and an ITF tournament in Bratislava (l. to 8th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova).

Her 2009 season got off to an impressive start with a title win in Hobart, beating 7th seed Alona Bondarenko along the way. Early exits at the Australian Open (l. to 13th Victoria Azarenka), Paris (l. to Karolina Sprem) and Dubai (l. to Julia Schruff). She regained some form in Indian Wells with a third round appearance (l. to 4th seed Vera Zvonareva), but suffered more early exits in Miami (l. to Sabine Lisicki), Barcelona (l. to 2nd seed Flavia Pennetta), Estoril (l. to Yanina Wickmayer), Madrid (l. to Francesca Schiavone) and Wimbledon (l. to Maria Kirilenko). Moving onto the clay, she notched up a string of second round exits in Bastad (l. to top seed Caroline Wozniacki), Prague (l. to Zarina Diyas) and Portoroz (l. to Camille Pin), and on the hard courts, Toronto (l. to 9th seed Maria Kirilenko). Stepping down to the ITF circuit for some confidence, she lost early in Bronx (l. to Anastasija Sevastova).

These results made her impressive run at the US Open all the more surprising. Petra is currently in the fourth round (matching her run at Roland Garros last year) with wins over 27th seed Alisa Kleybanova and top seed Dinara Safina. She takes on Yanina Wickmayer, another of the Tour's rising stars, for a place in the quarter-finals.

Spotlight On ... Anastasija Sevastova

2009-09-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

Anastasija Sevastova is a Latvian tennis player who qualified for the main draw of Wimbledon for her first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam. At the time, she was ranked at # 126 (just below her career-high ranking of # 121, which she achieved in June 2009).

Prior to this achievement, Anastasija's best results of 2009 have included winning ITF titles in La Palma (Spain) and Johannesburg (South Africa), reaching the second round of WTA Charleston (I. to 6th seed Marion Bartoli after qualifying for the tournament) and almost defeating Daniela Hantuchova in the first round of WTA Ponte Vedra Beach as a qualifier.

Post-Wimbledon, she broke into the top 100 after reaching the final of an ITF event in Prague (l. to 6th seed Sandra Zahlavova) and reached a career high ranking of # 95. She beat Tamarine Tanasugarn in the first round of the US Open, and gave a decent account of herself against 6th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the following round.

Spotlight On ... Melanie Oudin

2009-09-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since American women's tennis had much to shout about at the Grand Slams outside of the Williams sisters, but 17-year-old Melanie Oudin has been doing a good job of flying the flag for the US this year. She booked her place in the fourth round of Wimbledon after beating Jelena Jankovic in three sets for her first ever win over a top 10 player. Although her good run ended today at the hands of Agnieszka Radwanska, the qualifier made a bit of a name for herself during the fortnight.

She was ranked # 124 going into the tournament (just one place below her then career-high). Although she has played in the main draw of Grand Slams in the past, this was by far her best result. Proving that it wasn't a one-off, she has risen to the occasion again during the US Open. She surpassed her Wimbledon result by reaching thequarter-finals with wins over Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova to add to her list of scalps. Coming into the US Open, she was ranked # 70 (three spots below her career high ranking of #67 achieved in August), but that looks set to rise significantly. Her quarter-final match against Caroline Wozniacki was probably a match too far given her exploits in coming from a set down to beat higher ranked opponents earlier in the tournament. Nevertheless, America has found a new sweetheart in Melanie.

Spotlight On ... Olivia Rogowska

2009-09-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

Olivia Rogowska almost upset top seed Dinara Safina in the first round of the US Open yesterday and showed flashes of her potential. The Australian teenager recently turned 18 in the summer, and is arguably one of their big young hopes for the future (along with the likes of Jessica Moore and Bernard Tomic). She is currently ranked at a career-high # 167.

She won an ITF title in Sorrento (Australia) last season and has spent a good chunk of this season playing on the ITF circuit. She was given a wildcard for the main draw of the Australian Open, where she lost to 31st seed Alona Bondarenko in three sets in the first round. She was more successful as a wildcard at Roland Garros, where she reached the second round (l. to Katerina Bondarenko in three sets after beating Maria Kirilenko). Elsewhere on the WTA circuit, she failed to qualify for Wimbledon (l. to Regina Kulikova but beat 19th seed Yvonne Meusberger in the second qualifying round) and Stanford (l. to Lilia Osterloh).

Her results on the ITF circuit weren't particularly impressive at the start of the season, with second rounds in Burnie (Australia) (l. to 5th seed Erika Sema) and Sydney (Australia) (l. to 5th seed Junri Namagata), and a quarter-final in Mildura (Australia) (l. to 6th seeded compatriot Monique Adamczak). Moving onto the clay, she reached a final in Bundaberg (Australia) (l. to 2nd seeded compatriot Anastasia Rodionova after beating top seeded compatriot Jessica Moore and 5th seeded compatriot Emelyn Starr), and a semi-final in Ipswitch (Australia) (l. to Rodionova again in a slightly more competitive encounter). Back on the ITF circuit but switching to the US hard courts, she reached the second round in $75k Vancouver (l. to Rebecca Marino) and lost in the first round in $100k Bronx (l. to Masa Zec Peskiric). Bronx was her last tournament prior to taking on Safina at the US Open, so it seems that the Aussie likes a big stage.

Off Court Photos: Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Nicole Vaidisova, Radek Stepanek and James Blake

2009-09-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

Above: Bethanie Mattek-Sands

Above: Nicole Vaidisova and Radek Stepanek

Above: James Blake

[Photo credits: tennisforum.com]

Upcoming Posts

2009-09-02T07:11:00.001-07:00

Look out for new and updated Spotlight On ... posts on the following players soon:

Olivia Rogowska
Melanie Oudin (update)
Petra Martic
Jesse Witten
Josselin Ouanna
Anastasija Sevastova (update)
Stephanie Dubois
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova
Kai-Chen Chang
Tatjana Malek
Kirsten Flipkens

Off Court Photos: Anna Kournikova

2009-08-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

Off Court Photos: Vera Zvonareva

2009-08-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

[Credit: Tennisforum.com]

Spotlight On ... Laura Robson

2009-08-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

After claiming the 2008 Girls’ Singles title at Wimbledon, Laura Robson became the youngest champion since Martina Hingis. The fourteen-year-old Brit had been making waves on the junior circuit for a while already, having won four titles and made the final of several other tournaments. This was her biggest junior title to date though, and her first ever junior Grand Slam event. She rose from # 36 to #5 on the ITF junior rankings following her Wimbledon success.

She was born in Australia but moved to the UK as a child and now competes for Great Britain. Laura made her professional debut in a $10K tournament in France, where she entered the qualifying tournament. She qualified with ease and edged past Alice Balducci to win her first ITF main draw match. That was to be the end of her tournament as she sustained a shoulder injury during her second round match against the 2nd seed, and retired while trailing in the first set.

Her second ITF tournament was $75K Shrewsbury (UK). She was given a wildcard into the main draw, and beat compatriot Sarah Borwell for her second ITF main draw win. She had a mucher tough test in the second round against fellow rising star Urszula Radwanska, who is also a Junior Wimbledon champion, and looks set to crack the top 100 soon. Against the odds, she stunned Radwanska in straight sets and followed that up with a straight sets win over 4th seeded Israeli Tzipora Obziler, who is 21 years her senior. She took 2nd seed Maret Ani to three sets but fell away in the decider.

She gained her first WTA world ranking after scoring a point in $50K Barnstaple (l. to Angelique Kerber in the opening round), debuting at #550. She made her WTA main draw debut in WTA Luxembourg, losing to top 50 player, Iveta Benesova, in three sets in the first round. She won her first ITF title in $10K Sunderland before returning to the junior circuit for the Eddie Herr Junior International Championships and the Orange Bowl.

She kicked off her 2009 season with a final appearance in the junior Australian Open (l. to Ksenia Pervak). She reached # 1 in the combined ITF junior rankings in early 2009 following this run. Injury affected her season after that, and her next big tournament came at Wimbledon, where she received a main draw wildcard as a reward for her exploits at junior Wimbledon last year. She pushed Daniela Hantuchova to three sets but ultimately came up short. Turning her attention back to the junior tournament, she cruised through to the third round before losing a tight three-set match with Quirine Lemoine.

Back on the ITF circuit, Laura faltered in qualifying for $25K events in Europe. She has been awarded a qualifying wildcard for the US Open and beat 21st seed Stephanie Foretz in her opening match and followed up with a battling win over former top 50 player Aniko Kapros. She takes on Eva Hrdinova for a place in the main draw.

Off Court Photos: Jelena Jankovic

2009-08-26T04:31:00.000-07:00

Off Court Photos: Maria Sharapova (Tiffany & Co and Instyle)

2009-08-26T04:26:00.000-07:00

[Source: Tennisforum.com]

Off Court Photos: Maria Sharapova

2009-08-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

[Photo source: Tennisforum.com]

Title Watch: Federer and Dementieva Scoop Titles

2009-08-24T06:13:00.000-07:00

In Cincinnati, Roger Federer claimed the title with a straight sets triumph over Novak Djokovic. The world # 1 had ended the run of the new # 2, Andy Murray, in the semi-finals to deny the Brit the chance to win back-to-back titles.

In Toronto, Elena Dementieva won an all-Russian battle against Maria Sharapova.

Martina Hingis Signs Up For Strictly Come Dancing

2009-08-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

Martina Hingis has been revealed as one of this year's Strictly Come Dancing contestants.

The former world # 1 follows in the footsteps of fellow retirees Andrew Castle (who competed in the last series of Strictly), Monica Seles and Alicia Molik (who both competed in Dancing With The Stars).

It's fair to say that no tennis player has had much success in the dancing stakes on these shows, so Martina probably has her work cut out to change that!

Her dancing partner is yet to be announced.

Title Watch: Murray and Jankovic Take Spoils

2009-08-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

Andy Murray beat an ailing Juan Martin Del Potro in three sets to clinch the Montreal Masters title. The Brit ensured that he would become the new world # 2 after dispatching Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals. This title was his fourth Masters Series title and the 13th title of his career. His next task is to defend his title in Cincinnati.

Speaking of Cincinnati, Jelena Jankovic defeated Dinara Safina in the final there to win her second title of 2009. Despite ending the runs of both Kim Clijsters (who is on her comeback) and Flavia Pennetta en route to the final, Safina found the going a bit too tough against Jankovic.

Title Watch: Del Potro and Pennetta Grab Titles

2009-08-10T05:45:00.000-07:00

Juan Martin Del Potro successfully defended his Washington title with a 3-6 7-5 7-6 (8-6) win over Andy Roddick in the final. Andre Agassi was the last player to win successive titles at the tournament, back in 1999. The title was Del Potro's second of the year after Auckland (d. Sam Querrey). It wasn't enough to leapfrog Roddick in the rankings though, and the Argentine stays put at # 6.

In the women's event in Los Angeles, Flavia Pennetta held her nerve to overcome Sam Stosur 6-3 6-4. The Italian had ended Maria Sharapova's hopes of winning her first WTA title since returning from a shoulder injury after beating the former world # 1 in the semi-finals. The title was Pennetta's second of 2009 after her tournament victory in Palermo earlier in the season. In the rankings, Pennetta climbs two ranking spots to # 12 - one place below the career-high of # 11 that she reached in February. Stosur also jumps two spots to a career-high ranking of # 17.

Spotlight On ... Andrea Hlavackova

2009-08-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

Andrea Hlavackova is a Czech tennis player who plays predominantly on the ITF circuit. She is ranked just outside of the top 200 and recently won a $25K ITF event in Bad Saulgal (Germany), having gone through the qualifying beforehand.

Her 2009 season got off to a slow start with second round exits in $25K Sutton (UK) (l. to Naomi Cavaday), $25K Stockholm (l.to Cavaday again) and $25K Jersey (UK) (l. to Monique Adamczak). Stepping up to $100k level for some much needed ranking points, Andrea lost in qualifying for $100K Torhout (l. to Claire Feuerstein) but picked up a lucky loser spot and reached the second round (l. to Nathalie Dechy).

Switching to the WTA Tour, she entered qualifying for Barcelona but was beaten by Mervana Jugic-Salkic in the opening qualifying round.

Reverting back to the ITF circuit, she lost in the opening rounds of $100K Johannesburg (l. to Marinne Giraud) and $100K Bucharest (l. to Andrea Petkovic). Dropping back down to $25K level, she reached a final in Szczecin (l. to Stephanie Gerhlein) and the quarter-finals of La Coruna (l. to Neuza Silva). Another attempt at WTA qualifying followed (l. to Elena Daniilidou), before the title win in Bad Saulgau.

Spotlight On ... Maria Fernandez Alvarez-Teran

2009-08-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

Maria Fernandez Alvarez-Teran is a Bolivian tennis player, who is currently on the verge of the top 200. She plays a lot on the ITF circuit in South America, and recently won a $25k event in Brazil (d. Maria Fernandez Alves in the final) and reached the final of a $25k in Bogota (Colombia) (l. to Marina Giral Lores). Earlier in the year, she reached the quarter-finals of $50K Cali (Mexico) (l. to Tetiana Luzhanska).

Outside of South America, her best results have included a quarter-final in $25K Jackson (USA) (l. to Laura Siegemund, but d. Coco Vandeweghe in the second round) and a second round in $25K Osprey (USA) (l. to Tadeja Majeric).

World Junior Tennis Finals: USA and Spain Triumph

2009-08-09T06:47:00.000-07:00

In the finals of the World Junior Tennis Finals, Spain defeated Portugal in the boys' tournament, while the USA beat the Czech Republic in the girls' event.

Carlos Benito gave Spain a lead after beating Rodolfo Pereira in the first singles rubber, and this was further extended when Albert Alcaraz defeated Frederico Silva. This was enough to gift Spain the title. Japan and the Czech Republic battled it out for third place, with Japan prevailing in the deciding doubles rubber.

In the girls' final, the Czech team gave the home crowd something to cheer about after Aneta Dvorakova beat Victora Duval in the first singles rubber. America hit back in the second singles rubber, with Sachia Vickery overcoming Petra Rohanova. With the final tied at one rubber apiece, the Americans teamed up to clinch the title. Third place went to Japan, who defeated Russia.

Roger Federer and His Twin Girls

2009-08-08T05:55:00.000-07:00

Roger Federer has posted a photo of his twin girls, Myla and Charlene, on his Facebook fan page this week. In the photo (which can be viewed here), Roger and Mirka are both proudly holding a twin each.

Off Court Photos: Svetlana Kuznetsova

2009-08-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some photographs from a recent photoshoot that Svetlana Kuznetsova took part in :

Spotlight On ... Carsten Ball

2009-08-05T03:32:00.000-07:00

Carsten Ball reached the final in Los Angeles last weekend (l. to Sam Querrey) despite being ranked outside of the top 200. That success saw him leapfrog into the top 150 for the first time in his career at # 145. He gained scalps over a string of higher-ranked players, including # 75 Marc Gicquel, # 60 Leonardo Mayer and # 29 Dmitry Tursunov (who retired in the second set), before losing to Querrey in three sets.

His 2009 season got off to a slow start. As a wildcard, he lost in the opening rounds of Brisbane (l. to Thomaz Bellucci) and the Australian Open (l. to Michael Berrer). Stepping back down to the Futures circuit, he won a title in New Zealand and climbed into the top 200. Several Challenger quarter-finals followed in Baton Rouge (USA) (l. to Benjamin Becker), Tallahassee (USA) (l. to Danai Udomchoke) and Savannah (USA) (l. to Alex Kuznetsov) before he broke through to reach finals in Sarasota (USA) (l. to James Ward) and Yuba City (USA) (l. to Ryler DeHeart). Returning to the Futures circuit again, he won another title in Sacramento (USA) but suffered two successive losses to DeHeart on his return to the Challenger circuit. Just prior to entering the qualifying for Los Angeles, he had lost in the first round of a Challenger event in Kentucky (USA) (l. to Bruno Agostinelli) and had failed to win a match in his last three tournaments.

Although he plays for Australia, Carsten was born in Newport Beach in America and has his base over there. His father (and coach), Syd Ball, was also a tennis pro. He reached the Australian Open doubles and won eight doubles titles in total.

Spotlight On... Coco Vandeweghe

2009-08-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

Coco Vandeweghe was a relatively unknown entity to many tennis fans until the 2008 US Open. The American teenager was given a wildcard into the women's singles draw and was unlucky enough to draw world number two Jelena Jankovic (who went on to lose to Serena Williams in the final) in the first round. She gave a solid account of herself in a 6-3 6-1 defeat, and turned her attention to the junior tournament. She had good success there, winning the title with scalps such as Tamaryn Hendler and Elena Chernyakova.

Most of her time up until that US Open was spent on the ITF circuit, but she did have a taste of the elite level. She made her WTA tour level debut back in 2006 as a wildcard entry in WTA San Diego (l. to qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko). She was given another wildcard in San Diego the following year (l. to Elena Bovina), and was given qualifying wildcards into WTA Indian Wells and the US Open. This year, she has had qualifying wildcards in Indian Wells, and main draw wildcards in WTA Miami (l. to fellow wildcard Sabine Lisicki) and WTA Los Angeles (l. to Marta Domachowska).

Her best results of the 2008 season included a semi-final in San Luis Potosi (Mexico) and a quarter-final in $50K Las Vegas (USA), in which she stunned top seed Aravane Rezai (who was ranked 53 in the world) in the first round before losing to 6th seed Meng Yuan in the last eight.

In 2009, Coco has gone under the radar for the most part. She has played predominantly on the ITF circuit, but ventured onto the WTA Tour to play Indian Wells (l. to Severine Bremond in the first qualifying round) and Miami (l. to Nuria Llagostera Vives in the first round). Her best results on the ITF circuit have been second rounds in Jackson (USA) (l. to 4th seed Maria Fernandez Alvarez after d. top seed Agustina Lapore in qualifying), Dothan (USA) (l. to top seed and # 72 Patricia Mayr) and St Joseph (USA) (l. to compatriot Irina Falconi). Based on this, it was something of a surprise when she took advantage of a wildcard entry into Los Angeles to dispatch # 58 Tathiana Garbin in straigh sets in round one.

Spotlight On ... Lucie Hradecka

2009-08-04T07:36:00.000-07:00

She might have come up short in several finals this year (Strasbourg and Istanbul), but Lucie Hradecka is beginning to make her presence felt on the WTA Tour. The Czech is currrently ranked at a career-high of # 56 in the world following last weekend's final appearance in Istanbul (l. to Vera Dushevina in a very one-sided affair).

Although she has had some good success at WTA level this year, Lucie has also stepped down to the ITF circuit, where she won a title in Belfort (France). This kickstarted her 2009 season after early exits in qualifying for Hobart (l. to Maria Elena Camerin) and the Australian Open (l. to Ekaterina Ivanova). En route to the ITF Belfort title, she beat Andrea Petkovic in the quarter-finals and 2nd seed Vesna Manasieva in the final. This was followed by an ITF final in Midland (USA), where she gained revenge on Ivanova in the first round and took out 4th seed Stephanie Foretz in the semi-finals.

Her good form came to an end after this with early exits in Memphis (l. to Chanelle Scheepers in the opening round), ITF Clearwater (USA) (l. to Mervana Jugic-Salkic in the opening round), Indian Wells (l. to 5th seed Petra Cetkovska in the second qualifying round), Miami (l. to Julia Goerges in the first qualifying round), and Barcelona (l. to Yevgenia Savranska in the first round). Things got back on track with a quarter-final in Fes (d. 8th seed Shahar Peer, before losing to Melinda Czink) and a final in Strasbourg (l. to Aravane Rezai after beating three higher-ranked players in the form of Alla Kudryatseva, Kristina Barrois and Ayumi Morita). Quarter-finals in ITF Biarritz (l. to 5th seed Julia Goerges) and Prague (l. to 2nd seed Sybille Bammer) was followed by the final in Istanbul, where she again beat Petkovic in the semi-finals and managed to exact some revenge on Goerges in the second round.

In terms of the Grand Slams, Lucie's best showing is a second round at Roland Garros (l. to 22nd seed Carla Suarez Navarro). She narrowly lost out 8-6 in the third set to 13th seed Ana Ivanovic in the first round of Wimbledon. She has yet to play in the main draw of the Australian and US Opens but will do so in the latter this summer.

Spotlight On ... Georgie Stoop

2009-08-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

Georgie Stoop impressed more than a few people at Wimbledon 2009 after pushing Vera Zvonareva to three sets in the first round. The Brit was ranked in the top 200 before an injury sent her back down the rankings. Having worked her way back up there again (her career-high of # 179 was achieved in May 2009), she won an ITF title in Spain this weekend (d. compatriot Katie O'Brien in the final). Her only previous ITF title came in Australia back in 2006, so this was a welcome return to winning ways.

The majority of her career has been spent on the ITF circuit, although she has attempted to qualify for the Grand Slams this year and was given wildcards into Wimbledon (l. to Zvonareva) and Birmingham (l. to compatriot Elena Baltacha).

Spotlight On ... Andrea Petkovic

2009-08-02T05:22:00.001-07:00

Germany's Andrea Petkovic made a name for herself recently when she lifted the trophy in Bad Gastein (d. Iona Raluca Olaru in the final). She was ranked # 99 in the world prior to that tournament but that didn't stop her claiming her first WTA title. She followed that up with a semi-final showing in Istanbul (l. to

Andrea's best results had previously come on the ITF circuit, where she had notched up an impressive eight titles - including one in Bucharest in 2009. Success on the WTA circuit had eluded her though, with just three match wins to her name there and no sniff of a title. One of those match wins came at the 2009 Australian Open after beating fellow German Kathrin Woerle (l. to 15th seed Alize Cornet).

Like many tennis players, Andrea has struggled with injuries. In 2008, she spent eight months on the sidelines.

Although Andrea has lived in Germany since she was six months old, she was actually born in Bosnia and has Serbian ancestry. She is coached by her father, Zoran Petkovic. She speaks German, English, French and Serbian.

Read Andrea's 'Getting To Know...' interview on the WTA website here.

Spotlight On ... Iona Raluca Olaru

2009-08-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

Iona Raluca Olaru is a Romanian tennis player who recently made the final in WTA Bad Gastein (l. to Andrea Petkovic). Along the way, she beat top seed Alize Cornet, 3rd seed Sybille Bammer and 6th seed Magdalena Rybarikova to record the best result of her career so far.

Having started the 2009 season outside of the season with early exits aplenty, she didn't even re-enter the top 100 until just before Roland Garros, after reaching the quarter-finals in Warsaw. An ITF title in Marseille (d. 3rd seed and top 100 player, Tathiana Garbin, in the quarter-finals) cemented her place in the top 100. The final in Bad Gastein saw her rise to a career-high ranking of # 53.

Click here to read Iona's 'Getting To Know ...' interview on the WTA website

Follow Me On Twitter!

2009-07-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

Drop Shots is on Twitter, so feel free to follow me. I'll be posting links to new posts so you can be alerted to updates without having to check the blog. Here's the link: http://twitter.com/dropshots

Spotlight On ... Stefanie Voegele

2009-07-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

Stefanie Voegele is one of Switzerland's biggest tennis hopes. The 19-year-old is currently ranked at # 75, which is a career-high ranking. She broke into the top 100 in May after qualifying for Roland Garros and getting to the second round and reached the quarter-finals of Birmingham (l. to 4th seed Li Na after beating 6th seed Ekaterina Makarova) shortly afterwards. The win over Makarova (who was ranked # 43 at the time) was her career best win. In July, she reached the second round in Prague (l. to compatriot Timea Bacsinszky). On the ITF circuit, she has made finals in Romania and Nottingham.

Stefanie was a member of the Swiss Fed Cup team this year. Her country faced Australia in their World Group II play-off, with Stefanie facing Sam Stosur and Jelena Dokic in her rubbers. Although she lost both clashes, she proved herself to be a tough cookie.

Click here to read Stefanie's "Getting To Know" interview on the WTA Tour website

Off Court Photos: Istanbul Cup

2009-07-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

Above: Patty Schnyder, Ipek Senoglu

Above: Vera Zvonareva

Above: Vera Dushevina

L-R: Anabel Medina Garrigues, Vera Dushevina, Aravane Rezai, Patty Schnyder, Vera Zvonareva, Ipek Senoglu, Cagla Buyukakcay

Spotlight On ... Noppawan Lertcheewakarn

2009-07-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

After coming up short against British teenage Laura Robson, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn successfully hoisted the Girls' Singles title at Wimbledon today after defeating French top seed Kristina Mladenovic in three sets in the final. The Thai teenager is ranked # 406 on the WTA rankings, with a career-high ranking of # 314 that was achieved in May 2008. Noppawan has been likened to Monica Seles in terms of her style of play.

In 2009 so far, she was mixed ITF tournaments with the odd WTA event and has made a few forays back onto the junior circuit for the Grand Slam events. In February, she was given a wildcard into WTA Pattaya City (l. to Shahar Peer in the first round). Back on the ITF circuit, she suffered early exits in Sydney (l. to Ryoko Fuda in the second round after beating the top seed in the first round) and North Shore City (l. to Zi-Jun Yang in the first round) before reaching a final in Hamilton (l. to Ayu Fani Damayanti). Following this, she once again suffered early exits in Wellington (l. to So-Jung Kim in the first round), Hvar (l. to Karolina Kosinska in the second round), Bol (l. to Conny Perrin in the second round) and Makarska (l. to 8th seed Iveta Gerlova in the second round). All but Wellington were played on clay. It is pretty fair to say that her confidence probably wasn't that high going into junior Wimbledon, especially as she had lost in the first qualifying round of the senior tournament (l. to Vesna Manasieva, who went on to qualify for the main draw).

Spotlight On ... Viktoriya Kutuzova

2009-06-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

Back in 2005, Viktoriya Kutuzova was ranked # 76 in the world, but slipped outside of the world's top 100 in subsequent years. As a fourteen-year-old, she was given a wildcard into WTA Los Angeles in 2003 and went on to reach the third round (l. to 4th seed Ai Sugiyama). The 2004 season was less eventful as she failed to progress beyond the first round of any of her WTA tournaments and played predominantly on the ITF circuit. In 2005, she was given a wildcard into WTA Indian Wells and reached the fourth round (l. to # 1 Lindsay Davenport). Although she failed to get past round one after that and lost in qualifying on several occasions, she entered the top 100 for the first time in her career that season after winning two singles titles (Deauville and Poitiers) on the ITF circuit.

The 2006 season saw her establish herself more with second rounds or better at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. She also won another singles title on the ITF circuit (defending her Deauville title from the previous season). 2007 was less successful as she only notched up one second round appearance and was largely active on the ITF circuit.

In 2008, she won another ITF singles title, but it wasn't until 2009 that things started to get back on track again. In April 2009, she reached the third round of WTA Charleston (d. 11th seed Alona Bondarenko; l. to Elena Vesnina), reached the semi-finals of WTA Strasbourg as a qualifier (d. 5th seed Tamarine Tanasugarn; l. to eventual champion, Aravane Rezai) and the second round of Roland Garros (l. to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in three sets), and qualified for Wimbledon.

Spotlight On ... Grega Zemlja

2009-06-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

Grega Zemlja probably isn't a name that is too familiar to the majority of tennis fans, but the Slovenian made a bit of a name for himself when he booked his place in the Wimbledon main draw today. Coming into the qualifying competition, he was ranked # 174, just below the career-high ranking of # 165 that he achieved in May 2009.

The 22-year-old was been playing predominantly on the Challenger circuit in 2009, although he was attempted to qualify for ATP tournaments in Sydney (l. to Frank Dancevic) and the Australian Open (l. to Dudi Sela). On the Challenger circuit, his best results have come in Burnie (l. to Brydan Klein in the final after beating another Aussie, Peter Luczak, in the semi-finals), and St Brieuc (l. to Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the quarter-finals). Just prior to Wimbledon qualifying, he lost in the second qualifying round in Halle (l. to German Tobias Kamke, after struggling past Pavel Snobel in three tight sets in the previous round).

Spotlight On ... Klara Zakopalova

2009-06-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

Now ranked # 100 in the world, Klara Zakopalova (formerly Klara Koukalova) was ranked # 27 back in March 2006. In her career, the Czech has won two WTA singles titles ('s-Hertogenbosch and Portoroz) and six ITF titles. Despite reaching her career-high ranking in 2005, the 2006 season saw her fail to finish in the top 100 for the first time in four years and she did not string two wins together for the whole of the 2006 season. She refound some form in 2007 with a semi-final showing in Prague and a quarter-final appearance in Bogota and the Tokyo Open, along with one ITF title. 2008 was another top 100 finish with a final in Vina del Mar and a semi-final in Estoril.

Klara's 2009 season got off a rocky start with first round exits in Auckland (l. to Edina Gallovits), Sydney (l. to Daniela Hantuchova as a qualifier), the Australian Open (l. to Samantha Stosur), Monterrey (l. to Vania King) , Indian Wells (l. to Kristina Barrois) and Miami (l. to Tathiana Garbin). She reached second rounds in Bogota (l. to Edina Gallovits again) and Acapulco (l. to 4th seed Iveta Benesova) but did not win back-to-back matches until April, when she reached the quarter-finals in Marbella (l. to 5th seed Carla Suarez Navarro after defeating top seeded Serena Williams). That was followed by early exits in Barcelona (l. to Magdalena Rybarikova) and Fes (l. to top seed and eventual champion Anabel Medina Garrigues) before securing a quarter-final spot in Warsaw (beat 3rd seed Jie Zheng for her sixth win over a top 20 player; l. to Daniela Hantuchova ). At Roland Garros, she pushed Serena Williams hard in their second round match before bowing out in three sets.

On the grass, Klara booked her place in the main draw of Wimbledon after notching up three wins in the qualifying tournament.

Spotlight On ... Magdalena Rybarikova

2009-06-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

Currently ranked just outside the top 50, Magdalena Rybarikova is one of the many rising stars on the WTA circuit. The young Slovakian won two titles on the ITF circuit in 2008 (in Greece and Russia) and is a member of the Slovak Fed Cup team. She reached a career-high ranking of # 46 in February 2009, and is currently sitting just below that.

On the WTA circuit, her best results of 2008 included a semi-final in WTA Tashkent (l. to 3rd seed Sorana Cirstea), reaching the third round of the US Open (l. to 15th seed Patty Schnyder). Elsewhere, Magdalena has notched up second rounds in WTA events in Prague (retired against Vera Zvonareva) , Barcelona (l. to Stephanie Cohen-Aloro), Budapest (l. to eventual champion Alize Cornet) and Roland Garros (l. to eventual finalist Dinara Safina), although she was a quarter-finalist in WTA Prague back in 2006. Earlier in 2008, she qualified for WTA Acapulco (l. to 6th seed Yvonne Meuberger) but lost in the opening round of the main draw.

On the ITF circuit, she reached a quarter-final in Bratislava (Slovakia), and semi-finals in Athens (Greece) and Monterrey (Mexico). In the latter tournament, she beat top seed Yanina Wickmayer and 4th seed Vania King.

So far in 2009, she has reached semi-finals in Hobart (l. to Iveta Benesova, but beat top seed Flavia Pennetta in the second round) and Pattaya City (beating 2nd seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals before bowing out to Sania Mirza), but there have also been more than a few first and second round exits. Things got back on track with a second round showing at Roland Garros (l. to 5th seed Jelena Jankovic).

Magdalena won her first WTA title in Birmingham in June (d. Li Na in straight sets in the final) to demonstrate some grass court credentials ahead of Wimbledon.

Spotlight On ... Naomi Broady

2009-06-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

Currently ranked # 365 in the world (a few places below her career high ranking), Naomi Broady qualified for WTA Birmingham this week with wins over the higher ranked Meng Yuan and Abigail Spears. The British teenager is noted for her big serve and possesses a game that is well suited to the grass courts.

Prior to Birmingham, Naomi's tennis has been confined largely to the ITF circuit. She has won one ITF singles title so far in 2009 (the first of her career so far), and one ITF doubles titles (three in her career so far). Her sole career ITF title came in Grenoble (France) on a hard court, where she won the title without dropping a set, beating 5th seed Galanina Varvina and top seed Youlia Fedossova en route. Elsewhere on the ITF circuit, her other best results of 2009 have been a semi-final showing in Bath and quarter-finals in Glasgow, Sibenik, Hvar and Bol. The latter three results were on clay. In the week before qualifying for Birmingham, Naomi lost to # 99 Maria Elena Camerin in two tight sets in the first round of an ITF event in Nottingham.

Spotlight On ... Sorana Cirstea

2009-06-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

She isn't a new name to the WTA Tour as such, but Sorana Cirstea caused a notable upset at Roland Garros yesterday when she defeated Jelena Jankovic in three sets. The Romanian is currently ranked # 41, but looks set to better her career-high ranking of # 36 when Roland Garros is over.

Sorana's 2009 season got off to a shaky start with early exits in Syndey (l. to 2nd seed Dinara Safina), the Australian Open (l. to Melinda Czink), Paris (l. to Nathalie Dechy), Dubai (l. to 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova), Indian Wells (l. to Elena Vesnina) and Miami (l. to Mariya Koryttseva). Things picked up in April with a semi-final in Marbella (l. to 5th seed Carla Suarez Navarro, but beat 3rd seed Kaia Kanepi in the quarter-finals). That result was followed by a quarter-final appearance in Estoril (l. to Yanina Wickmayer). Roland Garros became her real break-through tournament though as it was the first time in her career that she has reached the quarter-final of a Grand Slam. The win over Jankovic was her second consecutive win over a top 10 player after Caroline Wozniacki was dispatched in the previous round.

Spotlight On ... Michelle Larcher de Brito

2009-05-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

Currently ranked in the world's top 150 (and the youngest player to end the year in the top 200), Michelle Larcher de Brito is widely thought of as one of the biggest teenage talents for the future. The teenager burst onto the scene when she defeated Meghan Shaughnessy in her first WTA tournament in Miami before losing to Daniela Hantuchova. She became the 7th youngest player in WTA history to win a main draw match at a WTA tournament. The rest of 2007 was spent on the ITF circuit. She reached the second round of WTA Memphis (l. to Caroline Wozniacki) and the third round of Miami (l. to 16th seed Shahar Peer, but beat 17th seed Agnieszka Radwanska for her first top 20 scalp). Following that, she qualified for WTA Montreal and beat American Vania King in her first round match.

As you might expect from a teenager, she is yet to find her real consistency. The three-set loss to Serena Williams (after beating Gisela Dulko in the first round as a qualifier) in the second round of WTA Stanford was quickly followed by a loss in the first round of qualifying in WTA Los Angeles to a far lesser ranked player. She has also been knocked out in qualifying for Fes (l. to Jelena Dokic) and Wimbledon. At WTA Tashkent, she reached the quarter-finals before losing to 3rd seed Sorana Cirstea.

In May 2009, she qualified for the Roland Garros main draw and was handed a favourable first round match-up against Melanie South, who she dispatched in three sets after being handed a first set bagel. In the second round, she defeated # 15 Jie Zheng in straight sets to book her place in the third round of Grand Slam for the first time in her fledgling career.

Michelle is coached by her father, Antonio. In 2005, she became the youngest player to win the prestigious Eddie Herr junior tournament (in the U16 category) at the age of 12.

Click here to read Michelle's WTA blog from Estoril

Spotlight On ... Polona Hercog

2009-05-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

Polona Hercog is an up-and-coming tennis player from Slovenia. In May 2009, she reached a career high ranking of # 167.

In 2008, she won two ITF circuit titles (both in Mallorca in February) and three ITF doubles titles. She also reached the quarter-finals (in Bosnia Herzegovina, and in the Czech Republic, beating top seed and top 100 player Yvonne Meusberger in the first round), semi-finals (in Croatia, beating 2nd seed Anne Keothavong) and finals (in Italy, beating 2nd seed Mathilde Johansson en route) of ITF events.

She has yet to make her Grand Slam main draw debut. She entered US Open qualifying but lost in the first round. In WTA events, she received a wildcard for WTA Portoroz and took then top 100 player Julia Vakulenko to three sets in the first round. Back on the ITF circuit, she notched up a second round showing in Maribor (Slovenia) (l. to 3rd seed Angelique Kerber) and a quarter-final in Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) (l. to 6th seed Alexandra Dulgheru). She ended her 2008 season with first round exits in ITF events in Mestre (Italy), Ortisei (Italy) and Podolsk (Russia).

In 2009, she has won ITF titles in Civitavecchia (Italy) and Zagreb (Croatia), as well as notching up a second round appearance in WTA Marbella and WTA Fes on the clay. She qualified for the Roland Garros main draw in May and won a round against 23rd seed Alisa Kleybanova before losing in three sets to Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai in the second round.

Spotlight On ... Alexandra Dulgheru

2009-05-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

Not too many players win a WTA title at their first attempt, but Alexandra Dulgheru can claim that honour. She won her first WTA title in Warsaw as a qualifier, beating the likes of Sara Errani, Daniela Hantuchova and Alona Bondarenko en route. Prior to this triumph, the Romanian was ranked outside of the top 200 with two ITF singles titles to her name. The Warsaw win saw her ranking jump over 100 places in just one week and propelled her into the world's top 100.

Just before she embarked on her impressive run in Warsaw, Alexandra had won an ITF title in Italy, lost in qualifying in Estoril (l. to Michelle Larcher de Brito in the second qualifying round) and reached the quarter-finals of an ITF event in France (l. to 5th seed Yanina Wickmayer).

Alexandra started playing tennis at the age of four after enrolling in the local tennis club. Perhaps unsurprisingly (given the Warsaw triumph), her favourite surface is clay.

Read Alexandra's 'Getting To Know' interview on the WTA website

Spotlight On ... Arantxa Rus

2009-05-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Arantxa Rus has been making a few waves on the WTA tour since 2008. Her best result came in September 2008, when she qualified and reached the quarter-finals in WTA Ghangzhou (China) with wins over Yanina Wickmayer and 5th seed Gisela Dulko before losing out to Camille Pin. The event was only her second WTA event. She followed that up with a second round in WTA Tashkent (l. to top seed Shuai Peng).

Despite the slightly Spanish-sounding first name, Arantxa actually hails from the Netherlands. She gained the world number one ranking in the juniors after junior Wimbledon, and has broken into the world's top 200 in the seniors. The left-handed teenager has won two ITF singles title this year in Bari (Italy) and Opole (Poland), to go with the two that she won in her native Holland in 2007.

She has been awarded wildcards into the WTA tournament in s'Hertogenbosch (Holland) for the last two years, but has lost in round one on both occasions (to 8th seed Alona Bondarenko in 2007, and Mariya Koryttseva in 2008).

During the 2009 season, she has been trying to find success at a higher level and so far this has not paid off. She lost in qualifying for the Australian Open, Bogota and Acapulco. She was part of the Dutch Fed Cup team in Estonia, where she beat Mandy Minella (Luxembourg) but lost to Anne Keothavong (Great Britain) in her singles matches.

Things picked up a bit after this, and she made it through qualifying in Monterrey but exited in the first round (l. to Roberta Vinci). Following this, she made it into the main draw in Miami (l. to Magdalena Rybarikova), reached the second round of Marbella as a qualifier (l. to Kaia Kanepi). She qualified for the Roland Garros main draw in May, drawing French wildcard Olivia Sanchez in the opening round.

Arantxa started playing tennis when she was five years old. As a junior, her achievements have included winning the 2008 Australian Open in singles (d. Jessica Moore in the final), and reaching the final of the same event in doubles (w/ Lesley Kerkhove).

Spotlight On ... Roberta Vinci

2009-04-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

Technically speaking, Roberta Vinci isn't a rising star on the WTA Tour. Back in March 2006, the Italian was ranked at a career-high # 37 but injuries saw her slip out of the world's top 100. Since then, she hasn't been able to match her best performance at a major (a third round showing at the 2006 Australian Open and 2005 Wimbledon), but has clawed her way back to the outskirts of the top 50.

Roberta has a game that many people have described as old-school. By that, I am referring to the fact that she isn't a big hitter and likes to come forward to the net frequently. Serve-and-volley players are few and far between on the WTA Tour these days, but she is one of the few who still does.

Despite only really coming to the fore in 2005, she has suffered from her fair share of injuries. In 2006, she missed six weeks during the summer after injuring her wrist. On her return, she won one WTA doubles title (w/ Flavia Pennetta) and two ITF singles titles. In 2008, she withdrew from numerous WTA events with shoulder problems. The 2009 season has seen her withdrew Bogota with a left foot injury, although she has since returned to action.

Her best result so far this season has been a quarter-final in Malaga (d. 8th seed Tsvetana Pironkova, l. to top seed and eventual champion Jelena Jankovic) but she has reached second rounds in Brisbane, Acapulco and Monterrey. She won a WTA event in Barcelona in April, beating 2nd seed Flavia Pennetta in the second round and 6th seed Maria Kirilenko for the loss of just four games in the final. This was her second career WTA title.

Spotlight On ... Jarmila Groth

2009-04-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

Jarmila Groth (formerly Jarmila Gajdosova) is a Slovakian-born tennis player, who is now married to Australian ATP player Sam Groth. She hit a career-high ranking of # 64 in September 2006 after reaching the third round of the US Open. This was the season in which she first achieved a ranking in the world's top 100. Her 2007 season was not as successful and this saw her drop out of the top 100.

In 2008, things picked up again and she made her first semi-final appearance at WTA level in Tokyo as a lucky loser, beating 6th seed Shahar Peer en route.

Her 2009 season has yet to really get going and she has not been able to progress past the second round of any tournament. She has had several first round exits, including losses to Elena Dementieva, Virginie Razzano, Galina Voskoboeva and Petra Cetkovska.

Spotlight On ... Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

2009-03-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was the junior world number one in 2006, and won several junior Grand Slams (including the Australian Open twice in her junior career and the US Open). She was also a finalist at junior Roland Garros. She is currently making a successful transition from the juniors to the seniors via the ITF circuit. In 2008, she has won a WTA doubles title in Fes (with Sorana Cirstea), along with two ITF singles title in Minsk and Moscow, and three ITF doubles titles. She was also a runner-up in the doubles at WTA Palermo (with fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva). Her best WTA result of the 2008 season so far has been a quarter-final showing in Palermo (l. to 7th seed and eventual finalist Mariya Koryttseva).

During her rise up the rankings this season, she has mixed ITF events with low tier WTA tournaments. This has been extremely profitable, as it has allowed her to build up the confidence that comes from winning lots of matches. She has also played several bigger WTA events, including Roland Garros (where she reached the second round before losing to 26th seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta in three sets) and Wimbledon (where she reached the third round before losing to 14th seed Agnieszka Radwanska). In the first round of Wimbledon, she beat 17th seed Alize Cornet to claim her first top 20 scalp. Anastasia qualified for WTA Stockholm, and reached the second round (l. to 3rd seed Katarina Srebotnik). She also reached the second round of the US Open (l. to 15th seed Patty Schnyder) and the quarter-finals of WTA Tokyo (l. to 5th seed Kaia Kanepi, after beating 3rd seed Jie Zheng in the first round).

After stepping down to the ITF circuit for the last few tournaments of her 2008 season, Anastasia won titles in Poitiers (France) and Bratislava (Slovak Republic).

In March 2009, she scored a huge straight sets win over 2nd seed Jelena Jankovic in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. This turned out to be a breakthrough tournament for the young Russian as wins over Karin Knapp, Nuria Llagostera Vives and 7th seed Agnieszka Radwanska saw her book her place in the quarter-finals.

Prior to this tournament, she had achieved second round showings in Paris (l. to Elena Dementieva) and Dubai (l. to Venus Williams) and a quarter-final appearance in Hobart (l. to Petra Kvitova) to bring her ranking inside the top 50.

Anastasia is coached by her father, Sergey. She comes from a tennis-orientated family, as her mother and brother are also tennis coaches.

Spotlight On ... Petra Cetkovska

2009-03-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

Petra hails from Prostejov in the Czech Republic, where she still lives. Her career-high ranking is just inside the world's top 50 (at #49), which she achieved in June 2008.

In her career so far, she has won 17 ITF singles titles and 18 ITF doubles titles, as well as one WTA doubles title in 2007 (with Andrea Hlavackova in Prague). Most of her tennis so far this year has been played on the far less glamorous ITF circuit. She has been busy racking up the match wins there with tournament victories in $50K Bucharest (Romania) and $50K Saints-Gaudens (France) in May, and a doubles title in $50K Bucharest. She also reached the quarters of the WTA tournament in Fes (Morocco) during the clay-court season. By the time she entered the qualifying for Roland Garros, she had won twelve of her last thirteen matches - a confidence that showed throughout her Roland Garros campaign.

In her first round match at Roland Garros (2008), she took out Alona Bondarenko in straight sets, and followed that up with wins over Galina Voskoboeva and Iveta Benesova, before running out of steam against world number two, Ana Ivanovic. If this tournament was anything to go by, the Czech has certainly made a name for herself - both on and off the court.

Following on from Roland Garros, Petra made the quarter-finals of WTA Birmingham. She beat top seed Marion Bartoli in the second round before losing out to 12th seed and eventual champion, Kateryna Bondarenko.

After this, her form started to dip again. She lost in the first round of Wimbledon to Tamarine Tanasugarn, who went on to be a surprise quarter-finalist. That was followed by a first round loss in Stockholm (l. to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova), a second round loss in Cincinnati (l. to wildcard Lilia Osterloh, after beating 8th seed Tamira Paszek), and first round losses in Forest Hills (l. to Martina Muller), the US Open (l. to Nicole Vaidisova), Seoul (l. to 2nd seed Shahar Peer) and the Japan Open (l. to qualifier Rika Fujiwara). A return to the ITF circuit brought some much-needed success with quarter-finals in Saint Raphael (l. to 8th seed Julie Coin) and Poitiers (l. to top seed Monica Niculescu).

Her 2009 season didn't get off to a great start after first round losses in Australia (l. to 5th seed Shahar Peer), the Australian Open (l. to Marina Erakovic) and a second round loss in Bogota (l. to Masa Zec Peskiric), but her results have started to pick up again with a quarter-final showing in Acapulco (d. 8th seed Maria Sanchez Lorenzo, before losing to 2nd seed Flavia Pennetta). She caused a big upset in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells after dispatching Elena Dementieva.

Petra wasn't a stand-out junior and didn't achieve massive success in the junior Grand Slams . Her best results included a 3rd round at the US Open juniors (losing in straight sets to Swede Sofia Arvidsson in 2000), the 2nd round of the 2001 Australian Open juniors (losing to Karolina Sprem), and the 3rd round of the 2002 French Open juniors (losing to Marta Domachowska).

Spotlight On ... Christina McHale

2008-12-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

Christina McHale recently won the USTA wildcard play off tournament, winning herself a main draw wildcard into the 2009 Australian Open. The American teenager has a career high ranking of # 373, which she hit in November 2008.

She has been largely confined to the ITF circuit during the 2008 season. Back in January, she reached the second round of $50K Waikoloa, losing to fellow American Julie Ditty. She went one better the following month with a quarter-final in $50K Indian Harbor Beach, beating compatriots Julia Cohen and Alexandra Stevenson, before losing out to Anna Tatishvili. Following this, she notched up a second round in $50K Lexington.

In between these results, she has attempted qualifying for $25K, $50K and $75K events with varied success. In the latter half of the 2008 season, her success rates picked up as she qualified for $50K Lexington (and reached the second round), $50K Lawrenceville (losing in round one) and $25K Augusta (reaching the semi-finals). She signed off her 2008 season with a quarter-final in $50K San Diego, as a qualifier before winning the USTA Australian Open wildcard play off tournament to clinch her place in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Spotlight On ... Jessica Moore

2008-11-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

Jessica Moore is one of the biggest young hopes for resurrecting Australian tennis. The teenager is moving towards the top 100 after winning her third ITF title in Italy during the summer.
She made her WTA debut back in 2006 when she was handed a wildcard into qualifying for the Gold Coast event. She spent the rest of her time alternating between junior and ITF tournaments. In 2007, she was given wildcards into the main draws of WTA Hobart (New Zealand), the Australian Open and the US Open. Back on the ITF circuit, she won two singles titles (in the UK and Australia) and a doubles title (in Italy).

This year has seen Jessica enjoying more success at WTA level. After failing to qualify for the Gold Coast event and losing in the opening round of WTA Hobart (l. to top seed Alona Bondarenko), she reached the second round of the Australian Open (l. to 17th seed Shahar Peer) and the US Open (d. fellow wildcard Melanie Oudin, before losing to a revitalised Anna-Lena Groenefeld). As well as winning an ITF title in Italy, she has reached the semi-finals of two other ITF events in Australia this year.

Spotlight On ... Mathilde Johansson

2008-10-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

Mathilde Johansson was originally born in Sweden, but now lives in and plays for France. She has a career-high ranking of #81 with two ITF singles titles to her name this year (in Colombia and Italy).

Her 2008 season has been largely split between the ITF circuit and the WTA Tour. She reached the second round of WTA Vina del Mar (l. to Flavia Pennetta) and WTA Budapest (l. to Klara Zakopalova, but has reached quarters, semis and finals of ITF events throughout the year. At Wimbledon this year, she qualified and put up a brave fight against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the opening round before going out in three sets.

Post-Wimbledon, Mathilde reached the second round of WTA Budapest (l. to 7th seed Klara Zakopalova) before stepping back to the ITF circuit for a while. She reached the quarter-finals of an ITF event in Biella (Italy) and won an ITF title in Petange (Luxembourg). Back on the WTA circuit, she lost in qualifying for WTA Cincinnati and the US Open. Returning to the ITF circuit, she was a quarter-finalist in Denain (France) and Athens-2 (Greece) and a semi-finalist in Sofia (Bulgaria).

She has been playing in the Grand Slam events since 2005 but has yet to make it past the second round. Those three second rounds have all come at Roland Garros, with losses to 2oth seed Maria Kirilenko, 13th seed Elena Dementieva and 5th seed Serena Williams.

Spotlight On ... Urszula Radwanska

2008-09-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

A former junior world number one, Urzsula Radwanska is the younger of the two Radwanska sisters. The Polish teenager won the 2007 junior Wimbledon tournament, which has resulted in her receiving wildcards into WTA main draws and qualifying tournaments.

She is currently on the cusp of the top 100. She has only played in one Grand Slam main draw but that was a success. She lost in the second round of Wimbledon this year to eventual finalist Serena Williams, but the scoreline was fairly competitive, especially given the ranking difference between them.

This year has seen Urszula win an ITF tournament in Vancouver. Much of the 2008 season has been spent playing WTA qualifying tournaments and ITF events. Notable scalps this year include Julia Goerges (who was in the top 100 recently), Klara Zakopalova and Elena Vesnina. In October, she reached the quarter-finals of WTA Tashkent, beating 7th seed Akgul Amanmuradova in the first round, before eventually losing out to 4th seed Sabine Lisicki. Back on the ITF circuit, she reached the semi-finals inKrakow (Poland), knocking out 8th seed (and top 100 player) Elena Vesnina in the second round.

Last year, she reached the quarter-finals of WTA Beijing, and won a WTA doubles title in Istanbul with older sister Agnieszka. She also claimed doubles titles at ITF level in Germany, America and China.

Despite having a solid game, Urszula is often hampered by her ability to get down on herself during a match, which can affect her results.

Spotlight On ... Grigor Dimitrov

2008-09-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

Grigor Dimitrov has been one of the standout players on the junior circuit this year after claiming Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open. The Bulgarian teenager is now ranked number one in the juniors, and has already started making an impact on the Futures circuit.

He is currently ranked just inside the ATP top 500, around twenty places below the career high ranking of # 477 that he achieved in September 2008. So far this year, he has won three Futures singles titles in Spain, as well as one Futures doubles title (also in Spain, but at a different tournament) and reached the semi-finals of a Challenger doubles tournament, and the semi-finals and final of two other Spanish Futures doubles tournament.

He was given a singles wildcard at ATP s’Hertogenbosch, and was unlucky enough to draw Russian top 40 player Igor Andreev in the first round. Andreev was a comfortable 6-1 6-3 winner on the day, but playing a match at ATP level was a huge step up from Dimitrov’s usual opponents on the Futures (and sometimes Challenger) circuit.

Spotlight On ... Alisa Kleybanova

2008-08-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

Alisa Kleybanova has been making steady progress up the rankings this year and is currently sitting at number. The Russian is currently ranked at a career high ranking of 34 in the world, having ended her 2007 season outside of the top 150.

In January, she qualified for the Australian Open to reach her first Grand Slam main draw. Although she lost to 6th seeded compatriot Anna Chakvetadze, it was the start of a successful season. In Antwerp, she reached her first quarter-final on the WTA tour, having beaten 6th seed Agnes Szavay and Kateryna Bondarenko en route. The win over Szavay was her first top 20 scalp. This result pushed her into the top 100 for the first time in her career. In March, she reached the third round of WTA Miami as a qualifier, beating 12th seed Nicole Vaidisova to notch her second top 20 scalp in as many months. In May, she reached the quarter-finals of WTA Fes, and was a finalist in the doubles there alongside fellow Russian Etakerina Makarova. She also reached the second round of WTA Berlin (again, as a qualifier) and Roland Garros. This moved her into the top 50 for the first time.

In Eastbourne, she reached the quarter-finals as a qualifier and backed that up with a fourth round showing at Wimbledon (her best Grand Slam result to date). She defeated 10th seed Daniela Hantuchova en route for her third top 20 scalp). She entered the top 40 shortly afterwards.

Her hard court season never really got going, with first round losses in WTA Los Angeles and WTA New Haven, and second round losses in WTA Stanford, WTA Montreal and the US Open. Stepping down to the ITF circuit, Alisa won titles in Podolsk (Russia) and Minsk (Belarus) but suffered early defeats in Bratislava (Slovakia) and Krakow (Poland).

Spotlight on ... Yanina Wickmayer

2008-06-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

Yanina Wickmayer had a breakthrough week back in June, when she reached her first WTA final at the DFS Classic, losing a heart-breaking final set tie-break to Kateryna Bondarenko. She had never previously been past the second round of a WTA event. Her successful week saw her rise to a career-high ranking of 66, and she has bettered that by four ranking places since then.

On the ITF circuit, she has won one singles title ($50K Indian Harbour Beach in the US, beating top seed Bethanie Mattek in the final) and one doubles title ($75K Torhout in Belgium, partnering Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova). She also reached the final of $50K New Delhi (l. Ekaterina Dzehalevich) and $75K Monzon (l. to Petra Kvitova but beat top seed Lilia Osterloh in the opening round), and the semi-finals of $50K Charlottesville (l. to qualifier Alexis Gordon) and $50K Surbiton (beating 2nd seed Tamarine Tanasugarn, and losing to 3rd seed Marina Erakovic). Her year to date wasn't restricted to the ITF circuit, as she reached the second round of WTA Antwerp (beat Shuai Peng but lost to 3rd seed Daniela Hantuchova) and the quarter-finals of WTA Seoul (l. to 3rd seed Kaia Kanepi). On the ITF circuit, she reached the semi-finals in Mexico shortly before the US Open.

She is a member of the Belgian Fed Cup and has wins over Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko (in Belgium's World Group II tie with the Ukraine).

Spotlight On ... Marina Erakovic

2008-06-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Marina Erakovic has been steadily rising up the rankings so far this year, and broke into the world’s top 50 (#49) in July 2008. She has slipped beneath that slightly since then but is still a solid top 70 player.

Born in Croatia, but living in New Zealand, the 19-year-old has won two ITF singles events this year (in Surbiton and Mildura, Australia), and reached the final in another ($25K Berri, Australia). On the WTA tour, she reached the semi-finals in Auckland (beating Ashley Harkleroad and top seed Vera Zvonareva but losing to Aravane Rezai) and Memphis (l. to 4th seed Lindsay Davenport), the third round of Miami (beating 30th seed Michaella Krajicek, before losing to 6th seed Serena Williams) and the second round of Roland Garros (beating Tathiana Garbin, before losing to 3rd seed Jelena Jankovic).

That was followed by a semi-final appearance at the DFS Classic in Birmingham (beating 6th seed Sania Mirza and 5th seed Alona Bondarenko, but losing to 12th seed and eventual champion Kateryna Bondarenko) and a second round showing at the Ordina Open in Rosmalen as a qualifier (beating Aleksandra Wozniak, before losing to 8th seed Alona Bondarenko). She also won the doubles title at the Ordina Open, partnering Holland’s Michaella Krajicek. She made her Wimbledon singles debut in 2008, and faced Krajicek in her opening match. She reached the third round before losing to Tamarine Tanasugarn, who went on to be a surprise quarter-finalist.

After a successful first half to the 2008 season, Marina’s form dipped. She suffered early exits in WTA Portoroz (l. to Camille Pin), WTA Stockholm (l. to qualifier Maria Elena Camerin), the Beijing Olympics (l. to wildcard Ayumi Morita), WTA Forest Hills (l. to Jamea Jackson), the US Open (l. to Pauline Parmentier), WTA Seoul (l. to Samantha Stosur), WTA Japan Open (l. to wildcard Ayumi Morita) and WTA Luxembourg (l. to Sara Errani).

Spotlight On ... Carla Suarez Navarro

2008-06-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

How many of us had heard of Carla Suarez Navarro before Roland Garros began? The Spaniard was ranked 132 in the world, but her dream run through to the quarter-finals saw her ranking rise to a career-high ranking of 49 in the world. Wimbledon gave her a wildcard into the tournament, preventing the need for going through the qualifying tournament, but as a player who has had most of her success on clay, it’s debatable as to whether that was ever actually going to be the plan.

Prior to Roland Garros, her best result was a semi-final showing at WTA Acapulco (beating 7th seed Edina Gallovits but losing to Maria Emilia Salerni). She also qualified for WTA Vina Del Mar (l. to Rossana De Los Rios in round one). Other than that, she was on the ITF circuit, with quarter-finals in $25K Las Palmas (l. to qualifier Kirsten Flipkens), $25K Saint Gaudens (France) (l. to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) and $50K Latina (Italy) (l. to 4th seed Olivia Sanchez) and a final in $25K Tenerife (l. to top seed Tzipora Obziler).

She was part of the Spanish Fed Cup team earlier this year, losing to Jie Zheng but beating Shuai Peng in straight sets. Her ranking rise is likely to make her an integral part of the Fed Cup team in coming ties.

Following on from Roland Garros, Carla reached the second round of WTA Barcelona (l. to 2nd seed Maria Kirilenko), the second round of Wimbledon (l.to 2nd seed Jelena Jankovic), the quarter-finals of WTA Palermo (l. to 5th seed Sara Errani) and the semi-finals of WTA Forest Hills (l. to Shuai Peng). She also represented Spain in the Fed Cup final against Russia, losing in straight sets to Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Carla kicked off 2009 in great style after stunning Venus Williams in the second round of the Australian Open. She backed that up with comfortable wins over compatriots Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Anabel Medina Garrigues (seeded 21st) to reach her second career Grand Slam quarter-final, which will be against 4th seed Elena Dementieva.

Click here to read Carla’s “Getting To Know…” interview on the WTA website.

Spotlight On ... Jeremy Chardy

2008-06-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

In the first installment of the "Spotlight On..." posts, I'm turning my attention to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. Ranked 145 in the world coming into Roland Garros, the wildcard surprised more than a few people in reaching the fourth round. His scalps included David Nalbandian and Dmitry Tursunov, before losing in three tight sets to in-form Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.

His ranking is set to take a big step in the right direction after this tournament, but as you might expect from a player ranked just inside the top 150, his year-to-date has been spent on the Challenger circuit. Prior to Roland Garros, his best result of the year was a Challenger final in Marrakesh (losing 7-6 7-6 to fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils), along with several Challenger quarter-final showings in New Caledonia, East London and Meknes. Needless to say, Roland Garros has been a huge milestone for him, and it wil be interesting to see how he copes with the new expectations.

Jeremy broke into the top 100 following Roland Garros 2008. He reached the second round of Wimbledon and the US Open, and the quarter-finals of ATP Gstaad. Back on the Challenger circuit, he continued to rack up the wins by winning a title in Graz and reaching the quarter-finals in Segovia. Several first round exits at Challenger level followed this before he notched up a quarter-final showing at ATP Moscow (beating top 20 player, Igor Andreev) and a second round appearance in ATP St Petersburg.

As far as his junior record goes, Chardy won the Wimbledon juniors title in 2005 and was a finalist at the US Open juniors in 2005 (losing to Ryan Sweeting).

Spotlight On ... Kaia Kanepi

2008-05-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Kaia Kanepi was a surprise quarter-finalist at Roland Garros this year. Her scalps included Anabel Medina Garrigues and top 10 player Anna Chakvetadze. She eventually ran out of steam against Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova, who went on to lose in the semi-finals.
Kaia is not a particularly new name on the WTA tour (she was ranked number 40 in 2007), but this was by far her best showing at a Grand Slam. She reached a WTA final in Belgium at the end of 2006, losing to Kim Clijsters. In her career, she was wins over Flavia Pennetta and Patty Schynder.

Unlike most of the other players so far in the “Spotlight On …” series, Kaia has left the ITF circuit behind her and moved up to the WTA tour on a full-time basis. Much of this is to do with the fact that she is currently sitting at 49 in the world rankings (which will rise again on Monday when the new rankings are released). Despite being a solid top 50 player, few people would have predicated that she would reach the last eight of a Grand Slam!

In 2008, she has reached the semi-finals of WTA Acapulco (lost to Flavia Pennetta) on clay, the quarter-finals of WTA Sydney (lost to Justine Henin) and Vina del Mar (lost to Flavia Pennetta), and the fourth round of Miami (lost to Serena Williams).

Following on from Roland Garros 2008, Kaia has reached a career-high ranking of #27, which she achieved in October 2008. Her Grand Slam results have been fairly average, with a first round exit at Wimbledon and a second round exit at the US Open. However, she has pushed her ranking up courtesy of results at other events. Asian tournaments have been particularly profitable for Kaia. At the Beijing Olympics, she reached the third round (beating top 20 player Flavia Pennetta in the first round), the quarter-finals of WTA Tokyo (l. to 4th seed Dinara Safina), the semi-finals of WTA Seoul (l. to top seed Maria Kirilenko) and the final of the WTA Japan Open (l. to top seed Caroline Wozniacki).