The Top 16 Teams for the 2012 Women's World Cup

Here are the top 16 teams competing in the 2012 women's World Cup -

GROUP A

RUSSIA  28 

Maria Sharapova
Nadia Petrova
Maria Kirilenko

GERMANY 60 

Angelique Kerber
Julia Goerges
Sabine Lisicki

FRANCE 120

Marion Bartoli
Alize Cornet
Pauline Parmentier 

KAZAKHSTAN 214

Yaroslava Shvedova
Galina Voskoboeva
Ksenia Pervak


GROUP B

USA  48 

Serena Williams
Varvara Lepchenko
Venus Williams 


CHINA  73

Li Na
Zheng Jie
Peng Shuai

ROMANIA 126

Sorana Cirstea
Simona Halep
Irina Camelia-Begu

AUSTRALIA 224

Samantha Stosur
Casey Dellacqua
Olivia Rogowska


GROUP C

CZECH REPUBLIC 53 

Petra Kvitova
Lucie Safarova
Klara Zakopalova

SERBIA 91

Ana Ivanovic
Jelena Jankovic
Bojana Jovanovski

SPAIN 132

Carla Suarez Navarro
Lourdes Dominguez Lino
Anabel Medina Garrigues 

CHINESE-TAIPEI  230 


Su Wei Hsieh
Kai-Chen Chang
Yung Jan Chan


GROUP D

ITALY  57 

Sara Errani
Roberta Vinci
Francesca Schiavone 

SLOVAKIA 109
Dominika Cibulkova
Daniela Hantuchova
Magdalena Rybarikova

POLAND 194

Agnieszka Radwanska
Urszula Radwanska
Sandra Zaniewska

GREAT BRITAIN 245

Heather Watson
Laura Robson
Anne Keothavong

Top 16 Teams for Men's World Cup Tennis 2012

Here are the sixteen teams competing for the Men's World Cup Tennis 2012

Group A

SPAIN
Rafael Nadal
David Ferrer
Nicolas Almagro

GERMANY 69
Philipp Kohlschreiber
Tommy Haas
Florian Mayer

RUSSIA 147
Mikhail Youzhny
Nikolay Davydenko
Andrey Kuznetsov


CROATIA 187
Marin Cilic
Ivan Dodig
Ivo Karlovic




Group B

FRANCE 34

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Richard Gasquet
Gilles Simon

ARGENTINA 85

Juan Martin del Potro
Juan Monaco
Carlos Berlocq 

JAPAN 158
Kei Nishikori
Go Soeda
Tatsuma Ito 


BELGIUM 199
David Goffin
Xavier Malisse
Steve Darcis



Group C

SERBIA 48
Novak Djokovic
Janko Tipsarevic
Victor Troicki

CZECH REPUBLIC 110
Tomas Berdych
Radek Stepanek
Lukas Rosol 

SWITZERLAND 165
Roger Federer
Stanislas Wawrinka
Marco Chiudinelli


SLOVAKIA 222
Martin Klizan
Lukas Lacko
Karol Beck




Group D

USA 64 
John Isner
Sam Querrey
Mardy Fish


ITALY 132
Andreas Seppi
Fabio Fognini
Paolo Lorenzi 

AUSTRALIA 184 
Marinko Matosevic
Bernard Tomic
Lleyton Hewitt

SLOVENIA 235
Grega Zemlja
Aljaz Bedene
Blaz Kavcic



 






















 

Richard Gasquet Back in the Winners Circle in Bangkok

Richard Gasquet is a difficult player to watch because sometimes he's hot and sometimes he's not.  However, when you catch him on a good day, he's a delight to watch!  

Well, Richard just won his seventh ATP title here in Bangkok.  He had wins over fellowman, Gilles Simon in the finals, Jarkko Nieminen in the semifinals, Bernard Tomic in the quarterfinals and Grigor Dimitrov in the second round.  He's actually in the running for the final 8 so let's see if he does make it!

Fun Pictures: Juan Monaco

Juan Monaco just won his fourth ATP title this year in Kuala Lumpur.  It has been a fantastic year for the Argentine, also winning Vina del Mar, Houston and Hamburg.  In honor of his victory, I have come up with some fun picture of the sexy Argentine.  Ehem, I know you like him!

David Ferrer in Kuala Lumpur

 

I will definitely attend this tennis event next year.  It's too bad I can't make it this year.  I would've loved to see David Ferrer play!  Oh well, I hope he does well this year so that he will come back next year!

Great to See Su-Wei Hsieh Win Guangzhou

Su-Wei Hsieh's second WTA title came fittingly in another Asian city, this time in Guangzhou.  She won the Kuala Lumpur title earlier this year.  I haven't seen her play yet since she came out of the starting gates only this year - and hasn't been drawn to any of the marquee players yet in any of this year's grand slams.

However, I might get the chance to actually see her play this coming week as Star Sports is going to replay some of the matches last week.  It would be interesting to see both her semifinals (against Urszula Radwanska) and finals (against Laura Robson).  She doesn't look like a player with power but I think her spins and where she puts the ball makes her a dangerous opponent.

She had wins in Guangzhou over Kai Chen Chang, Nina Bratchikova and Mathilde Johansson in the earlier rounds.

Asia and Australia's Women's Fantasy Tennis 2012 (Second Round Round)

Using the current head to head, the second round looked like this -

Li Na	CHN	1
Sesil Karatantcheva	KAZ
Kimiko Date-Krumm	JPN
Ksenia Pervak	KAZ	8
Zheng Jie	CHN	3
Ayumi Morita	JPN
Jarmila Gajdosova	AUS
Marina Erakovic	NZL	6
Yaroslava Shvedova	KAZ	4
Casey Dellacqua	AUS
Olivia Rogowska	AUS
Su-Wei Hsieh	TPE	7
Samantha Stosur	AUS	2
Galina Voskoboeva	KAZ
Yung-Jan Chan	TPE
Peng Shuai	CHN	5

Asia and Australia's Women's Fantasy Tennis 2012 (First Round)

Every year, around this time, I play my Asia and Australia Fantasy Tennis Tournament, using the rankings of that week.  This is the women's tournament and it includes players from Asia and Australia and New Zealand.  Here was how the first round pairings looked like. So basically, it's the name on the first column, versus the name on the second column.

1	26
Li Na (CHN)	Sung-Hee Han (KOR)
12	17
Sesil Karatantcheva (KAZ)	Kai-Chen Chang (TPE)
14	24
Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN)	Luksika Kumkhum (THA)
8	32
Ksenia Pervak (KAZ)	Nigina Abduraimova (UZB)
3	28
Zheng Jie (CHN)	Zhang Ling (HKG)
11	18
Ayumi Morita (JPN)	Misaki Doi (JPN)
15	22
Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)	Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)
6	29
Marina Erakovic (NZL)	Sania Mirza (IND)
4	25
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)	Nudnida Luangnam (THA)
10	19
Casey Dellacqua (AUS)	Erika Sema (JPN)
16	21
Olivia Rogowska (AUS)	Zheng Saisai (CHN)
7	31
Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)	Sabina Sharipova (UZB)
2	27
Samantha Stosur (AUS)	Chin-Wei Chan (TPE)
9	20
Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)	Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA)
13	23
Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)	Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA)
5	30
Peng Shuai (CHN)	Ayu Fani Damayanti (INA)

Wimbledon Memories: Tamarine Tanasugarn

 

During her peak, I would always make it a point to watch Tamarine Tanasugarn's matches at Wimbledon.  I think she reached a couple of quarters and fourth rounds there - grass being her most favorite surface.  She also played really well when she was in this surface.  She has been the only Thai female  player I know who has reached the top 100 in women's tennis.

Kristina Mladenovic: Slow But Sure Climb

This is my second blog post on Kristina Mladenovic (#123) in as many weeks.  It just shows that this young French teenager is going places!  Kristina reached the semifinals of the Quebec Open, a good showing after a surprise third round finish at the US Open.  She had good wins over players near her ranking and almost upset Hradecka.  Looking forward to seeing her now achieve more consistency in her wins.

This was her path to the semi's -

SF - lost to Lucie Hradecka (CZE) (#60) 57 67(5)
QF - Melanie Oudin (USA) (#115) 60 61
2R - Annika Beck (GER) (#141) 46 64 63
1R - Madison Brengle (USA) (#185) 64 67(6) 64

Mona Barthel: First Semifinal Since Bastad

Mona Barthel of Germany (#36) has been trying to assert herself in the tournaments she has been appearing in but hasn't made much headway for now.  Her semifinal appearance here in Quebec City is her first since Bastad.

Her first assignment was tough enough, having to beat Heather Watson, who was on a high after a good run in the US Open 2012.  She continued her winning ways until she was upset by Flipkens.
 
This was her path to the semifinals -

SF - lost to Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) (#102) 67(6) 67(3)
QF - Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) (#62) 63 64
2R - Petra Rampre (SLO) (#234) 62 63
1R - Heather Watson (GBR) (#72) 67(5) 76(5) 61

Lucie Hradecka Continues Singles Success

Although an accomplished doubles player, Lucie Hradecka, along with her doubles partner, Andrea Hlavackova, have been showing signs that they too can become great singles players.  She demonstrates that once again as she finishes runner up at the Quebec Bell Open, just losing to Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in the finals.

Compared to Kirsten Flipkens, Lucie's path to the finals seems much easier, only having to deal with players ranked twice her current ranking.  Even then, if you check the scorelines, Lucie had to win three tiebreaks so that she could reach the finals, showing that it was not exactly a walk in the park for her.
 
This was her path to the runnerup win -

F - lost to Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) (#102) 16 57
SF - Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) (#123) 75 76(5)
QF - Lauren Davis (USA) (#129) 64 62
2R - Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) (#178) 76(2) 26 76(4)
1R - Maria Sanchez (USA) (#186) 64 76(5)

Kirsten Flipkens Wins First WTA Title in Quebec City

Kirsten Flipkens has always lived under the shadows of her country's two top women's tennis players, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.  She was a top 100 player in 2009 and 2010.  However, today, with those two already in retirement, she has become Belgium's next hope.  She finally makes a breakthrough this week as she wins her very first WTA title here in Quebec City.  This should push her back into the top 100 again, after being ranked #102 before the Quebec City tournament.

She won over four players ranked much higher than her, which really shows her potential and what she can be capable of.  I just hope she gets more successes after her great run here.

This was her path to the championship -

F- Lucie Hradecka (CZE) (#60) 61 75
SF - Mona Barthel (GER) (#36) 76(6) 76(3)
QF - Anna Tatishvili (GEO) (#52) 62 30 Retd
2R - Mirjana Lucic (CRO) (#113) 64 36 76(5)
1R - Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) (#13) 26 63 75

Serena's Secret to Her Current Run of Grand Slam Wins!

I know I may just be speculating on this but I now understand why Serena looked very inspired this summer season, winning Wimbledon, the Olympic gold and the US Open - she is in love and dating someone, her coach apparently, Patrick Mouratoglou!! 

It's really true that when you're in love and inspired, you can achieve whatever you set your heart on!  I'm sure though that Serena's foes are hoping she and her current love figure in a quarrel in next year's Grand Slam season so that Serena loses focus, haha - what a laugh!!

By the way, check out where Serena's hand is!!   The girl really knows what she wants from her man!! Very sexy photo and so happy for the golden girl!!

Eva Birnerova: Aims Again for the Tashkent Open Title

Eva Birnerova (ranked #133) of the Czech Republic lost in her hunt for the Tashkent Open, as she was the runner up last year to fellow countrywoman, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.  She reached the semifinals again this year and lost to newbie Donna Vekic of Croatia.  This was her path to the semifinals -

1R - Claire Feuerstein (FRA) (#138) 76(4) 64
2R - Karin Knapp (ITA) (#135) 62 62
QF - Alexandra Cadantu (ROU) (#85) 63 46 62
SF - Donna Vekic (CRO) (#183) 61 36 61

Donna Vekic Breaks Out in the Tashkent Open

16-year old Donna Vekic of Croatia finally breaks out in the WTA tour by reaching her first final ever!  Currently ranked #183 in the world, she made a big splash in the first round here in the Tashkent Open by defeating Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, ranked #54 in the world.  She then proceeded to defeat Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino of Spain, ranked #91 in the world, in the second round.  In the quarterfinals, she shocked Serbian Bojana Jovanovski, ranked #64 in the world.  

She then defeated Eva Birnerova of the Czech Republic, ranked #133 in the world, in the semifinals.  In the finals, Donna lost to Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 64 64.

Irina-Camelia Begu Wins Tashkent Open 2012

Irina-Camelia Begu dispatched Caroline Wozniacki in the first round of the US Open 2012 - and she continues her good form here in Tashkent, where she wins her first title of the year!  She ended the fantastic run of the young Croatian, Donna Vekic.  Finally after going through some funk, Begu is slowly finding the form she had last year.  

This was her path to the championships -

1R - Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) (#155) 64 63
2R - Alize Cornet (FRA) (#49) 64 61
QF - Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) (#77) 36 76(1) 75
SF - Urszula Radwanska (POL) (#40) 63 63
F - Donna Vekic (CRO) (#183) 64 64

Urszula Radwanska: Into Third Semifinal of 2012

Urszula Radwanska is slowly emulating older sister, Agnieszka, who is already at the top of women's tennis.  She herself, is slowly making the ascent.  Currently ranked #40, she gets into her third semifinal of the year in the Tashkent Open, after winning Nottingham and being a finalist in Hertogenbosch.  

However, she lost to Irina Camelia-Begu of Romania in the semifinals.

This was her path to the semifinals -

1R - Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor (ESP) (#112) 64 75
2R - Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS) (#393) 62 62
QF - Alexandra Panova (RUS) (#89) 57 62 76(3)
SF - Irina Camelia-Begu (ROU) (#87) 63 63

Wimbledon Memories: At Henman Hill!

This place in Wimbledon used to be called Henman Hill, because everytime Tim Henman played, this place would be full of Brits! This place is for those people who can't enter the two main stadiums. This is also where the general public watch the games happening in the main stadium.

At this time, Rafa was playing an American in the first round, I forgot his name, and Rafa almost lost!! I think this was the year he won his first Roland Garros, kaya people were aghast that he was playing poorly in Wimbledon. The girl is Meann, Vic's friend based in Oxford. She toured us around Oxford University but since I never read any Harry Potter book, ayun, di ko alam which building was what.

My Tennis Memories: At Wimbledon!

When I earned my first real money, one of the first things I did was to watch Wimbledon.  It was always a dream of mine to actually be there!  And I fulfilled that dream between 2004 and 2008.  Of course, now I want to go back, but well, maybe in 2-3 years. 

My brother Vic is not into tennis but there are days when he goes with me to watch Wimbledon. Laura chose this picture among the many we took. Ang maganda pala sa Wimbledon is hindi siya mainit like the US Open or the Aussie Open. Yun lang uulan kung minsan and sayang bayad sa ticket for the day - hindi siya refundable e.....

WTA Rankings Watch: September 10, 2012

The results of any grand slam always result in some major movements within the rankings due mainly to the huge points awarded in these four time yearly affair.

The biggest recipient this week is Sara Errani, whose semifinal appearance in the US Open puts her deeper into the women's top 10, at #7.

Another big recipient is Marion Bartoli, whose quarterfinal appearance puts her back into the top 10, at #10.

Other big movers within the top 20 are quarterfinalist Roberta Vinci, who goes deeper into the top 20, at #15, while Russian Nadia Petrova reenters the top 20 at #18, after a quarterfinal appearance.