WTA: Stanford Review (Pre-Final)
Love is in the air, according to the U.S. Open Series commercials.
I love this time of the tennis season. The weather is great, I can watch tennis without staying up too late and it is on hard courts. The U.S. Open Series is a series of tournaments where the quarterfinalists-winner gets a certain amount of points and the top 3 finishers get a cash bonus added to their U.S. Open winnings. If the male and/or female winner of the Series wins the Open, they will make an extra $1 million. The U.S. Open Series also puts more tennis on TV, which is a fan’s dream. Today, I will cover 2 tournaments, The Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California and The Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego, California.
Stanford
The Bank of the West (BOTW) Classic is the oldest women’s-only tennis event and they celebrated their 40th anniversary this week. The BOTW is one of my favorite events in the summer. It really does begin the hardcourt season for the women. Samantha Stosur, the French Open runner-up, was the top seed in a singles event for “the first time since the 14s in Australia” according to the world number 5. There were not really any huge upsets in the first round but Ana Ivanovic beat Alisa Kleybanova in straight sets before losing to defending champion Marion Bartoli in straight sets as well. Melanie Oudin clawed back from 6-7,1-5 down and won 6-7(6-8),7-5,6-3. She was also down 1-3 in the final set. She lost to Victoria Azarenka in straight sets in round 2. Qualifier Christina McHale, who turned pro at the French Open beat fellow qualifier Kai-Chen Chang and pushed Stosur in round 2, but lost 6-1,7-5. Lastly in Round 1, Dinara Safina lost to Kimiko Date-Krumm 4-6,7-6(7-0),6-2. Date-Krumm also beat Safina in the first round of the French Open. Round 2 had only one seed go down, 7th seed Shahar Peer lost to Maria Kirilenko in straight sets. The quarterfinals were the most intriguing, especially with 5th seed Maria Sharapova facing off against 2nd seed Elena Dementieva. It was a 3 set battle where Maria scraped by 6-4,2-6,6-3. Stosur struggled against 6th seed Yanina Wickmayer but won 7-5,3-6,6-3 and faced 8th seed Azarenka, a 3-6,6-3,6-3 winner over Bartoli, the 4th seed. Lastly, 3rd seed Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Kirilenko 7-5,6-0. The semi-finals had the upset of Azarenka defeating Stosur 6-2,6-3. Azarenka has found her game and was just pounding winners and pushing Stosur around the court. It was nice to see Victoria win as she had struggled all season. The night match had Sharapova defeat Radwanska 1-6,6-2,6-2. The match was all on Sharapova’s racket and it showed throughout the match. She simply overpowered.
The final is a loud, hard-hitting, flat groundstroke meeting between the wildcard 8th seed Azarenka and 5th seed Sharapova.
The final is starting now. What is my pick?
Azarenka in 3 sets.
