© 2012
Daily
Tennis News Wire -
Stanford
Singles - Final: (1) Serena Williams def. (LL) CoCo
Vandeweghe 7-5 6-3
Serena Williams was actually down a break early in the
first set of this. But then she turned into Serena
Williams.
That gives her eleven straight wins, and two straight
titles. What else can we say? She's Serena. Of course,
it helps that she was able to win without facing a Top
Forty player. (Serena would have earned 25 quality
points for this win if the WTA still had quality points.
That's the lowest quality point total for the winner of
a Premier event since Justine Henin would have earned 22
for winning Antwerp 2008.)
In terms of rankings, it makes relatively little
difference. She remains #4, and still far behind #3. On
the other hand, who would want to bet against her going
higher by year's end?
CoCo Vandeweghe appears bound for a career high, and she
also reaches her first final. She had one previous run
into the Top Hundred, which didn't last long. Despite a
relatively lackluster performance in this final, this
drive feels like it will be more enduring.
Doubles - Final: Erakovic/Watson def. (1) Gajdosova/King
7-5 7-6(9-7)
Quite an impressive run for Marina Erakovic and Heather
Watson -- they beat the #1, #2, and #3 seeds here!
Usually quality points in doubles are only about a third
of the value in singles, but Erakovic and Watson earned
more quality points in their matches than Serena did in
hers.
For Heather Watson, this marks her first WTA title of
any kind, and her first doubles title above the low
Challenger level. And it's at a Premier event! Between
this result and Laura Robson's semifinal at Palermo, it
has been quite a week for British tennis.
Marina Erakovic had five previous doubles titles (all
with different partners), but they were all
International events. This is her first Premier title.
Going into Wimbledon, she was only 7-12 in doubles this
year despite a final at Hobart. A nice way to turn
things around....
Vania King perhaps needs to get back with Yaroslava
Shvedova. She hasn't won a title since she and Shvedova
won Moscow last fall. Her record since then is a mere
12-11. And to think she had a chance at #1 earlier this
year....
Palermo
Singles - Final: (1) Sara Errani def. (8) Barbora
Zahlavova Strycova 6-1 6-3
Would the result of this have been different had Barbora
Zahlavova Strycova been more rested? Probably not, but
it might have been more competitive. Zahlavova Strycova
was broken six times (while breaking twice) and won only
39% of the points.
It continues an amazing 2012 for Sara Errani. She now
has four titles -- all small, but they're titles:
Acapulco, Barcelona, Budapest, and Palermo. That's twice
as many as she had in her entire career prior to this
year!
In the rankings, it doesn't help her. She remains #9.
But she is a much stronger #9. Marion Bartoli is going
to have a very hard time catching her at Carlsbad after
this.
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova fails to win her second
singles title, but at least she reached her third final.
Unlike Errani, her ranking will be rising....