The Good: Vika showed up
The Bad: She probably shouldn't have
The Indian Wells: But, then again, we know that Vika has never exactly been one to underreact to pain, even if an injury isn't necessarily serious. Maybe that's the case this time, as well.
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The Good: There were all sorts of sisters players in Indian Wells: two Radwanskas, a Pliskova, a Kichenok, a Chan, a Rodionova and even a Krajicek and a Schmiedlova.
The Bad: But, alas, still no Williamses, despite Serena having had her name included on the potential participant list a few weeks ago
The Indian Wells: For the first time in a decade, though, there's at least a small chance that the longtime Williams boycott of the tournament might end soon
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The Good: Svetlana Kuznetsova is still alive in both the singles AND doubles draws
The Bad: One wouldn't want to bank of that being the case for too much longer. But, then again, we never know with Sveta, do we?
The Indian Wells: She plays Kvitova next, by the way. Seriously, how fitting is that?
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The Good: Some winless Italian vets finally got their first wins of 2014
The Bad: The didn't get a second win, though
The Indian Wells: Ah, but Flavia Pennetta plays on, even if her path to the final could still contain four straight slam winners. First up: Sam Stosur.
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The Good: Sloane Stephens and Petra Kvitova have looked very good so far
The Bad: I probably won't be saying that about either by this time next week
The Indian Wells: But at least Current Sloane is SOUNDING and ever LOOKING a little like Future Sloane this week. (Hmmm, is that the sound of a clock ticking that I hear?)
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The Good: We'll get the Bouchard vs. Halep 4th Round match-up that looked so enticing at the start of the tournament
The Bad: Halep came in with two ailing Achilles, and is playing with a still-ailing serve
The Indian Wells: We're going to get a semifinalist from the survivor of the Halep-Bouchard-Dellacqua-Davis section
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The Good: Bagels and Radwanskas STILL go well together
The Bad: Hmmm, not sure there's ANYTHING bad about that... that's my story, and I'm sticking to it
The Indian Wells: Hey, I have to be nice, since the two weeks of Miami will coincide with The Rad's mythical Waterloo. Oops, did I say too much?
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ITF PLAYER: Zarina Diyas/KAZ
...the 20-year old Kazakh claimed the $50K Blossom Cup in Quanzhou, China, winning her fifth and biggest-ever ITF title with wins over Wang Qiang, Ksenia Pervak and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in a 6-1/6-1 final.
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JUNIOR STAR: Veronika Kudermetova/RUS
...a week after the 16-year old Hordette lost to fellow Russian Olga Doroshina 7-6(5)/4-6/7-6(6) in the final of a $10K challenger in Astana, Kazakhstan, Kudermetova got revenge against her in a final in the same city this weekend, winning 7-6(2)/7-6(3) to claim her first professional singles crown.
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DOWN: Victoria Azarenka/BLR & Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci (ITA/ITA)
...Vika said she was glad to just be in IW, and as it turns out that'll have to suffice, as her Cali journey ended after one match in a 6-0/7-6(1) loss to Lauren Davis. Back on the court after three weeks in a walking boot, Azarenka played in pain throughout the 2nd Round match and went to her knees in pain at least half a dozen times before slowly lifting herself upright again. She winced constantly, and took zero chances when it came to footwork. As a result, as Davis played a remarkably clean match, Vika was bageled for a second straight set in the 1st, after Aga shut her out in that classic set in her last match in the AO QF. Of course, Vika being Vika, every twinge of pain was made into what looked like a career-threatening moment, even if she was just sore. Still, it made for some nice drama. Between sets, using typically salty language, Vika made it pretty clear to coach Sam Sumyk just how much her foot hurt, and how embarrassed she was by her play. After their chat, she did play better in the 2nd. She was up a break at 2-0 and 3-1, but never really seemed confident in her footing or comfortable on any level, and only looked like herself in brief spurts. After holding in her anger all night, when DF #9 broke her own serve to give Davis a 4-3 lead in the 2nd, Azarenka destroyed a racket on the way to the changeover. Still, she calmed herself down enough (even at one point using the combo of a deep breath, then "simmer down" hand movements that we often see from Serena, something which I don't remember seeing Azarenka do before) to break back and go up 5-4, and broke Davis to force a tie-break. There, though, Vika lost her shots, while Davis played a very professional TB, winning 7-1 to get easily her biggest win ever (she'd never beaten a Top 25 player before this win over #4). Meanwhile Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci were dumped out in the 1st Round in Indian Wells by the all-star wild card team of Svetlana Kuznetsova & Sam Stosur, 6-3/3-6/10-6. Sure, the Italians managed to defend their AO title in January, but the former doubles #1's have now lost three of their last four matches.
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[I.W. Week 1]
1. IW 2nd Rd - Davis d. Azarenka
...6-0/7-6(1). In many ways, this was a lesser version of Vika's "why is she playing?" dance in her final match of '13 in the Tour Championships. In retrospect, Vika probably should have just sat out IW, but at least now she'll have some extra time to heal up before she ventures out once again. Hopefully, "Groundhog Day" won't continue to play on a loop when she's on the court.
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2. IW 3rd Rd. - Cornet d. Suarez-Navarro
...6-7(4)/7-5/6-3. Cornet is making a habit of these sort of matches this year. CSN held three MP at 5-4 in the 2nd, but the Pastry advanced in a nearly three-and-a-half hour battle.
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3. IW 1st Rd. - Schiavone d. Barthel 3-6/6-2/6-2
IW 2nd Rd. - Vinci d. Keys 6-3/6-3
...Italian fortunes change, as both vets get their first wins of 2014. Meanwhile, Keys, following up her bad Fed Cup excursion to Cleveland, still can't defeat an Italian on U.S. soil.
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4. IW Q1 - Fichman d. Kumkhum 6-3/4-6/6-3
IW 1st Rd. - Watson d. Bencic 7-5/6-4
IW 1st Rd. - Dellacqua d. McHale 7-6/6-4
...good results are a fickle mistress, as recent "feel-good" moments turned sour in California for the Thai, Swiss and Bannerette.
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5. IW 1st Rd - Soler-Espinosa d. Petrova
...1-1 ret. Oh, Nadia.
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6. IW 2nd Rd. - Torro-Flor d. Kerber
...2-6/7-6(5)/6-4. The German surged back from 4-1 down in the 2nd to force a TB, and came within two points of a win there at 5-4. The Spaniard thought otherwise.
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7. IW 1st Rd. - Townsend d. Knapp 7-6/6-1
IW 2nd Rd. - Pennetta d. Townsend 6-3/6-7(4)/6-3
...hmmm, this begs the question: what if Taylor had been in that FC tie vs. Italy in Cleveland?
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8. IW 2nd Rd. - Wozniak d. Lisicki
...7-5/1-6/7-6(5). Lisicki led 4-0 in the 3rd set tie-break, only to drop seven of the final eight points.
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9. IW 2nd Rd. - Ivanovic d. Svitolina
...4-6/7-5/7-6(1). Svitolina served up 5-4 in the 3rd.
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10. IW 2nd Rd. - Li d. J.Zheng
...6-1/7-5. In Chinese tennis history, this match-up is as good as it gets.
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HM- IW 3rd Rd. Halep d. Safarova 6-2/4-6/6-4
$25K Campinas BRA Final - Begu d. Panova 6-2/6-4
...Halep scrambled from being down an early break in the 3rd in Indian Wells, but her countrywoman didn't need to worry about such things in Brazil.
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1. IW 1st Rd. - Wozniak d. Urszula Radwanska
...6-2/6-0. A Rad can take it...
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2. IW 3rd Rd. - Agnieszka Radwanska d. Beck
...6-0/6-0. But they prefer to dish it out. And they don't just like bagels -- they like doughnuts, too!
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3. IW Q2 - Anna Schmiedlova d. Nadiya Kichenok
...6-4/6-4. When a sister meets a sister, one wins... but one also has to lose.
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4. $25K Campinas BRA Doubles Final - Lyudmyla Kichenok/Panova d. Thorpe/Vogt
...6-1/6-3. Meanwhile, Lyudmyla provides some competitive balance for the Kichenoks' week.
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5. $25K Preston UK Final - Kristyna Pliskova d. Buyukakcay
...6-3/7-6(4). While her sister Karolina was firing aces in Indian Wells, Kristyna was notching Killer "B" wins over the likes of Bacsinszky, Brianti and Buyukakcay en route to her fourth career ITF title.
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HM- $10K Gainesville USA Doubles Final - Frankova/Kramperova d. Roxanne Ellison/Sierra Ellison
...6-4/6-3. The former San Diego State doubles duo have their very own web site, just like so many other all-sister combinations.
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**2014 ITF TITLES**
2...Timea Bacsinszky, SUI
2...Misa Eguchi, JPN
2...Anastasia Grymalska, ITA
2...Jang Su-Jeong, KOR
2...Lauar Pous-Tio, ESP
2...Patricia Maria Tig, ROU
2...Zhang Ling, HKG
**RECENT INDIAN WELLS FINALS**
2006 Maria Sharapova d. Elena Dementieva
2007 Daniela Hantuchova d. Svetlana Kuznetsova
2008 Ana Ivanovic d. Svetlana Kuznetsova
2009 Vera Zvonareva d. Ana Ivanovic
2010 Jelena Jankovic d. Caroline Wozniacki
2011 Caroline Wozniacki d. Marion Bartoli
2012 Victoria Azarenka d. Maria Sharapova
2013 Maria Sharapova d. Caroline Wozniacki
All for now.
