| Tour Talk - October 30, 2007 |
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Stubbs and Peschke qualify for WTA doubles Championships
Rennae Stubbs will play her 12th season-ending doubles Championships later this month. She won the title in 2001 with Lisa Raymond and was runner-up the past three years with Cara Black. Peschke qualified for the first time in 2006 with Francesca Schiavone and now enters her second Championship event.
In the singles, Russian Maria Sharapova has qualified for the fourth consecutive year and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia will make her second appearance. Venus Williams has been forced to withdraw from the tournament due to illness. After experiencing dizzy spells earlier this year at the US Open she is undergoing tests and has been advised to take a break from competition. The complete line ups are as follows.
Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs.
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings
Singles
1 Justine Henin 5405
2 Jelena Jankovic 4097
3 Svetlana Kuznetsova 3691
4 Ana Ivanovic 3163
5 Serena Williams 2767
6 Anna Chakvetadze 2698
7 Venus Williams # 2470
7 Daniela Hantuchova 2431
8 Maria Sharapova 2431
Doubles
1 Cara Black & Liezel Huber 6650
2 Lisa Raymond & Samantha Stosur # 3628
2 Chuang Chia-Jung & Chan Yung-Jan 3146
3 Katarina Srebotnik & Ai Sugiyama 2812
4 Kveta Peschke & Rennae Stubbs 2662
# will not compete due to injury/illness
Roger Federer clinches top spot, again
Roger Federer will be the No.1 ranked player for the fourth consecutive year. Federer clinched the top spot by winning his home tournament, the Davidoff Swiss Indoors, in Basel. Only three other men have achieved this feat - Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras. Read more
Ferrer qualifies for Tennis Masters Cup
World No.6 David Ferrer is the sixth person to qualify for the Tennis Masters Cup to be held in Shanghai from November 11 to 18. This will be Ferrer's first appearance at the Masters and he is the second Spaniard to qualify, joining world No.2 Rafael Nadal. There are only two places left in the season-ending tournament with a number of players still in contention. For full details see the ATP 2007 Race table below. Read more
ATP 2007 Singles Race (as at Monday 29 October)
1 Federer, Roger (SUI) 1291
2 Nadal, Rafael (ESP) 1037
3 Djokovic, Novak (SRB) 893
4 Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS) 530
5 Roddick, Andy (USA) 466
6 Ferrer, David (ESP) 425
7 Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI) 380
8 Haas, Tommy (GER) 329
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9 Robredo, Tommy (ESP) 328
10 Blake, James (USA) 327
11 Murray, Andy (GBR) 326
12 Berdych, Tomas (CZE) 322
13 Gasquet, Richard (FRA) 321
14 Moya, Carlos (ESP) 316
15 Ljubicic, Ivan (CRO) 315
ATP 2007 Doubles Race (as at Monday 29 October)
1 Bryan, B (USA)/Bryan, M (USA) 1150
2 Knowles, M (BAH)/Nestor, D (CAN) 680
3 Hanley, P (AUS)/Ullyett, K (ZIM) 589
4 Aspelin, S (SWE)/Knowle, J (AUT) 554
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5 Damm, M (CZE)/Paes, L (IND) 549
6 Dlouhy, L (CZE)/Vizner, P (CZE) 517
Serena jumps on the Hopman Cup bandwagon
Australian Open 2007 women's singles champion Serena Williams has announced that she will partner Mardy Fish at Hyundai Hopman Cup XX. "I’m really excited to go back. Mardy and I get along great. We hope to contend … we really want it." Williams joins other big names Novak Djokovic and Jelena Jankovic from Serbia. Australia will be represented by Alicia Molik and Peter Luczak.
ATP round-up
Davidoff Swiss Indoors, Basel, Switzerland
Roger Federer won his home tournament for the second time (he also won in 2006) by defeating Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-3 6-4 in 62 minutes.
In the doubles Bob and Mike Bryan became the first team to win at least 10 titles in a season since 1996 - when Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde captured 12 titles - at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors.
Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, Lyon, France
Frenchman Sebastian Grosjean made it a double when he won the singles, beating compatriot Marc Gicquel 7-6(5) 6-4, then teamed up with another Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to capture the doubles title 6-4 6-3 over Lukasz Kubot and Lovro Zovko.
The win was Grosjean's fourth ATP title and it was the sixth time a Frenchman had won the Lyon event.
St. Petersburg Open, St. Petersburg, Russia
Andy Murray claimed his second ATP title of the year defeating Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-2 6-3. The win moves Murray into eleventh place in the ATP rankings and only three points from eighth place and a spot in the Tennis Masters Cup.
Australia's hopes in the doubles were dashed by Daniel Nestor of Canada and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic who were too strong for the Australian and Austrian pairing of Todd Perry and Jurgen Melzer. Nestor and Zimonjic won in straight sets, 6-1 7-6(3).
WTA wrap
Generali Ladies Linz, Linz, Austria
Daniela Hantuchova showed some strong form in taking out the Generali Ladies Linz tournament, defeating Patty Schnyder in straight sets, 6-4 6-2. The victory was Hantuchova's third career singles title, and her second this year.
The win assured Hantuchova of a place in the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships to be held in Madrid in November.
Upcoming events
ATP
BNP Paribas Masters
ATP Masters Series Event
Paris, France
Prize money: €2,082,500
Surface: Hard (Indoors)
October 27 to November 4, 2007
Tennis Masters Cup
Year-End Championship
Shanghai, China
Prize money: US$3,700,000
Surface: Hard (Indoors)
November 12
Tennis Masters Cup Doubles
Year-End Championship
Shanghai, China
Prize money: US$750,000
Surface: Hard (Indoors)
November 12
WTA
Bell Challenge
Québec City, Canada
Prize money: $175,000 (Tier III)
Surface: Hard (Indoors)
October 29 - November 4, 2007
Season-Ending Championships
Madrid, Spain
Prize Money: $3,000,000
Draw: 8M/4D
Surface: Hard (Indoors)
November 6-11, 2007
Happy birthday to...
Stéphanie Dubois (CAN), 21 on October 31
Anastasiya Yakimova (BLR), 21 on November 1
Julia Goerges (GER), 19 on November 2
Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS), 20 on November 3
Konstantinos Economidis, 30 on November 2
Boris Pashanski, 25 on November 3
Quote of the week
“The big goal for me of the season - protect the No.1 ranking and as well win Wimbledon - I've achieved basically all of that, but there's still a bit left to make it an even more incredible season by hopefully winning Paris and Shanghai. I know it's very difficult; I have to go through many top 10 players to do that. But the season so far has been excellent, and, of course, it's even nicer to have clinched [the year-end No. 1 ranking] in Basel.”
-Roger Federer
