2011 BNP Paribas Open: Women’s Tennis Association seeds Part II
World Number 3 Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva of Russia is seeded third in the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, and will receive a bye into the second round of the event. The 26-year-old pro has one BNP Paribas Open title under her belt which she won in 2009; she defeated defending champion Ana
Ivanovic in the title match despite challenging weather conditions. Also in the same year, her and partner Victoria Azarenka managed to defeat Gisela Dulko and Shahar Peer at the doubles title match.
Despite her position as a defending champion, Zvonareva was unable to make it past the fourth round of the Indian Wells tournament last year. She was defeated by Australian pro Samantha “Sam” Stosur in straight sets 6-2, 7-5.
The Russian player has a reasonable chance to win, being one of the most highly-ranked players on tour.
World Number 4 Samantha Stosur
Australian Samantha Stosur will be seeded fourth in the BNP Paribas Open. She had a great run at the same tournament last year, starting as eighth seed and moving directly to the second round. She defeated players like Julie Coin, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in straight sets, finally coming up against Zvonareva to oust the defending champion in the quarter-final. Stosur lost the semi-final match to Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-4 with 47 unforced errors. Her performance however guaranteed
her a position as World no. 10, making her the third Australian woman after Jelena Dokic and Alicia Molik to achieve this feat in ten years.
A pattern of marked improvement can be seen in Stosur’s performance at the Indian Wells event, since she could not even make it past the second round in 2009. By now, the player has recorded victories against several former World Number 1s such as Caroline
Wozniacki, Amelie Mauresmo, Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport and Justine Henin. These wins may be an indicator of her confidence at the tournament.
The next part in this series will feature the fifth and sixth seed at the event.
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