Curse for the top seeds in Qatar Total Open 2012 – Tennis Special
After two weeks of gruelling tennis in Melbourne, most of the top rated WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) players took a short lay-off to maintain their physical fitness. Qatar Total Open was the WTA Premier Tour event which was
to host 56 of the top-class women tennis professionals, with total prize money of $2,168,400, in Qatar Doha.
The star-studded event took off from 13th of February, with 16 seeded contestants. Top eight seeds were given a bye to have direct access to the second round, while the rest had to start their voyage from the very first
round.
Day three of the tournament was one of the most surprising days of the season, with a number of huge upsets being registered and quite a lot of big names falling out of the event. It won’t be wrong to call it the ‘day of the underdogs’
at Qatar Total Open, as most of the inferior ranked contestants stunned everyone with exceptional game play to register upset victories. Out of 16 seeded contestants, merely five have made it to the third round of the tournament, while the remaining 11 suffered
heavy defeats at the hands of their underdog counterparts.
One of the biggest upset was registered by Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic, as she overcame the former world number one, Caroline Wozniacki, in a taxing three-setter. The second seed Dane frittered away three match points in the
final set and had to pay the price later by suffering a humiliating defeat in the decisive tie-breaker round. Perhaps Wozniacki has still not come out of the set back of losing her world number one spot a week ago.
Defending champion, Vera Zvonareva of Russia, also hit the exit doors in Doha but in an extremely agonising fashion. The sixth seed Russian diva went one-on-one with Romania’s Monica Niculescu in the second round battle but had
to retire from the match due to an agonising injury to her left hip. It is certainly the most excruciating way to getting dumped from a tournament for any player but Zvonareva is a true fighter and will make a comeback to the tennis courts very soon.
Italian tennis ace, Francesca Schiavone, was the other big name to be disposed of the Qatar Total Open on the third day of the mega event. The unseeded Belgian, Yanina Wickmayer, stunned the seventh seeded Italian in straight sets,
7-6(4), 6-4, to end her voyage in despair.
The Chinese sensation, Shuai Peng, was awarded the number 12 seed in the tournament draw. She had an excellent start to the tournament in the opening round but fell to the unseeded American, Christina McHale, after a hard-fought
three-setter in the second round.
Another former world number one, Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, also lost her footing in the tournament draw, falling to the Czech underdog, Petra Cetkovska, in twin-sets, 4-6, 4-6. The 13th seed Serbian beauty queen keeps
struggling to get back her vintage form and suffered her fourth defeat of the 2012 WTA season on Wednesday. 16 seed German, Julia Goerges, also had the similar fate in her second round match and lost to Varvara Lepchenko in enthralling straight sets.
With most of the seeded players out of the tournament, it seems to be a perfect opportunity for some fresh talent to step up and get hands on glory by winning the Premier-level title in Doha. Curse of losing for the top seeded
players will certainly be a blessing for the inferior-ranked contestants in the draw.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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