Schiavone and Stosur qualify for Doha Championships
French Open finalists Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur have become the latest names added to the draw for the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha.
It’s the first time that either the 30-year-old Schiavone or her vanquished Roland Garros final opponent have qualified for the season-ending tournament in singles but each are reaching the end of career-best seasons where they have cracked the top-10 and reached the final of a Grand Slam for the first time in their careers.
Becoming the French Open champion has been the clear highlight of Schiavone’s season, but the Italian also won the title in Barcelona during April, while Stosur has attained a career-high ranking of world No. 5 in 2010 and has reached the final of three tournaments this season (including the French Open), defeating Zvonareva to win the title in Charleston.
Both though have experienced their greatest success this year on clay courts – the surface on which their combined three titles were won – although the US Open yielded quarter-final finishes for each.
The pair join Caroline Wozniacki, Serena Williams, Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters in qualifying for the event – with two places remaining to be filled in the draw.
The seventh and eighth positions in the Race for Doha are currently held by Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva, with Victoria Azarenka in ninth place and after her second round loss at the China Open in Beijing this week she may be hard pressed to push for a place in the October 26 to 31 event.
Venus Williams – who had accumulated enough ranking points over the course of 2010 to qualify for Doha - has withdrawn from the remainder of the season with a knee injury, so won’t be returning to contest the tournament that she won in 2008, and where she was runner-up (to Serena) last year.
Disappointing news for tennis fans, sure, but for Schiavone it eliminates an opponent who has in eight previous matches (including three this year) proved unbeatable.
Might that be enough to clear a path to the final – and perhaps the title – for the veteran? You never know, after all, few would have predicted Schiavone would end her career as a Grand Slam champion either.
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