WTA Championships day one preview
The season ending WTA Tour Championships get underway in Doha with top seed and world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and dual Grand Slam runner-up Vera Zvonareva all in action on day one. Here, we preview their matches.
Vera Zvonareva v Jelena Jankovic
Having finished as runner-up in two Grand Slam finals this year, Zvonareva has proved she can mix it with the best, and indeed, her new ranking of world No. 2 places the 26-year-old firmly among them.
In her first round-robin match, she has drawn a player who has limped to the end of the season. Illness has not helped matters for Jankovic, but a meek loss to a player ranked as the world No. 268 at the Kremlin Cup indicates something is very awry with the Serb at present.
Zvonareva should ensure things don’t get any better for Jankovic in her Doha opener.
Caroline Wozniacki v Elena Dementieva
The new world No. 1 is on a winning streak at the moment, winning the title at five of the last seven tournaments she has played, including taking victory over Dementieva in the final in Tokyo.
That was Wozniacki’s second straight win against Dementieva and she will enter this round-robin match with a 4-3 winning record over her 29-year-old opponent, who pulled out of her second round match in Luxembourg last week with a foot injury. How much impact that will have in Doha remains to be seen, but if the Russian is to win this match she’ll need to bring her A-game.
Most players have trouble breaking through Wozniacki’s defences these days, and it’s hard to see Dementieva getting off to a winning start against the 20-year-old in Doha.
Francesca Schiavone v Samantha Stosur
The last time these two faced off, Schiavone overhauled a 4-1 losing record to take a straight sets win, and with it the French Open title. Stosur’s nervous final at Roland Garros was at odds with the confidence she’d shown in defeating Justine Henin, Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic in her three previous matches to get there, and this is the Australian’s chance to take some small revenge on Schiavone for spoiling the party in Paris.
Stosur though has notably gone off the boil this autumn, while Schiavone has been consistent, losing to Dementieva in the semi-finals in Tokyo and Zvonareva in the quarters in Beijing.
Still, if Stosur can find her form, that potent serve and big forehand might be enough to get her off to a winning start against the Italian.
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