2013/05/22

Kiwi/Aussie Showdown Next at the Family Circle Cup

 

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By Stephanie Neppl

(April 2, 2013) CHARLESTON, SC – Marina Erakovic is the lone New Zealand tennis player ranked in either the top 100 of the WTA or ATP tours.

The 24-year old Kiwi ended New Zealand’s drought of tournament wins in February this year when she won the Memphis hard court title. She became the first Kiwi with a tournament win on the WTA Tour since 1989, the year after she was born.

“You know, it was a great week for me,” Erakovic said. “It was something that I had on my to do list for quite sometime and I achieved a goal of mine, so I was just very happy. I’ve just got to keep working and maybe try and get some more titles.”

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On Tuesday at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, Erakovic took on former top 5 player Daniela Hantuchova on the Althea Gibson Court. Based in rankings it wasn’t an upset, but Hantuchova is a WTA tour veteran whose year end ranking has been in the top 32 every year since 2002. Currently ranked 75, the Slovak broke serve to start the match but Erakovic, ranked 65, played a better tiebreak to take the first set 7-6 (2). The Kiwi got the early break in the second and held on to win 7-6 (2) 6-4.

Erakovic said she thought both players were nervous at the start. “I felt like I managed a good tiebreak that first set to take that first set and then in the second I got an early break and I managed to just maintain that lead. So overall, a good day.”

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In 2012, Erakovic advanced to the third round, where she lost to Serena Williams in her first visit to Charleston and she’s happy to be back at the Family Circle Cup.

“I really like Charleston. The first time I played was last year and so I just enjoyed the whole atmosphere,” she said. “The people here are just super, super nice and friendly so they just make you feel right at home.”

Next up for Erakovic is Australia’s Sam Stosur, the Family Circle Cup champion in 2010.

“Sam is one of the best players out there at the moment and actually our games are sort of very similar,” Erakovic said. “I have never played her on the clay so that will be a new one and I’ve just got to do my thing, play my game and stay positive.”

Erakovic will team up with American Jessica Pegula in the doubles draw. The alternate team replaced the injured Anabel Medina Garrigues and her partner Hantuchova after the Spaniard withdrew from both the singles and doubles events due to a right knee injury she sustained at the end of her match yesterday.

Stephanie Neppl is in Charleston covering the Family Circle Cup for Tennis Panorama News. She spends all her spare funds traveling to tennis tournaments and has played since her teen years. She has worked as Social Media Manager for Tennis Auckland’s ATP and WTA tournaments. Follow her live updates on Twitter at @TennisNewsTPN. Follow her personal Twitter @stephintheus and her blog  http://ihaveatennisaddiction.blogspot.com.

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Charleston – Monday Results, Tuesday Schedule

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FAMILY CIRCLE CUP – CHARLESTON, SC, USA
$ 795,707.00
MARCH 30 – APRIL 07, 2013

RESULTS – APRIL 01, 2013
Women’s
Singles – First Round
[11] S Cirstea (ROU) d T Malek (GER) 64 76(5)
[12] V Lepchenko (USA) d C Mchale (USA) 63 46 62
[Q] G Min (USA) d [13] T Paszek (AUT) 63 00 Retired
C Giorgi (ITA) d M Minella (LUX) 64 64
[Q] M Burdette (USA) d K Mladenovic (FRA) 61 16 60
A Medina Garrigues (ESP) d A Rus (NED) 62 62
[WC] B Mattek-Sands (USA) d A Rodionova (AUS) 64 67(4) 76(3)
M Johansson (FRA) d M Czink (HUN) 57 63 75
M Puig (PUR) d A Hlavackova (CZE) 64 60
[Q] J Pegula (USA) d G Muguruza (ESP) 67(2) 64 75
[Q] C Garcia (FRA) d C Scheepers (RSA) 76(6) 64
[Q] E Bouchard (CAN) d [Q] N Burnett (ITA) 62 63
S Voegele (SUI) d [Q] T Pereira (BRA) 46 62 64
O Govortsova (BLR) d J Hampton (USA) 64 67(3) 64
[WC] A Petkovic (GER) d [WC] T Townsend (USA) 63 60
S Soler-Espinosa (ESP) d F Schiavone (ITA) 36 64 76(6)

ORDER OF PLAY – TUESDAY, APRIL 02, 2013
BILLIE JEAN KING start 10:00 am
A Tatishvili (GEO) vs [15] S Lisicki (GER)
M Oudin (USA) vs [9] J Jankovic (SRB)
[1] S Williams (USA) vs C Giorgi (ITA)
[8] M Barthel (GER) vs [Q] J Pegula (USA)

Not Before 7:00 PM
[4] S Stephens (USA) vs [WC] B Mattek-Sands (USA)
M Moulton-Levy (USA) / S Zhang (CHN) vs [WC] J Alawi (BUL) / D Kanakova (CZE)

ALTHEA GIBSON start 10:00 am
D Hantuchova (SVK) vs M Erakovic (NZL)
A Cadantu (ROU) vs M Keys (USA)
[16] L Robson (GBR) vs E Cabeza Candela (ESP)
[12] V Lepchenko (USA) vs M Johansson (FRA)
K Mladenovic (FRA) / L Safarova (CZE) vs [WC] J Jankovic (SRB) / A Petkovic (GER)

COURT 3 start 10:00 am
[14] Y Shvedova (KAZ) vs [Q] V King (USA)
Y Putintseva (KAZ) vs [10] J Goerges (GER)

Not Before 2:00 PM
[7] C Suarez Navarro (ESP) vs S Voegele (SUI)

Not Before 3:30 PM
[11] S Cirstea (ROU) vs A Medina Garrigues (ESP)

COURT 4 start 12:00 noon
R Oprandi (SUI) vs M Lucic-Baroni (CRO)
H Chan (TPE) / O Govortsova (BLR) vs L Dekmeijere (LAT) / T Malek (GER)

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Venus and EleVen Aim to Shine in Charleston

CNote and Venus EleVen Exo

By Stephanie Neppl

(April 1, 2013) CHARELSTON, SC – Venus Williams is ready to return to the place which was instrumental in her qualifying mission for last year’s London Olympics. A year ago, Williams hadn’t played much due to her Sjögren’s syndrome and she was ranked No. 87 when she stepped on the Har-Tru courts in Charleston.

 

She made the quarters in 2012, losing to Sam Stosur in a three-set battle. From then she successfully improved her ranking, made the Olympic team and walked away with her fourth gold medal, her third doubles gold with little sister Serena.

 

Venus recalled the battle and says revisiting each of the tournaments which helped her achieve Olympic Gold last year reminds her of her triumphs.

 

“I fought very hard to get back to where I was – back to the top 20,” she said. “For me last year the triumph wasn’t winning the tournament or anything like that, it was just any accomplishment was a triumph.”

 

Venus admits that battling back from being ranked No. 134 in the world to No. 24 “was one of the toughest and amazing and most exhilarating things I’ve ever done in my life.”

 

Despite withdrawing from her second round match in Miami last month due to a back injury, Venus says she is happy to be back and ready to play.

 

“I really wanted to be here,” Venus said. “I love this tournament and I have really great memories from here last year.”

 

Also appearing on the courts in Charleston is Venus’ clothing line EleVen.

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Monday night in Charleston, Venus and her EleVen brand were featured in an exhibition match on Althea Gibson Club Court. She was joined on court by her Washington Kastles teammate Arina Rodionova, Tennis Channel’s Danielle Dotzenrod and Sports Illustrated contributing writer Courtney Nguyen, all dressed in the EleVen attire. Several local Charleston women also got the chance to play doubles in a World Team Tennis style exhibition, also dressed in EleVen.

 

Venus said the EleVen line is going well. “We’re good. We’re small. But we’re growing and I think that’s the best way is to grow strategically and it’s great because more than anything people really like the clothes and that’s more than half the battle.”

 

Venus was all smiles during the relaxed exhibition and gets one more day off before playing Monica Puig of Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

 

Stephanie Neppl is in Charleston covering the Family Circle Cup for Tennis Panorama News. She spends all her spare funds traveling to tennis tournaments and has played since her teen years. She has worked as Social Media Manager for Tennis Auckland’s ATP and WTA tournaments. Follow her live updates on Twitter at @TennisNewsTPN. Follow her personal Twitter @stephintheus and her blog  http://ihaveatennisaddiction.blogspot.com.

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Serena Williams Returns to the Family Circle Cup

 Serena Day 2 Press Conference
By Stephanie Neppl

(April 1, 2013) CHARLESTON, SC – Two-time champ and defending champion Serena Williams leads a stellar field for the 2013 Family Circle Cup in Charleston this week. Coming off a record sixth title in Miami, there’s no time for the world No. 1 to rest as she kick starts her clay season on the green clay.

Last year’s Charleston win kick started a stellar 12 months for Williams, which saw her win two slams, two Olympics gold medals and the year-end championships plus retain the number one ranking.

Williams said her semis and final last year here were amazing. She dropped just two games against Sam Stosur in the semis before winning the final 6-0,  6-1 against Lucie Safarova. “I really don’t know if I’ve played better, ever. Hopefully I can kind of rekindle some of that fire,” she said.

When discussing her Miami win, Williams said she was happy she was able to solve problems on her own when she was down, and commented that on-court coaching is not for her.

“I don’t do it so much,” she said. “For me I like to solve problems and I think in Miami I solved a lot of problems. I was down in several matches and I was able to solve and figure it out on my own.”

Although Williams doesn’t use the on-court coaching, she says she definitely notices when other players do. “I do think about it and I think like ‘OK, ha I’m in now’ so it makes me feel good,” she said.

Williams will launch her 2013 Family Circle Cup against Camila Giorgi of Italy during Tuesday’s day session.

2011 champion Caroline Wozniacki and 2010 winner Sam Stosur are the 2nd and 3rd seeds, with Sloane Stephens as the 4th seed.

Stephanie Neppl is in Charleston covering the Family Circle Cup for Tennis Panorama News. She spends all her spare funds traveling to tennis tournaments and has played since her teen years. She has worked as Social Media Manager for Tennis Auckland’s ATP and WTA tournaments. Follow her live updates on Twitter at @TennisNewsTPN. Follow her personal Twitter @stephintheus and her blog  http://ihaveatennisaddiction.blogspot.com.

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Sloane Stephens Joins Charleston Field

Sloane Stephens

(February 19, 2013) Sloane Stephens, World No. 16, has committed to the 2013 Family Circle Cup, March 30th – April 7th in Charleston, SC.
Stephens recently had a major career breakthrough at the 2013 Australian Open when she upset World No. 1 Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, becoming the youngest American to ever defeat Williams.

“After watching Sloane perform so well in the Australian Open, we are excited to see her game continue to mature at the Cup,” said Eleanor Adams, Tournament Manager. “The fans love watching her play, so Charleston could be a place for her to really shine.”
The 2013 Family Circle Cup will mark Stephens’ third appearance in Charleston.

“I’ve put a lot of hard work in over the past year and it’s starting to pay off,” said Stephens. “I’m looking forward to returning to the Family Circle Cup as it’s our first clay court tournament of the year. Charleston is a beautiful city with great tennis fans”

She made it to the third round of the 2011 and 2012 US Open, the third round of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, the fourth round of the 2012 French Open and the semifinals of the 2013 Australian Open.
She joins Williams, Samantha Stosur, Venus Wiliams, Sara Errani and Mona Barthel in a world-class player field assembling in Charleston for the Family Circle Cup, featuring three of the world’s top 10 players.

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Errani and Barthel Join Charleston Field

Sara Errani2

(February 7, 2013) DANIEL ISLAND, S.C. – Sara Errani, World No. 7, and Mona Barthel, World No. 28, have committed to the 2013 Family Circle Cup, March 30th – April 7th in Charleston, SC.

The two recently met last Sunday, in the Paris Open final, where Errani, and Barthel battled it out in a tight two-setter. Unseeded, 22-year-old Barthel upset top-seed, 25-year-old Errani 7-5, 7-6(4) to win the Open GDF Suez.

“We are excited to announce Errani and Barhtel to the tournament line up, especially on the heels of their impressive performances in Paris,” said Eleanor Adams, Tournament Manager. “We can’t wait to see if the two face off again on our stadium court.”

The 2013 Family Circle Cup will mark Barthel’s first time competing in Charleston and Errani’s second, after losing in the 2nd round of the tournament in 2008.

“I look forward to returning to Charleston, and advancing further in the tournament than I did during my first visit five years ago,” said Errani. “My game has matured a lot since then and I’m happy to return to the Family Circle Cup.”

A native of Italy, Errani, had her breakthrough season in 2012, where she reached the quarterfinals, in singles, and finals, in doubles, at the Australian Open. The same year, she reached the finals of the French Open, in singles, and won its doubles title. She also appeared in the singles semi-finals at the US Open before capturing its doubles win.

Known as a clay court specialist, Errani has earned six WTA singles titles and 18 doubles titles.

Barthel, who is fairly new to the WTA, qualified for the 2011 French Open where she won her first Grand Slam main-draw match. At 2012’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, she recorded her first victory against a top-10 player by defeating World No.7, Marion Bartoli.

Barthel has captured two WTA singles and five ITF titles. After winning this Sunday’s Open GDF SUEZ, she reached her highest WTA ranking of 28.

Errani and Barthel join Serena Williams, Samantha Stosur and Venus Williams in a world-class player field assembling in Charleston for the Family Circle Cup, now featuring three of the world’s top 10 players.

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Serena Willliams Demolishes Safarova for Charleston Crown

Serena Williams (photo from FamilyCircleCup.com)

In a week filled with totally dominating performances, Serena Williams capped off winning her 40th career WTA title by eliminating Lucie Safarova 6-0, 6-1 for the Family Circle Cup title in Charleston on Sunday afternoon. Williams lost a mere 15 games during her run to the crown.

“I definitely want to continue this,” Williams said of her play. “I’ve never played consistently at such a high level with low errors like this, and the scary thing is I could have served so much better.

“It’s motivating for me to go home and work harder, because I know Lucie and Sam and everyone is going to work hard, too. Now they know what to expect even more when they play me. This is a battle, and I want to continue to win.”

Williams is the 14th player in the Open Era to win 40 titles. She trails only Kim Clijsters with 41 and her sister Venus with 43 among active players.

Williams will play the Madrid Open next.

 

FAMILY CIRCLE CUP
Charleston, SC, USA
April 2-8, 2012
$740,000/Premier
Green Clay/Outdoors

Results – Sunday, April 8, 2012
Singles – Final
(5) Serena Williams (USA) d. (9) Lucie Safarova (CZE) 60 61

Doubles – Final
(WC) Pavlyuchenkova/Safarova (RUS/CZE) d. Medina Garrigues/Shvedova (ESP/KAZ) 57 64 106 (Match TB)

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Serena Williams Demolishes Stosur to reach Charleston Final

FAMILY CIRCLE CUP – CHARLESTON, SC, USA
$ 740,000.00
MARCH 31 – APRIL 08, 2012

RESULTS – APRIL 07, 2012
Women’s
Singles – Semifinals
[5] S Williams (USA) d [2] S Stosur (AUS) 61 61
[9] L Safarova (CZE) d [14] P Hercog (SLO) 60 60

Women’s
Doubles – Semifinals
[WC] A Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) / L Safarova (CZE) d [1] L Huber (USA) / L Raymond (USA) 64 76(9)
A Medina Garrigues (ESP) / Y Shvedova (KAZ) d N Grandin (RSA) / V Uhlirova (CZE) 61 63

ORDER OF PLAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 08, 2012
STADIUM start 1:00 pm
[9] L Safarova (CZE) vs [5] S Williams (USA)
[WC] A Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) / L Safarova (CZE) vs A Medina Garrigues (ESP) / Y Shvedova (KAZ)

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WTA Charleston – Friday Results, Saturday Schedule

FAMILY CIRCLE CUP – CHARLESTON, SC, USA
$ 740,000.00
MARCH 31 – APRIL 08, 2012

RESULTS – APRIL 06, 2012
Women’s
Singles – Quarterfinals
[2] S Stosur (AUS) d [WC] V Williams (USA) 63 46 63
[9] L Safarova (CZE) d [4] V Zvonareva (RUS) 63 63
[5] S Williams (USA) d [6] S Lisicki (GER) 41 Retired
[14] P Hercog (SLO) d [13] N Petrova (RUS) 61 62
Third Round
[2] S Stosur (AUS) d G Voskoboeva (KAZ) 63 46 62

Women’s
Doubles – Quarterfinals
[1] L Huber (USA) / L Raymond (USA) d K Jans-Ignacik (POL) / A Kudryavtseva (RUS) 75 62
N Grandin (RSA) / V Uhlirova (CZE) d [2] K Peschke (CZE) / K Srebotnik (SLO) 76(8) 62
[WC] A Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) / L Safarova (CZE) d [3] S Mirza (IND) / E Vesnina (RUS) 67(2) 75 10-7
A Medina Garrigues (ESP) / Y Shvedova (KAZ) d [4] A Hlavackova (CZE) / L Hradecka (CZE) 76(2) 63

ORDER OF PLAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 07, 2012
STADIUM start 11:00 am
A Medina Garrigues (ESP) / Y Shvedova (KAZ) vs N Grandin (RSA) / V Uhlirova (CZE)

Not Before 1:00 PM
[5] S Williams (USA) vs [2] S Stosur (AUS)
[14] P Hercog (SLO) vs [9] L Safarova (CZE)
[1] L Huber (USA) / L Raymond (USA) vs [WC] A Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) / L Safarova (CZE) – After suitable rest

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Williams Sisters Advance in Charleston

FAMILY CIRCLE CUP – CHARLESTON, SC, USA
$ 740,000.00
MARCH 31 – APRIL 08, 2012

RESULTS – APRIL 05, 2012
Women’s
Singles – Third Round
[14] P Hercog (SLO) d [3] M Bartoli (FRA) 64 16 64
[4] V Zvonareva (RUS) d [Q] S Voegele (SUI) 57 63 64
[5] S Williams (USA) d [17] M Erakovic (NZL) 62 62
[6] S Lisicki (GER) d [Q] Y Shvedova (KAZ) 75 64
[13] N Petrova (RUS) d [8] [WC] A Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 61 64
[9] L Safarova (CZE) d A Wozniak (CAN) 62 67(4) 61
[WC] V Williams (USA) d A Rodionova (AUS) 75 62

ORDER OF PLAY – FRIDAY, APRIL 06, 2012
STADIUM start 11:00 am
G Voskoboeva (KAZ) vs [2] S Stosur (AUS) 24 to finish

Not Before 1:00 PM
[6] S Lisicki (GER) vs [5] S Williams (USA)
[WC] V Williams (USA) vs G Voskoboeva (KAZ) or [2] S Stosur (AUS)
[4] V Zvonareva (RUS) vs [9] L Safarova (CZE)

Not Before 7:00 PM
[14] P Hercog (SLO) vs [13] N Petrova (RUS)
N Grandin (RSA) / V Uhlirova (CZE) vs [2] K Peschke (CZE) / K Srebotnik (SLO)

ALTHEA GIBSON start 11:00 am
A Medina Garrigues (ESP) / Y Shvedova (KAZ) vs [4] A Hlavackova (CZE) / L Hradecka (CZE)

Not Before 2:00 PM
[1] L Huber (USA) / L Raymond (USA) vs K Jans-Ignacik (POL) / A Kudryavtseva (RUS)
[3] S Mirza (IND) / E Vesnina (RUS) vs [WC] A Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) / L Safarova (CZE) 76(2) 12 – After suitable rest to finish

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