2013/05/23

Kvitova crowned champion in Montreal

 

By Charles David Mathieu-Poulin

MONTREAL- The first day of the tournament, Tennis Panorama asked Petra Kvitova why outdoor hardcourts, especially those in North America, were her less successful surface so far in her career. Her answer was quite clear: ‘’Outdoor hard courts are more difficult for me: the sun, the wind, the changing conditions. Here in North America, the surface is also slower and it’s much more humid.’’ After getting through a tough rainy week in Montreal to win her first title of the year, she might now have to change her discourse…

Being a tennis ball was probably the toughest job in the world last night, with Kvitova and Chinese Li Na facing off in a hard-hitting contest. Indeed, both players didn’t want to lose any ground as they stood on the baseline for most of the match, exchanging utterly powerful shots in a topsy-turvy encounter.

Li Na, tenth seed here in Montreal, looked more solid at the start, gaining a 3-1 lead as Kvitova was missing very early in the rallies. But the Czech cleaned up her play, winning four consecutive games to lead 5-3. Despite having a set point, the fifth seed saw Li level up the set at 5-all and even obtain multiple break points, but Kvitova kept her composure and held for 6-5. Trying to stay in the set, Li saved four more set points, but couldn’t handle the sixth as Kvitova won the first set 7-5 in over an hour of rollercoaster tennis.

The start of the second set was even more unpredictable, as Li won the first 16 points to gain a very quick 4-0 lead. Kvitova ended the thoughts of a ‘Golden Set’ in her next service game, but while she found back some range in her very aggressive play, it was too little too late: the 2011 French Open Champion forced a third set, winning convincingly 6-2.

The start of the third set saw both players being more solid on serve as they held easily five consecutive times. Playing incredible tennis, Kvitova was the first one to get a break for 4-2, and the Czech never looked back. Keeping on holding serve comfortably, she finished the match on a powerful outwide serve, clinching the victory in the first three-set finals at the women’s Rogers Cup since 2000. With this title, she will climb back to the top 5 in the WTA rankings, while her opponent will return in the top 10.

This match ended another great event in Montreal, which always is very popular amongst the tennis fans. This year, over 150,000 people attended the tournament, confirming Montreal as the most visited one-week women’s tournament on the calendar.

Charles David Mathieu-Poulin blogs for WtaQuebec www.wtaquebec.com, a website promoting local Quebec players. He was covering the Rogers Cup in Montreal for Tennis Panorama News. Follow him on twitter @earthstroke.

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Djokovic Wins a Third Rogers Cup

By Brodie McPhee

TORONTO – After a difficult rain soaked week, it was a perfect night for Novak Djokovic as he rolled to his third Rogers Cup title and his first in Toronto. He defeated Richard Gasquet, 6-3, 6-2, being nearly perfect on serve and dominating the pattern of play.

Gasquet had an early opportunity in the very first game of the match, where three sloppy errors from Djokovic gifted him three points. It would be the only opening he would have all night, as Djokovic would only drop one point on serve for the rest of the set, and a mere four points on serve in the second set, needing to save only one more break point to cruise to victory. “It was a tough match,” said Gasquet. “It’s a long time I didn’t play a final of this kind of tournament. It’s a big tournament. I felt a little bit more pressure. It’s tough when you have Djokovic in front of you and you are not playing your best tennis. He played much better than me for sure.”

Backhand exchanges were key, and Djokovic often punished the shorter, looping Gasquet backhands. After a couple of excellent backhand down the line winners, the Frenchman struggled to find the shot and was unable to take advantage of the space he created for himself.

When asked on television when Djokovic knew he was playing well, he said it all “starts and ends with the legs.” Indeed, even though playing deep into last week forced withdrawals from top players such as Federer and Ferrer, and early round losses from players such as Tsonga and del Potro, Djokovic’s movement, strength and patterns of play stood the test of a depleted field as he was only broken once en route to the final.

For Djokovic, it is a massive confidence boost after a difficult Wimbledon, and returning to the same venue to lose twice in a row at the London Olympics. “The losses on Olympic Games were more difficult for me emotionally than Wimbledon, but I still played some great matches, played really good tournaments both on grass courts. The two losses that I had in three days in Olympics Games gave me even more desire to come here and perform my best and try to win a title.”

However, Djokovic would not deny that defending his points from his Rogers Cup title in Montreal last year was in his mind. “There is always pressure of defending your points if you win a tournament. That’s something that’s part of our points and ranking system, the way it works in our sport.”

“To be quite frank with you, I hope that we can make certain changes regarding that, because there is lots of pressure on the players, especially top players, of defending their points all the time and coming back over and over again. So hopefully we can a rule change in the future that will release us from that expectation.”

Djokovic has mentioned several times over the week that hard courts are his favorite surface, and he now has a tidy winning streak on the surface, having won the last major hard court tournament in Miami. “This is actually a huge confidence boost for me. I haven’t won a title since Miami and played lots of finals. This is a great hard court season start.”

Djokovic will now go to Cincinnati and then the US Open, where he will attempt to defend his title as well as win his fourth straight hard court grand slam tournament.

Brodie McPhee is the writer of mindtheracket.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at @MindTheRacket. He covered the Rogers Cup in Toronto for Tennis Panorama News.

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Newfound success in North America for Li and Kvitova

By Charles David Mathieu-Poulin

MONTREAL – Both Li Na and Petra Kvitova came back from a set down in their respective semifinals on Sunday to reach their first ever summer North American hardcourt final. While both were bumped out in the third round last year, they showed great resistance to difficult conditions this week as they advanced to their first ever Rogers Cup final.

In the first semifinal of the day in Montreal, the opening set went to Lucie Safarova, who was standing on the baseline and redirecting Li’s pace perfectly. The Czech had been particularly impressive this week, especially in her third round win in two tiebreaks over Samantha Stosur, probably the highest quality match of the tournament. Already a two-time quarterfinalist, Safarova was in her first semifinal at the Rogers Cup and aiming at reaching her second Premier final of the year.

But tenth seed Li had other things in mind as she turned the tables around in the second set, breaking early and holding serve comfortably to take it 6-3. Keeping the control of the match, she was the first player to obtain break points in the third, but inspired play by Safarova kept the set on serve. This seemed to upset Li, who started making multiple unforced errors, especially off the forehand wing, handing the Czech two consecutive breaks and a 5-1 lead. Out of nowhere, the Chinese then staged an impressive comeback, cleaning up her play and reeling off six consecutive games to win the match as Safarova collapsed.

But all isn’t gloomy for Safarova, as this performance will mark her entrance in the top 20 of the professional rankings for the first time in her career. For Li, she reaches her third final of the year, still hoping to lift the winner trophy in 2012.

But she has a strong task ahead of her, as Petra Kvitova is playing some of her best hardcourt tennis. After barely losing in the second round to Pervak, the fifth seed defeated Marion Bartoli, Tamira Paszek and Caroline Wozniacki to reach her first final in North America.

In the semifinal, she managed to hit through a very solid Wozniacki, who was finding some of her 2010 form on a court where she has never lost. The Dane won the first set 6-3, but then saw the Czech lower her unforced error count and keep constant pressure to force a third set, a first in their encounters which had all been in straights.

As it is now customary this week in Montreal, some rain interrupted play right before the start of the final set. Both players came back on court around an hour later, as Kvitova started where she left. Taking a fast 5-1 lead, she managed to do what Safarova couldn’t, as she prevented a comeback from Wozniacki and closed out the match 3-6 6-2 6-3.

This final will be the fourth match between Kvitova and Li, with the latter leading 2-1. Their only match on hardcourt happened earlier this year in Sydney, when the Chinese prevailed in three tough sets.

Charles David Mathieu-Poulin blogs for WtaQuebec www.wtaquebec.com, a website promoting local Quebec players. He is covering the Rogers Cup in Montreal for Tennis Panorama News. Follow him on twitter @earthstroke, follow his Montreal coverage on @TennnisNewsTPN.

ROGERS CUP
Montréal, Canada
August 7-13, 2012
$2,168,400/Premier
Hard/Outdoors

Results – Sunday, August 12, 2012
Singles – Semifinals
(5) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. (7) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 36 62 63
(10) Li Na (CHN) d. (16) Lucie Safarova (CZE) 36 63 75

Doubles – Final
Jans-Ignacik/Mladenovic (POL/FRA) d. (3) Petrova/Srebotnik (RUS/SLO) 75 26 107 (Match TB)

Order Of Play – Monday, August 13, 2012
Central (from 19.00hrs)
1. Singles Final: Petra Kvitova vs. Li Na

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Djokovic Makes it Through the Rain and into the Rogers Cup Final

By Brodie McPhee

TORONTO – They tried to start. It rained. They stopped. The rain stopped, the players came out. They squeezed in five games, and it rained again. It stopped again, and the driers came out… it rained again. Even after the driers came out for the final time, it spitted slightly before ending, and the players would resume for the final time around,  It even started to spit for a short period, but it would eventually stop, and play would get under way around 10:25pm on a cold, blustery night in Toronto.

Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic aren’t just both Serbian, they’re good friends and good colleagues. They practice together often and know each other and each other’s games very well. “Weather is something you can’t effect, obviously. We were very close to cancelling the match tonight and playing tomorrow,” said Djokovic. Unsurprisingly, the delay did little to damage the level of play in the first set, and both players came out crushing the ball.

It would be important for Tipsarevic to use good depth to neutralize Djokovic’s able to create angles from the baseline and push him around. He did an excellent job in the first set, which saw nine straight holds. Unfortunately, the best game of the set would go against him, after several long rallies were created off his second serve, and Djokovic would break to take the opening set 6-4.

The momentum was clearly on Djokovic’s side, as he began to use the backhand down the line and dictate play, going up a quick break to earn 3-1. After another grinding game, Djokovic broke once again to go 5-1, and the match was all but over, finishing up 6-4, 6-1.

Despite winning, Djokovic was clearly frustrated with the stopping and strating due to the unpredictable rain. “I don’t see why hard court tournaments can’t have covers. I think this year’s tournament should strongly consider covers for next year.”

Djokovic will take on Richard Gasquet, who beat John Isner in straight sets earlier in the day on Saturday. Djokovic owns a 6-1 record against Gasquet, winning their most recent meeting in Miami earlier in the year in straight sets. Gasquet’s only victory over the Serb came on the hard courts of Shanghai in 2007.

Brodie McPhee is the writer of mindtheracket.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at @MindTheRacket. He is covering the Rogers Cup in Toronto for Tennis Panorama News, follow @TennisNewsTPN for updates.

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Gasquet Tops Isner to gain Toronto Final

By Brodie McPhee

TORONTO – For the third straight day, the Toronto Rogers Cup was effected by rain. Luckily, the first semifinal of the day was able to get under way only 20 minutes later than scheduled, around 3:20 local time.

The conditions were cold and grey, and at times windy as rain threatened but never came. Conditions were slower, a big boost to Richard Gasquet, and John Isner played into his hand. “It was weird” said the 6’9″ American. “Get here and it’s pouring down rain when I arrived to the courts, and next thing you know it stops raining and you get 100 people out there and the courts are ready to go. Didn’t get to warmup for the match. “The first set saw 12 straight holds to force a tiebreak. In reality, the momentum of play had already been set. Gasquet was incredibly effective on serve, getting in 88% of his first serves and only dropping 4 points on serve all set. Isner was forced to play 43 points on serve and save two break points to force a tiebreaker.

Momentum in hand, Gasquet rose to the occasion, taking advantage of longer points and dictating with the backhand. “It’s world class,” Isner said of the Gasquet backhand. “It’s just a gift of his, really. It’s tough for me because I like to take the majority of my shots if I’m playing a righty to his backhand, and he was able to handle that pretty well.”

While Gasquet’s first serve percentage dropped in the second set, he continued to dominate. With the pressure still squarely on Isner, Gasquet finally broke and would cruise to victory, taking the second set and the match 7-6(3), 6-3, without facing a single break point all match. “The key of the match was to return well, and I did it. I tried to return all the time to make him play,” said the Frenchman.

“Then I like to defend. But of course I had to do a big tiebreak, and I did it. I played incredible in the tiebreak and then I felt [good].”

As for the final, Gasquet is not too worried about who his potential opponent will be. “That’s not a big problem for me to play against Novak or Janko. They are very , very good players both. Both are playing very, very [well].”

Brodie McPhee is the writer of mindtheracket.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at @MindTheRacket. He is covering the Rogers Cup in Toronto for Tennis Panorama News, follow @TennisNewsTPN for updates.

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Third round completed at the Rogers Cup in Montreal

By Charles David Mathieu-Poulin

Montreal – While the showers interrupted play late in the afternoon for the third consecutive day, the quarterfinals were set as Agniezska Radwanska, Li Na, Caroline Wozniacki and Petra Kvitova notably advanced in Montreal. But it was local star Aleksandra Wozniak who stole the thunder as she got through in two sets over American Christina McHale.

In a match completed over two days, Wozniak became the first Canadian woman to reach the quarterfinals in over 20 years with her 7-6 6-3 win. Interestingly, it was Patricia Hy-Boulais who was last to achieve that feat and her husband, Yves Boulais, is now part of the Tennis Canada coaching team and thus advises Wozniak at times. ‘’I’ve always come with my friends to watch the best players in the world play in this big tournament’’, Wozniak revealed. ‘’This tournament means a lot to me and I’ll be ready to do my best in the quarterfinals tonight’’.

She will have a tough task ahead against her nemesis and almost-homonym Caroline Wozniacki, against whom she has a 1-7 losing record. The Dane had to battle hard to get through Varvara Lepchenko, but prevailed 4-6 6-3 6-4 in over two and a half hours, right before the first drops hit Uniprix Stadium.

Also in the third round was Petra Kvitova, who had probably the toughest match of the higher seeds against Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli. But the Czech rose to the challenge and played one of her trademark flawless performances to advance with a very convincing 6-1 6-1 win. Kvitova never let Bartoli in the match by taking control early in the rallies and saving all three break chances she faced. She put herself up as the one to beat this week and will next face Austrian Tamira Paszek, who is bringing her grasscourt form to hardcourts in her second career quarterfinal appearance in Montreal.

Paszek is joined by Roberta Vinci as the only two unseeded players in the quarterfinals. After being on the brink of defeat in the first round against Wickmayer and handing out a double bagel to Ivanovic in her second match, the Italian stayed solid against sixth seed Angelique Kerber, winning 6-2 7-6(7). The final quarterfinal match will feature Chinese Na Li, who overpowered French Open finalist Sara Errani 6-4 6-2, and second seed Angieszka Radwanska, who kept her hopes of getting the number one ranking alive by defeating Chanelle Scheepers 6-2 6-4.

Charles David Mathieu-Poulin blogs for WtaQuebec www.wtaquebec.com, a website promoting local Quebec players. He is covering the Rogers Cup in Montreal for Tennis Panorama News. Follow him on twitter @earthstroke, follow his Montreal coverage on @TennnisNewsTPN.

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Djokovic, Isner, Gasquet, Tipsarevic move into Toronto Semifinals

TORONTO – After a rain filled day that failed to see a single minute of tennis played, Friday was bound to be an eventful day at the Toronto Rogers Cup. After several matches were delayed, another considerable rain delay pushed play back and created an eventful evening for Canadian fans.

All of the day’s winners were required to play twice, including Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman defeated Tomas Berdych on the stadium court before the rain struck, along with his opponent Mardy Fish who defeated Monaco earlier in the day. It made for a long day that included a difficult night match on the main stadium. “For sure, it’s tough, but I think he (Fish) played one more hour than me in morning with Monaco so it made a little bit difference, I think.” “I’m in semifinal. I’m feeling confident, so I’m sure I can win.”

Likewise, Janko Tipsarevic defeated Marin Cilic in convincing fashion, 6-2, 6-4, and was called upon to defeat Spaniard Marcel Granollers to start the night session at the grandstand, 6-4, 6-4. Despite the long day, Tipsarevic was incredibly efficient only having to spend two hours and 51 minutes of time on court between two matches. The Serbian has made the Rogers Cup semifinals for the second year in a row, falling to Mardy Fish in the semifinals of last year’s Montreal edition.

Perhaps the most difficult task of the day belonged to Novak Djokovic. Due to the quick match on centre court, he was able to get to 6-4, 3-2 30-30 before play was called. Play once again resumed after the rain delay and he was able to defeat Querrey 6-4, 6-4. His day was not done there as he needed to defeat Tommy Haas on the second match on the Grandstand starting at 9pm local time; a total of three different starts after long breaks. He followed through and will play compatriot Tipsarevic.

Lastly, hometown favorite Milos Raonic was upset by John Isner, who like all other semifinalists, needed to win two matches in the day to advance. His day started with a two hour defeat of Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. “I felt all right out there, and I thought I would feel fine. The way I looked at it is I was at a bit of an advantage, in my opinion, because he hadn’t played in a few days.”

The second set saw Raonic go up a break, but immediately gift it back to Isner, and the set went to a tiebreak. Despite the crowds best efforts to cheer on the hometown favorite, Isner took the set and was the better player in the second set. “Fortunately for me, he sort of let me back in that first set. The tiebreak was a coin flip and I won it really, so lady luck was on my side.”

For Raonic, it was a difficult loss in front of the home crowd, but not a devastating one. “It’s disappointing in a lot of ways. But I don’t think it’s disappointing that I lost at home. It’s more so disappointing for me that I lost in general and playing the way I lost.”

Raonic noted his struggles serving were largely his undoing. “Everything was floating long. I wasn’t snapping hard enough… when he was able to get his racquet on it, he was able to put it in comfortably and also maybe create a little bit more.”

Saturday’s action will feature Richard Gasquet versus John Isner during the day and Novak Djokovic versus Tommy Haas at night.

 

Brodie McPhee is the writer of mindtheracket.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at @MindTheRacket. He is covering the Rogers Cup in Toronto for Tennis Panorama News, follow @TennisNewsTPN for updates.

TORONTO RESULTS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2012

Main Draw Singles – Third Round
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) d S Querrey (USA) 64 64
[14] R Gasquet (FRA) d [4] T Berdych (CZE) 64 62
[5] J Tipsarevic (SRB) d [10] M Cilic (CRO) 62 64
[11] M Fish (USA) d [7] J Monaco (ARG) 26 61 64
[8] J Isner (USA) d [12] P Kohlschreiber (GER) 67(3) 64 64
T Haas (GER) d R Stepanek (CZE) 26 64 61
M Granollers (ESP) d J Chardy (FRA) 61 64

Main Draw Singles – Quarterfinals
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) d T Haas (GER) 63 36 63
[5] J Tipsarevic (SRB) d M Granollers (ESP) 64 64
[8] J Isner (USA) d [16] M Raonic (CAN) 76(9) 64
[14] R Gasquet (FRA) d [11] M Fish (USA) 57 61 62

Main Draw Doubles – Second Round
[2] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d I Dodig (CRO) / M Melo (BRA) 75 62
P Hanley (AUS) / N Zimonjic (SRB) d [6] M Bhupathi (IND) / R Bopanna (IND) 64 76(6)

Main Draw Doubles – Quarterfinals
[2] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d P Hanley (AUS) / N Zimonjic (SRB) 75 61
[5] J Melzer (AUT) / L Paes (IND) d [3] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) 76(5) 46 10-6
[4] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU) d [7] A Qureshi (PAK) / J Rojer (NED) 64 36 10-7

TORONTO ORDER OF PLAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 2012
STADIUM start 12:00 noon
[1] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) vs [8] M Granollers (ESP) / M Lopez (ESP)

Not Before 3:00 PM
[14] R Gasquet (FRA) vs [8] J Isner (USA)

Not Before 6:30 PM
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [5] J Tipsarevic (SRB)
[5] J Melzer (AUT) / L Paes (IND) vs [2] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA)

GRANDSTAND start
Not Before 4:00 PM
[1] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) or [8] M Granollers (ESP) / M Lopez (ESP) vs [4] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU)

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Rainy Friday in Montreal, Results, Saturday Schedule

ROGERS CUP
Montréal, Canada
August 7-13, 2012
$2,168,400/Premier
Hard/Outdoors

Results – Friday, August 10, 2012
Singles – Third Round
(16) Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. (4) Samantha Stosur (AUS) 76(9) 76(5)
(5) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. (9) Marion Bartoli (FRA) 61 61

Suspended due to rain
(WC) Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) leads Christina McHale (USA) 76(5) 52

Singles – Second Round
Tamira Paszek (AUT) d. (1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 33 ret. (left knee injury)
(6) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 63 63
(7) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. (Q) Kiki Bertens (NED) 75 61

Doubles – Quarterfinals
(1) Huber/Raymond (USA/USA) d. Lisicki/Peng (GER/CHN) 65 ret. (Lisicki: left abdominal injury)
Rodionova/Voskoboeva (AUS/KAZ) d. Chan/Chan (TPE/TPE) 64 26 108 (Match TB)

Doubles – Second Round
(3) Petrova/Srebotnik (RUS/SLO) d. Chuang/Zhang (TPE/CHN) 67(8) 64 119 (Match TB)
Rodionova/Voskoboeva (AUS/KAZ) d. (6) Kops-Jones/Spears (USA/USA) 26 76(6) 102 (Match TB)
Mattek-Sands/Mirza (USA/IND) d. Cibulkova/Hantuchova (SVK/SVK) 62 63
Lisicki/Peng (GER/CHN) d. Grandin/Uhlirova (RSA/CZE) 75 64
Jans-Ignacik/Mladenovic (POL/FRA) d. Pavlyuchenkova/Safarova (RUS/CZE) 75 67(8) 108 (Match TB)

Order Of Play – Saturday, August 11, 2012
Central (from 12.00hrs)
1. Chanelle Scheepers vs. Agnieszka Radwanska
2. Christina McHale vs. Aleksandra Wozniak (tbc; NB 13.00hrs)
3. Varvara Lepchenko vs. Caroline Wozniacki (NB 14.00hrs)
4. [Paszek or Suárez Navarro] vs. Petra Kvitova (NB 18.30hrs)
5. [McHale or Wozniak] vs. [Lepchenko or Wozniacki] (NB 20.00hrs)

Banque Nationale (from 12.00hrs)
1. Sara Errani vs. Li Na
2. Angelique Kerber vs. Roberta Vinci (NB 13.00hrs)
3. [Errani or Li] vs. [Scheepers or A.Radwanska] (after suitable rest)
4. [Kerber or Vinci] vs. Lucie Safarova (NB 17.00hrs; after suitable rest)

Court 9 (from 11.30hrs)
1. Petrova/Srebotnik vs. Mattek-Sands/Mirza
2. Tamira Paszek vs. Carla Suárez Navarro (NB 13.00hrs)
3. Huber/Raymond vs. [Petrova/Srebotnik or Mattek-Sands/Mirza] (NB 14.30hrs; after suitable rest)

Court 5 (from 12.30hrs)
1. Jans-Ignacik/Mladenovic vs. Makarova/Savchuk
2. Rodionova/Voskoboeva vs. [Jans-Ignacik/Mladenovic vs. Makarova/Savchuk] (NB 14.30hrs; after suitable rest)

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Azarenka withdraws from Montreal

MONTREAL – Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Rogers Cup due to a left knee injury.

 

Azarenka explained the pullout to media. “The last week took so much energy out of me that I absolutely had no time to recover, and my body is feeling it,” said the Belarusian.

 

“It was a little bit too quick of a transition for me to come and start the training, so I just felt my knee was not in good shape, you know.

 

“It’s very unfortunate, because I was really looking forward, you know, to play.  I really enjoyed being here and playing this tournament, but I tried yesterday and today it just got worse.

 

“I don’t see the point of, you know, kind of not giving even 50% of my game.”

 

“I hope it is a short‑term thing,” Azarenka continued. “I don’t know.  I have to kind of stop and just, you know, take a little bit of time off because I absolutely had no rest for a long period of time just to settle it down and to go from there.

 

“Hopefully there is nothing serious.”

Azarenka said that she’s not going to Cincinnati.  “No, I’m not playing anything.  Yeah, well, if I cannot play here, there is no chance for me to play anywhere else.

“The first is to get healthy to make sure I’m 100% ready to play at the Open.”

 

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Rogers Cup – Thursday Results, Friday Schedule

TORONTO RESULTS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2012


Main Draw Doubles – Second Round
[1] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) d F Fognini (ITA) / J Monaco (ARG) 64 63
[3] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) d S Gonzalez (MEX) / S Lipsky (USA) 75 75
[4] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU) d D Bracciali (ITA) / A Seppi (ITA) 61 64
[5] J Melzer (AUT) / L Paes (IND) d M Raonic (CAN) / V Troicki (SRB) walkover
[7] A Qureshi (PAK) / J Rojer (NED) d J Chardy (FRA) / G Simon (FRA) 67(5) 64 10-5
[8] M Granollers (ESP) / M Lopez (ESP) d T Berdych (CZE) / F Mayer (GER) 62 62

MONTREAL RESULTS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2012
Main Draw Singles – Second Round
[2] A Radwanska (POL) d M Barthel (GER) 46 63 76(5)
[9] M Bartoli (FRA) d S Peng (CHN) 61 63
[10] N Li (CHN) d [WC] E Bouchard (CAN) 64 64
R Vinci (ITA) d [11] A Ivanovic (SRB) 60 60
V Lepchenko (USA) d [12] D Cibulkova (SVK) 64 64
[WC] A Wozniak (CAN) d [13] J Jankovic (SRB) 62 63
C Suarez Navarro (ESP) d [15] S Lisicki (GER) 36 63 64
C Mchale (USA) d [LL] G Voskoboeva (KAZ) 75 36 62

Main Draw Doubles – Second Round
[1] L Huber (USA) / L Raymond (USA) d V Dushevina (RUS) / T Tanasugarn (THA) 61 63
H Chan (TPE) / Y Chan (TPE) d [Alt] J Craybas (USA) / C Suarez Navarro (ESP) 61 60

TORONTO ORDER OF PLAY – FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2012
STADIUM start 11:00 am
[14] R Gasquet (FRA) vs [4] T Berdych (CZE)

Not Before 1:00 PM
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) vs S Querrey (USA)

Not Before 3:00 PM
[7] J Monaco (ARG) or [11] M Fish (USA) vs [14] R Gasquet (FRA) or [4] T Berdych (CZE)

Not Before 7:00 PM
[8] J Isner (USA) or [12] P Kohlschreiber (GER) vs [16] M Raonic (CAN)
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) or S Querrey (USA) vs T Haas (GER) or R Stepanek (CZE)
GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
[7] J Monaco (ARG) vs [11] M Fish (USA)

Not Before 1:00 PM
[8] J Isner (USA) vs [12] P Kohlschreiber (GER)
[5] J Melzer (AUT) / L Paes (IND) vs [3] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL)
J Chardy (FRA) or M Granollers (ESP) vs [10] M Cilic (CRO) or [5] J Tipsarevic (SRB)
COURT 1 start 11:00 am
[10] M Cilic (CRO) vs [5] J Tipsarevic (SRB)

Not Before 1:00 PM
T Haas (GER) vs R Stepanek (CZE)
[6] M Bhupathi (IND) / R Bopanna (IND) or P Hanley (AUS) / N Zimonjic (SRB) vs I Dodig (CRO) / M Melo (BRA) or [2] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA)
[1] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) vs [8] M Granollers (ESP) / M Lopez (ESP) – TBA – After Necessary Rest
COURT 4 start 11:00 am
I Dodig (CRO) / M Melo (BRA) vs [2] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA)

Not Before 1:00 PM
J Chardy (FRA) vs M Granollers (ESP)
[4] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU) vs [7] A Qureshi (PAK) / J Rojer (NED)
COURT 3 start 11:00 am
[6] M Bhupathi (IND) / R Bopanna (IND) vs P Hanley (AUS) / N Zimonjic (SRB)
MONTREAL ORDER OF PLAY – FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2012
CENTRAL start 12:00 noon
[9] M Bartoli (FRA) vs [5] P Kvitova (CZE)

Not Before 2:00 PM
C Mchale (USA) vs [WC] A Wozniak (CAN)

Not Before 6:00 PM
V Lepchenko (USA) vs [Q] K Bertens (NED) or [7] C Wozniacki (DEN)

Not Before 8:00 PM
[1] V Azarenka (BLR) or T Paszek (AUT) vs C Suarez Navarro (ESP)
BANQUE NATIONALE start 12:00 noon
[16] L Safarova (CZE) vs [4] S Stosur (AUS)

Not Before 1:30 PM
[1] V Azarenka (BLR) vs T Paszek (AUT) 33

Not Before 4:00 PM
C Scheepers (RSA) vs [2] A Radwanska (POL)

Not Before 7:30 PM
[8] S Errani (ITA) vs [10] N Li (CHN)
COURT 9 start 12:00 noon
N Grandin (RSA) / V Uhlirova (CZE) vs S Lisicki (GER) / S Peng (CHN)

Not Before 1:30 PM
[Q] K Bertens (NED) vs [7] C Wozniacki (DEN) 57 04 – WTA
[6] R Kops-Jones (USA) / A Spears (USA) vs A Rodionova (AUS) / G Voskoboeva (KAZ)

Not Before 4:30 PM
[6] A Kerber (GER) or E Makarova (RUS) vs R Vinci (ITA)
[6] R Kops-Jones (USA) / A Spears (USA) or A Rodionova (AUS) / G Voskoboeva (KAZ) vs H Chan (TPE) / Y Chan (TPE)
COURT 5 start 1:30 pm
[6] A Kerber (GER) vs E Makarova (RUS) 63 13 – WTA
[1] L Huber (USA) / L Raymond (USA) vs N Grandin (RSA) / V Uhlirova (CZE) or S Lisicki (GER) / S Peng (CHN) – After Suitable Rest
[3] N Petrova (RUS) / K Srebotnik (SLO) or C Chuang (TPE) / S Zhang (CHN) vs D Cibulkova (SVK) / D Hantuchova (SVK) or B Mattek-Sands (USA) / S Mirza (IND)
COURT 2 start 1:30 pm

Not Before 1:30 PM
D Cibulkova (SVK) / D Hantuchova (SVK) vs B Mattek-Sands (USA) / S Mirza (IND)

Not Before 3:00 PM
K Jans-Ignacik (POL) / K Mladenovic (FRA) vs A Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) / L Safarova (CZE) 75 67(8) 0-0
K Jans-Ignacik (POL) / K Mladenovic (FRA) or A Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) / L Safarova (CZE) vs E Makarova (RUS) / O Savchuk (UKR) – After Suitable Rest

COURT 6 start 1:30 pm
[3] N Petrova (RUS) / K Srebotnik (SLO) vs C Chuang (TPE) / S Zhang (CHN)

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