Friday 8 October 2010

WTA Beijing - Wozniacki reaches number 1

The talking point this week in Beijing has been Caroline Wozniacki's rise to World Number 1. Wozniacki had to reach the Quarter-finals to knock Serena off the top and she did that with a convincing win over Petra Kvitova. Several months ago Kvitova had demolished Wozniacki in the 4th round at Wimbledon in what seems to have been a wake up call for Wozniacki in that she needed to start making advances in her game if she was to achieve what she wanted. Since Wimbledon, her game has shown vast improvements with her serve and offensive game in particular looking stronger. At times i have been sceptical of whether Wozniacki is worthy of world number 1 and winning numerous grand slams. I feel if she carries this form into next year, a Grand Slam is on the horizon for her. She seems mentally tougher and stronger than previous slam-less number ones in Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic and with Doha around the corner, it could be a chance for her to prove her credentials against Serena and Kim who have both demonstrated their ability to perform at the Grand Slam level. This has brought a new dimension to the Women's game and there are signs that the new crop of players might be starting to make some headway in the game.

This week has also seen Vera Zvonareva continue her terrific recent form with some excellent wins over Dinara Safina, Maria Kirilenko and Francesca Schiavone. She is now projected to reach number 3 in the rankings. Also on the move up will be Na Li and Shahar Peer who have both reached the Semi-finals along with Wozniacki and Zvonareva. On the other hand, this week has been a disappointing show for Maria Sharapova. Once again, she put in a lacklustre effort going down to Elena Vesnina and she will have to regroup next year after a disappointing last couple of months. Jelena Jankovic also continues to struggle and in my honest opinion, she will not be able to reach the top of the rankings again. This week has also concluded a disappointing Asian Tour for Pavlyuchenkova. A-Pav has shown superb promise this year however she has disappointed in recent weeks with some alarming one-sided losses. Another worthy note this week is the continued resurgence of Ana Ivanovic who with stunning wins over Marion Bartoli and Elena Dementieva has confirmed her return to the Top 30 in the rankings next week.

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