$140K Hyderabad Indian Open WTA (Qualies Girls in Town!)

Post by **jayakris** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 7:49 am

Just to keep all the posts on this in one place, I may keep changing the thread title a bit, every now and then .. Once the tournament starts, we will start other threads on this. Jay 2/24/03
Thread title changed again - Jay 2/30/03
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Here is the entry list. Beautiful, I must say. Never expected to see this many top-60 players in a Tier-IV event. Bhupathis' Globosport company had announced Pierce, Fernandez and Tulyaganova earlier, but Tamarine Tanasugarn is indeed a big surprise to me. Wonderful. Also nice to see Angie and Wynn. Sunitha Rao is in the alternate list - hopefully she would come for qualies (or perhaps she could get a wildcard). No Niru in the list. Not sure what she feels about her own form right now - let us see how she does in the next three weeks. I am sure she could get a wildcard if she asks for one, but she may not if she is not confident about her own form (my guess). Sania Mirza is the one wildcard we know for sure. Manisha may be another.

No flashy top-10 types, unless Mahesh comes up with a ton of apperance money and a wildcard now. I say, don't waste money, if you have got the sponsors lined up already

A #50 ranked player would only move up about 5 or 6 spots with even a title, with the points on offer at a $140K event. Considering that, this is wonderful to see some good top-60 players. Pierce will of course be the biggest name.

Jay

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Code: Select all

Main Draw

TANASUGARN, TAMARINE        28 THA
FERNANDEZ, CLARISA          31 ARG
PIERCE, MARY                52 FRA
TULYAGANOVA, IRODA          55 UZB
SERRA ZANETTI, ADRIANA      60 ITA
BARNA, ANCA                 62 GER
SUCHA, MARTINA              64 SVK
KOSTANIC, JELENA            70 CRO
GARBIN, TATHIANA            71 ITA
WIDJAJA, ANGELIQUE          72 INA
TALAJA, SILVIJA             74 CRO
TORRENS VALERO, CRISTINA    79 ESP
CHO, YOON JEONG             83 KOR
NEFFA-DE LOS RIOS, ROSSANA  88 PAR
DIAZ-OLIVA, MARIANA         89 ARG
SERRA ZANETTI, ANTONELLA    92 ITA
PENNETTA, FLAVIA            95 ITA
POUTCHEK, TATIANA          100 BLR
KOULIKOVSKAYA, EVGENIA     102 RUS
CERVANOVA, LUDMILA         103 SVK
PRAKUSYA, WYNNE            105 INA
REEVES, SAMANTHA           108 USA
DOMINIKOVIC, EVIE          114 AUS
KOUKALOVA, KLARA           117 CZE
RODIONOVA, ANASTASSIA      118 RUS

Qualifying

PEREBIYNIS, TATIANA        119 UKR
CARGILL, ANSLEY            122 USA
CAMERIN, MARIA ELENA       123 ITA
SCHWARTZ, BARBARA          125 AUT
OBATA, SAORI               126 JPN
VORACOVA, RENATA           128 CZE
ONDRASKOVA, ZUZANA         129 CZE
KANDARR, JANA              131 GER
VAKULENKO, JULIA           132 UKR
SCHAUL, CLAUDINE           133 LUX
JEON, MI-RA                135 KOR
PIN, CAMILLE               136 FRA
MAROSI, KATALIN            138 HUN
WEBB, VANESSA              142 CAN
MORIGAMI, AKIKO            143 JPN
ARVIDSSON, SOFIA           144 SWE
OBZILER, TZIPORA           146 ISR
VANC, ANDREEA              149 ROM
BEIGBEDER, CELINE          151 FRA
PELLETIER, MARIE-EVE       153 CAN
VASKOVA, ALENA             155 CZE
BEYGELZIMER, YULIA         159 UKR
RIPPNER, BRIE              164 USA
NOORLANDER, SEDA           166 NED
BES, EVA                   168 ESP

Next in

VENTO-KABCHI, MARIA        172 VEN
FAUTH, EVELYN              173 AUT
BLAHOTOVA, OLGA            174 CZE
GRAHAME, AMANDA            175 AUS
TATARKOVA, ELENA           176 UKR
SANTANGELO, MARA           179 ITA
HENKE, VANESSA             182 GER
ZHENG, JIE                 185 CHN
PARRA, ARANTXA             186 ESP
NEMECKOVA, LENKA           190 CZE
PULLIN, JULIE              191 GBR
LLAGOSTERA VIVES, NURIA    192 ESP
BONDARENKO, ALYONA         193 UKR
BACHMANN, ANGELIKA         198 GER
SAEKI, MIHO                201 JPN
AHL, LUCIE                 204 GBR
FOKINA, GALINA             205 RUS
LUBIANI, FRANCESCA         206 ITA
BRANDI, KRISTINA           207 USA
RAO, SUNITHA               208 USA
DUEBBERS, NINA             211 GER
KRIVENCHEVA, SVETLANA      213 BUL
BIRNEROVA, EVA             215 CZE
LEE, JANET                 217 TPE
HUBER, LIEZEL              220 RSA

Post by **Dhruv** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 1:26 pm

Almost a better entry list than the 400K Tata Open for a third of the prize money. Well womens prize money is less than the mens game anyway so lets say half the prize money. Not bad at all. Maybe we get a superstar as a wildcard entry as well. Mary Pierce would probably be the biggest name/draw otherwise. With the WTA giving only 1 point for losing in the first round, I don't know if it is better for our players get a WC into the main event or play the qualies. The qualies points breakdown is
R(1) 1
R(2) 2
R(3) 3.5
QLFR 5.5

and you get to play much better competition than you normally would in either case.
The other thing of note is that there will probably br no byes etc in the qualies, unlike the TATA open where you could have walked in and gotten an entry into the qualies . So you will really have to earn your way in.

SaniaFan · Post by **SaniaFan** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 10:29 pm

So is sania playing any where before this one?

Post by **jayakris** » Sat Jan 04, 2003 10:59 pm

No, Sania will be in Bangalore this month, with Bhupathi senior doing some focussed coaching, on her serve etc, I believe.. She needed a good break to work on fitness and other things - that is why she skipped the Australian junior events. Not a bad idea - she has been playing non-stop since June or something.

Jay

SaniaFan · Post by **SaniaFan** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 6:52 pm

Well, Its good that she is getting some specific training from CGK but I would have liked her to play at least one tournament before hyderabad. So that she is in competitive groove. After all it is going to be the biggest tournament of her career till date and if she can full off some memorable performance it will be a great boost for her confidence. Basically whati am saying id that she may not be able to give it her best shot in what would be biggest tournament she'll feature in at least for some time to come.

Post by **Dhruv** » Mon Jan 13, 2003 10:33 pm

SaniaFan is probably interested in this one. The rumour mill has it that Sania and Marie Pierce will be teaming up as a doubles tandem at the Hyderabad WTA event.

Post by **jayakris** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 3:57 am

The website is up ..

http://www.wtaindianopen.com

Looks really good. The LIVE SCORES page is already there with all the courts' scoreboards. Cool

Jay

Post by **jayakris** » Tue Jan 21, 2003 4:31 pm

There is an update at the website today about the latest list of players which they say is final.

Barna seems to have withdrawn from the seeds list but Angie's higher ranking moving her above there. Will still have about the same number of top 80 players exept for Barna and Garbin (who also seems to have withdrawn). Other withdrawals are from the bottom end, which is unusual actually. The cut moves down from 119 to about 135. Still a pretty strong field for a Tier-IV

Seeds (based on Jan 20 ranks):

Clarisa Fernandez, Tamarine Tanasugarn, Mary Pierce, Iroda Tulyaganova
Adriana Serra Zanetti, Angelique Widjaja, Jelena Kostanic, Martina Sucha

Others:

Silvija Talaja, Christina Torrens Valero, Cho Yoon Leong
Anotella Serra Zanetti, Flavia Penetta, Tathiana Poutchek
Evegenia KoulikovsKaya, Wynne Prakusya, Evie Dominikovic
Anastassia Rodionova, Maria Elena Camerin, Saori Obata
Renata Voracova, Jana Kandaar, Julia Vakulenko
Claudine Schaul, Mi-Ra Jeon, (WC) Sania Mirza

Withdrawals seem to be,
Barna, Garbin, Torrens-Valero, Neffa Delos-rios, Cervanova
Reeves, Koukalova, Rodionova, Perebiynis, Cargill, Ondraskova

Jay

Post by **jayakris** » Tue Jan 21, 2003 5:26 pm

The indian open website has this cryptic line today -- "With two more wild cards to be given out, at least one of them would surely go to a top player who will give the direct entries a good run for their money"

Well, who IS this player that hesh may be working on, I wonder!

Jay

SaniaFan · Post by **SaniaFan** » Tue Jan 21, 2003 10:38 pm

Some one from europe I guess. Guess who?

Post by **jayakris** » Wed Jan 22, 2003 7:32 am

My guess -- SUNITHA RAO !! How about that?

I think that will be a wildcard very well spent.

Jay

Post by **jayakris** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 1:14 pm

Well, it is Elena Likhovtseva, ranked #39. Great job getting her. Adds one more top-50 player and she will be the second or 3rd seed there I think.

One more WC left... Mahesh said in the chat yesterday that he is working on somebody and might have some news in a day or two.

Jay

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 6:43 am

Am I the only one who thinks the WC was wasted on Likhovtseva??

For one, she is decidedly not a crowd puller, and despite her playing doubles with Bhupathi, I don't reckon her name is remembered among people in India. he has no big wins in recent memory and very little star appeal.

If she wanted to play this event, she should have queued up on time like the others and got a DA.

I think they should either get a top player like Dokic etc or else give the WC to Niru or Manisha. Though these two are low ranked, they have served the country well.

Just me opinion.

Post by **jayakris** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 4:59 pm

Well, her having played with Hesh for a couple of years and won a grand slam and all, she is probably more known than a lot of the top40 players for the causual fans out there.

Anyway, news that just cam out!

CHANDA RUBIN (USA,13) IS TAKING A WILCARD AND PLAYING THERE!!!!

How about that?

Jay

PS: I changed the title of the thread (good to be a moderator!) to show the Chanda news.

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 7:57 am

Now there are rumours that Iroda may be a no-show. I hope these are unfounded.