It's been quite a day on the WTA tour as preparations for the opening Slam of the year, the Australian Open, continue in earnest. But for some of the leading ladies, injuries and shock defeats have put doubts on whether they will be competing in Melbourne or how early they may exit.
Halep Pulls Out in Brisbane
The news of Serena Williams withdrawing from her opening match at the Hopman Cup (which the USA subsequently would go on to lose against Ukraine) with knee inflammation, and then retiring from her second match where she was down a set and a break against Jarmila Gadjosova (now Jarmila Wolfe) may just have brought music to the ears of her biggest rivals, a small hope perhaps that the world no.1 may not be 100%, even not competing, come two weeks time for the opening major. Yet Serena's rivals are also ailing.
After breezing past Elena Vesnina with the loss of just two games in the opening round, Victoria Azarenka had set up a mouth-watering early season blockbuster against top seed Simona Halep in Brisbane. Sadly for the paying public, and for tennis fans across the world, this clash sadly won't be going ahead, as world no.2 Halep has pulled out of the tournament with continued problems with her left Achilles.
Asked whether surgery would be required, Halep said "it's wasn't necessary", although this chronic issue could effect her performance on court "I think I'm in trouble a little bit because I have this pain." The Romanian is still planning to play in Sydney next week, which will now be her one and only warm-up event before Melbourne. For Azarenka, it's now a 2nd round encounter with Belgian lucky loser Ysaline Bonaventure. The winner will face US Open runner-up Roberta Vinci in the quarter-finals, who's final season on tour has begun impressively; the eighth seed gave Dominika Cibulková a double breadstick.
Defending Champ Sharapova Also Forced To Withdraw
Halep's announcement she was out of the event was probably met with a double groan, as it came just an hour after the news that Maria Sharapova wouldn't be able to defend the title she had won 12 months earlier, after picking up a left forearm injury in practice a couple of days ago. The 5-time major winner was scheduled to take on fellow countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova in the first round (Makarova would beat lucky loser, another Russian, Margarita Gasparyan, in a hard fought three set match).
After the second half of 2015 was pretty much wiped out with injury, more questions will be asked of Sharapova as to whether she can ever stay fit enough to compete at the very top once again. Should Aga Radwanska reach the Shenzhen final, the Pole will replace Sharapova as the no.4 seed in Melbourne, meaning Sharapova will be seeded no.5, giving her a 25% chance she could come up against Serena in the quarter-finals; she has lost her last 17 encounters against the American.
Elsewhere, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova backed up her impressive victory over Timea Bacsinszky by knocking out France's Alize Cornet to reach the last-eight, whilst sixth seed Carla Suarez Navarro halted a dogged fight back from home favourite Sam Stosur, who was at one stage 6-1, 4-1 down, to prevail in just over two hours.
Broady Stuns Former World No.1 Ivanovic
Over in Auckland, it certainly wasn't the best of days to be one of the top seeds. The defending champion and top of those seeds Venus Williams was shocked by 18 year old Russian Daria Kasatkina, the teenager is tipped to have a very bright future, and this result will certainly put her in the limelight, defeating the five-time Wimbledon winner in three sets.
The surprises didn't stop there. Great Britain's Naomi Broady produced the biggest win of her career to date, beating former French Open champion and world no.1 Ana Ivanovic in straight sets; the 25-year old from Manchester setting up a 2nd round meeting with Latvian teenager Jelena Ostapenko. Ivanovic will drop out of the world's top-20 on Monday morning, which won't help her seeding for Melbourne. 3rd seed Caroline Wozniacki also looked as if she could be in for a rather difficult day, losing the first four games of her season against Danka Kovinić, but she came past the Montenegrin 6-4, 6-4.
Aga Safely Through In Shenzhen As Kvitova Retires
Whilst all the drama was happening Down Under, in China, Radwanska serenely progressed through her opening encounter of the new season, as she coasted past Serbia's Aleksandra Krunić. The news of Sharapova's withdrawal in Brisbane gives the Pole extra incentive to do well here; a top-four seeding in Melbourne will boost her hopes of that maiden major come January 30th. She's now undoubtedly favourite for the title in Shenzhen after Petra Kvitova, the second seed, retired midway through her first round meeting with Zheng Saisai though illness. The Czech had lost the first set 6-2 and couldn't continue, to round of a day of injuries/illness and shocks aplenty.
Not such a good day for Britain's Johanna Konta, who, after a breakout second half of 2015, would have been extremely disappointed to lose her first match of 2016, going down to Qiang Wang who is on home soil. The fifth seed was out, but the sixth seed would go through, as Genie Bouchard, picked up her first win since slipping in the locker room before her 4th round match at the US Open (which resulted in concussion), battling past Donna Vekic in a three setter.
WTA Results:
WTA Brisbane Day 3 Results:
Carla Suarez Navarro (6) bt Sam Stosur 6-1, 6-7, 6-4
Roberta Vinci (8) bt Dominika Cibulková 6-1, 6-1
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova bt Alize Cornet 6-2, 1-6, 6-4
Ekaterina Makarova bt Margarita Gasparyan 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
WTA Auckland Day 2 Results:
Daria Kasatkina bt Venus Williams (1) 6-7, 6-3, 6-3
Naomi Broady bt Ana Ivanovic (2) 7-5, 6-4
Caroline Wozniacki (3) bt Danka Kovinić 6-4, 6-4
Barbora Strycova (7) bt Kiki Bertens 6-2, 6-4
Julia Görges bt Lucie Hradecká 6-0, 6-3
Kirsten Flipkens bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
Christina McHale bt Misaki Doi 6-2, 6-4
Tamira Paszek bt Francesca Schiavone 7-6, 4-6, 6-3
Marina Erakovic bt Yulia Putintseva 7-6, 7-6
WTA Shenzhen Day 2 Results:
Aga Radwanska (1) bt Aleksandra Krunić 6-4, 6-3
Zheng Saisai bt Petra Kvitova (2) 6-2, 0-0r
Qiang Wang bt Johanna Konta (5) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Genie Bouchard (6) bt Donna Vekic 6-4, 1-6, 7-5
Nicole Gibbs bt Tereza Smitkova 6-0, 6-2
Shuai Zhang bt Irina Khromacheva 6-3, 6-3
Anett Kontaveit bt Yaroslava Shevdova 6-4, 7-6
Vania King bt Stefanie Vögele 7-5, 6-4