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Four American women will start the qualifying event at the BNP Paribas Open on Monday. This is a WTA Premier Mandatory event, one of the biggest on the tour outside of the Grand Slams, and being on American soil in Indian Wells, California this is a good opportunity for young US players trying to improve their international standing.

All four Americans in the qualifying draw are unseeded and facing seeded players in the first round. The highest ranked American in qualifying is 23-year-old Irina Falconi. 19-year-old Grace Min is a former US Open Junior title winner and Allie Kiick is just 18 years old and has already won three times on the ITF Tour.

Things will get underway for the women on Monday with the men’s qualifying starting on Tuesday. WeSupportTheUS.com will have coverage of the BNP Paribas Open all tournament long so come back tomorrow night for a look at the men’s draw and how women’s qualifying is going.

Schedule:

• March 3rd
  • 2 PM ET – Irina Falconi vs. #5 Camila Giorgi
  • 2 PM ET – Madison Brengle vs. #24 Romina Oprandi
  • 6 PM ET – Allie Kick vs. #19 Mandy Minella
  • 8 PM ET – Grace Min vs. #1 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova

Everyone thought that if only American would make the final in Dubai it would be #1 Serena Williams. Everyone was wrong. Venus Williams routed #8 Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-2 in 1:21. Williams was strong on her first serve and won over half the points on both the first and second serve of Wozniacki as she broke her six times in nine service games.

In the other semifinal Serena took on Alize Cornet, the lowest ranked opponent of the tournament thus far for her and someone she was 3-0 against. She never found a way to break the Cornet serve though and only saw one break point in 10 service games. Williams struggled on her second serve winning just nine of 24 points. The upset loss meant we wouldn’t see a Venus–Serena final, something we haven’t seen in over four years.

Reaching the final in the doubles’ draw was Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigal Spears with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Flavia Pennetta and Sam Stosur in less than an hour. The Americans only lost 14 points on serve all match and were broken just once in nine service games while winning nearly half of the points off their opponents serve and breaking them four times in eight service games. They now face Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova in the final.

Singles Draw

This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Matches highlighted in yellow are on today’s schedule. Click to expand.

The draw for Venus Williams won’t have her face a top ten player in Dubai at all. Still with two top 12 opponents and only playing players ranked ahead of her it’s been a very strong showing for her in Dubai.

The Matchups

Venus Williams and Alize Cornet will be meeting for the fourth time when they play. Williams is 3-0 and won 6-3, 6-3 in their last meeting, a first round matchup in the Australian Open last year. They met in the round of 16 in Dubai five years ago when Williams won 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles Draw

This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Matches highlighted in yellow are on today’s schedule. Click to expand.

Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigal Spears are the higher ranked team again in the final as their opponents, Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova knocked out the highest ranked team left: Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Safarova.

The Matchups

The only previous meeting between Kops-Jones/Spears and Kudryavtseva/Rodionova was a very tight first round loss in Rome last May, 7-5, 7-5.

Tuesday Schedule

All times ET

• 8 AM – Raquel Kops-Jones/Abigail Spears vs. Alla Kudryavtseva/Anastasia Rodionova on Center Court – Kudryavtseva/Rodionova lead 1-0 all-time
• Approx. 10 AM – Venus Williams vs. Alize Cornet on Center Court – Williams leads 3-0 all-time

TV Schedule

Tennis Channel will be on air with Center Court from 10 AM-6 PM ET and should have coverage of the singles final.

The US had a really strong day in Dubai as both #1 Serena and Venus Williams reached the semifinals in the singles draw while Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigal Spears are in the doubles semifinals.

Venus Williams took out Flavia Pannetta in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. Venus was broken four times but broke Pannetta six times as Williams won a majority of points on both her serve and Pannetta’s serve. Venus faces #8 Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals.

Lisa Raymond and Shuai Zhang (China) were knocked out by Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Safarova 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals. The match might not be as close as it looks as the Raymond/Zhang only won 18 points off their opponents serve and won 15 less total points.

Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigal Spears took on #1 Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci thumped them soundly 6-4, 6-1 in an impressive outing. The Americans won 56% of the points off the Italians first serve and broke them five times in eight games. They’ll face Flavia Pennetta and Sam Stosur in the semifinals on Friday.

Finally #1 Serena Williams took on #5 Jelena Jankovic and routed her 6-2, 6-2 in and hour and 16 minutes. Williams was strong on her serve (won 65% of her service points) and tore into the 24 second service points that Jankovic served up by winning 16 of them. Williams won the match by breaking her five times in eight service games. Serena now faces Alize Cornet on Friday in the semifinals.

Singles Draw

This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Matches highlighted in yellow are on today’s schedule. Click to expand.

The draw for Serena Williams was lightened a bit when Alize Cornet knocked off Carla Suarez Navarro. Serena can make the final in Dubai with only one match against a top 22 player in the world, Venus is playing her third so far against Wozniacki.

Continue reading Serena and Venus Williams Both in Dubai Semifinals →

Venus Williams has been looking to regain the form she once had and we all remember and if Wednesday was any indication that form may not be that far from her. Williams was dominant in a 56 minute 6-2, 6-1 win over the #12 player in the world in Ana Ivanovic. Williams serve wasn’t totally up to speed with a first serve % of just 44%, but she won all 18 that she got in and was a strong 52% on second serve points. She broke Ivanovic five times in eight service games by attacking her second serve and winning 68% of those points.

In doubles action Venus and Serena Williams were knocked out by top five doubles players Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina  6-4, 4-6, 10-4. The match was always tight with both teams winning over 60% of their service points and each team being broken twice in ten service games. Things just went the way of the Russians in the deciding super-tie break. It isn’t the worst thing though for the Williams sisters who both have quarterfinal matches on Thursday to focus on and could be quite busy the next few days with singles play.

Singles Draw

This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Matches highlighted in yellow are on today’s schedule. Click to expand.

The draw for Venus Williams has gotten a bit easier as second seed Agnieszka Radwanska was knocked out on Wednesday by Flavia Panetta. Panetta will still be the higher ranked player, but it’s not a world top-five player in the quarterfinals anymore. In fact the only top five player left that Williams could face is her own sister Serena. This also means Serena wouldn’t need to beat any top five players to win this tournament. When #4 Sara Errani was beaten by #8 Caroline Wozniacki it meant that Venus wouldn’t face any top-ten players on her side of the draw. A finals appearance looks more and more doable for Venus.

On Serena’s side after Carla Suarez Navarro upset Petra Kvitova there is only one top ten player between Serena and the title, her next opponent Jelena Jankovic.

Continue reading Venus Williams Joins Serena in Dubai Quarterfinals →

The only American in action on Tuesday was Serena Williams who was facing Ekaterina Makarova in the second round. The first set was a really tight affair with Williams being broken two times but breaking back and forcing a tiebreak. The tiebreak itself went long before Williams finally pulled out the 10-8 win. That seemed to break the match wide open as Williams went on to break Makarova every time in the second set as she won the match 7-6 (10-8), 6-0.

Serena will now have Wednesday off in singles play (she does have a doubles match with her sister Venus) before her quarterfinal matchup on Thursday.

Singles Draw

This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Matches highlighted in yellow are on today’s schedule. Click to expand.

Continue reading Serena Williams first into the Quarterfinals in Dubai →

Sloane Stephens is out in Dubai after a disappointing 6-3, 7-5 loss to Lucie Safarova in the first round on Monday. It wasn’t a good showing by Stephens who was fine on her first serve but won just eight of 28 points on her second serve and was broken in five of her 11 service games. She did well against Safarova’s second serve but didn’t get enough opportunities and was really poor on her first serve.

The loss was not as bad as the one Stephens suffered in Qatar last week, Safarova is a top 30 player, but still it’s another non-Grand Slam tournament that Stephens hasn’t done much in.

In other singles action Venus Williams was impressive in a 6-3, 6-2 upset (by the numbers) over Elena Vesnina. Venus faced only one break point (which she saved) and broke Vesnina in four of her eight service games. Williams won 59 of the 97 points in the match.

In doubles action Raquel Kops-Jones/Abigail Spears defeated fellow American Liezel Huber and her partner Hao-Ching Chan 6-3, 7-6 (4). The two Americans took aim at the Huber/Chan second serve as they won 16 of the 19 points off of it as they broke them three times.

The other American to play on Monday was Lisa Raymond who was teamed with Shuai Zhang. Originally scheduled to face twin sisters Karolina Pliskova and Kristyna Pliskova they ended up playing Kirsten Flipkens and Petra Kvitova. Things did not start well with a 6-0 doughnut in the first set. They rebounded strong though with a 6-4 second set win and a 10-7 tiebreak victory to win the match.

Singles Draw

This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Matches highlighted in yellow are on today’s schedule. Click to expand.

Continue reading Sloane Stephens Out in Dubai, Williams Sisters Only US Singles Left →

Bethanie Mattek-Sands was the final American alive in qualifying but she was knocked off 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) by Mona Barthel so there will only be six Americans in the main draw. Mattek-Sands was able to get to the Barthel serve and work into break point situations a lot but only broke her on 5 of 19 break points. Mattek-Sands was broken four times in seven break points.

Now as we turn to the main draw the US will feature three players: Venus Williams who looked good in Qatar but couldn’t pull off the upset, Sloane Stephens who struggled in Qatar and could really use a tournament like this to make a statement, and world #1 Serena Williams who is playing for the first time since the Australian Open where she struggled with a back injury at the end. It will be interesting to see how Serena looks this week.

Continue reading Three Americans in Main Draw as Dubai Tennis Championships Begins →

Qualifying’s #7 seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands continued what’s been a good week in the Persian Gulf with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Kristýna Plíšková on Saturday. Mattek-Sands is now the lone American left in the qualifying draw after Varvara Lepchenko was upset 6-4, 6-3 by Maryna Zanevska, Abigail Spears (a long shot alternate who doesn’t play singles often) was beaten 2-6, 6-0, 6-2 by Annika Beck.

Mattek-Sands is now two wins away from joining Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens, and Venus Williams in the main draw.

Qualifying Draws

This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Click to expand.

The path to the main draw did get easier for Mattek-Sands as the Lepchenko loss means if she can get by Mona Barthel then Petra Martic would be the highest ranked player she would meet in the final round of qualifying.

Continue reading Bethanie Mattek-Sands Lone American Left in Dubai Qualifying. →

After knocking off Eugenie Bouchard in Doha earlier in the week Bethanie Mattek-Sands finds herself in qualifying in Dubai trying to reach the main draw of the tennis championship. Mattek-Sands is joined in the qualifying draw by Varvara Lepchenko and a late addition, Abigail Spears (normally a doubles player).

Qualifying Draws

This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Click to expand.

Continue reading Three US Women in Qualifying for Dubai Tennis Championship →