Thursday, August 9, 2012

Rogers Cup play starting to look like 2011

Last year, the Rogers Cup was so full of upsets that fans felt the need to create slogans like "Toronto--where champions come to lose." Another of those slogans was "No one can crack da Vinci code," because Roberta Vinci went on such a tear. Today, in the second round, Vinci upset 11th seed Ana Ivanovic 6-0, 6-0. Ivanovic saved three of nine break points; Vinci never had a break point against her. (In the first round, by the way, Vinci defeated Yanina Wickmayer.)

Jelena Jankovic is out. She was defeated in straight sets in the second round by Canadian wild card Aleksandra Wozniak. More surprising was the defeat of Dominika Cibulkova, also in straight sets, by Varvara Lepchenko.

Sabine Lisicki went out in the second round, too--to Carla Suarez Navarro. And the first round marked an exit for Julia Goerges, Daniela Hantuchova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Nadia Petrova. Not to be ignored was Sesil Karatantcheva's first round 6-0, 6-0 defeat of Sorana Cirstea.(Karatantcheva was defeated in the second round by Lucie Safarova.)

Both Simona Halep and Flavia Pennetta retired in their second round matches.

Serena Williams won the 2011 Rogers Cup. She isn't in Montreal to defend her title, but a number of top players are competing there. The top seed is Victoria Azarenka, and she is joined by Angieszka Radwanska, Sam Stosur, Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber, and Marion Bartoli.

No comments: