US Open: Women's Quarterfinalists

Six of the top eight women’s seeds are through to the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows, which is pretty impressive considering what has happened at the last few women’s slams. This should set up some great matchups. All eight have been to a slam quarterfinal before, seven have reached a semi, six have made a final, three have won a slam, and two triumphed previously at the US Open.


1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN): 3rd slam quarterfinal (2nd at US Open), 1-1 record (1-0), last ’10 French Open
2) Kim Clijsters (BEL): 17th slam quarterfinal (5th at US Open), 13-3 record (3-1), last ’10 Wimbledon
3) Venus Williams (USA): 33rd slam quarterfinal (10th at US Open), 18-14 record (7-2), last ’10 Wimbledon
5) Samantha Stosur (AUS): 3rd slam quarterfinal (1st at US Open), 2-0 record, last ’10 French Open
6) Francesca Schiavone (ITA): 5th slam quarterfinal (2nd at US Open), 1-3 record (0-1), last ’10 French Open
7) Vera Zvonareva (RUS): 4th slam quarterfinal (1st at US Open), 2-1 record, last ’10 Wimbledon
31) Kaia Kanepi (EST): 3rd slam quarterfinal (1st at US Open), 0-2 record, last ’10 Wimbledon
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK): 2nd slam quarterfinal (1st at US Open), 1-0 record, last ’09 French Open

Eight different countries represented in the quarters, and while each lady has made the quarters of a slam before this, four of them have never before made it this far at the US Open. All but Cibulkova have previously made a quarterfinal this year. Wozniacki, Clijsters, Williams, Schiavone, and Zvonareva have yet to drop a set this year’s US Open. Only two players (Wozniacki and Clijsters) were in the quarters at the 2009 US Open. Kanepi is currently up to #26 in the virtual rankings, Cibulkova up to #33. The others have pretty much remained static though 655 points now separate Zvonareva from Radwanska. Clijsters is currently at #10 since she has the title to defend.

Today and tomorrow’s quarterfinal matchups:
Wozniacki vs Cibulkova
Zvonareva vs Kanepi
Williams vs Schiavone
Clijsters vs Stosur

Now to catch up with some rankings items from the last couple rounds, since I like this stuff:

Top 50 players successfully defending 3rd round points (or adding more by now): Maria Sharapova (RUS), Shahar Peer (ISR), Maria Kirilenko (RUS), Sara Errani (ITA).

Top 50 players failing to defend 3rd round points (round lost after the hyphen): Victoria Azarenka (BLR)-2, Jie Zheng (CHN)-2, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP)-2, Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)-1, Dinara Safina (RUS)-1

Top 50 players successfully defending 4th round points (or adding more by now): Venus Williams (USA), Francesca Schiavone (ITA), Vera Zvonareva (RUS), Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS).

Top 50 players failing to defend 4th round points: Nadia Petrova (RUS)-1, Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)-3, Petra Kvitova (CZE)-3, Gisela Dulko (ARG)-3

Top 50 players successfully defending quarterfinal points: none

Top 50 players failing to defend quarterfinal points: Na Li (CHN)-1, Flavia Pennetta (ITA)-3, Melanie Oudin (USA)-2