2010 CBTC, List of Players

WTA has announced the players to participate at the 2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions to be held in Bali, 4-7 November 2010.

Despite their international tournament wins and high rankings, Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, and Kaia Kanepi will not be playing in Bali due to unspecified reasons.

The Tournament announced Japanese veteran, Kimiko Date Krumm another Wild Card to replace Ana Ivanovic who qualified by default after her win at Linz. Date Krumm has not won any international tournament, but has shown good progress at the end of the season.


1 Li Na Rank: 11 | Won: Birmingham
2 Aravane Rezai Rank: 18 | Won: Bastad
3 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Rank: 20 | Won: Monterrey, Istanbul
4 Yanina Wickmayer Rank: 22 | Won: Auckland
5 Ana Ivanovic Rank: 24 | Won: Linz
6 Alisa Kleybanova Rank: 27 | Won: Kuala Lumpur

7 Daniela Hantuchova Rank: 27 - WILD CARD
8 Kimiko Date Krumm Rank: 53 - WILD CARD


This has let other higher ranked players who are qualified for the tournament in dismay. Alona Bondarenko (ranked 36, won Hobart), Agnes Szavay (37, Budapest & Prague), and Roberta Vinci (38, Luxembourg) are not on the list.


Compared to those three players, Hantuchova and Date Krumm have advantages as the Tournament found them having selling factors. Those who do not really follow WTA Tour updates (even the journalists) know Hantuchova better than the other three players. She is beautiful and attractive and has been playing in Bali several times.

Kimiko Date Krumm is the oldest player on tour and has been the most succesful Japanese tennis player in singles. The Tournament is targetting Japanese tourists to flood Bali International Convention Centre in Nusa Dua to cheer on their heroine. Tennis wise, she remains highly competitive. It is not a bad choice, but I myself have a pity on those higher ranked players.

Other Possible Qualified Players for 2010 CBTC

There are several other high ranked players who could possibly qualify for the 2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions. Shahar Peer (ISR, 13), Nadia Petrova (RUS, 16), Marion Bartoli (FRA, 17), and Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS, 20) can surpass the players on this week list of Bali possible contenders, but they need to win any of the last three international tournaments left, namely Osaka, Linz, and Luxembourg.

Petrova and Kuznetsova do not play this week and do not enroll for Luxembourg. Bartoli and Peer could not make it in Osaka. Bartoli has just lost in straight sets, 26 57, to Tamarine Tanasugarn at the semifinal in Osaka today. Shahar Peer did not take advantage of her first set win and eventually lost to home favorite and last year CBTC semifinalist, Kimiko Date Krumm, 63 67 57.

It is impossible for Date Krumm to go to Bali again even if she wins Osaka and the premium level tournament in Moscow next week. Her current points of 1090 only put her in the 56th position in the WTA Tour singles ranking. She would not surpass the points and rankings of Alysa Kleybanova (2105 at 26) and Kaia Kanepi (2490 at 22).

In Linz, Bali wild card, Ana Ivanovic (SER, 29) is playing the semifinals and now leading 63 22 against Roberta Vinci of Italy. Patty Schnyder keeps her hope alive by reaching the final after a three sets win over Andrea Petkovic, 62 46 75. At ranking of 47 and 1220 points Schnyder needs to win in Linz and get more points next week to qualify for Bali. She needs to play Moscow instead of Luxembourg in order to win more points.

Ivanovic and Hantuchova

Even though the Tournament has named Ana Ivanovic and Daniela Hantuchova wild cards for the 2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, both players are still trying to qualify for the tournament by winning at least one international event.



Ivanovic and Hantuchova are now playing in Linz and have also book their places at Luxembourg next week. The last two international tournaments on WTA calendar, therefore the last chances to win a ticket for Bali.



As Flavia Pennetta will not be playing in Bali, the chance of Kaia Kanepi and Alysa Kleybanova are still open.

WILD CARDS for 2010 CBTC

In the press conference held in Krakatau Room, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Jakarta on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 the Tournament Director, Kevin Livesey, announced Ana Ivanovic and Daniela Hantuchova the wild cards for the 2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions.

Kevin also explained the reason of having single elimination format for the year-end tournament. He personally affraid if round robin format would possibly help a player who might lose a match or two earlier in the tournament to cruise through the semifinal by default. The case of Venus Williams in 2009 SonyEricsson Championships is the example he mentioned.

Subject to the results of the remaining three international tournaments, below is a list of players who are qualified for the 2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions.

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2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions

Twenty four players have won at least one international tournament, the first criterion to be able to participate in the year-end women's tennis tournament, the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions. The tournament will be held in Bali for 4-7 November 2010 at the Bali International Convention Centre, in Nusa Dua area.

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/page/RoadToBali/0,,12781,00.html

Not all of the above players would be playing in Bali. Six of them would probably play at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha 25-27 October 2010 and will not be allowed to play in Bali, unless the player is only an alternate at the Sony Ericsson Championship. Some of them (USA and Italian players) would not be able to come to Bali as they will play Fed Cup final at the same time.

Take a look at the players who are qualified for Bali and Doha and the possible qualified players based on their current WTA ranking and the singles ranking at the Race to Sony Ericsson Championship.

Last Year This Week

Regardless her postur and weak serve, at 278 in the WTA rankings Ayu Fani Damayanti is the highest ranked Indonesian tennis player today. I am always enthusiastic following Ayu's performance in international tennis forums.

Having played her third main draw in Bali in September last year, Ayu Fani Damayanti continued her good performance at the Philippines ITF women's circuits. She grabbed two ITF circuit titles despite her low ranks of 733 and 727.

At the second week in Manila, Ayu defeated the top seed, Sacha Jones (then ranked number 337) of New Zealand 6-4 6-1 (H2H) in the final. Ayu played perfect games in the course of two weeks without loosing a set.

Today Sacha Jones has made her biggest leap to 168 from last week 212 in the WTA rankings after winning three Australian challenger (Mount Gambier, Port Pirie, Rock Hill) 25K tournaments in a row and a 50K tournament in Phoenix, USA.

Where is Ayu? Within the last two months Ayu didn't play any ITF tournaments. She played at local tournaments in Tegal and Jakarta. I have not seen any official reason why she didn't enter challenger tournaments or at least the circuits in Manila. The only possible guess I have is that Ayu needs to collect money from this easy-winning local tournaments.

If Ayu is given a financial support to travel from challenger to challenger and try her luck at higher tournaments, It is not possible that she could be in the Top 200 this year. I am stil hoping that someday someone would invest in Ayu and helped her join the Top 150. Nothing is impossible for this smart tactician girl.

Bartoli Outplayed Date Krumm

Kimiko Date Krumm, the oldest winner of any tournaments in WTA Tour for the last 26 years showed her agility and power that brought her back to professional tennis after 12 year retirement. The technic and tactical game is still there, but that is not enough to beat the elite. Today's tennis requires more power and speed.




The fast surface of the centre court in Bali International Convention Centre, Nusa Dua, suits the game of Bartoli. The number 1 seed always take the ball earlier on the rise. It creates more pace that worn out the Japanese.








Bartoli had a chance to close out the match earlier. At 61 50 Bartoli had a break point that was a match point. Date Krumm survived and managed to hold the game and break Bartoli afterwards.




The spectators went crazy supporting Mrs. Krumm as they wanted a longer match. However, after loosing focus Bartoli regrouped and finished the match at 63. Albeit Kimiko's hardwork and technic, Bartoli outplayed and outpowered her quite handily.

Sabine Lisicki and Kimiko Date-Krumm Get the Wild Cards

Commonwealth Bank Tennis announced the players who receive the wild cards for the Tournament of Champions. As I have been suggesting, Sabine Lisicki of Germany is one of the recipient. To the surprise of many tennis fans, Kimiko Date-Krumm named the other player to receive the wild card.

Stacey Allaster, Chairman and CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour said, "The event promises to be a fantastic finale for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s International tournaments. With the field featuring some of the Tour’s leading players and next generation stars, a great week of tennis and fierce competition is guaranteed."

The tournament news states: "Featuring top Sony Ericsson WTA Tour players and next generation champions competing in an innovative, 12-woman round robin singles format (four groups of three players), it will offer both $600,000 in prize money and an opportunity to earn a $1-million bonus."

How could WTA and the tournament owner claim to promote next generation stars, while at the same time they give a wild card to 39-year-old player? I like Kimiko Date and would love to see her in person, but is she considered a next generation champion?

I try to guess the reasoning of this choice. They want to promote Asian players. First priority would be Indonesian players, but none of them have participated in the international events or shows any significant results during the year. Then they looked at the Asian women participating in WTA tour. We have Li Na, Peng Shuai, Zheng Jie, Tamarine Tanasugarn, Sania Mirza, and Mrs. Krum in the Top 100 of WTA rankings. Chang Kai Chen could also be added due to her phenomenal achievements in the recent months, including an epic win over World No. 1 player, Dinara Safina.

Among the Asians, Tanasugarn and Date-Krumm are the only winners of international tournaments. Tanasugarn would not sell the tournament as people in Bali and Indonesia have seen her around many times. While the Japanese heroine had recorded an unlevelled achievement for Asian tennis players by being ranked No. 4 in singles back then in 1995. Having retired from professional tennis for almost 12 years her magic is still there. Her WTA tour title in Korea is considered a start of a bright new live of the Japanese player.

Maybe, WTA would use the participation of Date-Krumm as a momentum to emphasize her legacy and let Asian younger players see her as a role model for being a professional tennis player. Kimiko have shown how strong commitment for a professional life have conquerred the age and marriage barriers to be a reborn champion.

Her participation in Bali could hopefully bring older fans who miss her and the kids who want to see the Asian legend.

Sony Ericsson Championships

The best eight women this year will compete at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Khalifa Tennis Complex, Doha, Qatar, from 27 October to 1 November 2009. They are divided into two groups of four players and will compete in round robin format.

White Group
1 Dinara Safina (RUS)
4 Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
6 Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
8 Jelena Jankovic (SRB)

Maroon Group
2 Serena Williams (USA)
3 Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
5 Elena Dementieva (RUS)
7 Venus Williams (USA)

The winner of the White Group will play the runner up of Maroon Group and the runner up of White Group will play the winner of Maroon Group in the semifinals.



Doubles

Along with the singles event, four doubles pairs are set to play in semifinals and final elimination matches. Only the best pairs of 2009 are qualified for the championship.

The Williamses, winner of most Grand Slam titles of 2009 (Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open), leads the contenders for the year-end tournament. They are followed by co-number one doubles players, Cara Black (ZIM) and Liezel Huber (USA). Spanish pair of Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez join the elité eight for the first time. They have won six doubles titles throughout the year and will be a serious threat to the top doubles players. Australian duo of Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs are in Doha not only to complete the list of players. They have won the championships twice together (Stubbs' won in 2001 with Lisa Raymond) and will try to get the third.


Dates of Play
Round Robin (Singles) 27 - 30 Oct 2009
Semi-Finals / Finals (Singles and Doubles) 31 Oct - 1 Nov 2009


Prize Money Breakdown

Singles
$1,550,000 Winner
$780,000 Finalist
RR (3 wins) $400,000
RR (2 wins) $300,000
RR (1 win) $200,000
RR (no wins) $100,000

Doubles
Winner $375,000
Finalist $187,500
Semifinalists $93,750

http://www.sonyericsson-championships.com/

Ten Players are Qualified for CBTC

As Sabine Lisicki lost to Timea Bacsinszky at the Luxembourg final , none of them acquired direct acceptance to Tournament of Champion in Bali. Bacsinszky only managed to reach 55 at the WTA ranking this week.

1. Vera Zvonareva (9, RUS)
2. Marion Bartoli (12, FRA)
3. Samantha Stosur (13, AUS)
4. Yanina Wickmayer (19, BEL)
5. Anabel Medina Garrigues (27, ESP)
6. María José Martínez Sánchez (31, ESP)
7. Shahar Peer (32, ISR),
8. Melinda Czink (39, HUN)
9. Agnes szavay (42, HUN)
10. Aravane Rezai (44, FRA)
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11. Magdalena Rybarikova (46, SVK)
12. Vera Dushevina (49, RUS)

Two players who have won at least one international tournament and ranked immediately below Rezai will be the alternates in CBTC and will automatically replace any of the above ten if the player is injured or ill. Let's see who will be nominated for wild cards at this event. I am hoping that Sabine Lisicki will be given one.

Should the tournament or WTA does not nominate any wild card players, Rybarikova and Dushevina will fill in the last two places and the players below them, Andrea Petkovic (54, GER) and Timea Bacsinszky (55, SUI) will be the alternates.

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The Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions (“CBTC”) will be held in Nusa Dua, Bali, from November 4 to 8, 2009 at the Bali International Convention Centre adjacent to The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali. CBTC will present 10 top tennis players who have won at least one International Tournament of Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in 2009 and 2 wild cards. The winner of this event will receive USD 600.000 prize money.

Among the winners of 2009 International Tournaments, 10 highest ranked players who are not participating in the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha this week are qualified for CBTC. They will be joined by 2 wild cards to be nominated by the tournament owner or WTA. The 12 participants will be divided into four groups of three players to compete in round-robin singles format. The winners of the groups will play in single elimination semifinals for the places in the final.

Official Website of the tournament: http://www.commbanktennis.com/

The Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions

The biggest bonus in the history of any sports in Indonesia will be provided at the 2009 season-end tournament, The Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions (“CBTC”) to be held in Nusa Dua, Bali, from November 4 to 8, 2009 at the Bali International Convention Centre adjacent to The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali. CBTC will present 10 top tennis players who have won at least one International Tournament of Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in 2009 and 2 wild cards. The winner of this event will receive USD 600.000 prize money. A bonus of USD 1 million will be added if the winner has won three of the total 30 International Tournaments in 2009.

Among the winners of 2009 International Tournaments, 10 highest ranked players who are not participating in the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha are qualified for CBTC. They will be joined by 2 wild cards to be nominated by the tournament owner or WTA.
The 12 participants will be divided into four groups of three players to compete in round-robin singles format. The winners of the groups will play in single elimination semifinals for the places in the final.


Qualified Players

The following players are likely to be the participants of CBTC.
Jelena Jankovic (9, SRB) or Vera Zvonareva (7, RUS)
Marion Bartoli (11, FRA)
Samantha Stosur (13, AUS)
Yanina Wickmayer (20, BEL)
Anabel Medina Garrigues (26, ESP)
María José Martínez Sánchez (34, ESP)
Shahar Peer (38, ISR),
Melinda Czink (40, HUN)
Aravane Rezai (43, FRA)
Magdalena Rybarikova (45, SVK)
Agnes szavay (46, HUN).

Actually five of the Top 10 women players are qualified to play in Bali, but they are scheduled to play in Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar, next week. Dinara Safina (2, RUS), Venus Williams (4, USA), Elena Dementieva (5, RUS), Caroline Wozniacki (6, DEN), and Victoria Azarenka (8, BLR) have won at least one International Tournament this year, but they are likely to play in Doha for a bigger prize money and an unofficial best of the bests title.

Officially WTA have announced Wickmayer and Medina Garrigues for the tickets to Bali. The upset of Bartoli in Osaka and Stosur win in Linz last week have given them two tickets to Bali as they are ranked above Wickmayer and Medina Garrigues. It means that there are six tickets available for the other winners of 2009 International Series tournaments.

Flavia Pennetta (12, ITA), who have won the Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo would not be playing in Bali as Italy will play USA in Fed Cup final in Italy. Any of Jankovic and Zvonareva who are now competing for the last ticket to Doha would not be in Bali.


Last Chance for Other Players

There are five women who have not won an International Tournament that have the last chance to join ‘The 10 Champions’ in Bali. They are Kim Clijsters (18, BEL), Daniela Hantuchova (23, SVK), Sabine Lisicki (28, GER), Alona Bondarenko (29, UKR), Carla Suarez Navarro (32, ESP), and Patty Schnyder (47, SUI) who are now competing at the BGL Luxembourg Open. Clijsters, the winner of 2009 US Open and former world number one player, has a big chance to win in Luxembourg and grab the last ticket to Bali.


Bonus

There are four winners who have won two International Tournaments this year, namely Victoria Azarenka, Yanina Wickmayer, María José Martínez Sánchez, and Shahar Peer. Two of them, Wickmayer and Peer, keep their chances for taking home one million dollar bonus by cruising through the BGL Luxembourg Open. They need to win in Luxembourg and Bali. Not an easy task though.