King-Shvedova end year with loss in elite tournament

   It's tough to call a year in which doubles partners Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova reached the U.S. Open final and the season-culminating WTA Championships disappointing.
   But they set a very high standard.
   The third-seeded team of King, a member of the Sacramento Capitals living in Boynton Beach, Fla., and Shvedova, a Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, ended its 2011 season with a 6-3, 6-4 loss Saturday to top-seeded Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the semifinals (first round) of the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul.
   King and Shvedova, who became partners in June 2010, are still looking for their first victory in the WTA Championships, featuring the top eight singles players and four best doubles teams of the year in the point standings. They also lost in the semifinals last year.  
   For the second consecutive year, King and Shvedova won two titles. But they won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2010 and no Grand Slams this year. They almost repeated at the U.S. Open, falling to Americans Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in the final.
   Shvedova served for the U.S. Open crown at 5-4 in the second set. She also had the match on her racket at 5-4 in the second-set tiebreaker but double-faulted, and she and King lost the next point after Shvedova's 76-mph first serve.
  After the U.S. Open, King and Shvedova reached the semifinals in Tokyo and Beijing and the final in Osaka and won the title in Moscow before coming to Istanbul.
   When asked on Twitter to rate her 2011 season, King wrote, "not as good as last years, but hard to compare! But solid second half, esp from us open on."
   To read King and Shvedova's latest blog from Istanbul, go to wtatennis.com. 
   In the other semifinal, the second-seeded Huber and Raymond edged No. 4 seeds and defending champions Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Flavia Pennetta of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 tiebreak. Huber and Raymond trailed 3-6 in the match tiebreaker.
  Below are Saturday's singles and doubles results and Sunday's schedule. Tennis Channel will broadcast the doubles final at 5:30 a.m. PDT (live) and 2:30 p.m. (taped) and the singles final between third-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus at 5 p.m. (taped).
   Bryans reach final --Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, former Stanford All-Americans living in Wesley Chapel, Fla., advanced to their 10th final of the year with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over fourth-seeded Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland in the $905,000 Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
   The Bryan twins are playing in Vienna for the first time since 2002. They will seek their seventh title of the year, but first since winning their second Wimbledon crown in July, when they face second-seeded Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada.
  Ilyushin eliminated -- Unseeded Artem Ilyushin, a Mississippi State senior from Granite Bay, lost to top-seeded Nicolas Devilder of France 6-4, 6-2 Friday in the quarterfinals of the $10,000 Players' Choice Open in Birmingham, Ala. 

TEB BNP PARIBAS WTA CHAMPIONSHIPS

In Istanbul

Singles semifinals

   Petra Kvitova (3), Czech Republic, def. Samantha Stosur (7), Australia, 5-7, 6-3, 63. Victoria Azarenka (4), Belarus, def. Vera Zvonareva (6), Russia, 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles semifinals 

   Kveta Peschke, Czech Republic, and Katarina Srebotnik (1), Slovenia, def. Vania King, Boynton Beach, Fla., and Yaroslava Shvedova (3), Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-4.
    Liezel Huber, Houston, and Lisa Raymond (2), Wayne, Pa., def. Gisela Dulko, Argentina (4), and Flavia Pennetta, Italy, 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 tiebreak.

Sunday's schedule

(Beginning at 5:30 a.m. PDT)

   Peschke and Srebotnik (1) vs. Huber and Raymond (2), Kvitova (3) vs. Azarenka (4) not before 7 a.m. PDT.

King, Shvedova to face Peschke, Srebotnik

   Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova figure to be the underdogs when they play Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik on Saturday in the semifinals (first round) of doubles at the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul.
  Peschke, a 36-year-old Czech, and Srebotnik, a 30-year-old Slovenian, have won a WTA-high six titles this year. Among them was Wimbledon for their first Grand Slam crown.
   Peschke and Srebotnik became the first team to qualify for the WTA Championships, featuring the top eight singles players and top four doubles teams in this year's standings. They also reached last year's final, losing to Gisela Duko of Argentina and Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
   King, a 22-year-old American who plays for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis, and Shvedova, a 24-year-old Moscow native who competes for Kazakhstan, have won two titles this year (Cincinnati in August and Moscow last week). They also lost a heartbreaker in the U.S. Open final as the defending champions.
   King and Shvedova are 2-1 lifetime against Peschke and Srebotnik but lost the most recent meeting 6-4, 6-4 indoors in the Beijing semifinals three weeks ago. The WTA Championships also are indoors.
   "We've played them a few times and had a good match against them in Beijing so we can't wait to play!" Shvedova blogged at wtatennis.com.
   In the other semifinal, Australian Open champions Dulko and Pennetta will face U.S. Open winners Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond.
   Below are this week's singles results and Friday's schedule (live on Tennis Channel at 7 a.m. PDT and taped at 4 p.m.).
   Bryans survive -- No. 1 seeds and former Stanford All-Americans Bob and Mike Bryan saved one match point in a 6-7 (9), 7-6 (4), 11-9 tiebreak victory over Christopher Kas of Germany and Alexander Peya of Austria in the first round of doubles at the $905,000 Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
   The Bryans are playing in Vienna for the second time after a nine-year absence.
   Tursunov ousted -- Eighth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov, a Moscow native living in Folsom, lost to Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 6-4 in the second round of the $663,750 St. Petersburg (Russia) Open.
   Tursunov, a semifinalist in St. Petersburg last year, fell to 0-3 lifetime against Starace. The first two matches were on clay. St. Petersburg is played on an indoor hardcourt.
   Ilyushin advances -- Artem Ilyushin, a senior at Mississippi State from Granite Bay, beat wild card Austin Smith of Atlanta 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the $10,000 Players' Choice Open in Birmingham, Ala.
   Ilyushin will meet top-seeded Nicolas Devilder of France in Friday's quarterfinals.

TEB BNP PARIBAS WTA CHAMPIONSHIPS

In Istanbul

Tuesday's results

Round Robin -- Red Group

   (1) Caroline Wozniaki (DEN) d. (8) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. 

   (3) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. (6) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 6-2, 6-4.

Round Robin -- White Group

   (7) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (2) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 6-1, 7-5.

Wednesday's results

Round Robin -- Red Group

   (6) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. (1) Caroline Wozniaki (DEN) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Round Robin -- White Group

   (5) Li Na (CHN) d. (2) Maria Sharapova ((RUS) 7-6 (4), 6-4.

   (4) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (7) Samantha Stosur (AUS) 6-2, 6-2.

Thursday's results
Singles

Round Robin -- Red Group

(3) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. (1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 64 62 (Kvitova qualifies for semifinals).
(8) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (6) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 16 62 75 (saved three match points).

Round Robin - White Group

(4) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (5) Li Na (CHN) 62 62 (Azarenka qualifies for semifinals).

Friday's schedule
(Beginning at 7 a.m. PDT)

1. Li Na vs. Samantha Stosur.
2. Petra Kvitova vs. Agnieszka Radwanska.
3. Marion Bartoli (substitute for injured Maria Sharapova) vs. Victoria Azarenka.

King, Shvedova have extra incentive in elite tourney

   Of the four doubles teams in this week's TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul, only Vania King and Yaroslova Shvedova did not win a Grand Slam title this year.
   Not that they didn't come close.
   As the defending U.S. Open champions, King and Shvedova lost to Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in the final.
   Shvedova, a Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. She also had the match on her racket at 5-4 in the second-set tiebreaker but double-faulted, and she and King, a member of the Sacramento Capitals living in Boynton Beach, Fla., lost the next point after Shvedova's 76-mph first serve.
   The top eight singles players and top four doubles teams in this year's point standings qualified for the WTA Championships.
   The tournament is being held in Istanbul for the first time after three years in Doha, Qatar. What, the WTA couldn't find somewhere more remote for its marquee event? Was Ulan Bator, Mongolia, booked?
   Competing in singles, in order of seeding, are Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, Maria Sharapova of Russia, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, Li Na of China, Vera Zvonareva of Russia, Samantha Stosur of Australia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.
   Defending champion Kim Clijsters, plagued by injuries, finished 13th in the standings.
   The doubles field consists of, in order of seeding, Wimbledon champions Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia, Americans Huber and Raymond, King and Shvedova, and defending champions and Australian Open winners Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Flavia Pennetta of Italy and .
   French Open champions Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka finished 11th in the standings.
   Of course, the Venus and Serena Williams would demolish any of these teams, but they haven't been healthy at the same time since the Bill Clinton administration.
   Besides Dulko and Pennetta, Huber and Raymond are the only other former WTA Championships titlists in the field but with different partners. Raymond has won the crown three times, with Rennae Stubbs of Australia in 2001 and Stosur in 2005 and 2006. Huber has captured the title twice, with Cara Black of Zimbabwe in 2007 and 2008.
   King and Shvedova made their WTA Championships debut last year, losing to Dulko and Pennetta in the semifinals (first round).
   King and Shvedova are blogging from Istanbul. Here's the link: www.wtatennis.com/blog/20111024/vania-slavas-istanbul-blog-monday_2257191_2492902.
   Tursunov falls in doubles -- Dmitry Tursunov, a Moscow native living in Folsom, and Igor Kunitsyn of Russia lost to Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske of Germany 7-5, 6-4 Monday in the first round of doubles at the $663,750 St. Petersburg (Russia) Open.
   Tursunov, seeded eighth in singles, will face a qualifier in the first round.
   New rankings -- Following are this week's world rankings of professional players with Northern California ties (change from last week in parentheses):

Men

   Bob Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mike Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Scott Lipsky, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 27 in doubles (-1), unranked in singles.
   Mark Knowles, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2001-07, 2009-11) -- No. 42 in doubles (+2), unranked in singles.
   Dmitry Tursunov, Folsom resident -- No. 39 in singles (+1), No. 234 in doubles (-83).
   Sam Querrey, San Francisco native -- No. 116 in singles (-2), No. 31 in doubles (no change).
   David Martin, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 106 in doubles (+2), No. 663 in singles (+39).
   John Paul Fruttero, Cal All-American in 2001 and 2002 -- Career-high No. 133 in doubles (no change), 1,236 in singles (+10).
   Conor Niland, 2006 Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year and two-time All-American at Cal -- No. 193 in singles (+10), unranked in doubles. 
   Jimmy Wang, Folsom resident -- No. 281 in singles (+99), No. 551 in doubles (+2).
   Dusan Vemic, Capitals (2010-11) -- No. 501 in doubles (no change), No. 1,525 in singles (+9).
   Kiryl Harbatsiuk, three-time Big Sky Conference MVP (2009-11) at Sacramento State -- No. 763 in singles (+1), No. 1,253 in doubles (+6).

Women

   Vania King, Capitals (2010-11) -- No. 7 in doubles (+2), No. 77 in singles (+2).
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- No. 37 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove resident, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2011) -- No. 208 in doubles (career high, +4), No. 403 in singles (+3).
   Maria Sanchez, Modesto resident -- No. 377 in doubles (+1), No. 688 in singles (career high, +7).

King, Shvedova head to Istanbul on high note

   Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova know how to peak for big events.
   The second seeds, preparing for next week's TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul, rallied to beat fourth-seeded Anastasia Rodionova and Galina Voskoboeva 7-6 (3), 6-3 Saturday for the doubles title at the $721,000 Kremlin Cup in Moscow.
   King and Shvedova saved two set points at 5-6 in the first set and overcame a 3-1 deficit in the second set to win their second WTA doubles title of the year and fourth since becoming partners in June 2010.
  King and Shvedova captured their first two titles in Grand Slam tournaments: Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year. They also won the Cincinnati crown in their last tournament before this year's U.S. Open, in which they lost a three-set heartbreaker to Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in the final.
  "I guess Slava and I bloom late in the season," King, a member of the Sacramento Capitals living in Boynton Beach, Fla., said on the WTA's Web site. "It was a high level from all four players (Saturday). We played consistently and stepped it up on the big points. They played well. Maybe their level dropped in the second set, but overall I think we all played a really good match. I guess we were just a bit luckier on the big points.
   "We didn't know our schedule for the last few weeks, but I'm really glad we came to Moscow. We had a great week for practice and for matches, and it was a great experience to play here to get ready for Istanbul."
   All four doubles finalists except King were born in Russia but play for other countries. Shvedova and Voskoboeva hail from Moscow but compete for Kazakhstan. Rodionova, a native of Tambov (300 miles southeast of Moscow) and a former Capital, became an Australian citizen in 2009.
   Blake falls -- James Blake, the runner-up in the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger two weeks ago, lost to Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-2 in the semifinals of the $825,000 Stockholm Open.
   After losing his first six matches against Blake, Nieminen has won the last two, both in Stockholm. Blake, a 31-year-old Tampa, Fla., resident, was bidding for his third Stockholm crown after beating Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand in the 2005 final and Nieminen in the 2006 title match.
   Nieminen, a 30-year-old Finn, will face top-seeded Gael Monfils, a Frenchman who beat sixth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-3.
   Monfils and Raonic were scheduled to meet in the San Jose semifinals in February, but Monfils defaulted with a left wrist injury. Raonic, who will turn 21 in December, went on to beat defending champion Fernando Verdasco of Spain for his first ATP World Tour title.
   The unseeded Nieminen, who reached a career-high No. 13 in the world in 2006, seeks his first Stockholm title in his third appearance in the final. He fell to Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands 10 years ago in addition to Blake five years ago.
   Nieminen is 1-9 in ATP World Tour finals, having beaten Mario Ancic of Croatia for the 2006 Auckland title.
   Lu tops Wang for title -- Top-seeded Yen-Hsun Lu, the runner-up in the 2007 Sacramento Challenger, defeated unseeded Jimmy Wang, a Folsom resident, 7-5, 6-3 in an all-Taiwanese final at the $100,000 Samsung Securities Cup in Seoul, South Korea.
   Wang, a former top-100 player who trains with Dmitry Tursunov at the Gorin Tennis Academy in Granite Bay, returned to action last November after missing three years because of two operations on his right (playing) wrist. He reached the semifinals of the $15,000 Sacramento Futures in June.

King, Shvedova rally for wild victory; new rankings

   Playing their first doubles match since a heartbreaking loss in the U.S. Open final, Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova pulled out a wild victory in the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
   The third seeds edged Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan and Zheng Jie of China 2-6, 7-6 (4), 11-9 tiebreak Tuesday in the first round of the $2.05 million tournament.
   King and Shvedova trailed 5-0 in the first set, the WTA reported on its Web site. They were a game away from defeat at 5-4 in the second, but Shvedova held serve.
   King, a 22-year-old member of the Sacramento Capitals who grew up in Long Beach, and Shvedova, a 24-year-old Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, also trailed 4-2 in the second-set tiebreaker before winning five straight points for the set. They jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the match tiebreaker, but Hsieh and Zheng tied it 9-9 before King and Shvedova finally prevailed.
   King and Shvedova, last year's Wimbledon and U.S. Open champions in women's doubles, lost to Americans Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in this year's U.S. Open final. Shvedova served for the match at 5-4 in the second set and had the match on her racket serving at 5-4 in the second-set tiebreaker. Shvedova then double-faulted, and she and King lost the next point after Shvedova's 76-mph first serve.
    Zheng won the 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon women's doubles titles with Yan Zi.
    ATP World Tour in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- Fourth-seeded Scott Lipsky of Huntington Beach and Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., defeated Paul Capdeville of Chile and Ryan Sweeting of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of doubles at the $850,000 Malaysian Open. 
   Lipsky, a former Stanford All-American, and Ram, the singles runner-up in the 2006 Sacramento Challenger, will meet Matthew Ebden and Bernard Tomic in the quarterfinals. The Australian pair eliminated Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Dmitry Tursunov, a Russian living in Folsom, 6-3, 6-2.
   Men's Futures in Laguna Niguel -- Belarus' Kiryl Harbatsiuk, who graduated from Sacramento State last spring, ousted eighth-seeded Bassam Beidas, a former Pepperdine All-American from Lebanon, 6-3, 6-1 in the opening round of the $10,000 USTA Futures of Laguna Niguel.
   Beidas reached the junior doubles semifinals of the 2006 Australian Open with Sacramento's Matt Kecki, who helped USC win NCAA titles as a freshman in 2009 and in 2010 before quitting the team in a dispute with coach Peter Smith. The Trojans repeated this year, so Kecki would have had a chance to play on four NCAA championship teams. 
   In doubles Tuesday, Harbatsiuk and Boris Nicola Bakalov of Bulgaria lost to third-seeded Benjamin Rogers of the United States and John-Patrick Smith of Australia 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the first round.
   Women's Challenger in Las Vegas -- Maria Sanchez of Modesto and Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove surprised second-seeded Irena Pavlovic of France and Kathrin Woerle of Germany 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of doubles at the $50,000 Lexus of Las Vegas Open. 
   New rankings -- Following are this week's world rankings of players with Northern California ties (change in parentheses):

Men

   Bob Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mike Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Scott Lipsky, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- Career-high-tying No. 26 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mark Knowles, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2001-07, 2009-11) -- No. 40 in doubles (-1), unranked in singles.
   Dmitry Tursunov, Folsom resident -- No. 41 in singles (no change), No. 92 in doubles (+3).
   David Martin, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 90 in doubles (+2), No. 696 in singles (+5).
   John Paul Fruttero, Cal All-American in 2001 and 2002 -- Career-high No. 135 in doubles (+10), 1,254 in singles (-10).
   Conor Niland, 2006 Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year and two-time All-American at Cal -- No. 206 in singles (no change), unranked in doubles. 
   Jimmy Wang, Folsom resident -- No. 387 in singles (+4), No. 669 in doubles (+5).
   Dusan Vemic, Capitals (2010-11) -- No. 507 in doubles (+7), No. 1,523 in singles (-3).
   Kiryl Harbatsiuk, three-time Big Sky Conference MVP (2009-11) at Sacramento State -- No. 767 in singles (+4), No. 1,233 in doubles (-6).

Women

   Vania King, Capitals (2010-11) -- No. 9 in doubles (no change), No. 90 in singles (+8).
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- No. 45 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove resident, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2011) -- No. 228 in doubles (+2), No. 382 in singles (-3).
   Maria Sanchez, Modesto resident -- No. 354 in doubles (+69), No. 911 in singles (+196).