[Chrissie-fan]

Originally Posted by terjw

Since she always fulfills her committments - she's always got these bonuses when she's been in the top ten list at the end of the previous year. But I don't believe either that getting the bonus plays any part in why she meets her committments. She meets them because the rules say she has to. Most people in life when they obey rules - they obey them because they are rules. They are not supposed to be options like you can go ahead, get in a car and break the speed limit if you are prepared to pay the fine.

But there's an attitude - and we see it a lot in GM - of it's OK or even applauded to break the WTA rules and take the "option" of paying the fine and get a "zero" pointer. And even to get round the zero pointer by playing and tanking.

And Caro doesn't do any of that. She simply complies with the WTA rules - the organisation that has given her the chance to compete withe the bets women tennis players in the world. Which is one of many reasons I like her.

I'm ok with a player not competing and getting a zero pointer. But in that case she (or her fans or the pundits) shouldn't complain that the ranking list reflects that. For example, people argue that Serena is the best player out there (which obviously is true), but that there is something wrong with the system since she's "only" number three on the ranking list. But there's nothing wrong with the system. She didn't even have to play 18-22 tournaments like most other top players do to be number one by now. In all likelihood she just needed to play Indian Wells and Beijing, both mandatory tournaments that she skipped.

[Burisleif]

Originally Posted by Protoss

Well all the courts can't be slow as molasses.

Year end events should be smack in the middle so they don't favour specific player types.

[bruce goose]

Originally Posted by Protoss

I think Tokyo is the fastest tournament Caro's won followed by Tokyo.

Am guessing that you meant to type something else cuz you're saying that Tokyo was the 2nd-fastest court Caro played on...with Tokyo also being the fastest.That doesn't even make sense in the looniest,most open-ended doublespeak when humanists rationalize their dumbing down of mathematics...and ALL education,really

[Martn7]

What does Caro need to do in Sofia to get in the top 10? Does she need to win the title or reaching the final would be enough?

[Protoss]

Originally Posted by bruce goose

Am guessing that you meant to type something else cuz you're saying that Tokyo was the 2nd-fastest court Caro played on...with Tokyo also being the fastest.That doesn't even make sense in the looniest,most open-ended doublespeak when humanists rationalize their dumbing down of mathematics...and ALL education,really

Yah, I meant Beijing as the 2nd fastest tournament Caro's won as far as i know.

I wish all tournaments gave listed their court speed. It'd make it easier to compare.

[backhandsmash]

3 RR wins and making the final is enough. If she goes 2-1 in RR, she needs a final win.

[goldenlox]

If she can win this title, who knows about next year?
A good start to this week.

[Achernar]

I'm not very good with the whole Round Robin thing, but I guess that Caroline is now assured of reaching the SF with her win against Vinci? No one but her can win their 3 matches; Hantuchova, Su-Wei and Vinci can still win 2 matches, but Caroline already has a victory against the young Asian and Vinci, which place her on top of these 2 players (?).

[Blu€]

You are right, she's through to the SF. If I'm not wrong, the only way she doesn't finish first of her group is if she loses tomorrow and Daniela also beats Hsieh. In that case she'd be 2nd of her group. Vinci & Hsieh can still qualify if they win their matches but can not surpass Caroline since they both lost against Caro.

[C. W. Fields]

Caro about the possibility of becoming #10 again:
"It would be great, but to be honest it's not really the big goal for me here, I'm just very pleased about the way I'm playing. I'm really enjoying myself out there. I feel like I've found my game again and I'm playing the way I want to. And right now I'm just thinking of winning this tournament."

[Achernar]

Originally Posted by Blu€

You are right, she's through to the SF. If I'm not wrong, the only way she doesn't finish first of her group is if she loses tomorrow and Daniela also beats Hsieh. In that case she'd be 2nd of her group. Vinci & Hsieh can still qualify if they win their matches but can not surpass Caroline since they both lost against Caro.

Thanks for the update. I've just got confirmation of her SF on Sofia's official site

Originally Posted by C. W. Fields

Caro about the possibility of becoming #10 again:
"It would be great, but to be honest it's not really the big goal for me here, I'm just very pleased about the way I'm playing. I'm really enjoying myself out there. I feel like I've found my game again and I'm playing the way I want to. And right now I'm just thinking of winning this tournament."

Normally I don't believe much of the PR scripts she gives to the medias but, for once, it sounds genuine and I want to believe her.

"I'm really enjoying myself out there": that's the most important thing actually. I'm really glad about that

"I feel like I've found my game again and I'm playing the way I want to"

"And right now I'm just thinking of winning this tournament" Let's do it

[Jens K A]

Originally Posted by Achernar

I've just got confirmation of her SF on Sofia's official site

They do claim that in http://sofia-tennis.bg/en/news/Carol...mifinalist-165, but I think they are wrong. Wozniacki needs at least 6 games against Hantuchova to be certain of the semifinals, but she will probably advance even with 0 games.
Results so far:
Roberta Vinci - Daniela Hantuchova 6-1 6-2
Caroline Wozniacki - Hsieh Su-Wei 6-2 6-2
Caroline Wozniacki - Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-1

The rules are on page 178 (PDF page 181) of http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-A...Tour/rules.pdf
Suppose these unlikely results in the remaining group matches:

Caroline Wozniacki - Daniela Hantuchova 2-6, 3-6
Roberta Vinci - Hsieh Su-Wei 6-0, 6-0
Daniela Hantuchova - Hsieh Su-Wei 6-0, 6-0

This would give these standings:

Player         matches sets games
Roberta Vinci      2-1 4-2 28-15 
Daniela Hantuchova 2-1 4-2 27-17
Caroline Wozniacki 2-1 4-2 29-20
Hsieh Su-Wei       0-3 0-6  4-36

Wozniacki would come last of the top-3 due to lowest percentage of games won. In a three-way tie you don't necessarily get above a player you are tied with and beat. All three beat one of the two others in this scenario but somebody has to be third.

[Jens K A]

I have sent my analysis to the tournament with the contact form at the official site. I linked to the above post but I don't expect a response before Wozniacki has probably qualified for certain by taking at least 6 games against Hantuchova. Actually, based on previous experiences with mailing tournaments with wrong data on their websites, I don't expect any reply or action at all.

[bruce goose]

Originally Posted by Achernar

Normally I don't believe much of the PR scripts she gives to the medias but, for once, it sounds genuine and I want to believe her.

"I'm really enjoying myself out there": that's the most important thing actually. I'm really glad about that

"I feel like I've found my game again and I'm playing the way I want to"

"And right now I'm just thinking of winning this tournament" Let's do it

Yes,and I also believe her when she says that the #10 spot wouldn't be any awesome accomplishment.It'd be an okay,year-end treat for Caro,like getting an extra scoop of ice cream for free,but it's not gonna make or break her,confidence-wise

[C. W. Fields]

Originally Posted by Jens K A

I have sent my analysis to the tournament with the contact form at the official site. I linked to the above post but I don't expect a response before Wozniacki has probably qualified for certain by taking at least 6 games against Hantuchova. Actually, based on previous experiences with mailing tournaments with wrong data on their websites, I don't expect any reply or action at all.

They had a clock on the frontpage of the website which showed CET time instead of Sofia time. I send them a message about it, warning that people could miss watching matches because of it. They didn't reply but they removed the clock and put in ads instead.