[Wert.]

GL Valentini

[hellas719]

Lost FQR of 10K Netherlands to Y.Morderger (GER, juniors #336). Lost QR2 of another 10K Netherlands to Tigu (NED, WTA #1064)

Hopefully she plays the ITFs in Greece this Fall. I think she can do well there and get a WTA ranking hopefully by the end of the year

[hellas719]

Since then, Valentini has played a 10K in Belgium where she qualified with ease. In the first round, she played (2) Patrycja Sanduska (POL, #381). Valentini put up an excellent fight, but unfortunately lost 4-6 4-6. Still, a very encouraging scoreline. The fact that she played a competitive match against a top 400 player and she is still just 15 is amazing. In that same tournament, she rached the doubles final (!!!) with German Lena Lutzeier

A photo from the doubles final:


Unfortunately, things since then haven't been that great for Valentini. She played the 10K in Kalamata, Greece and qualified easily but then surprisingly lost 3-6 3-6 in the opening round of the main draw to Afroditi Latinopoulou (GRE, NR). I like Afroditi and she is a solid player but Valentini really should've won that match. Then, Valentini got a WC for the 10K in Mytilini but lost R1 to Kathinka Von Diechmann (LIE, NR, 17 yo) 4-6 0-6. Von Diechmann is a young player who reached the final in Kalamata so it isn't a bad loss at all, even though she is unranked at the moment. However, the scoreline isn't very promising and then she lost R1 doubles with countrywoman Angeliki Kairi 0-6 1-6 to Stemmer GER/Von Diechmann LIE . I didn't expect them to win, but the scoreline is horrendous. Then she played a 10K in Heraklion and got a wildcard but lost R1 6-3 5-7 1-6 to Natalia Siedliska (POL, #884, 16 yo) and withdrew from doubles. I don't know what to say but that scoreline looks like a choke . I expected Valentini to get a WTA ranking after these 6 Greek tournaments but now after the first 3 she has lost some matches she should've won...

[hellas719]

10K Heraklion as WC:
R1 d. (4) Maria Sakkari (GRE, #627, 17 yo) 6-1 6-4
R2 l. to Radina Dimitrova (BUL, #1042, 15 yo, eventual semifinalist) 6-3 5-7 5-7
I wonder how many MPs were wasted in both sets
Doubles QF with Curovic

10K Heraklion:
QR1 vs. BYE
QR2 d. (7) Karin Kennel (SUI, #1012, 17 yo) 6-1 6-1
QR3 d. Natsuri Chimura (JPN, 17 yo) 7-6 6-2
R1 l. to Hofmann (GER, #718) 5-7 4-6

Some good results, but inconsistent

[hellas719]

10K Heraklion VII:
R1 d. Gjorcheska (#670, FYROM) 6-2 6-2
R2 d. Malova (#739, Slovakia) 6-1 6-3
QF l. to Kocher (#1016, Switzerland) 1-6 3-6
Great tournament. Shame it had to end in the QF in a match where she was expected to win after her incredible first two rounds, but Kocher eventually reached the final.

Doubles R1 with Sagitova (KAZ) l. to Christopoulou GRE/Stefanou GRE 3-6 3-6

[Kutuzova]

Two Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJxbgwC9DGM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRvrEnXuECE

[hellas719]

^Thanks. Too bad they are very brief. The only other videos we have of her are from U14s years ago


10K Antalya:
QR1 d. Udzina RUS (NR) 6-2 6-1
QR2 d. (10) Kitagawa JPN (#1105, 19 yo) 6-3 4-2 ret.
QR3 d. (7) Bara ROU (#922, 17 yo) 6-1 6-3
R1 l. to (Q) Frech POL (NR, 14 yo) 5-7 1-6

Really an amazing win over Bara, but disappointing that she couldn't get past Frech in R1. She breezed through qualies but then she folded when there were ranking points on the line

10K Antalya:
QR1 BYE
QR2 d. Chernetsova BLR (NR) 4-6 6-1 6-4
QR3 d. Bolsova MDA (NR, junior #109, 15 yo) 6-3 6-1
R1 d. Moura POR (#873, 19 yo) 6-4 6-2
R2 l. to (3) Shinikova BUL (#375, 21 yo, eventual finalist) 6-7 3-6
And reached doubles QF with Potocnik (SLO)! Great week! Secured a WTA ranking in singles AND doubles and will now have a lot less pressure on her. Also now it will be much easier for her to enter pro tournaments!

Very encouraging that she is posting great results, and a very respectable scoreline against Shinikova

She will start her 2013 season playing some junior tournaments, can't wait!
First one is a G1 in the Czech Republic during the first week of the AO
Strangely, she didn't enter the AO even though she would've been in qualies

[hellas719]

And there are 2 more videos in addition to the brief ones posted by
Kutuzova




Here she is training in Kilkis. Not sure where she is training in the other video. I'm really curious about her origins. Her last name sounds like she is from Peloponnese and she used to live on Zakynthos so it all made sense since Zakynthos is near there. But now it seems that she lives in Kilkis so I have no idea how she ended up there. She also trains frequently at an academy in Florida where most people who train and work are from the former USSR, and her coach is speaking to her in Russian in the video, so she must have some Russian roots. I've also heard that she speaks both Greek and Russian, and Russian isn't widely spoken in Greece so it's not like she learned it from school or anything since they learn English and German/French usually. Also Valentini is not very common, she probably had a Russian name like Valentina and Valentini is the Greek version of it. And I have no idea how she ended up in Kilkis of all places, since it's a pretty small city and they aren't really known for their tennis and the club where she plays isn't that nice

And some pics from Heraklion:




Valentini-Stefanou-Vogasari-Lalaouni(?)-Christopoulou:

[hellas719]

[hellas719]

G2 Slovakia:
QR1: Vendula Zovincova CZE (ITF #190) d. (4) Valentini Grammatikopoulou GRE 6-3 6-2

G1 Czech Republic:
R1: Valentini Grammatikopoulou GRE d. (Q) Dzina Milovanovic SRB (ITF #212) 6-2 3-6 6-0
R2: (6) Alina Silich RUS (ITF #38) d. Valentini Grammatikopoulou GRE 7-5 6-4
Silich ended up winning the tournament, so not a bad loss
Also she played doubles and lost R2 in a match tiebreaker to Kasatkina/Rychagova, the eventual finalists

10K Kaarst, GER:
QR1: (5) Ekaterina Alexandrova RUS (#787) d. Valentini Grammatikopoulou GRE 7-5 6-1
Of course Alexandrova ended up qualifying and being runner-up of the main draw . Valentini always gets tough draws

G2 Lithuania:
R1: Valentini Grammatikopoulou GRE d. Madara Straume LAT (ITF #385) 6-2 6-4
R2: (2) Veronika Kudermatova RUS (ITF #30) d. Valentini Grammatikopoulou GRE 7-6 6-1
Of course Kudermatova ended up reaching the final . It sucks that she gets no luck with her draws, but at least she seems to be doing well. She reached the doubles final here

G1 Croatia:
R1: (9) Deborah Chiesa ITA (ITF #87) d. Valentini Grammatikopoulou GRE 6-4 6-3
She just can't ever get a kind draw . In doubles she lost in a mat h tiebreaker in the second round

Her juniors ranking is now down at 239, and she was at a career-high of 190 a month ago. We'll see if she'll continue to play juniors, because she isn't living up to her juniors potential so far...
Also her new career-high on the WTA Tour is 1058









With Sagitova:

[hellas719]

She got a MDWC for the 10K in Heraklion next week!

With Papazoglou in 2010:

[Danii's Law]

SO Valentini won two 10ks in a row and now has a WC in the qualies of WTA Brussels. GO Valentini!!!!!