Qatar Tennis 2012: Azarenka beats Stosur for 3rd title in 2012

Victoria Azarenka won her first title as world #1 by beating an overwhelmed Sam Stosur 61 62 in the QATAR TOTAL OPEN 2012 championship match. Azarenka is now 6-0 against Stosur, and has now started the 2012 tennis season with a perfect 17-0 record. This is the best start to a season since 2008 when Maria Sharapova went 18-0. Azarenka won $385,000 as prize money for winning the title in Doha while Stosur will take home $192,000 as runner-up. Azarenka has been impressive this week winning all her 5 matches in straight sets on her way to her 11th career title. The doubles tournament was also won by the #1 seed when Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond paired to beat the unseeded American team of Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears, 63 61.

02/18 UPDATE: US Open champion Sam Stosur will be looking to spoil world #1 Victoria Azarenka's perfect 2012 season so far as the two most recent Grand Slam champions face each other in the finals of the Qatar Total Open 2012. This is Azarenka's third final of the year, in her third tournament, and is hoping to add Doha to her collection after winning in Sydney and in Melbourne. In contrast, Stosur won only one in four matches in January, but had been perfect in February so far - winning 2 Fed Cup matches and reaching her first final after the US Open. Azarenka leads their series 5-0 and all matches have been won in straight sets. They last met in the WTA CHAMPIONSHIPS in November with Azarenka posting a routine 62 62 victory.

QATAR TOTAL OPEN RESULTS, Saturday, February 18, 2012

Singles - Semifinals
(1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (4) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 62 64
(3) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (5) Marion Bartoli (FRA) 63 ret. (right calf injury)

Doubles - Semifinals
(1) Huber/Raymond (USA/USA) d. Barrois/Groenefeld (GER/GER) 62 63
Kops-Jones/Spears (USA/USA) d. (5) Llagostera Vives/Rodionova (ESP/AUS) 36 61 108

02/17 UPDATE: Four of the top five seeds advanced to the semifinals of the QATAR TOTAL OPEN 2012 after dispatching of unseeded opponents. World #1 Victoria Azarenka continues to display fine form in demolishing Yanina Wickmayer 60 64 for her third straight set win with the loss of a maximum of four games. She will face #4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska who also posted a straight set win over American Christina McHale. The other semifinal pits #3 seed Sam Stosur versus #5 seed Marion Bartoli. Both players needed three sets to dispose of their quarterfinal opponents. Stosur defeated Monica Niculescu while Bartoli dispatched Lucie Safarova.

QATAR TOTAL OPEN RESULTS, Friday, February 17, 2012

Singles - Quarterfinals
(1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 60 64
(3) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Monica Niculescu (ROU) 62 26 63
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Christina McHale (USA) 61 61
(5) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Lucie Safarova (CZE) 75 46 61

Doubles - Quarterfinals
(1) Huber/Raymond (USA/USA) d. (7) Goerges/Zheng (GER/CHN) 67(2) 76(3) 119
(5) Llagostera Vives/Rodionova (ESP/AUS) d. (4) Kirilenko/Lisicki (RUS/GER) 64 67(3) 107
Barrois/Groenefeld (GER/GER) d. Jans-Ignacik/Mladenovic (POL/FRA) 62 63

QATAR TOTAL OPEN RESULTS, Order of Play - Saturday, February 18, 2012

Center Court (from 16.00hrs)
1. Huber/Raymond vs. Barrois/Groenefeld
2. Samantha Stosur vs. Marion Bartoli (NB 18.00hrs)
3. Victoria Azarenka vs. Agnieszka Radwanska

Court 1 (from 16.00hrs)
1. Llagostera Vives/Rodionova vs. Kops-Jones/Spears

02/16 Update: World #1 Victoria Azarenka rolled on to the quarterfinals of the Qatar Total Open 2012 in Doha as the quarterfinal field is finalized. Advancing to face Azarenka is Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer. #4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska also advanced to the quarterfinals where she set-up a showdown with American teenager Christina Mchale. The young American scored back-to-back wins over #12 seed Shuai Peng and former top 15 player Shahar Peer. On the bottom half of the draw, #3 seed and US Open champion Sam Stosur advanced to face Monica Niculescu of Romania. The last quarterfinal would feature #5 seed Marion Bartoli against Czech Lucie Safarova.

QATAR TOTAL OPEN RESULTS, Thursday, February 16, 2012

Singles - Third Round
(1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Simona Halep (ROU) 63 61
(3) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Petra Cetkovska (CZE) 63 62
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (Q) Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 75 61
(5) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 63 63
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. (14) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 76(6) 63
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. Ksenia Pervak (KAZ) 64 60
Monica Niculescu (ROU) d. (Q) Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 76(5) 64
Christina McHale (USA) d. Shahar Peer (ISR) 46 63 64

Doubles - Quarterfinals
Kops-Jones/Spears (USA/USA) d. Dushevina/Peer (RUS/ISR) 60 76(5)

Doubles - Second Round
(1) Huber/Raymond (USA/USA) d. Chan/Fujiwara (TPE/JPN) 63 46 106
(5) Llagostera Vives/Rodionova (ESP/AUS) d. Medina Garrigues/Pavlyuchenkova (ESP/RUS) 46 64 119
(7) Goerges/Zheng (GER/CHN) d. Kudryavtseva/Zakopalova (RUS/CZE) 64 62
Jans-Ignacik/Mladenovic (POL/FRA) d. (8) Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE/CZE) 36 76(5) 107

02/15 Update: It was opposite fortunes for two players who have held the #1 ranking in the past month. Newly crowned WTA tour #1 Victoria Azarenka was ruthless in her 61 60 defeat of Germany's Mona Barthel, while the player she replaced as #1, Caroline Wozniacki went down in a 46 64 76(3) loss to Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova. Wozniacki held three match points at 5-4 in the final set but couldn't close out the match. The loss meant that Wozniacki would lose all her ranking points for last year where she finished as the runner-up in the Qatar Total Open. Defending champion and #6 seed Vera Zvonareva retired due to a left hip injury while she was trailing Romania's Monica Niculescu, 75 32. Former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and former world #1 Jelena Jankovic fell to Yanina Wickmayer and Shahar Peer, respectively. #3 seed and US Open champion Sam Stosur advanced with a straight set win, and so did #4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska and #5 seed Marion Bartoli. Azarenka will next face Simona Halep of Romania who eliminated #15 Daniela Hantuchova. Hantuchova won a tournament last week in Thailand.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - Qatar Tennis 2012 Results

Singles - Second Round
(1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Mona Barthel (GER) 61 60
(3) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 64 76(5)
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. (2) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 46 64 76(3)
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (Q) Anne Keothavong (GBR) 61 62
(5) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 62 60
Monica Niculescu (ROU) d. (6) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 75 32 ret. (left hip injury)
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. (7) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 76(4) 64
Shahar Peer (ISR) d. (8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 76(3) 62
Christina McHale (USA) d. (12) Peng Shuai (CHN) 57 63 62
Petra Cetkovska (CZE) d. (13) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 64 64
(14) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 64 64
(Q) Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d. (16) Julia Goerges (GER) 76(4) 76(5)
Ksenia Pervak (KAZ) d. (Q) Virginie Razzano (FRA) 64 60
Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) d. Angelique Kerber (GER) 64 61
Simona Halep (ROU) d. Iveta Benesova (CZE) 64 64
(Q) Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) d. Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 64 62

Doubles - Second Round
Dushevina/Peer (RUS/ISR) d. (2) Mirza/Vesnina (IND/RUS) 64 64
Barrois/Groenefeld (GER/GER) d. (3) Hantuchova/Radwanska (SVK/POL) 61 62
(4) Kirilenko/Lisicki (RUS/GER) d. Klepac/Rosolska (SLO/POL) 62 46 108
Kops-Jones/Spears (USA/USA) d. (6) Grandin/Uhlirova (RSA/CZE) 64 36 119

Qatar Tennis 2012, Qatar Total Open - Doha, Qatar - Tournament Preview

The Khalifa International Stadium in Doha is center to Qatar tennis events - it is now hosting a premier tennis tournament for the WTA Tour this February called the Qatar Total Open. In 2011, Vera Zvonareva beat Caroline Wozniacki in the 2011 final for her 11th career title. In 2012, the draw has attracted six of the top 10 tennis players, including world #1 and Australian Open 2012 champion Victoria Azarenka. The top 16 seeds include sixteen of the top 21 WTA players. The Qatar Total Open 2012 singles winner will take home the top prize of $385,000 and 900 ranking points. The losing finalist will take home $192,000 and 620 ranking points.

The 2012 Qatar Tennis Total Open 2012 is a WTA Premier 5 tennis tournament. It is played in a hard surface, and will take place from 13-19 February 2012. The total prize money for the whole event which includes singles and doubles tennis competition is $2,168,400. Four players to have been ranked #1 are amongst the 16 draws. They include #1 Victoria Azarenka, 2nd seed Caroline Wozniacki, 8th seed Jelena Jankovic, and 13th seed Ana Ivanovic. Current US Open champion Sam Stosur is 3rd seed while former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone is 7th seed.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of this Qatar tennis tournament. The tennis stars joining this year's tournament attended the player dinner at the Four Seasons and they were welcomed by Qatar Tennis Federation President, Nasser Bin Ghanim Al Khelaifi. Entertainment was provided by local musicians, a magician and juggler. Amongst those present during the player's dinner were Azarenka, Wozniacki, Sabine Lisicki, Sorana Cirstea and many others.

The history of the Qatar Tennis Total Open has been rich with numerous top tennis stars going to Qatar to play tennis. Past winners included Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova, Nadia Petrova and Justine Henin. Don't miss out on the live action. Go to the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex. For more information about the tournament and tickets, visit Qatar Tennis website.