On Tap: WTA Action Heats up in Estoril and Budapest This Week

By Chris Oddo

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

(April 29, 2012)—Fresh on the heels of a blockbuster weekend in Stuttgart, the WTA will splinter off into smaller events this week: The Estoril Open, one of three joint European clay-court events featured on tour, and the Budapest Grand Prix, Hungaria’s home tournament since 1996, will take center stage.

Here’s a quick preview of each:

Estoril Open
Red Clay/ Draw
WTA International
Winners Purse: $37,000 plus 280 points

Women first played the Estoril Open in 1998, and while the men’s draw has been contested by such stalwarts as Roger Federer, Thomas Muster and Juan Martin Del Potro, the women’s event is a bit more low-key.

At No. 18, Italian Roberta Vinci is the highest-ranked player in the draw, but take into account the fact that all eight seeds in the draw are ranked in the top 40 and the Estoril line-up looks pretty deep despite its lack of a top 15 player. Competition should be stiff throughout the week with the likes of defending champion Anabel Medina Garrigues, 2008 Champion Maria Kirilenko, 2006 champion Zheng Jie, Kaia Kanepi and Nadia Petrova lurking in the draw.

And that’s not all: among the unseeded are the up-and-coming Sorana Cirstea, Vania King, Galina Voskoboeva and Ekaterina Makarova.

Picking the winner of this event might prove to be as difficult as picking the next place that Caroline Wozniacki will be caught necking with Rory McIlroy by paparazzi.

Still, I’ll try:

Pick – Kanepi

Budapest Grand Prix
Red Clay/ Draw
WTA International
Winner’s Purse: $37,000 plus 280 points

Sara Errani—the tiny yet explosive Italian who plays a devastating heavy topspin game—has already doubled her career singles title cache in 2012, so why shouldn’t she go for more?

Errani probably asked herself that same question before committing to the event. She’s a two-time quarterfinalist at Budapest (2006, 2011) but this time she’ll enter as the top seed. She was seeded third when she tore through Acapulco in February, seeded seventh when she won Barcelona just a few weeks ago, but this week could be a vastly different experience for Errani, who is now just seven spots away from her first taste of the top 20.

The rest of the Budapest draw isn’t as meaty as the Estoril Open’s—there are only five top 50 names in it—but there are some exciting possibilities nonetheless.

Former world No. 11 Shahar Peer (7) is in danger of finishing a season outside of the top 50 for the first time since 2004. Yet, she’s an intriguing player who would love nothing more than to celebrate her 25th birthday (May 1st) with a few big wins; Timea Babos and Su-Wei Hsieh have each won their first titles in 2012; Ksenia Pervak (2) and Marina Erakovic (5) are just a few places shy of career-high rankings.

When you give consideration to Errani’s excellent clay-court form this year, she’s the hands-down favorite to be sure, but if she doesn’t perform to expectations the Budapest Grand Prix draw might quickly dissolve into chaos.

Pick: Errani