Brisbane, Shenzhen, Auckland: Hantuchova brain farts again

Brisbane:

[3] SERENA WILLIAMS (USA) D SLOANE STEPHENS (USA) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 3 | 

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA (RUS) D [4] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER) | 7 - 6 (3) | 7 - 6 (3) |
[1] VICTORIA AZARENKA (BLR) D KSENIA PERVAK (KAZ) | 6 - 1 | 6 - 0 |
LESIA TSURENKO (UKR) D DANIELA HANTUCHOVA (SVK) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 4 |

Shenzhen: 

[6] SHUAI PENG (CHN) D ANNIKA BECK (GER) | 2 - 6 | 7 - 5 | 6 - 2 |
MONICA NICULESCU (ROU) D YI-MIAO ZHOU (CHN) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 2 |
[1] NA LI (CHN) D [8] BOJANA JOVANOVSKI (SRB) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 3 |
[5] KLARA ZAKOPALOVA (CZE) D [2] MARION BARTOLI (FRA) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 2 |

Auckland:

JAMIE HAMPTON (USA) D KIKI BERTENS (NED) | 6 - 1 | 6 (5) - 7 | 6 - 2 |
[3] YANINA WICKMAYER (BEL) D KIRSTEN FLIPKENS (BEL) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 4 |
[1] AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA (POL) D ELENA VESNINA (RUS) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 3 |
[8] MONA BARTHEL (GER) D JOHANNA LARSSON (SWE) | 6 - 2 | 6 - 1 |

Upsets:

LESIA TSURENKO (UKR) D DANIELA HANTUCHOVA (SVK) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 4 |

If you count the number of times Daniela Hantuchova loses a match which she wasn't supposed to, you're going to need at least 4 to 5 people's fingers. After showing the form of her life in her earlier rounds, Daniela remembered that she doesn't deserve to be there and brain farted to the luckiest loser in the world. Tsurenko wasn't even supposed to play if not for Sharapova's withdrawal. She is making the most of her lucky loser place in the draw. As for Daniela, I guess she can win tournaments like Pattaya which no one really cares.

[5] KLARA ZAKOPALOVA (CZE) D [2] MARION BARTOLI (FRA) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 2 |

Wow. Zakopalova surprises Bartoli with a straightforward win. It seems that Klara is playing the best tennis of her career and she really has a good chance of reaching the finals here. Zakopalova's game looks effortless but deceptively powerful. When she is clicking in all her cylinders, she is a tough nut to crack. Marion was pretty upset with this loss but I'm sure she will bounce back in bigger tournaments.

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA (RUS) D [4] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER) | 7 - 6 (3) | 7 - 6 (3) | 

As expected, Pavlyuchenkova upsets the 5th seed to advance to the semi-finals. Kerber should have lost yesterday anyway, so this was not a surprise. Anastasia is continuing her punishing form this year and is definitely a favourite to advance to the finals. Kerber shouldn't be too dejected as she simply got outplayed by a player who was in the zone.