Brisbane, Shenzhen, Auckland: Playing down to your opponent's level

Shenzhen:

YI-MIAO ZHOU (CHN) D KAI-CHEN CHANG (TPE) | 4 - 6 | 6 - 2 | 7 - 6 (3) |
[2] MARION BARTOLI (FRA) D STEFANIE VOEGELE (SUI) | 7 - 5 | 6 - 4 |
[1] NA LI (CHN) D JULIA COHEN (USA) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 4 |

Brisbane:

SLOANE STEPHENS (USA) D SOFIA ARVIDSSON (SWE) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 4 |
[4] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER) D MONICA PUIG (PUR) | 3 - 6 | 6 - 4 | 7 - 6 (7) |
LESIA TSURENKO (UKR) D JARMILA GAJDOSOVA (AUS) | 1 - 6 | 6 - 1 | 6 - 4 |
[1] VICTORIA AZARENKA (BLR) D SABINE LISICKI (GER) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 3 |

Auckland:

JAMIE HAMPTON (USA) D MARINA ERAKOVIC (NZL) | 6 - 1 | 7 - 6 (5) |
KIKI BERTENS (NED) D HEATHER WATSON (GBR) | 6 - 4 | 3 - 6 | 6 - 3 |
KIRSTEN FLIPKENS (BEL) D PAULINE PARMENTIER (FRA) | 6 - 2 | 6 - 2 |
[3] YANINA WICKMAYER (BEL) D ROMINA OPRANDI (SUI) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 0 |
[8] MONA BARTHEL (GER) D ELENI DANIILIDOU (GRE) | 7 - 6 (6) | 6 - 2 |
JOHANNA LARSSON (SWE) D [2] JULIA GOERGES (GER) | 7 - 5 | 6 (1) - 7 | 6 - 3 |
ELENA VESNINA (RUS) D [6] YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA (KAZ) | 6 - 2 | 6 - 3 |
[1] AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA (POL) D SIMONA HALEP (ROU) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 1 |

Upsets:

JOHANNA LARSSON (SWE) D [2] JULIA GOERGES (GER) | 7 - 5 | 6 (1) - 7 | 6 - 3 | 

For some reason, Julia Goerges always tend to flop against lower ranked players. When she is playing someone from the top, she raises her game magnificently. Maybe she's just not too motivated against these scrubs? Larsson, while not a thoroughly bad player, has some glaring weaknesses in her game but Julia was too brainless to exploit it. As usual, she murdered herself with her loose errors. Advice to Julia: join the premier events next time. Maybe you will fare better.

ELENA VESNINA (RUS) D [6] YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA (KAZ) | 6 - 2 | 6 - 3 | 

For some reason, Shvedova wasn't able to maintain her red hot form from last year between Roland Garros to Wimbledon. her results outside these 2 events are abysmal. So it's not really surprising that she lost to Vesnina, a handy player who was hit with the best players on her day. Maybe what Yaroslava needs is a major event where she will bring her best tennis, just like Goerges.

Not an upset but:

[4] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER) D MONICA PUIG (PUR) | 3 - 6 | 6 - 4 | 7 - 6 (7) | 

I saw Monica Puig a few years ago, playing in the Youth Olympics, and I could see that this girl has the potential to make it big. Steady hitting with no huge weakness, she only needed to improve on her mental strength. Today, she showed that she has the game to hang with the best players in the world, just lacking in the mentality again. But I am sure Monica will mature with time and get match tough in the future. Kerber's form so far has been really suspect, losing sets to players who are well below the top 50. However, with the depleted field, she is still a favourite for at least the semi-finals. Maybe she just needs a few matches to get back into competition mode.