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Aces and Faults: Spectators Ejected from Antwerp Because of Betting

Published by Aaress Lawless on Feb 13, 2008 | Print |

Read the latest news about Ana Ivanovic’s early arrival in Qatar for next week’s Tier I tournament, the Proximus Diamond Games’ new diamond racquet, the spectators banned from Antwerp, and more in today’s edition of Aces and Faults.

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Comments (3)

Aces

Ana Ivanovic has arrived in Qatar for next week’s Qatar Total Open in Doha. (The Peninsula)

Flavia Pennetta is blogging this week from Viña del Mar. (Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

The new Proximus Diamond Games racquet contains 2008 diamonds. (Women’s Tennis Blog)

Net Cords

Casey Dellacqua is the only Australian female likely to secure an Olympic tennis singles berth, based on current rankings. (Herald Sun)

Faults

Three spectators were removed from the Proximus Diamond Games on Tuesday for illegal betting. (BBC Sport)

Top Results on Tuesday

Proximus Diamond Games Singles First Round
(Q) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) d. (6) Agnes Szavay (HUN) 6-2 6-3
(LL) Julie Ditty (USA) d. (8) Alona Bondarenko (UKR) 4-6 6-3 6-4

Cachantun Cup Singles First Round
(1) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Greta Arn (HUN) 6-2 6-2
(5) Martina Muller (GER) d. (WC) Karina Andrea Koch Benvenuto (CHI) 6-4 6-1
(6) Sara Errani (ITA) d. (Q) Olivia Sanchez (FRA) 1-6 6-2 6-1
(7) Kaia Kanepi (EST) d. Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) 6-3 6-4

Stars On Court Today

Proximus Diamond Games: Li vs. Cibulkova, Sugiyama vs. Schnyder, Hantuchova vs. Wickmayer, Black/Huber vs. Foretz/Sfar

Cachantun Cup: Zakopalova vs. Bychkova, Schruff vs. Muller

Alsacienne

Posted February 14, 2008 at 4:00 pm

Aaress, I wonder about the diamond raquet. Doesn’t the tournament disppear off the tour calendar next week? Considering that Amelie, Kim and Venus are not in Antwerp, how can anyone possibly win it? Why do they have a raquet then?
Aaress

Posted February 14, 2008 at 4:51 pm

Hi Alsacienne,

The tournament will indeed disappear after next week, but it will be back in 2009 as an invitation (exhibition) event.

The current Tier II tournament, which in February 2008 will be held at the Antwerp Sportpaleis for the seventh time, will continue on the same track in 2009: offering 5 players from the top 10, a gold and diamond racket, a unique atmosphere before, during and after the matches and so much more.

“Within the regulations of the WTA’s way of rescheduling things, one could only guarantee us one or two top 10 players and the Belgian audience is used to getting more than that”, according to Bob Verbeeck, general manager of Octagon cis and organising director of the Proximus Diamond Games. “The financial consequences of becoming an absolutely major tournament in the new calendar would simply be impossible for the Belgian market.”

“In order for us to be able to still be reeling in the best players, we will abandon our current setup and will become a tournament by invitation only from 2009 onwards. Every title holder of official 2008 WTA tournaments will be shortlisted for invitation. From that list we will select 12 to 16 players and organize a tournament of about four days. Practical details and timing will follow early 2008, but let’s concentrate on the 2008 first. That one will still run as we’ve run the previous ones”, according to Bob Verbeeck.

(source: Proximus Diamond Games)

Thanks for bringing this subject up! I’ll probably run a more detailed post about this after the tournament ends.
Alsacienne

Posted February 16, 2008 at 3:43 am

Thanks, Aaress!

Interesting approach to take for the tournament, and a dangerous one! What if more tournaments do it – 12 invitees and you promise them, say, 20000 in cash just to show up, and I am sure enough top 50 players sign up. Old favorites who are slipping in the ranking, new hotshots…

Add 4 local wildcards, and you have a very attractive tournament. Why deal with the WTA, pay them, have no control over what player you are getting, when you can take the Hongkong approach?

I can’t even blame the tournament.

Alsacienne