The event in Tokyo is celebrating its 30th anniversary and the good news that the event will continue in 2014 despite earlier news that the event was disappearing in favour of an event in Wuhan. Wuhan will happen as a Premier 5 event and Tokyo will be demoted to a Premier 700. The second round of the last Premier 5 event of the year wrapped up and there have already been some sizeable upsets. The top 8 seeds received first round byes.
(Rank/Seed)
63/- V. Williams turned back the years against (2/1) Azarenka, beating her for a 3rd time in as many meetings 62 64. Azarenka was visibly ill from the outset; she was silent (yes, you heard right) and continually flapping her top as if she was overheating. She requested a fan to cool herself down and at times appeared dizzy and sick as she shook her head, arms and legs and stretched her jaw. It was rather uncomfortable viewing and later Azarenka admitted she only continued because of the fans. Sadly, it wasn't the match we were all expecting but Venus stayed very focused throughout despite Azarenka's distracting unease, winning 75% of her 1st serve points and breaking Azarenka 5 times. Azarenka was still hitting winners when she didn't have to move, so Venus hit into the spaces to expose Azarenka's lethargic movement. This was Venus's first top 2 win since Wimbledon 2009!
4/2 Former champion Radwanska looked a little fatigued from her title run last week in Seoul as she laboured past Wozniak 76(5) 60. With heavy strapping on her ever troublesome shoulder, Radwanska recovered from a break down, saving 4 set points at 4-5 and then from 1-4 down in the tiebreak to eventually prevail.
27/- Kuznetsova beat struggling (6/3) Errani 64 64 for a 6th win in 7 meetings with the Italian. Errani recovered from 0-3 to 3-3 in both sets but couldn't deal with the continuous big hitting from the Russian, who pushed Errani all over the court.
8/4 Wozniacki, the 2010 champion, handled a tricky test against US Open semi finalist Pennetta 62 63.
9/5 Kerber looked the best she's done all year, thrashing Spanish qualifier Torro Flor 60 61!
10/6 Jankovic was sharp in her 1st match as a top 10 player since the French Open 2011, beating Japan's Morita 64 61, despite her opponent's occasional shots of brilliance.
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