Tennis News

MELBOURNE, Australia – Zhang Shuai battled past 2015 Australian Open semifinalist Madison Keys to become the fourth Chinese player ever to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament.

Zhang, who nearly went out in qualifying – her opponent in the last round of qualies, Virginie Razzano, served for the match in the third set – had taken out No.2 seed Simona Halep en route to her first second week at a major, and she continued that giant-killing form Monday night with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over the No.15-seeded Keys, who looked increasingly hampered by injury during the match.

“It’s so tough to play against someone injured,” Zhang said. “Maybe two points you’re feeling like you cannot play, and then the next three balls, pong, pong, pong, you make two aces, one winner. You don’t know what’s going to happen. And also last year this happened many times, and I’d almost win the match, but then I’d lose. But this time I really tried to concentrate, and I’m happy I won.”

Coming in, Zhang was 0-14 in Grand Slams and had lost 20 straight sets at majors, too – she was considering retirement. She’s not thinking of hanging her racquets up now, but she will need a break.

“Right now, after this tournament, I need a long break,” the Tianjin native commented.

“I’ve already played seven matches. Before today I was thinking, ‘Okay, today is the final.’ When somebody wins six matches at a Grand Slam, it’s already the final, right? And at night, it felt like it.

“But I’d already said this year I’ll play less tournaments. I don’t want to play too much. I want some more time for my life. I can have a holiday, rest, stay with my parents – and practice more too.”

Zhang is the fourth Chinese player ever to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal, after Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai – Li was the most successful of the group, picking up two career Grand Slam titles.

Zhang is also guaranteed of becoming the new Chinese No.1 after this tournament. The World No.133 is currently China’s No.4 after No.83 Zheng Saisai, No.102 Wang Qiang and No.117 Duan Ying-Ying.

Next up for Zhang is Johanna Konta, who will also be playing her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Konta and Zhang are tied in their head-to-head, 1-1, though they haven’t played since 2013.

#AusOpen Quarterfinals set! ?

Serena vs Sharapova 
Radwanska vs Suarez Navarro
Kerber vs Azarenka 
Konta vs Zhang pic.twitter.com/JjHiNglbTd

— WTA (@WTA) January 25, 2016

CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Olympics have come to a close and the Emirates Airlines US Open Series resumes as the tour heads into the final Grand Slam tournament of 2016; who will strike gold at the Western & Southern Open?

1) The draw is out.
The main draw has shifted a bit as bronze medalist Petra Kvitova has pulled out; Elina Svitolina moves from World No.1 Serena Williams’ section to become the No.17 seed – check out the draw right here!

2) This is the last chance for most to find their game before the US Open.
For the majority of leading names, Cincinnati represents the final opportunity for match practice ahead of the US Open – the final major of the year begins on August 29.

3) Sixteen of the Top 20 players in the world are in Cincinnati.
It’s a Grand Slam-quality field led by all three major champions in 2016 – Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber, and Garbiñe Muguruza. Rogers Cup champion Simona Halep and BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion Agnieszka Radwanska are also in attendance.

4) Serena shoots for a third straight Cincinnati title.
Coming off a disappointing early loss at the Olympic tennis event, Serena will try to reverse her fortunes at a tournament she’s won the last two years; in 2015, she knocked out Simona Halep in two tight sets, and would like a third Cincinnati crown to cement her US Open preparation.

5) The World No.1 is in play.
Taking a late wildcard into the Western & Southern Open, Serena has control over the top spot; should she reach the quarterfinals, she guarantees to extend her 183 straight weeks atop the WTA Rankings through the US Open. Should she lose early and Kerber takes the title, it would be the Australian Open champion who would become the first German since Stefanie Graf to reach No.1. 

6) …and Kerber has a tough road to the final.
In the same half of the draw as Halep, Radwanska, and a red-hot Johanna Konta, Kerber could face Barbora Strycova – who knocked her out in Madrid – before the quarterfinals, and French Open semifinalist Kiki Bertens (who beat her in Paris) by the last eight.

7) Serena’s road is hardly simpler.
The 22-time Grand Slam champ could renew her rivalry with Christina McHale, who took her to three sets twice in 2016, and could face No.12 seed Timea Bacsinszky or No.7 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.

8) Belinda’s back!
Belinda Bencic was lighting up the WTA tour this time last year, but back and wrist injuries have beset her since making her Top 10 debut. Seeded No.13 in Cincinnait, she is projected to face No.8 seed Dominika Cibulkova by the third round.

9) The Santina Split is official.
With World Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza playing apart for the first time this season – Hingis with CoCo Vandeweghe and Mirza with Strycova – French Open champs Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic are top seeds in a stacked doubles draw – check it out here!

10) Find out where you can watch the action from Cincinnati here!

MELBOURNE, Australia – World No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska booked her spot in the Australian Open semifinals for the second time, winning over Carla Suárez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 in the first match of the day on Rod Laver Arena.

The match was billed as a meeting of two of the more cerebral players on tour – both rely on craftiness and shot variety to win in an era dominated by big hitters. The pair had faced each other before, with Radwanska winning three of the four encounters but Suárez Navarro – who was looking for a spot in her first Grand Slam semifinal – won their most recent match.

“We had really tough matches in the past,” Suárez Navarro stated in the previous round’s post-match press conference. “I know it will be tough for me. I know that because of her style, you have to run a lot, you have to think every point what to do.”

Suárez Navarro and Radwanska had fought through tough and emotional fourth round matches, where both had to come back from a set down to advance. But at the quarterfinal stage, their matchup was much more straight forward.

Radwanska took the lead from the start, breaking Suárez Navarro’s serve in the first game then winning the next five out of six to close out the set, 6-1. The Spaniard gave more of a pushback in the second set; she broke Radwanska’s serve twice and hung tight at 3-3. But from then it was all Radwanska, who won the next three games and the match at 6-3.

Suárez Navarro found herself unable to keep pace with Radwanska’s all court game – she hit 45 unforced errors while Radwanska, who is typically stingy with the errors, hit just 13.

The Polish No.4 seed has now won 22 of her last 23 matches and is through to the semifinals, where she’s set to face the winner of the blockbuster quarterfinal match between Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams. She trails both players in their head-to-head, 0-8 to Williams and 2-13 to Sharapova, so she’s approaching Thursday’s match by not letting the pressure weigh her down.

“Right now I don’t really have anything to lose,” Radwanska told Rennae Stubbs after the match. “It doesn’t matter who I’m going to play against.

“I’m going to have a good rest and hope I can play my best tennis. Otherwise I’m going to be in big trouble.”

What did the top seeds have to say on Day 1 of the Western & Southern Open? Check out some of their best quotes from the All-Access Hour from Cincinnati…

Svetlana Kuznetsova

On her pre-season goals and strategy:

Before the start of the year, I was thinking if I couldn’t do better, or at least how I think I should do, I don’t know what would come next. So I wanted to give this year everything I could. I didn’t have a fitness coach for preparation, but I did it myself and for the first time, I won a tournament in the first three weeks of the season in Sydney. I felt better mentally because maybe sometimes you start to figure out how your brain and mentality works. You find keys to yourself.

On forming the right team:

I don’t think I’m special, but it’s hard to find the right people to be your coach or physio because it’s like life; to find a boyfriend, you need time. You need to find someone you like, who you understand and understand you. A lot of times, a person comes onto your team and tries to change everything. But I’m 31, I’m not 16 anymore; everyone has to listen and adjust. Maybe our styles will clash, and so it’s very hard for me to say, I’m going to get a new person. With Carlos, it took us two-three years, but now we know each other. He knows how I am in the morning. I’m really happy with this new fitness coach I got a few weeks ago, but I want to be careful about forming the right team.

On growing up with professional athletes for parents:

It was very tough, but at the same time, I had an education most kids don’t. I’ve analyzed how a lot of kids grow up and I’ve asked why they’re not as professional or have the same desire or why we don’t have such great athletes coming up. It’s because when they grow up, they go to normal school and see normal kids living normal lives. Our lives are not normal, so these kids ask themselves at 13-14, ‘Why would I practice five hours when I can party and have fun?’ I grew up in my father’s club, and it was like a combination of college and the army where you stay there full time. You’re not allowed to go home or go out to the club. I was with guys who were training, and I enjoyed getting up at seven in the morning to run with them. It wasn’t hard because I got used to it and had no doubts.

Dominika Cibulkova

On taking time off to heal from injuries and post-wedding fatigue:

I needed a break from everything. I was a little bit injured during the Olympics, so I took some time off. But now I feel I’m ready to be back on the court again. At the Rogers Cup, it was a combination of a heel injury I had and just being really tired from everything, and I realized I needed some time off; I’d played too much. I took a whole week completely off; I had some holidays, and then I trained for a week and a half. Hopefully I can have a good result here, because I’ve only won one match here in the last six years.

On changing her scheduling strategy for the US summer hardcourts.

It’s not like I’ve been in America for a whole month already and have three more tournaments to play. I’m just focusing on Cincinnati and the US Open; it’s different when you’re able to go back home and come back feeling like, ‘I want to be here and play this tournament!’ I had a really good week of training and feeling better with my fitness; this year I played so many matches that I didn’t have time for fitness. For my game, that’s really important, so hopefully it’ll help me.

Roberta Vinci

On her goals for the season:

Last year I had an incredible year, but I’m not thinking about retirement right now. I just want to play through the end of the season, trying to play good. I have a lot of points to defend but I don’t want to think about that, just enjoy every day here and the next few tournaments. I started well at the beginning of the year, but this is a tough part of the season with the ranking and everything. But it’s normal. It’s tennis, you can win, or you can lose. I’ll try my best here, New Haven, New York, and China.

On the US Open:

I’m so happy to play again in New York. But it probably won’t be the same like last year, a lot of pressure, for sure. It’s a special tournament for me. I don’t know; we will see. It’ll be my first time in this situation. I know I have a lot of points to defend; it’s on my mind, that’s it. I’ll try not to think about it, but I know I’ll be nervous.

Garbiñe Muguruza

On the Olympics:

I have to say, I thought I was going to an incredible experience, but after I got there, it was like a regular tournament. But I had a lot of fun because it was still different than the WTA; I spent time in the Village with all the Spanish players. I was looking at all the athletes trying to guess what they did. I went to the Opening Ceremonies and I was doubting whether I should go because I had a match the next day. But I knew I’d regret not going. It was like a Carnival, so it was very fun.

On transitioning back to the WTA tour:

I was happy to live the experience in Rio, and I’m happy to be back. Coming here, I’m motivated to have a great tournament because I haven’t played a lot of matches. I’m looking forward to it.

On Monica Puig:

It’s an incredible achievement. When I played against her, I’d never seen her play at such a high level. When I ended the match, I thought it was tough for me, but she played very well and deserved to win the gold, the way she played.

Agnieszka Radwanska

On her flight to Cincinnati and the Olympics:

It couldn’t be worse than to Rio. I tried to book a private plane, but it was too tough to do that. I was talking to other players about a private jet. I should be gold for every airline after all the miles I flew!

On positives from the Olympics:

It was still exciting to see so many sports and athletes together at the same time, fighting for the gold. I was there for a pretty short time, but I got to see some of the Games.

On rebounding from recent results:

I had a better start to the year. First of all, I didn’t do as good as I wanted to on grass. Rio was not my thing. I just hope I can get back to my game here, next week, and the US Open. I want to do better and have more chances to make it to Singapore.

Simona Halep

On missing the Olympic tennis event:

I was very disappointed that I had to decide not to go there, but it was much better for my health. It’s not easy for me to travel a lot and eat in different places, but it was definitely a great Olympics in Romania because they made the men’s doubles final. I’m disappointed, but I’ll prepare myself for Tokyo! We can say Olympic tennis is not like gymnastics, but there you go to play for your country and winning a medal means a lot for any athlete. I played once already in London and I enjoyed the feeling of being there and the Opening Ceremonies.

On watching Olympic sports and Monica Puig’s Gold Medal run:

I watched everything. In gymnastics, Simone [Biles] is whoah, incredible. I also watched Phelps. I know everything now. I watched the tennis final and Monica Puig played so well; she was there to win. I saw what she was saying on Twitter – I’m more into Twitter lately – how she was very motivated and confident. It was only shocking because of the ranking, but she plays well.

On moving to a warmer training base:

Nothing is for sure, but I think I’m at a level where I have to change some things to be more professional. I have to go somewhere warmer that’s better for tennis. I think I’ll go in December because it’s cold in Romania, and I get cold all the time!

On how she feels she is perceived in Romania:

They don’t realize because they don’t see me. They don’t know how hard I work every day, or how I’m practicing and playing matches even when I don’t feel good. They just see the matches and think all I do is go shopping, which I do sometimes, but not that often!

On inspiring young children to play tennis:

I’ve heard many kids have gone into tennis because of me. I think this is a good thing in our country; it’s a small country. I think it’s better for kids because these days they’re always with the tablets and phones. I have kids in my family who are two years old who already have a phone. So I give them a racquet instead of a phone!