Google Play App Download

Tennis News

From around the world

Konta Topples Zhang

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – Unseeded Johanna Konta became the first British woman to reach the Australian Open semifinals since 1977 when she outlasted relentless qualifier, Zhang Shuai, 6-4, 6-1.

“I was really just taking it one match at a time while I was here and, even more simply, a point at a time,” she told former British No.1 Sam Smith during her on-court interview.  

Not since Sue Barker made the final four nearly 40 years ago had a Brit gone this far in Melbourne, and Konta had to face a battle-tested opponent across the net; Zhang began her tournament with three wins in qualifying and a massive win over No.2 seed Simona Halep.

“She definitely didn’t make it easy for me today; every time I got a little bit ahead, she was constantly there.”

But Konta’s run had been equally impressive Down Under, defeating No.8 seed Venus Williams in the first round and surviving a thrilling three-setter with 2015 semifinalist Ekaterina Makarova in the round of 16. Showing few signs of fatigue, Konta raced out to a 5-2 lead, but needed six set points to put away Zhang, who nearly brought the match back on level terms in the tenth game.

“I really enjoyed playing in front of you guys,” she said, addressing the spectators on Rod Laver Arena. “This is why we play, to get the chance to play in front of such a wonderful crowd.

“I just wanted to make sure I came out and played the best level I could and, hopefully, gave everyone some good entertainment!”

With the first set in hand, the Brit never looked back, hitting 28 winners and drawing 20 unforced errors out the Chinesewoman to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal in 83 minutes – though not in ideal fashion for the competitive Konta.

“Unfortunately, I won it on a let cord; I’m not that proud of that. But I’m happy with how I was able to fight every single point.”

Asked about her family watching at home, Konta was tongue-in-cheek regarding the time difference – the match ended a little before 4AM in the UK.

“I’m pretty sure they have jet lag; they’ve been staying up at all ridiculous times of the morning. I’m sure they’re looking forward me to go home so they can sleep properly!”

Up next for Konta is No.7 seed Angelique Kerber, who provided an arguably even more shocking upset by taking out pre-tournament favorite Victoria Azarenka to reach her first Australian Open semifinal.

“It will be my first match against her. She’s Top 10 and an incredibly decorated, successful competitor and player. I’m really just going to go out there, bring to the court what I can, try my best, hopefully give the crowd a great match, and we’ll see how it goes.”

Source link

WTA Breakthrough Of The Month: Zhang

WTA Breakthrough Of The Month: Zhang

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Zhang Shuai

27-year-old Zhang Shuai had to win three matches just to qualify for the 2016 Australian Open. A player who had never won a Grand Slam main draw match in 14 previous attempts, Zhang drew the highest-ranked opponent possible in No.2 seed Simona Halep. What Zhang saw as an ending became a new beginning.

“The last few months my ranking was down to No.200, so it was very tough. I was feeling very sad every day. I almost retired.

“But so many people helped me: my coach, my parents, my team, also the national team. My sponsor, too, always tried to help me, and give me more motivation.”

Zhang blasted past Halep for one of the biggest wins of her career – after upsetting then World No.1 Dinara Safina at the China Open in 2009 – and won three more matches to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, losing a close match to Johanna Konta. 

“In my heart I’m feel like I already win the tournament because I won seven match. Yeah, it doesn’t matter if I won or lost today. I’ll just keep going.”

Final Results for January’s WTA Breakthrough Performance Of The Month

1. Zhang Shuai (44%)
2. Johanna Konta (31%)
3. Daria Gavrilova (17%)
4. Daria Kasatkina (6%)
5. Samantha Crawford (2%)

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com

Source link

News | WTA Tennis English

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

It’s time to vote for March’s WTA Player of the Month!

Have a look at the nominees and cast your vote before Thursday at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Friday, April 7.

March 2017 WTA Player Of The Month Finalists

Elena Vesnina: The 30-year-old Russian capped her career renaissance with a maiden Premier Mandatory title at the BNP Paribas Open. Vesnina bulldozed an impressive field that included soon-to-be World No.1 Angelique Kerber, former World No.1 Venus Williams, and an on-fire Kristina Mladenovic before dispatching countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova in what will go down as one of the best matches of the season. The win brought her up to a career-high ranking of No.13.

Johanna Konta: The British No.1 made a breakthrough of her own; reaching her second Premier Mandatory final out of the last three, she struck gold at the Miami Open, defeating Williams and former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets to take home her biggest title yet, moving up to a career-high of No.7.

Caroline Wozniacki: Speaking of Wozniacki, the Dane did herself proud during the Sunshine Swing, reaching the quarterfinals in Indian Wells, and rolling into her first final in Miami – her third of the season – to complete a box set of Premier Mandatory final appearances.

Karolina Pliskova: The Czech powerhouse continued her blistering start to 2017 by reaching back-to-back semifinals in Indian Wells and Miami, avenging her Australian Open loss to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the quarterfinals of the latter.

Venus Williams: The five-time Wimbledon winner backed up her run to the Melbourne final in style, losing only to the eventual champion in each of Indian Wells and Miami, knocking out World No.1 Kerber in Crandon Park.

POTM

2017 Winners

January: Serena Williams
February: Elina Svitolina

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com

Source link

Pliskova, Garcia Shine In Fed Cup

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

World Group I

Romania vs. Czech Republic (2-3)

Just as the Romanian team looked like it would pull off the biggest upset of its history, the defending Fed Cup champions came back from a 1-2 deficit to continue their historic run.

Karolina Pliskova rose to the occasion and contributed to all three points of the team’s win. She came out swinging and scored the first point against Simona Halep, who had postponed nose surgery to support Romania in the tie. Romania’s Halep and Monica Niculescu grabbed the next two points, each scoring a win over Petra Kvitova making it. Pliskova got the Czechs on even footing with a win against Niculescu, before the fight was clinched in the deciding doubles rubber.

Germany vs. Switzerland (2-3)

Belinda Bencic and Martina Hingis won the deciding point in the doubles rubber to beat Germany and send Switzerland into the Fed Cup semifinal for the first time in 18 years.

Playing as visitors in Leipzig Germany, Bencic held her nerve against two German heavyweights – No.23 Andrea Petkovic and Australian Open Champion Angelique Kerber – to win her two singles matches, putting Switzerland ahead 2-1 after Kerber defeated Timea Bacsinszky. Germany’s Annika Beck leveled the score at 2-2 with a victory over Bacsinszky, leaving the doubles match to decide the tie.

“It feels awesome next to Belinda to play with her now and [win] the deciding point,” Hingis told FedCup.com.

“It was tough at the beginning for me to be on the side bench for the first four matches, you are cheering them on and then you’ve got to go out. It took me a little while to get used to it but I feel I had great support from her.”

Switzerland will play the Czech Republic in the next round.

France vs. Italy (4-1)

Caroline Garcia dominated all her matches in singles and doubles, booking France’s spot in the final four for the second straight year.

Kristina Mladenovic put the home side in a tough spot, dropping the opening match against Italy’s Camila Giorgi, but Garcia leveled the tie with a win over Sara Errani. Mladenovic found redemption the next day by closing out Errani to put France ahead 2-1, before Garcia won the decisive point against Giorgi and sent France into the semifinals.

“I feel very happy, and it’s been a great week,” Garcia told FedCup.com after the victory. “It’s not every day you beat Italy 4-1. We are pretty proud.”

Russia vs. Netherlands (1-3)

Kiki Bertens pulled off two stunning upsets in Moscow to send last year’s finalists crashing out and put the Netherlands into their first Fed Cup semifinal since 1997.

She opened the tie with a straight sets win over Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, before her countrywoman Richel Hogenkamp emerged victorious in a four-hour marathon match against Svetlana Kuznetsova to put the Netherlands ahead 2-0. Kuznetsova came back the next day but fell short against Bertens, giving the Dutch team an unassailable 3-0 lead and the group’s first semifinal berth. Makarova and Daria Katatkina claimed Russia’s only point in the doubles rubber.

“This is unbelievable,” Bertens told FedCup.com after the tie. “I don’t think anyone expected that we could win this tie, perhaps we even didn’t. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”

Netherlands is set to play France in the semifinals.

World Group II

The victories were more one-sided in World Group II for the USA and Spain, who both advanced with shutout victories.

Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens rattled off three straight-sets singles wins for the United States to seal the tie and give their country a place in the World Group play-offs. Spain booked their spot in a similar manner, with Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro sweeping their opponents in straight sets for a 3-0 victory over Serbia.

Sam Stosur powered Australia to a close 3-2 victory over Slovakia, winning her two singles matches over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Jana Cepelova before teaming up with Casey Dellacqua to claim the decisive point in doubles.

Belarus came back from a 1-2 deficit to win over Canada, booking their spot in the World Group II play-offs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich contributed to all three of Belarus’ points, winning two singles matches and the doubles decider with Olga Govortsova.

Source link

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

CHARLESTON, SC, USA – Laura Siegemund outlasted an in-form Venus Williams, 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-5, to win her second three-setter in three days and sail into the third round of the Volvo Car Open.

“I have no idea!” she said during her on-court interview when asked how she pulled off the win over the 2004 champion. “It was a really good match; it was going up and down. I just tried to believe in my game, and if I was down, I told myself I was going to get more chances.”

Siegemund reached the quarterfinals last year in Charleston, kicking off an impressive clay court campaign that led her into the finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix at home in Stuttgart.

Against Venus, the German veteran was hardly overawed by the five-time Wimbledon winner, who was coming off strong results at the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open, where she reached the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.

Down match point in the second set, Venus fought back and broke Siegemund as she served for the match, eventually powering through the ensuing tiebreak to level the match.

“I had a hard time finding an aggressive game at the beginning of the third set, playing really short, and she plays really well when she can put pressure on you. It was an amazing performance from her as well,” said Siegemund.

Siegemund twice pulled back from a break in the third, and saved two match points of her own as Venus served for the match at 5-4, reeling off the final three games to reach the round of 16.

“I tried my best to think this could be the best match she’ll ever play in her life, honestly,” Venus said in her post-match press conference. “I basically won the match but still lost.

“I really played the best game I could. I pretty much hit winners, but she hit winners back on me, and I just didn’t have any answers for that. I don’t know much more that I could do. I mean, there were some errors I made in the beginning, but when push came to shove, I feel like I did the right things, but somehow inexplicably came up empty.”

In all, the two played phenomenal offense throughout, each hitting more winners than errors, with Siegemund leading Venus 52 to 45, and hitting 41 unforced errors to Venus’ 39.

“It gives me a lot of confidence, because I was pretty unlucky this year,” Siegemund said. “I’ve had a lot of these kinds of matches, but I was losing them, and you start to doubt.

“Now, I feel very confident on clay, and I think I showed I still have some good tennis in my hands.”

Up next for Siegemund will be the winner of the match between doubles partners Lucie Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

 

Source link