Best Moments Of WTA All Access – Part One
Best Moments Of WTA All Access – Part One
Svetlana Kuznetsova
2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.25
Year-End Ranking: No.9
Season Highlights: Sydney, Moscow Champion, Miami RU
Best Major Result: 4R (French Open, Wimbledon)
2017 Outlook
Kuznetsova played her best tennis at the beginning and end of 2016, kicking off what promised to be another rollercoaster season with a run to the Apia International Syndey final – defeating then-World No.2 Simona Halep en route.
The Russian continued her newfound consistency through the Miami Open, where she stunned World No.1 Serena Williams to reach her first final in Florida since 2006. Looking like an early favorite to play her first BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global since 2009, Kuznetsova’s Singapore hopes came down to the wire during the Asian Swing, where she played a thrilling match to defeat defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
Needing to win a second straight Kremlin Cup title to gaurantee the final WTA Finals berth, Kuznetsova defended a title for the first time in her storied career, and quickly became the story of the round robin stage, defeating Radwanska and Karolina Pliskova to finish first in her group.
“I play with my heart,” she said in Singapore. “I always did, but some things are just starting to work now. Maybe I’ve started to believe a little bit more than before. I’m just hanging in there more. I’m seeing other things more clearly, too; some things come together and you get confidence.
“I see opponents fear me more than before because I win matches, I fight, and I’ll be there. It doesn’t matter if I play like crap and I’m sore, I will just be there.”
Kuznetsova played her best tennis when forced to fight, winning a tour-leading 22 three-setters in 2016. She narrowly lost in the Singapore semfinals to eventual champion Dominika Cibulkova, but nonetheless finished at her highest year-end ranking in seven years, and will hope to use her renewed confidence to live an even greater “Life of a Hustler” in 2017.
BRISBANE, Australia – Victoria Azarenka continued her relentless march towards a second Brisbane International title with a quick-fire quarterfinal win over Roberta Vinci on Thursday night.
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Having dropped just seven games across the opening two rounds, Azarenka put No.8 seed Vinci to the sword in similarly ruthless fashion, running out a 6-1, 6-2 winner.
Azarenka set her stall out on the opening point, arrowing a backhand return into the corner. The break swiftly followed and while she was unable to hold onto this for long, she was soon ahead once more thanks to a fizzing double-handed winner.
Twenty minutes later she swatted another backhand away to take the set. In the second, it was the forehand that came to the fore, a brilliant stretching passing shot and a crisp down-the-line winner creating the vital breakthrough in the sixth game.
“I’m pretty pleased with tonight,” Azarenka said. “Thank you for the full crowd – you guys make me play much better, that’s for sure!
“I feel like I was really focused from the beginning and I knew she wasn’t going to give anything away so I had to take control and really dictate the play. I’m glad I stayed strong and focused in the difficult situations and really fought for every point.”
Meeting Azarenka in the last four will be the tournament’s surprise package, Samantha Crawford, who earlier in the day defeated Andrea Petkovic, 6-3, 6-0.
“Nobody gets into the semifinals without playing well so I’ll need to rise to this challenge – it’s a new experience – but I’m just happy to be back in the semifinals and doing something I love,” Azarenka, the 2009 champion, added when asked about meeting Crawford for the first time.
On the other side of the draw, No.4 seed Angelique Kerber continued to play herself into form ahead of the Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. While Carla Suárez Navarro came through a topsy-turvy encounter with Varvara Lepchenko, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Carla Suárez Navarro takes on Varvara Lepchenko in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International.
Samantha Crawford has Thursday’s shot of the day at the Brisbane International.
Simona Halep was able to win the longer rallies in her 7-6(2) 6-3 victory over Madison Keys to win the title at the Rogers Cup in Montréal.
SAP Tennis Analytics tracks how successful players are on varying rally lengths. During Sunday’s final, Halep won 62% of the rallies that were longer than six shots.
After a tight first set, Halep took control of the second by winning more of the medium-length rallies. After winning just 46% of the 3-6 shot rallies in the first set, Halep won 65% of those points in the second set.
Overall, Halep won 56% of the rallies that were greater than three shots throughout the match.
Rally length is included in the “Rally hit to” tracking on the SAP Coaches View. That particular data shows where each shot during a rally lands on the opponent’s side of the court. The display differentiates between forehands and backhands, and can be filtered by a particular score or to only show winners, unforced errors, service returns, the last shot of a rally or the third shot (first rally ball hit by the server).
For the Rogers Cup final, this data set also shows that Halep not only was winning the longer points, but she was also looking to keep the ball away from the Keys forehand. Halep directed 57% of her shots toward the Keys backhand, and for good reason. During the match, 13 of the 17 winners Keys hit came from her forehand.
The SAP Coaches View combines scoring information direct from the chair umpire with tracking data from HawkEye to allow for an in depth look at five different aspects of a match. Each tracking option can be filtered to narrow the focus to specific situations within a match, such as break points. This information is available directly to coaches in real-time during a match on their SAP tablet and also available to them online after matches.
On Sunday, Halep’s success on the longer points in the match allowed her to win her third trophy in 2016.
AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Caroline Wozniacki continued her confident start to the new season by breezing past Varvara Lepchenko and into the quarterfinals of the ASB Classic.
With the dust still settling from the exits of both Williams sisters from the tournament, No.3 seed Wozniacki made light work of the gusty conditions to wrap up a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
“It was a bit of a different match, a little bit tougher conditions today. But I was happy with the way I managed to keep cool and deal with her tricky lefty serves – I was pleased with it.”
Venus Williams’ withdrawal ahead of her second-round match resulted in Wozniacki taking court a little earlier than expected, but she took the change of schedule in her stride, finishing both sets strongly to wrap up victory after an hour and 18 minutes.
.@CaroWozniacki is serving for a place in the @ASB_Classic quarterfinals – and it's no surprise when she's playing like this! pic.twitter.com/WTHph6pF3v
— WTA (@WTA) January 4, 2017
“I was in my room and I got a text asking where I was, and I was like, what do you mean? Then I found out Venus was pulling out and I needed to play a little earlier and started to stress out because I wasn’t ready.”
The former World No.1 will now play Julia Goerges, against whom she has a mixed record, winning four of their eight encounters, including two years ago in Auckland. “She’s a tough opponent, a tough match-up for me,” Wozniacki added. “But I’m excited for it, it’s going to be a good challenge. I’ve played her here before and done well, so I’m hoping I can play another good match and win.”
Goerges booked her spot by prevailing over Naomi Broady, 7-5, 6-4, in the battle of the big servers. Also advancing were Barbora Strycova, who edged past Lucie Safarova, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(4), and Jelena Ostapenko, a 6-2, 7-6(3) winner over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Katerina Siniakova sprung the first major surprise of this year’s Shenzhen Open by knocking out former champion Simona Halep.
Svetlana Kuznetsova has Wednesday’s shot of the day at the Brisbane International.
It’s time to vote for July’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, August 5.
July 2016 WTA Player Of The Month Finalists
Simona Halep: One year after reaching her first Rogers Cup final in Toronto, Halep went one better in Montréal, growing though a tough field that included Karolina Pliskova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Angelique Kerber, and Madison Keys to win her first title in Canada, and her third of the season. Halep is currently riding a 10-match winning streak after winning at home in Bucharest on clay.
Madison Keys: Finishing a close second to Halep in Montréal, Keys returned to the Top 10 – and the Top 8 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard – by reaching her first-ever hardcourt final on the WTA tour. A three-set win over former World No.1 Venus Williams set the tone for the week, as she knocked out an in-form Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and qualifier Kristina Kucova to make the championship match.
Johanna Konta The British No.1 won her first WTA title in style at the Bank of the West Classic, defeating Venus Williams for the second time this season to reach another career-high ranking – falling just short of a Top 10 debut after making the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup.
Venus Williams: Venus earned her eighth career Stanford final in July, and played Konta tough in a three-set defeat. Her solid run of form continued in Montréal, where she reached the round of 16.
2016 Winners
January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
May: Garbiñe Muguruza
June: Serena Williams
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com